tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post5384690707351888439..comments2024-03-01T08:19:54.547+00:00Comments on BobFromBrockley: Islamism and multiculturebobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-26079772049134560282007-01-31T10:33:00.000+00:002007-01-31T10:33:00.000+00:00I
guess i'm more Steynish on the Christianity-as-a...I<br />guess i'm more Steynish on the Christianity-as-armoury<br />thesis (although I think of it as something more like<br />"Christianity as Bulwark").<br /><br />Hitchens simply cannot be trusted to say ANYTHING<br />intelligent about religion, or religious culture,<br />because is so implacably, dare I say irrationally<br />against all of it. A person can get hung up on Reason<br />as much as on non-Reason, you know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-76177259239071850332007-01-30T15:11:00.000+00:002007-01-30T15:11:00.000+00:00Yes, certainly Hitchens likes Steyn's book. And I ...Yes, certainly Hitchens likes Steyn's book. And I broadly agree with the thesis too. <br /><br />But there is, I think, a crucial difference between where Steyn is coming from and where Hitchens is coming from. And Hitchens makes this difference very clear in the review. <br /><br />The difference is in the way that Steyn and his ilk see Islam as monolithic, not noticing the clinks that let in light. This is connected to the slightly paranoid obsession with demography, which Hitchens is quite good on: the demography argument is strong, but shouldn't be overblown. <br /><br />Just had a quick re-skim of Hitch's article, to check I'm not spinning too much, and was relieved to see that Hitchens uses plenty of adjectives like "slapdash" and "reductionist" for Steyn's book.<br /><br />By the way, there's another interesting faultlines. Between Hitchens and Steyn there is a difference over secularism. Steyn sees Christianity as part of our armoury against Islamism; Hitch sees Christianity as one of his enemies. (I think they're both wrong.)bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-39897900169874007602007-01-30T14:57:00.000+00:002007-01-30T14:57:00.000+00:00I think, with the words you used to frame it, and ...I think, with the words you used to frame it, and with<br />the particular quote you took from it, you spun<br />Hitchen's review of Mark Steyn's book a bit leftward.<br /><br />Hitchens actually liked Steyns book very much. He<br />criticized a certain self-aggrandizing strain in<br />Steyn's self-presentation -- and yes, he knocks<br />Falacci down a peg -- but basically he LIKED the book,<br />and thought it a bracing tonic and a brave piece of<br />work.<br /><br />Bit of wishful thinking on your part, sounds like to<br />me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com