Eva Agnete Selsing, medlem af Sapphos redaktion, holdt motiveringstalen for Mark Steyn, da han modtog Sapphoprisen 2010 11. september. Læs hendes tale her.If the West goes, freedom goes
I have been given the honour of motivating this year’s Sappho award.
The annual Sappho award is given to a person who has combined journalistic skill and fearlessness in uncompromising writings. With the award come 20.000 dkr and a sculpture of the poetess Sappho – a symbol of an unconventional desire for freedom.
The sculpture is created by the artist Uwe Max Jensen. Past recipients of the award include British author and journalist Melanie Philips, cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and cultural editor Flemming Rose.
This year the award goes to an outstanding person, whose courage, wit, incomparable journalistic talent and, not least, characteristic sense of humor, has brought him much – and well-deserved – acclaim.
His books are international bestsellers, his columns in various prestigious newspapers and magazines are highly popular and read all over the world. They deal with a variety of topics. From islamofascism to popular culture.
He has given interviews, participated in panel debates, hosted radio and television shows and appeared on the Rush Limbaugh Show and with Sean Hannity on FOX News, just to name a few.
He is, indeed, as stated on his homepage: A one-man global content provider.
It is, of course, Mark Steyn who is this year’s recipient.
Not only as a consequence of his ample contributions as a cultural critic, but also for his success in influencing the debate on Islam, the disastrous ideology of multiculturalism and the crisis of the Western civilization.
Harsh predictions
His most famous book, America Alone – The end of the world as we know it, is among the most influential writings on those topics.
In it, he argues that when Europe falls due to heavy welfare statism, declining fertility rates and mass immigration, America will lose its continental ally. As a consequence, the prevalence of Western civilization and the freedom it has secured, will soon be history.
Those are harsh predictions. His critics say they are exaggerated and alarmist. But are they?
The European welfare states are real enough. The declining fertility rates are just as real. With its low fertility rate, the Spanish population will halve in a generation’s time, and it doesn’t look much better in Italy, Greece or Germany. On top of this, mass immigration from the third world has effectively begun the alteration of the European populations.
As Christopher Caldwell has put it: Can Europe be the same with different people in it?
This is the question which many of our fellow Westeners refuse to ask, let alone answer.
But what Steyn points to are facts. Facts. Not guesses or wild speculations. They are facts, and the mainstream media supported by the elitist intellectuals refuse to acknowledge or even discuss them.
And they, the intellectuals of the West, are another primary topic in the book.
Under the guise of human rights, the monstrous programme of multiculturalism has prevailed. Claiming that no culture is better than another – except for Christians and jews, who are, of course, always evil and oppressive – multiculturalism has succeeded in undermining the identity of the Westerners.
With the constant accusations of imperialism, slavery, colonialism, male chauvinism and racism, the people of the West have been taught to hate their own history. And a civilization that rejects its heritage is a civilization on the verge of death.
It might be that the islamofascicts who wish to exterminate us are our prime enemy, but our Western elites seem to do the job quite well by themselves.
And this cultural suicide is, as Steyn describes, enhanced by the demographic changes in Europe. As he writes in the book:
“A people that won’t multiply can’t go forth or go anywhere. Those who do will shape the age we live in. Because, when history comes a-calling, it starts with the most basic question of all: Knock-knock. Who’s there?”
"Give arrogance a chance"
If the West goes, then freedom goes. But, you might say, who needs freedom, when you have ecofeminism and tribal art?
Much has been said about Mark Steyn. Among the memorable quotes of his critics is a personal favorite of mine.
It is by Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi Ambassador to the UK, who said that "the arrogance of Mark Steyn knows no bounds."
If Steyn’s courageous writings are arrogant, if it is considered bigotted, racist and offensive to speak the truth, however inconvenient, then this shall be my future motto:
“Give arrogance a chance.”
Fotos: Steen Raaschou
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