This is the way the West ends

As one of our contributors points out, Italian Minister Umberto Bossi, who announced a strong policy this past week of firing on illegal immigrants entering Italian waters, did indeed make an identical statement just over a month ago, but under criticism had quickly backed off. In fact (which I had forgotten), I had had an exchange about that very story with a correspondent who had sent me an article about it with this note:

Correspondent to LA:

Take a look at this. Do only Italians have cojones?

Fire on illegal migrants, says Italian minister

By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 17/06/2003)

The Italian navy should open fire with live ammunition on boats carrying illegal immigrants to the country, a senior minister said yesterday, commenting that he was “sick of them”.

Umberto Bossi, minister for reform and leader of the xenophobic Northern League, told Corriere della Sera that he wanted to hear “the blast of cannon”. He added: “After the second or third warning, bang! We open fire. What we need is a cannonade to knock out whoever might be there.

Otherwise, we’re never going to end this problem.”

Amid widespread protests, Mr Bossi issued a statement last night saying he had been misunderstood. “The interview published this morning … by no means reflects my thoughts, nor the sense of my replies in what was only a quick exchange of a few remarks,” he said….

LA to Correspondent:

But he didn’t have cojones, not really. He did the usual two-step. He came out with a strong statement, and then when attacked he backtracked and said the statement didn’t represent his real thoughts. This is what ALWAYS happens, especially on immigration, and it only ends up weakening any immigration restrictionist cause instead of strengthening it. Therefore, before they say anything controversial on this issue, people must already have a consistent principled position that they are prepared to defend when attacked. Anything short of that only means endless surrender.

A friend and I once discussed this phenomenon with reference to Congressman Dan Burton, a foe of Clinton, who called Clinton a “scumbag” and had to backtrack and apologize. The point was, instead of making a meaningful statement that would discredit Clinton, he came out with an immature intemperate remark and then was forced to retreat. And that, my friend and I agreed, was emblematic not just of Republican incompetence in the face of Democrats, but of how the West as a whole is going down in the face of mass immigration and multiculturalism. People continue to do and say nothing while their society is being transformed and taken away from them piece by piece. Then, when they do finally say something, it is not to take a strong and effective stand against what’s happening, but only to unleash their frustration in crude emotional terms that are instantly discredited. Which in turn leads to the further demoralization and collapse of any possible resistance. And that’s the way the West ends: not with a bang, but a “scumbag.”

The allusion of course is to T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men”:

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 23, 2003 08:55 PM | Send