Barbarian Cultural Imperialism

From an old Daniel Pipes review of Ibn Warraq's Why I Am Not a Muslim, comes something you'll never hear from a multiculturalist:

Having thus dispensed with religion, Ibn Warraq takes up history and culture. Turning political correctness exactly on its head, he condemns the early Islamic conquests and condones European colonialism. "Bowing toward Arabia five times a day," he writes, referring to the Islamic prayer toward Mecca, "must surely be the ultimate symbol of . . . cultural imperialism" In contrast, European rule, "with all its shortcomings, ultimately benefited the ruled as much as the rulers. Despite certain infamous incidents, the European powers conducted themselves, on the whole, very humanely." [bold added]

Multiculturalist folderol aside, one culture becoming dominant is not inherently bad. Indeed, when one culture is objectively superior to another, not only is there nothing wrong with cultural "imperialism", it is a good thing. That said, just as multiculturalists rant about alleged deficiencies of the West (but don't bat an eye about real problems in the Islamic world), so it is that huge numbers of people bowing towards Mecca five times a day gets a free pass.

-- CAV