Quote of the day

posted at 11:15 pm on October 17, 2007 by Allahpundit

“There is no inoffensive way to put this – by evolved, I mean more civilised. We have more respect for civil society.”

Blowback

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Ahhh. That made my day.

PRCalDude on October 17, 2007 at 11:17 PM

The extend of dhiminitude in Europe. Anyone who argues against Islamic domination is attacked and islamic jihadists are proclaimed to be “Misunderstood”

William Amos on October 17, 2007 at 11:19 PM

He added: ‘I do not mean British Muslims – they are part of our society. I mean Muslim states.

This makes no sense Especially as he mentioned just before that that “they” are blowing up “Tubes,” ie the London subway.

Whatever it takes to avoid facing the fact that this is fundamentally about immigration…

Alex K on October 17, 2007 at 11:20 PM

Boy, talk about staking out his position. No nuance there.

This makes no sense

Of course it makes sense. He knows to what he is referring. Else we put words in his mouth.

Spirit of 1776 on October 17, 2007 at 11:23 PM

Poor fellow’s got an inferiority complex.

hillbillyjim on October 17, 2007 at 11:28 PM

He is complaining that Muslims–or at least a huge element of–are intolerant, racist, mysognyist, etc. But then he claims he is talking about Muslim countries, not the Muslim population of Britain that moved there in the last few decades. Maybe that makes sense, but it it is perfectly wrong, and he knows that. All illiberal elements of Islamic society have been imported along with the actual people.

And what certainly makes no sense is to complain about the London Tube getting bombed and then immediately say he is not talking about British Muslims, only Muslim countries, which are of course located many hundreds to thouands of miles away from the Underground.

Alex K on October 17, 2007 at 11:29 PM

Poor fellow’s got an inferiority complex.

I think he’s a much better writer than Kingsley. Much of his short nonfiction is terrific. He just never lucked into that one great book idea that clicks, such as Lucky Jim.

Alex K on October 17, 2007 at 11:32 PM

From the story:

Responding to long-running accusations that he is Islamophobic, Amis launched a fresh invective against the Muslim faith and many of its followers.

Can you spot the contradiction in that statement?

Weight of Glory on October 17, 2007 at 11:32 PM

Working in Manchester, he may have felt that he had to moderate his comments to survive…?

d1carter on October 17, 2007 at 11:33 PM

How wrong is he?

Defector01 on October 17, 2007 at 11:40 PM

Ladies and Germs, there is rhetoric and there is Truth. What he said is Truth.

Pilgrim on October 17, 2007 at 11:47 PM

English version of our Imus, but snootier.
I like him.

Kini on October 17, 2007 at 11:59 PM

He can’t talk about British Muslims like that. There are race-hate laws in Britain that he’d fall afoul of, and they WOULD make an example of him.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them try to bring him up on racism charges anyway. There’s no First Amendment in Europe.

Meryl Yourish on October 18, 2007 at 12:02 AM

“The Muslim community will have to suffer until it gets its house in order”.

‘Not letting them travel. Deportation – further down the road. Curtailing of freedoms. Strip-searching people who look like they’re from the Middle East or from Pakistan. Discriminatory stuff, until it hurts the whole community and they start getting tough with their children.’

Wow. Just… wow.

Fatwa in 5… 4… 3…

Laura on October 18, 2007 at 12:15 AM

The author should bring up the Muslim sources and let the intolerance and calls to violence of the Koran and Hadiths make his points for him with far more force.

Islam indicts itself when you simply quote their own shocking words.

The article is a mere sneer at Amis.

Veddy English.

profitsbeard on October 18, 2007 at 12:16 AM

How wrong is he?

Defector01 on October 17, 2007 at 11:40 PM

He’s Spot On!

Kini on October 18, 2007 at 12:29 AM

How wrong is he?

Defector01 on October 17, 2007 at 11:40 PM

How big is a microbe?

MB4 on October 18, 2007 at 12:30 AM

Gentlemen, just in case you’re wondering. Martin Amis’ are made of ADNRs.

Tom Blogical on October 18, 2007 at 12:32 AM

How wrong is he?

He’s Spot On!

How big is a microbe?

OK, that settles it. He is off by about the same amount that one spot on a microbe is apart from another spot on that same microbe.

MB4 on October 18, 2007 at 12:36 AM

“The Muslim community will have to suffer until it gets its house in order”.

‘Not letting them travel. Deportation – further down the road. Curtailing of freedoms. Strip-searching people who look like they’re from the Middle East or from Pakistan. Discriminatory stuff, until it hurts the whole community and they start getting tough with their children.’

Huh? But he said there’s no problem with the British Muslims! Why would any of this be necessary?

Alex K on October 18, 2007 at 12:39 AM

Well if Martin Amis is “racist and shameful” I wonder what The Muslim Council of Britain would think of Winston Churchill…

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities – but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”

- Winston Churchill, 1899

infidel4life on October 18, 2007 at 12:47 AM

Between this and James Watson, Nobel winner, visiting London, the Brits are going to be very busy for a while.

Entelechy on October 18, 2007 at 12:48 AM

OK, that settles it. He is off by about the same amount that one spot on a microbe is apart from another spot on that same microbe.

MB4 on October 18, 2007 at 12:36 AM

Microscopic analysis?

