Flemming Rose: The Beginning Of An Epiphany?

Flemming Rose is the culture editor of the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten. He is the man that was responsible for the printing now famous Mohammed cartoons that sparked outrage by Muslims, worldwide.

In his recent RCP essay entitled, Europe's Politics of Victimology, he criticizes and indicts a popular strategy known as, playing the victim card. This piece is both an indictment and an entreaty for a better understanding of what has led Europe to the point it is, currently.

Europe today finds itself trapped in a posture of moral relativism that is undermining its liberal values. An unholy three-cornered alliance between Middle East dictators, radical imams who live in Europe, and Europe's traditional left wing is enabling a politics of victimology.

Many will, no doubt, openly deny this. But that doesn't change the fact that he is absolutely correct. You see, leftism is not concerned with what is right for people, it is concerned about empowerment. A good example is Nicaragua. The Sandinistas promised political and economical bliss to all that would help overthrow Somoza. Yet today, the country is no better off than it was under the dictator. Their economy still is not to be envied and the Sandinistas have since left power. Nothing was accomplished, no one made life better. The only thing that changed were the names of tyrants, empowered.

Radical Islam has taken a page out that old leftist playbook and we see that as far back as 1979, when the Shah was overthrown and replaced with a far more oppressive regime. Today, this triple alliance that Rose refers to, is precisely where the modern-day assaults on western culture are coming from. The Iranian government, the mullahs that preach hate in Europe and elsewhere, and the left have truly converged, as a loose force of three.

As one who once championed the utopian state of multicultural bliss, I think I know what I'm talking about.

I think that some in the left may have had the best of intentions when they wanted to trust this multi-culturist model (that has never happened yet, in the course of our planet's history). But Rose and many others have come to realize some things, during this episode that thrust him (and others) into the cross-hairs of those that want this radical ideology to spread. They have learned it the hard way. The question now becomes, what will it take for Rose (and those others) to convince his (their) former leftist brethren, of their continued folly?

...what about the dark, bearded new Danes who speak Arabic at home and poor Danish in the streets? We Europeans must make a profound cultural adjustment to understand that they, too, can be Danes.

One thing is, multi-culturism does not mean one culture is allowed a pass to infringe on others' rights, under the banner of their faith. That's the part that's so dangerous. That's the part they do not get. Rose must first come to the understanding that multi-culturism has never been accomplished and unless those with the dark beards are willing to assimilate, it won't matter what you do to encourage it.

Anyway, this is an interesting piece and though I do not agree with everything he says in it, it's worth the read. Rose isn't quite there yet, but he's getting there. Sometimes change must come in phases as part of a metamorphosis, the important part is that the first part begins and takes root, then when the time is right, the next phase will come.