Fear That Leads To Delusion

So right now, I'm listening to The Strange Death of Europe. It's written by a gay, British journalist who spent time trying to understand why he's welcome in less and less of Europe, specifically the Muslim parts. He travelled the Continent and did extensive research on the political evolution of multiculturalism with tons of direct quotes and data. It's really an excellent work of journalism.

I heard one particular sentence last night that blew me away. It went something like this: The European elites believe that Muslims can and will be integrated into European society because they need it to be true. Emphasis mine.

In the late 1930s, anyone who read Hitler's blueprint for Nazism, Mein Kampf, listened to his speeches and saw Germany take over Austria and Czechoslovakia had to engage in active self-delusion to see anything other than what was coming - a massive European war. And yet, they still did it. Neville Chamberlain waved his piece of paper and said he had "peace in our time" because he needed it to be true.

Europe had just experienced slaughter on an industrial scale in World War I. It was simply unthinkable that they'd have to go to war with Germany again and lose another million or so. French and British cities had plenty of cripples, widows and orphans already. Maybe there was another interpretation of events and quotes than taking them at face value, one that would show that peace was possible.

Maybe there's another way to interpret "Death to America!"

Maybe there's another way to interpret the polls showing European Muslims' homophobia.

Maybe there's another way to interpret burkas, FGM, honor killings and rape.

Maybe this isn't all that widespread:

I'm not even sure what to say at this point. #Rotherham @deanriehm https://t.co/3JNNs3yRZc

— K T Cat (@ktcat) July 18, 2017

Because the alternative is simply to terrifying to contemplate.

The face of fear.