Douglas Murray has long been one of my favorite commentators. He has always been a rather levelheaded conservative. But in this new video one senses an undercurrent of rage. Which I completely share.
But I do not share his confidence that the people of Britain will stand up to the intolerance in their mist. Or that the people in the United States will. It is nice to think so. But to believe that this will happen, in either of these countries, one has to believe that we have, still, a moral and principled public. I no longer believe this is true.
Near the end, Murray says: It is not Jews who should be fearful in the UK, it is the people who would make Jews fearful. Dear reader, just ask yourself, is this true? Or just wishful thinking? Righteously enraged wishful thinking, sure. But wishful thinking nonetheless.
And the UK and the US sit at one end of the spectrum. Ask yourself also, what are the French going to do? That is, their entirely useless government or their public which can be summed up as one big Gallic shrug? And Germany, Belgium, Sweden? The idea that these nations will do anything, at either the government or public level, is absurd. These nations have not had anything resembling a moral, principled public in well over a hundred years. The idea that they'll develop one to deal with the genocidal manics currently in their mist is ridiculous.
It is interesting to note that there are at least two types of genocidal manics running around the streets of London and New York. Those we have allowed in through irresponsible (and anti-western) government policy. And those we have created ourselves with an incompetent education system, capped with a college indoctrination program. Our very own homegrown Hitler Youth. If you listen to these sociopaths, they share all the self-righteous zeal of their progenitors. All that's left is for them to re-enact their destiny. And they will.
And if there was any doubt that the woke fanatics were transforming into our Hitler Youth...I think their performance since Saturday, October 7th finally puts that question to bed.
Oh sure, eventually, the Muslims will kill them. I mean good Muslims can only suffer Queers for Palestine for so long. Not to mention, the trans activists, other alphabet people, atheistic types, and those on the intersectional hierarchical spectrum. But for now, can you just imagine the surprised glee of the Islamists? For the unexpected help. These useful idiots offer invaluable service, and faux intellectual cover, for the immediate program: Killing the Jews.
Now, as a First Amendment absolutist, should these idiots, of both varieties, be allowed to spew their venom? Absolutely, er...well maybe. We need to clearly understand that they are calling for a second Holocaust. Certainly the Islamists mean it. Our Hitler Youth are too stupid to mean anything they say. They should be held accountable nonetheless.
Let's come back to accountability. Here, let's stop and ask: Should incitement to Holocaust be allowed under our current conception of free speech? And no matter where you come down on this question, it is a question worth asking. As Bruce Bawer famously pointed out years ago now, tolerance of intolerance is not tolerance at all; it is suicide. So how much tolerance are we going to allow before we say enough? Personally I am not feeling very tolerant of this river to the sea crowd that we are currently witnessing globally. Again, this is not some innocent slogan; they mean it.
And although they could not find the Jordan River on a map, our Hitler Youth are clear accessories. Accessories to Holocaust. Their parents must be so proud.
Back to accountability: Who is going to hold them accountable? Joe Biden? His string-puller, Barack Obama? New York governor Kathy Hochul? Or New York City mayor, Eric Adams? How about British prime minister, Rishi Sunak? Or my personal favorite, London mayor, Sadiq Khan? So that leaves our amoral and unprincipled public. A public which tolerates immigrant rape gangs in the UK and castrating children in the US? A public completely bullied, and frankly cowed, by nonsensical woke fanatics? You know, the very same Hitler Youth. That public?
Public support for our Hitler Youth is the problem. But, but, we read, most people do not support the woke agenda. Even those on the left do not support the woke fringe, we're told. And sure, if asked, they may not agree with castrating children, immigrant rape gangs, vandalizing artwork, cancel culture, censorship, pronoun insanity, DEI nonsense, academic intolerance, open borders, and most importantly, the Oppressor/Oppressed narrative. But they nonetheless vote for people who will not stop it. Time and time again.
I have made this point many times before: At least half the public either believe in the woke cause, fully support the cause, or tacitly support the cause. And it is actually much more than half of the public because so many of these supporters do not vote or cannot vote. But it is the tacit supporters who are the most pernicious. If you are a moderately left-of-center voter, who excitedly voted for Barack Obama (twice), and then unexcitedly voted for Joe Biden, who goes on to support gender-affirming care for minors and all the rest of the woke agenda, well moderate though you may be, you are the problem. Stop and read this paragraph again if you must. You are the problem.
And if you are a left-voting Jewish American, who now finds the Biden administration rather weak on anti-semitism, you are also the problem.
These voters are the public. The point is, it is the public that is the problem. They will not save us.
So no, there will be no consequences whatsoever. Much as I value and appreciate Douglas Murray, he's just understandably and wistfully wrong about this. The moral and principled public on which he relies, well they no longer exist. And without it, we will see our societies fall first into anarchy and then later into authoritarianism.
We have the unique distinction of witnessing the death of the West. I did not think it would come in my lifetime. Yet here we are.