Entelechy on October 18, 2007 at 12:50 AM

I’m not going to stand behind everything that guy says, but who could possibly not believe are society is like a million times better than those in the Middle East. I can’t think of a single area they excel over the West in.

frankj on October 18, 2007 at 12:51 AM

Condemning his comments, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: ‘Amis clearly seems to believe many Muslim communities are primitive.

not primitive per say just stuck 1300 years in the past , how that feeling better now about your selfs.

Mojack420 on October 18, 2007 at 12:53 AM

Well if Martin Amis is “racist and shameful” I wonder what The Muslim Council of Britain would think of Winston Churchill…

infidel4life on October 18, 2007 at 12:47 AM

Or Mark Twain?

Mosques are plenty, graveyards are plenty, but morals and whiskey are scarce. The Koran does not permit Mohammedans to
drink. Their natural instinct does not permit them to be moral.
- Mark Twain

MB4 on October 18, 2007 at 1:23 AM

Microscopic analysis?

Entelechy on October 18, 2007 at 12:50 AM

Microbrew overload.

MB4 on October 18, 2007 at 1:24 AM

Well, offensive or not I’d rather be here than be a rock throwing cave dweller. The muslim religion altogether is based on caveman thoughts. It sucks to be them, and that is why they are angry.

R D on October 18, 2007 at 1:37 AM

I really hope nobody tries to kill this guy. Islamic totalitarian societies need critics. If we can’t bomb them into the stone age maybe we can shame them into the modern age….

liquidflorian on October 18, 2007 at 2:58 AM

Microbrew overload.

MB4 on October 18, 2007 at 1:24 AM

Don’t hold back. Tell us how you really feel.

It sucks to be them, and that is why they are angry.

R D on October 18, 2007 at 1:37 AM

And that’s why many tend to immigrate.
Trouble is, they bring along the baggage they left behind.

Kini on October 18, 2007 at 3:44 AM

The author Martin Amis has claimed he feels ‘morally superior’ to Muslim states which are not as ‘evolved’ as the Western world.

I’m more intelligent than muslims.

As for moral superiority, I venture to say that the side that wins a struggle is morally superior to the other side, if the respective moralities of the two sides is decisive in the struggle. Yes, I’m suggesting that if misogynist, intolerant, hateful, thieving murderers beat feminist, tolerant, kindly, generous pacifists, in a struggle not decisively marred by accident, the former had the superior morality.

Kralizec on October 18, 2007 at 4:06 AM

As for moral superiority, I venture to say that the side that wins a struggle is morally superior to the other side, if the respective moralities of the two sides is decisive in the struggle.

That should be, “As for moral superiority, I venture to say that the side that wins a struggle is morally superior to the other side, if the respective moralities of the two sides are decisive in the struggle.”

Kralizec on October 18, 2007 at 4:09 AM

I wish one of our candidates would promise to clamp down (as in, end) immigration from islamic countries. Those immigrants do not assimilate, they only bide their time until they can dominate.

Texas Nick 77 on October 18, 2007 at 5:30 AM

I really hope nobody tries to kill this guy. Islamic totalitarian societies need critics. If we can’t bomb them into the stone age maybe we can shame them into the modern age….

liquidflorian on October 18, 2007 at 2:58 AM

Just like a lot of our politicians, they have no shame.

Texas Nick 77 on October 18, 2007 at 5:34 AM

who could possibly not believe are society is like a million times better than those in the Middle East. I can’t think of a single area they excel over the West in.

Well, Dubai comes to mind. Some UAE spots are definitely nice zip codes…

Serr8d on October 18, 2007 at 7:57 AM

Only a sophisticated Brit can have a picture with that pose, and still hold membership in the heterosexual club.

How do they manage that?

Hening on October 18, 2007 at 8:04 AM

As a religion, Islam was written by a warrior to attract more warriors to his cause. There’s something just not right about how easily some few men can warp even such a broken tool as the Koran to do some of the things that happen in the name of Allah.

But to say that the 1.5 billion Muslims are all terrorists is a bit much.

A nice reform of Islam, removing the elements that attract frothing hate-filled Imams and Ayatollahs and allowing them to attract young men to decidedly unholy causes, is long overdue. Remember, all non-Islamic peoples are written up as infidels. Until that is overwritten (or overlooked), any non-Mohammedan is subject to whatever can be dreamed up in a fascist’s mind, and then programmed into his young army of willing jihadists.

Serr8d on October 18, 2007 at 8:08 AM

Only a sophisticated Brit can have a picture with that pose, and still hold membership in the heterosexual club.

How do they manage that?

I think they get accustomed to that kind of posing when they dress-up in woman’s clothing. It’s a cultural thing.

JiangxiDad on October 18, 2007 at 9:36 AM

‘The anti-Semites, the psychotic misogynists and the homophobes are the Islamists.’

Days earlier, Amis shocked festivalgoers in Cheltenham with claims that Muslim states are less ‘civilised’ than Western society.

Hard to find any argument in that; it’s all perfectly obvious to anyone with a functioning brain. That the good people of Cheltenham might be “shocked” by this declaration is shocking. Are they so utterly delusional that they find moral equivalence between Britain and these backward, backwater, 7th century peasant Kingdoms? Good heavens.

Meryl, I also don’t understand how criticism of another country or “society” can run you afoul of “race” laws in Britain; as scary as they are, they’re still race based, not based on public policies and entire countries. Or is that wrong?

Jaibones on October 18, 2007 at 10:51 AM