salon.communist has an interesting article today about theo van gogh*, which only makes me worry about the decline of europe (and western civilisation) more than i did last week. it seems dramatic to me, but as an article, mentioned by andrew sullivan, reinforces the reluctance of many (hollywood in this case) to criticise fundamentalist and fanatics.

the new statesmen sees it part of a new “faith based alliance”, which is transatlantic whether or not evangelicals (like bush) would like to admit it. i agree with the article in that this renewed fait is definitely a new (or revived) form of protest. npr had a story about muslim radicals in germany this week, and it supported the idea that people turn to radicalism as a means of self identity in a foreign culture. this is similar (in my estimation) to surges in radical right-wing parties at the moment. (ohhhhh… there’s my thesis!) on man in the report said something to the effect, “i don’t want their democracy, why are they making me live by german laws?” the muslim islands through out europe reinforce this ideal, and make it harder for them to integrate. i know this is a stupid question, but if they hate democracy so much and western laws, why move to a western democratic nation? it seems that there is a sense of entitlement that is just too much for me to sympathise with.

perhaps this is the end of liberalism. they, the social liberals of western culture, have tollerated themselves into a hole. i know larry has been railing about this for years, and i’ve fallen into the trap of the overly accepting liberal before, but what is there to do? should we tolerate those who want to destroy us because it somehow makes us better/more enlightened/more noble than they are? how can we prevent moderates from feeling threatened by radicals or becoming radicals themselves?

i don’t know. i’m stuck in my liberal thought loop.

*theo van gogh seems to be an interesting charachter as a free speech martyr. as quoted in the salon article, ex-friend thom hoffman spoke about van gogh criticising his choice of some films;“he called me an s.s. officer with vaseline up my ass,” hoffman said. “he sort of got stuck on second world war idioms.” sounds like he had a way with words.