Bohemian Rhapsody

This week I tried reading Bruce Bawers book ‘While Europe Slept – How Radical Islam Is Destroying Europe From Within’. I failed. Miserably. I read approx. 120 pages before giving up.

The main thesis of the book is that ‘European liberals fail to confront Islamic extremism’. A thesis I’d be willing to file under ‘I’ for ‘I-guess-I-sort-of-agree-with-that’. So while I have no problems with Bruce Bawers central thesis, I do have the following problems with the book:

1. Where other authors might adhere to facts, Bawer simply makes stuff up
2. Halfway through the book Bawer files for a divorce from reality
3. Bawer is not a happy camper

Allow me to elaborate:

Ad 1) WHERE OTHER AUTHORS MIGHT ADHERE TO FACTS, BAWER SIMPLY MAKES STUFF UP

I know this is a harsh accusation. Let me try my best to document it.

Quoting from the chapter ‘Before 9/11′, page 45:

In 2003, the Danish Supreme Court fined Pia Kjærsgaard of the Danish Peoples Party 50.000 kroner for making “racist” statements that were not racist at all.

First of all, I can hear you screaming ‘what the fuck is a sentence pertaining to 2003 doing in a chapter called “Before 9/11″‘, and I second your objections. But there is a much more severe problem with the statement above: IT IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE. It appears that Bruce Bawer combined two true stories into one false story:

Story no. 1: In march of 2003 Pia Kjærsgaard was fined 3.000 kroner for carrying pebber spray for self-defense (which is SO illegal in Denmark). This did not go to court as Pia Kjærsgaard turned herself in, and did not contest the fine.

Story no. 2: In June of 2003 Pia Kjærsgaard took a political rival to the Supreme Court over allegedly libelous statements (the rival had described one of Pia Kjærsgaards statements as ‘racist’). Pia Kjærsgaard was the plaintiff in the case. When Pia Kjærsgaard lost the case, she was ordered to pay 50.000 kroner to the defendant, thus covering the defendants legal expenses.

Now if we take some of the elements from Story no. 1 (Kjærsgaard being the defendant, Kjærsgaard being fined) and mix them up with elements from Story no. 2 (The Supreme Court, 50.000 kroner, the allegedly racist statements), then HEY! PRESTO! I’ve got myself a brand new story, that fits well with this book I am writing about them stupid Europeans…’

Seriously: This sentence could only have landed in the book through conscious and malicious manipulation, either by Bawer himself or one of his researchers.

You want another example? I’ll give you another example…

Bawer writes about Norway:

The concept of ’service’ is not indigenous in the land of the fjords; in order to be able to refer to it the Norweigans had to borrow the word ’service’, spelling and all, and Norweigans pronounce it like a foreign word. Yet many Norweigans, I’ve learned, don’t quite understand it’s meaning: they often use it interchangeably with the word ‘tjeneste’, which means favor. The idea that treating customers civily is not a matter of doing them a favor but rather doing ones job – let alone advancing ones own self-interest – can often seem an alien concept in Norway.

Now as a native speaker of Danish, I can read Norwegian. Now technically speaking the statement ‘…the word ‘tjeneste’, which means favor’ is correct. And technically speaking guns don’t kill people. It’s the bullets that do it. Now while these statements technically speaking are true, actually speaking….; they’re bullshit!

‘Tjeneste’ does mean favor, but it also means doing ones job. If you look up ‘tjeneste’ in a Norweigan dictionary the very first defintion you come across will say:

Ad 3) BAWER IS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER

This is actually why I gave up on the book. One of Bruce Bawers main themes (ridiculously crudely summarized) is that he prefers America over Europe. He doesn’t like America, he prefers it. And that is about as positive as Bruce Bawer gets about anything. This is my one big over-shadowing problem with the book: Bruce Bawer is SO NEGATIVE. He complains, he complains, he complains and then he complains. ‘While Europe Slept’ does not appear to be a labor of love. And I hate to sound like a hippie, but if you ain’t got no love to share, I am not going to read 252 pages of your book.

You might argue that a negative tone is a necessary component in a book that takes a negative view of it’s subject. I’d disagree with that. In ‘The God Delusion’ Richard Dawkins manages to rip religion a new asshole, but at the same time Richard Dawkins stands up for something, that he believes is right (science, reason, you know… rational stuff). And I actually laughed out loud several times during my reading of ‘The God Delusion’. Sam Harris ax-murders religion in ‘The End of Faith’, but yet I am left with impression that he does his slaying for the love of all that is beautiful in the world of Sam Harris, not out of malicious intent toward his subject.

The negative tone of ‘While Europe Slept’ is completely unnecessary for getting the message across. The negative tone of ‘While Europe Slept’ is not dictated by the subject-matter. The negative tone of the book is Bruce Bawers very own project, and I refuse to partner up with it.

IN CONCLUSION:

There is a lot of truth in ‘While Europe Slept’. Islam is rising in Europe. A lot of Europeans are reluctant to confront totalitarianism, when it comes disguised as a religion. So I’ll happy concede that Bruce Bawer does have a lot of good points. But when Bruce Bawer makes up his own facts, divorces himself from reality and seems to ooze bitterness and contempt, then I am not going to invest myself in his book. So in conclusion:

This book sucked, don’t buy it.