Following the brief interruption of my summer hiatus for a guest shot on Rush, I also joined Bill O'Reilly on Monday night's "O'Reilly Factor". Donald Trump was Bill's star guest and the weekend's terror spasms in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota occupied much of their discussion.
When it came to my turn, terrorism was also on the menu, as viewed from my recent travels in Europe. But Bill also wanted to talk about some observations on free speech that I made on the radio last Friday. Click below to watch:
Along the way, I noted that in Europe there's a simple but reliable rule of thumb:
STEYN: There is a crude arithmetic here, Bill, which is that the more Muslims you have, the more terrorism you have. So that France, Belgium and Germany have very high Muslim populations - and they have a lot of terrorism. When you're in Poland and the Czech Republic, they have very few Muslims - so they don't have terrorism. And the question for Europe, and I think for the United States a few years down the line, is whether you can contain this just by the big security state. I was on the beach...
O'REILLY: Go ahead.
STEYN: Well, no, you can't. I mean, there are soldiers everywhere in France now. Outside of schools, shopping centers, railway stations. I was on the beach at Saint-Tropez where the topless women have armed soldiers with automatic weapons - patrolling between the topless women. It's a sad sight and it's an absurd sight. Ultimately it's no solution.
That observation drew a lot of comment on Twitter, and from the excitable chaps at Media Matters. One of the more fatuous responses came from Dave Williams:
More Muslims equals more terror? Go to Singapore. It's 100% Muslim with ZERO terrorism, you religious bigot, you douchebag.
If you think Singapore is 100 per cent Muslim, you've been overdoing the gin slings at the Raffles Hotel. Try 15 per cent - and look up Lee Kuan Yew's observation toward the end of his life that Singapore's once integrated Muslims are now ever more self-segregating. One may also note that the Government of Singapore expends some considerable effort, surrounded as it is by Muslim-majority nations like Malaysia and Indonesia, to ensure its Muslim population does not increase beyond 15 per cent. But I'm afraid the likes of Mr Williams instantly dive headlong into flaccid squibs like "douchebag" rather than spend 30 seconds checking a single solitary fact.
More from The Washington Times, under the arresting headline "Mark Steyn returns from terror-plagued Europe: Soldiers 'between the topless women' on beaches":
The two men then went on to discuss the "fake outrage" that occurred over the weekend when Donald Trump quickly called explosions in New York City the result of a bombing. The Republican presidential candidate's claim was ultimately verified, and 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested Monday in connection with pressure-cooker bombings in both New York and New Jersey...
"That [outrage at Trump] is an attempt to shrivel the public discourse and prevent a diversity of views on Islam and immigration and terrorism. And if you notice, that's the classic left response now," said Mr. Steyn. "Let's not debate your point of view, let's cancel your point of view."
~Speaking of Islam and free speech, some chap called Steyn wrote a book on the subject - Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech and the Twilight of the West, personally autographed copies of which are exclusively available from the SteynOnline bookstore.