Events in Britain, it seems to me, are epochal. On the one hand, we have
the finding that the suicide bombers were young, British-born Muslims.
This is sure to bring into question, not only immigration policy and EU
expansion, but the fundamental rationale of multiculturalism itself. On
the other hand, we have plans by British Muslims to stage a massive
demonstration
designed to send out the message that Muslims will not tolerate terrorists
in their midst. There is potential here for a fundamental shift of British
society toward an ethic of assimilation, and the creation of a genuinely
moderate, liberal, anti-terrorist form of Islam. I don’t know which of
these contradictory movements will win out. Maybe both will gain strength
simultaneously. Or maybe the movement toward Muslim moderation will
misfire. No doubt that’s all too possible. Yet it’s striking that each
potential cultural shift, in its own way, rejects multiculturalism and
upends the terror-promoting status quo. Maybe something good can come out
of this tragedy after all. There’s nothing remotely close to a guarantee
here. Still, you can feel the cultural tectonic plates getting ready to shift.