The ultimate proof that Britain is dead

Earlier this year, I wrote several articles arguing that Britain is dead. My intent was not to give in to despair, because a dead nation, unlike a dead biological organism, can possibly come back to life, but to describe things as accurately as I could. The statement, “Britain is dead,” sounds very extreme. But the test of a theory is not how moderate it sounds but how well it accounts for reality. So I ask you, what other theory can account for the fact that the hideous Salman Rushdie, a life-long professional hater and despiser of Britain, has been (get ready to get sick) knighted? So long as we think of Britain as a normal or least as a living society, the knighting of Rushdie strikes us as bizarre and senseless, almost breaking our grip on reality; see how it unsettles the author of the linked article, Ruth Dudley Edwards. But when we understand that Britain is dead, Rushdie’s knighting ceases to be disturbing and makes complete sense. It is the act of a society that has already died. It is the cultural equivalent of maggots infesting a corpse.

Also, as I say over and over, if the British, instead of being (in the eternal manner of liberals) “surprised” and “shocked” by this repulsive and sickening event, can understand its real meaning, namely that their country is dead, then there is a chance that they can come back to life.

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Karen writes from England:

That is a good posting. It is both shocking and disgusting that this mediocre writer who has denigrated Britain and never shown any gratitude for the huge amount of costly security he has been given and the hospitality he has been shown (undeserved in my opinion) should be honoured in this way. After all he is a Moslem and he knew the costs of attacking Islam in his tedious writings and there really is no reason why this country had to shelter him. What’s wrong with his native India? As for his writing, I read one of his books, found it awful and never read another. The standard of his writing is too banal for any type of formal recognition and he has barely written anything in years.

He does, however, represent a type of third world immigrant who both hates this country, its people and its history and yet wants to have the benefits of living in Britain and enjoying its comforts. In a similar fashion, this weekend the head of the CRE Trevor Phillips was invited to speak at a dinner at Imperial College. He made derogatory comments about the late Queen Mother and was greeted, perhaps surprisingly, with stony silence. But these actions betray a larger personal animus towards this country and both Rushdie and Phillips are just examples of the many (and I would guess majority) of third world immigrants who think and behave in this way. As third world immigrants become larger minorities and eventually the majority, it is clear that Enoch Powel’s prophecies will come true. At the moment there are still many of the elites who are very happy to embrace them.

Jeff in England writes:

Nothing you wrote which I disagree with but not to include a comment on the renewed Muslim threat to Rushdie (and therefore the West) leaves out half the story. Rushdie is not the most important part of this story. Muslims (both in Pakistan and Britain) threatening suicide bombings against him and various Brits are.

LA replies:

How would that fit into what I wrote? Tell me how that fits into the Rushdie knighthood story?

Jeff replies:

Do you want me to send you lots of other forwards about the threats to Rushdie that have been going on in the last 48 hours. Whether Rushdie deserves his knighthood (he doesn’t) has been the smaller part of the story as it has played here. The Muslim threat responding to that knighthood award is the key part of the story. Surely you know that by now. I’m not disagreeing with what you wrote but it has to be seen in context of the bigger story.

LA replies:

But how does that change the meaning of the knighthood—do we see the awarding of the knighthood as the brave act of a Churchillian nation instead of as the maggots infesting Britain’s dead body?

Jeff replies:

I agree with you on the nature of the knighthood and what it implies about Britain. It is an important point. But it has to be linked with the threats of Muslims one way or another.

LA replies:

But you haven’t answered my question: are you saying that Britain is showing strength (by defying Iran), or weakness (by awarding an enemy of Britain)?

Jeff replies:

I thought I was clear that the knighthood itself is a disgrace and reflects the sad state of British society. However flawed and even repugnant that knighthood choice is to most Brits, it is important for Britain to be seen to stand up to Pakistan and other Muslim nations and peoples who threaten Rushdie or other Brits.

Just as it is important for us (the West) to combat and contain Islam despite our own decadence and spiritual void. I have many times commented that we are fighting an enemy who has certain good characteristics which we are lacking (a sense of morality, submission to God, personal discipline, caring for its elders, devotion to family, politeness, etc etc.).

LA replies:

Ok, so you’re not saying that the awarding of the knighthood was a deliberate challenge by Britain to Islam, it was just leftist Britain being leftist Britain. But now that it has happened and there are these Muslim threats the Brits have to hold firm. Well, sure, what else can they do? Retract the knighthood? That’s not going to happen. So what’s the issue, after all?

However, given the way the Muslim world sees him, honoring him like this was a supreme act of stupidity on top of everything else.

But you know my view: Britain is dead. Jeff is going to have to save it.

Jeff replies:

The issue is simple: that for good or bad, right or wrong, left or right, intelligent or stupid, Muslims are not going to get away with threatening the West or one of its citizens in response to awards we give any of our citizens. How can’t you see this?

The reason the Rushdie knighthood was “stupid” was because he did not deserve it in any way; NOT because Muslims despise Rushdie and were bound to get stirred up. They get stirred up about so many things we do. We should be saying to whichever Muslims threaten Rushdie that if they continue to threaten Rushdie they will pay for it. Britain may be dying but we must make it clear to Muslims that we will die in our own way.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 19, 2007 08:48 AM | Send