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Murder in Amsterdam: Liberal Europe, Islam, and the Limits of Tolerence |
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Sales Rank: 41082
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$10.20 |
<B>A revelatory look at what happens when political Islam collides with the secular West</B>
Ian Buruma ’s <I>Murder in Amsterdam</I> is a masterpiece of investigative journalism, a book with the intimacy and narrative control of a crime novel and the analytical brilliance for which Buruma is renowned. On a cold November day in Amsterdam in 2004, the celebrated and controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot and killed by an Islamic extremist for making a movie that “insulted the prophet Mohammed.” The murder sent shock waves across Europe and around the world. Shortly thereafter, Ian Buruma returned to his native land to investigate the event and its larger meaning as part of the great dilemma of our time.
This book, by a Dutch ex-patriot, does a good job of pretending to be fair-minded and even-handed in trashing all the parties involved. But it won't stand up to careful examination.
Most importantly, none of the assertions and allegations made in this book are even documented, let alone corroborated from other sources. We are simply supposed to take the author's word for it.
To show that in effect the Dutch are getting what they deserve (although the author would, of course, never put it in those terms), the author describes in lurid detail the red-light district of Amsterdam. (red herring fallacy). He also describes every incident in which a mosque was defaced, and counterposes that against the burning of Christian churches. (two wrongs make a right)
To trash van Gogh, the author presents him as a loud critic of many practices and positions, as if van Gogh's personal appearance and off-beat personality justifies his assassination. (ad hominem)
The author also has a go at Pym Fortuna, doing the same number on him. He was loud and brash and maybe a right-winger as well, so it's sort of okay that he was murdered. Besides, he wasn't murdered by an Islamist, so that proves that the problem is not Islam, doesn't it?
The message seems to be that the Dutch are not tolerant enough! Another theme is that whole thing has been blown way out of proportion by the press and the politicians--especially the right-wing politicians.
See While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within. Also, read America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It.
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