From time to time, readers ask why I devote relatively little attention to Islam in The Second View. Let me try to explain.
I am convinced that Islam is the principal and most serious threat facing Western civilization. There is no doubt that we are living through a civilizational crisis, but the West has endured many such crises before. There have been periods when society descended into madness, yet we eventually found our way out. There have been eras of incompetent rulers, but in the end they were overthrown. The current crisis feels like the deepest in history, but that is how every crisis appears to those living through it. Many people alive today also compare the present with the 1970s, when the West reached a peak in education, economic strength, and cultural achievement.
There are no signs that the current crisis is as profound as, for example, the one in the seventeenth century. The crucial difference is that the Muslim world was in crisis then as well, leaving it unable to take advantage of Europe’s troubles. Today, by contrast, it is in excellent condition. An ordinary civilizational stumble by Europeans—one that might otherwise pass within a generation or two—could therefore prove fatal.
Only with the war involving Russia, with nuclear weapons looming in the background, has a second genuine threat emerged. Yet not even the fiercest Russia hawk can seriously claim that a Russian victory—whatever that is supposed to mean—would bring about the destruction of the West’s civilizational order. Even a nuclear conflict claiming tens of millions of lives would not be as devastating for Europe as Islamization.
That does not mean, however, that it is in any way useful to stare at Islam like a rabbit transfixed by a cobra. What we need instead is the fastest possible renewal of the West: to rid ourselves of the foolish errors that poison public life, stop obsessing over the past, and begin thinking rationally while applying ourselves to serious work.
At the same time, it is certainly worthwhile for some people to study the contemporary strategies through which Islam seeks to expand its influence. But those efforts must consist of genuine analysis, not the mechanical repetition of slogans, as we often see, for example, in discussions of Russia. A sociologist or psychologist focused on Western society has little to contribute in that particular field.