You’d almost think Muslims really do control the world. Certainly the American and French elections seem to be mostly about them. After Mohammed Merah killed seven people in Toulouse in the name of Islam, Nicolas Sarkozy has tried to turn the election into a referendum on who can best protect the French from Muslims. In a curious echo of medieval controversies in Europe, he also wants to protect the French from halal meat, which they have belatedly discovered they’re all eating. In that other Enlightenment nation, Newt Gingrich is warning of sharia law being imposed on the US through “stealth jihad”. That won’t surprise the many Americans who already believe they are ruled by a Muslim. I had got the impression in recent years that the US and France had other problems, but clearly I was wrong.
你可能禁不住認為穆斯林真的在控制世界?？瓷先ィ绹头▏拇筮x無疑在圍繞穆斯林做文章。穆罕默德?默拉(Mohamed Merah)以伊斯蘭教的名義在圖盧茲槍殺七人的案件發生之后，尼古拉?薩科齊(Nicolas Sarkozy)試圖把法國大選變成一場有關誰能最有效地保護法國人免受穆斯林傷害的全民公決。薩科齊還想讓法國人免于食用清真肉食（而法國人直到這一刻才發現，他們一直在食用這種肉食），這讓人們產生了一種古怪的聯想——他們聯想到了歐洲中世紀時的一些論戰。而在另外一個啟蒙思想盛行的國家，紐特?金里奇(Newt Gingrich)正警告大家，要警惕伊斯蘭教法通過“隱形的圣戰”來統治美國。對于許多原本就相信一位穆斯林在統治自己的美國人來說，這件事并不令人意外。近年來我感到，美國和法國有別的問題要去面對，但我顯然想錯了。