therightfangirl | Book Review: While Europe Slept (Reply)

I read While Europe Slept as few years ago and I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone here. Mainly because it's a good, well-written book about the threat of radical Islam in the west. But also because it provides hope that even the most ardent, kool-aid drinking liberal can see the light and join us in the good fight against the forces out to annihilate us.

While Europe Slept is Bruce Bawer's autobiographical account of his immigration to Norway in the late 1990s. Bawer is a gay American journalist. And he decided to move to Norway back then because he felt that Europe would be a more tolerant and safe environment for him as a gay man than the United States (a place that he felt was controlled by homophobic Christians out to oppress him).
.....and then he learned the hard way that he was totally wrong.

Through the course of the book Bawer highlights the anti-American prejudice he endured at the hands of the white, liberal, and "tolerant" Europeans (people almost always went into America-bashing tirades when they first met him). He also talks about the violence and intimidation he and his Norwegian husband went through at the hands of young Muslim thugs in their neighborhood (and his shock when he realized that the Norwegian cops cared more about appeasing the Muslim community than protecting women, Jews, and homosexuals from violence).

I didn't realize just how bad the problem was until I read this book. One heart-breaking example he mentions is a string of rapes in a certain French city. Muslim youths were raping French women as punishment for the "crime" of walking alone and/or wearing "slutty" clothes. In response to this string of brutal rapes, French officials advised women to dress more modestly and stop walking alone. They didn't condemn the rapists at all; they just blamed the victims. Because condemning their belief that women should be punished for walking alone and/or dressing immodestly was considered Islamophobic.

He basically makes the case that Europe's Muslim immigrant problems are the canary in the coal mine. And if Americans don't learn from Europe's mistakes, we're screwed.

Bawer's story about embracing conservatism and learning to love America after encountering liberal bigotry/incompetence firsthand really hit home with me because that's how I discovered it, too. It's great to see him realize that, although the USA and the Republican party aren't perfect; we're still leagues ahead of Europe when it comes to standing up to intolerance and Muslim extremism.

As cliché as this sounds; this book made me feel proud to be and American. Please go check it out!