gimli battles the race card

Gimli Battles the Race Card
By Robert Spencer
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 22, 2004

Muslim advocacy groups in the West are making skillful use of the race card against anyone who points out uncomfortable truths. One of the most recent targets of this is John Rhys-Davies, the Welsh actor who plays Gimli the dwarf in the Lord of the Rings movies. IcWales, which identifies itself as “the national website of Wales,” reported that Rhys-Davies had “kicked off a race storm” last Saturday by “making anti-Muslim remarks.”

What did he say? He pointed out that “by 2020, 50 per cent of the children in Holland under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent.” This is, he said, just part of a “demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we daren’t bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially. And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well. I think that Tolkien [author of the Lord of the Rings books] says that some generations will be challenged. And if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilisation.”

“Many do not understand,” he continued, “how precarious Western civilisation is and what a joy it is. From it, we get real democracy. From it, we get the sort of intellectual tolerance that allows me to propound something that may be completely alien to you.” It’s clear from this that Rhys-Davies didn’t have race in mind, or culture in the sense of styles of clothing or eating habits. He was expressing his concern about those who wish to erase the Western principles of tolerance and democracy in the name of the ideology of jihad.

Predictably enough, the response ignored his point, caricatured his remarks, and smeared him personally. Adam Price, the MP from Rhys-Davies’ home town, declared: “I condemn these comments as being racist and ill-informed. It is obvious that this man who now lives in the lap of luxury in Hollywood is out of touch with realities of the nature of present day European society. His attack on Muslims and comments about the threat that they pose to Western society shows his ignorance of world events and the true teachings of Islam.”

It’s unclear where Price divined his understanding of the “true teachings of Islam,” or how he came to the conclusion that the existence of these “true teachings” in a religion without a central teaching authority somehow mitigates the undeniable existence of radical Muslim elements that want to conquer the West and subjugate non-Muslims.

Naz Malik of All Wales Ethnic Minority Association (Awema), piled on: “I do not know why he has said these things. If 50 per cent of people in Holland under 18 are Muslims in 16 years time, so what? . . . We live in a global society - we celebrate what is good in cultures and challenge what is bad in civilisations. Does he ever listen to any music other than European? Does he eat Indian food? Does he ever appreciate art other than that from Europe? I feel sorry for this actor because he must feel very insecure about his future. I feel sorry for his close mindedness.”

Well, I don’t know how much Rhys-Davies knows about Islam. But I would be glad to discuss with Malik the reasons why non-Muslim Westerners are concerned about growing Muslim populations. In reality, it has nothing to do with race. It has to do with the fact that Islamic law, the Sharia, makes no provision for non-Muslims to live as equals with Muslims in an Islamic society. It has to do with the fact that Islamic law institutionalizes the subjugation of women and a panoply of draconian punishments. This isn’t about food and music. It’s about human rights.

As Rhys-Davies himself put it: “I do not want to see a society where, should I ever have any, my granddaughters have their fingernails pulled out because they are wearing nail varnish. . . . Do not brand me a racist because I am most certainly not. But I will stand by this: Western Christianised Europe has values and experience that is worth defending.”

Can Malik guarantee that none of those young Muslims in Holland want to see the Sharia imposed there? Is he willing to renounce the Sharia and work to educate Muslims about how it must be reformed in light of principles of human rights that are recognized universally outside the Islamic world?

If not, then Gimli has nothing whatsoever for which to apologize.