An increasing note of hysteria

Mark Steyn is on good form in The Telegraph, taking on board the "Holocaust" obsession of the Euro-luvvies.

In so doing, he deals with the not-so-fragrant Margot and her Terezin references and then concludes that the pitch the luvvies are trying to sell us for the Euro-ballot is: "…yes to the European Constitution, or yes to a new Holocaust."

"The notion that the Continent's peoples are basically a bunch of genocidal whackoes champing at the bit for a new bloodbath is one I'm not unsympathetic to," Steyn continues, "but it's a curious rationale to pitch to one's electorate: vote for us; we're the straitjacket on your own worst instincts."

Actually, it is not that curious. My co-editor and I have constantly puzzled about why the Euro-luvvies have been so lack-lustre in promoting the object of their dreams. More to the point, we have wondered why, when their grandiose claims of the EU having kept the peace in Europe are so easily rebutted, that they persist with them.

What now comes to the fore, and is touched upon by Steyn, is that these people treat "Europe" as a secular religion. And, having been in the ascendancy for so long, without being seriously challenged, they have lost the capability to argue their case – if indeed they ever had such a capability.

Now, having to confront a level hostility to which they have never before been exposed, instead of rethinking their their pitch, and perhaps coming up with some new, more powerful ideas – if indeed they exist – like the High Priests of old, they simply fall back on their mantras and preach hell fire and damnation for the heretics who dare to question them.

In this context, if they believe so fervently, as they do, that it is only the EU that stands between the peoples of Europe and another bloody war – with all that that entails – and they have also linked the constitution with the survival of the "project", it is but a small step in logic to postulate that, if the EU collapses for want of a constitution, there will be nothing to stop the tanks rolling across the borders again.

In a way, the fragility of this argument is encouraging. That is the Euro-luvvies' best shot, and it is neither credible nor convincing. But it does explain the increasing note of hysteria that is entering into their tone, as the peoples of Europe shrug their shoulders and walk away from a dream that is not their own.