“We are at war with Islam. Why do otherwise intelligent people insist on saying otherwise? Either they have sold out to Islam--if they are politicians, they're trolling for votes, or they are in the pay of wealthy Islamic organizations--or they just can't bear the thought that we actually are in a civilizational war with hundreds of thousands, even millions, of ordinary people." - Janice Fiamengo
To answer Janice Fiamengo, I think it is all of the above. But I think that her last point is most poignant. Politicians and citizens alike in Western democracies--especially the British---were afflicted with the same kind of denial about Hitlerism as liberals and progressives are today regarding Islam. The memory of the carnage of the First World War made them so terrified of war that they were determined to rationalize and excuse Hitler's expansionism.
"After all, when they reclaimed the Rhineland they were just recovering what is German."
"After all, Austrians speak German, and most favour Anschluss."
"After all, Czechoslovakia is an artificial state. Hitler is rightly concerned about its German minority."
"After all, the people in the Danzig Corridor are German".
As historian A.J.P. Taylor said, if Hitler had died just after the Munich settlement he would universally been regarded as a Great Statesman. German expansionism would be written off as legitimate German nationalism, and recompense for the humiliation they suffered for the crippling impositions of the Versailles agreement.
So in the 30s, since democrats couldn't bear the thought of waging another war against millions of Germans, they were determined to see the best in Hitler---whom many like Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King regarded as charming and reasonable. But not so Churchill. He had a nose for totalitarianism. He had Islam's number and Nazism's too. Few have his insight or courage in calling a spade a spade.
Unfortunately, the jihadists, like Hitler, have had our number as well. They know how to play us. How to feign moderation and conciliation, how to lie and deceive, how to exploit our need to believe in their lies and not take their holy text seriously, and how to say one thing to us and one thing to Muslims and how to hide their expansionist agenda behind a mask of peace. They wrote the book on these tactics, and are master practitioners of them. As Hitler appreciated, they discovered the magic formula on how to divide and conquer. Again, like Hitler, they have extended their power one step at a time. Like a frog in a pot of water that slowly comes to a boil, we apparently won't realize that our fate is sealed until we are cooked. How and why we allowed these barbarians within our own gates will be a mystery to historians for decades hence. I think that they will conclude, as many of us have, that Western Civilization has a death wish.
We are in deep trouble.
Editor's note
Mr. Murray is Canadian and writes frequently on some of the same issues that both our countries face. Canada's history and his citizenship can at times result in a somewhat different perspective and commentary from ours, but his understanding of the underlying social, political and cultural issues seems both accurate and constructive. Because of its climate, population, geography and long colonial status, Canada's exposure to these issues has been more recent than ours, allowing Mr. Murray a clear view of our successes and failures and the opportunity to inform and warn his fellow Canadians.