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rfmcdonaldAs a spectator, it startled me how the comments in the A Fistful of Euros post "Europe and secularism" quickly shifted from a discussion of the role of religion in society to a series of arguments and counter-arguments about the likelihood of Muslims coming to dominate Europe through their unstoppable birthrate and their cunning use of violence. Um, yes.
What struck me most about this thread was the Islam-is-unstoppable crowd's willingness to not only claim statistics, but to use statistics badly, in a way that likely even Gradgrind would condemn: numbers' importance inflated, numbers used incorrectly, the wrong numbers used, numbers ignored altogether. I'm not sure what was, and is, going on with this. Why are people so committed to their fears that they manufacture apocalyptic worst-case scenarios out of clouds?
What struck me most about this thread was the Islam-is-unstoppable crowd's willingness to not only claim statistics, but to use statistics badly, in a way that likely even Gradgrind would condemn: numbers' importance inflated, numbers used incorrectly, the wrong numbers used, numbers ignored altogether. I'm not sure what was, and is, going on with this. Why are people so committed to their fears that they manufacture apocalyptic worst-case scenarios out of clouds?
