The American Spectator

Reader Mail

New Jesuit Spokesman

1.29.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 4 of 4)

And while the far right's attempt at "limiting dissent" is distasteful, Mr. Orlet apparently needs reminding that no one limits dissent more than the followers of the so-called "religion of peace."
-- Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

Orlet wrote an article criticizing the "right wing" efforts in Europe to deal with the cultural clash between Islamists and the cultures of the countries to which they have immigrated. Apparently, the concept of requiring assimilation by the immigrants is out. For instance his article states:

"So what is the CAI's agenda? Apparently it consists in telling Muslim schoolgirls that they cannot wear head scarves to school, banning forced marriages and the ritual slaughter of animals and slapping a moratorium on the building of new mosques."

He left out genital mutilation of young girls. I am not sure why. Perhaps that is something that is unacceptable even to him. I hope so.

However, Orlet obviously doesn't like what the terrible right wing is doing to try and require assimilation. But in the end, what he says is:

"European leaders will have to find a way to forestall this scenario, to neutralize the far right and the Islamic reactionaries, and bring two clashing civilizations together. Right now they seem to have concluded that the way forward is by limiting dissent. This should make the fundamentalists feel right at home."

Wow! Pass on the responsibility for a solution to others. That is a great idea.

So, please ask Mr. Orlet to supply some detail as to how he would go about solving the clash between two competing cultures. And in the process, please tell us which culture he supports. Why leave it up the politicians that he so obviously believes are wrong. What is the great Mr. Orlet's solution to culture clash? His solution ought to be fascinating to say the least.
-- Jerome D. Bashinski
El Dorado Hills, California

Christopher Orlet replies:
I do not believe you can "require" a person to assimilate. Anyway what does Mr. Bashinski mean by assimilation? Accept Judeo-Christian values and refute, say, Islamic values? How does he suggest the government enforce this? In the few places where Islam and Christianity live peacefully side by side (say Albania) it is because the Islamic majority is largely secular with a strong national identity and a high degree of religious tolerance.

SLEEPING DURING HUMOR CLASS
Re: Larry Thornberry's McCain Peaks:

I just read Larry Thornberry's article in The American Spectator titled "McCain Peaks." I don't know Mr. Thornberry's age but I suspect he's not from my generation (first wave of the post war baby boom -- 1946). We may not have had the best educational system in the world back then but at least we learned how to spell. If you are Larry Thornberrry's editor please advise him when he wishes to write about "a lot of television cameras," he should spell it "beaucoup" television cameras, not "bo-koo." This is a French word which was heavily used in Vietnam by American GIs since French was a language used "beaucoup" by the Vietnamese. This may seem like a minor point, however, bad spelling only lessens the credibility of the rest of the article. Perhaps Mr. Thornberry was doing beaucoup sleeping during spelling class.
-- Joseph A. Yturralde

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, Hillary Clinton, Television, Religion, Catholicism, Islam, Abortion, Books, Constitution, Law, NATO