Mark Steyn visits UST
"The darker forces at the fringe of the map smell weakness and defeatism at the heart of the west." This was one phrase that really stuck out for me as I sat in the 3M auditorium listening to Mark Steyn. Don't get me wrong, the event wasn't all about how America is alone and dark times are ahead for us. Steyn kept the atmosphere loose and fun with his humorous stories and jokes. He was well received, signing books and posing for pictures in what seemed to be quite a successful first visit to St. Thomas.
Mark Steyn is a noted journalist, columnist, and art critic. He was born in Toronto, Canada, attending King Edward's School in England, which he left at the age of 16. He wanted to be a disc jockey but got his first break in journalism as a musical theater critic where he reviewed The Phantom of the Opera. He moved to movies and then on to politics in London and has never looked back. He also writes columns in American newspapers such as the Chicago Sun Times and National Review. Though it may seem unusual given his education that he has been so successful, his combination of art, music, and politics is what makes him stand out.
His recently published book, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, is a New York Times best seller. During Steyn's speech, he noted that "Islam is a problem for post Christian Europe" and that America suffers from what he calls "one-way multiculturism." He gives the example that the "West is free to mock itself, but so is Islam." He notes the dilemma that America wants to increase its border security and that America had targeted immigration in the past but now we call that racism. We want to be nice to everyone but in doing so we let in potential threats to the security of our homeland.
Steyn said at the event that he loves America but recalls to us that Rome, as great of a nation as it was, fell not to a more civilized nation but to lower civilizations and that America should pay close attention to that example. His speech captured everybody's attention and when Steyn was finished the auditorium thanked him with a thunderous applause.
Afterwards he took questions from everyone in the audience. One person asked him about the War on Terror and his thoughts on President Bush. He replied, "I like the President, but he failed to articulate the issue of Iraq to the pulse of America." He refers to the War on Terror as a similar event to the containment of communism and offers one solution to the Middle East situation in that he wants to end oil reliance. The countries that are least insane he notes have no oil where the ones that do have oil pose greater dangers. America is an "ordinance power" and an imperialistic superpower because it has established itself as a maker of order.
I must admit I had never heard of Mark Steyn before and was expecting a fireball type of character such as Ann Coulter but instead he was personal and funny, yet not afraid to step on people's toes. He left me with these words that "we must rely on structure to create security. Individuals make the difference. It is the spirit of individual freedom that guarantees liberty." I agreed strongly with him and from the long applause at the end of the event I'm pretty sure I wasn't alone in that thinking.
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