In RE The Danes

Fascinating thing to see the Danes struggle with the problem of their own determined pluralism. It turns out that not everyone is as committed to the principle of live-and-let-live as some of our European allies thought they would be. A substantial segment of the Muslim community seems completely unreconciled to notions like a free press, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, etc. At the same time, they seem to have fully internalized the rights-demanding victim culture, which is handy if you are trying to generate a smoke-screen to cover tyrannical impulses.

It is time for Europe to wake up and, to paraphrase Justice Robert Jackson, acknowledge that tolerance and pluralism cannot become suicide notes. Pluralism and tolerance have to be defended -- even to the extent of tapping phones and engaging in the occasional pre-emptive strike -- if these ideas are not going to be used as a hammer to destroy the societies that generate them. Keeping a republic, or even a constitutional monarchy, puts demands on all of us. Even the Danes.