A couple of articles worthy of your attention:
Fears of an Islamic revolt in Europe begin to fade is a July 2009 article by Jason Burke, which looks at ‘Islamisation’ notions and argues that ‘though a steady drumbeat of apocalyptic forecasts continues, such fears are beginning to look misplaced’.
The phoney war on Christmas is an article from back in 2006 but it covers issues that have already popped up in the tabloids in the pre-Christmas countdown period, including the tabloid favourite, ‘Winterval’:
Perhaps the most notorious of the anti-Christmas rebrandings is Winterval, in Birmingham, and when you telephone the Birmingham city council press office to ask about it, you are met first of all with a silence that might seasonably be described as frosty. “We get this every year,” a press officer sighs, eventually. “It just depends how many rogue journalists you get in any given year. We tell them it’s bollocks, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference.”
According to an official statement from the council, Winterval – which ran in 1997 and 1998, and never since – was a promotional campaign to drive business into Birmingham’s newly regenerated town centre. It began in early November and finished in January. During the part of that period traditionally celebrated as Christmas, “there was a banner saying Merry Christmas across the front of the council house, Christmas lights, Christmas trees in the main civil squares, regular carol-singing sessions by school choirs, and the Lord Mayor sent a Christmas card with a traditional Christmas scene wishing everyone a Merry Christmas”.
Sorry Edmund, I’m not keeping pace at the mo.
Are you in general alluding to an exaggeration in relation to the “Islamic threat”? Or is it a real threat that is played down by some?
What I’m saying is that the idea that the West is being, or will be, ‘Islamised’ is a myth.
I would also agree that some people (largely leftists) fail to address the irrational and dangerous nature of Islamism. Islamism is a threat to social cohesion and a security threat, but Islam will not ‘dominate’ the West. See my recent report for why.
Thanks Edmund.
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