In his famous poem -Waiting for the Barbarians-*, the Greek poet Cavafy ridicules the aristocracy for their timid behavior in face of an anticipated barbarian onslaught onto their territories.
Although the assault never comes off – there weren’t any barbarians at the gate after all – Cavafy’s masterly portrayal of cowardice reminds me of the West’s response to the advent of virulent Jihadism and its stated goal of world domination.
However, this analogy can be taken only so far, because at least in our day, the barbarians are most definitely at the gate. In fact, the front-guard scouts are already inside and they didn’t need a Trojan horse to accomplish this infiltration.
Britain’s (and recently Harvard’s) embarrassing capitulation to Islamic demands made under the aegis of “diversity” is only the tip of the Islamist iceberg.
It is unfortunate that books such as “Suicide of the West” are largely forgotten.
Even more obscure is another book I’ve recently come across that might make useful reading: Lothrop Stoddard’s “The New World of Islam” published in 1921 (!) which gives a devastating portrayal of an Islam you seldom hear about these days.
Unfortunately, Stoddard was an admitted eugenicist which doesn’t do much for his credentials these days. (Among his other writings we find, for example, “The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy” and “The Revolt Against Civilization: The Menace of the Under Man”, of which no more need be said.)
We don’t have to rely on fringe thinking, however, to admit to and do something about the Jihadist menace. It really is upon us. Do we need another 9/11 to heed the clarion call?
We really must take to heart Cavafy’s lines when he says:
“Why do the senators sit there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.”
They’re already doing it, in my opinion.
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* The best translation I’ve seen for this poem can be found online at:
…http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/cavafy.html…
