Submitted by Devon Stavrowsky, Jun 30, 2007 16:54

As the line from a well-known Pink Floyd song goes, "Hanging on in quiet desparation is the English way." The Brits are, perhaps, the most 'civilized' people on the face of the Earth. Being civilized is as big a part of English culture as independence (often to the point of crudity) is a part of the American culture.

Being civilized has a number of components, chief among them being 'being civil', which by it's nature implies the employment of hope that the person with whom you are discoursing will be civil in return. Built into that hope is a certain willingness to compromise, acquiesce in limited degrees, and to allow cultural intrusion (also in limited degrees) in an attempt reach a place where the exchanged civility is mutually agreeable, if not preferred. It is that characteristic of British culture, I think, which caused them to dive into the Munich Accords so willingly. The 'time' element of "Peace in Our Time", however, turned out to be awfully short-lived.

It will be painful for them to do so (because it is so anathema to their culture), but at some point the Brits have to come to the realization that the philosophy behind the culture they are trying to accomodate is NOT civilized. It is espoused by men who would be perfectly comfortable in the 7th century and who are unwilling to tolerate anybody who would not.

I think Steyn is completely right in his understanding of the Jihadists, and I hope he is wrong about the Brits and their aparent societal suicide. I hope it is just a matter of their finally getting fed up. I fear, however, it may be a while before they do so. The crux of the matter is, of course, that the longer they take to come to the realisation that they have had enough, the more it will cost to take it all back.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.