All Cultures Are Not Equal

The fabulously clear-headed Mark Steyn takes on multiculturalism by making the obvious argument that all cultures are not created equal. Along the way, he points out two examples of what passes for thought in the Muslim world:

To pluck at random, take Abd Al-Sabour Shahin, respected Egyptian professor, lecturer at Cairo University and head of the Sharia faculty at Al-Azhar university, the Harvard of Sunni Islam. On Monday on Saudi Channel One, Dr Shahin told viewers:
'Our enemies weave many lies about us, which we are not necessarily aware of. For example: one day, we awoke to the crime of 9/11, which hit the tallest buildings in New York, the Empire State Building. There is no doubt that not a single Arab or Muslim had anything to do with these events. The incident was fabricated as a pretext to attack Islam and Muslims.'

Er, OK. So if no Muslim hit the, um, Empire State Building, who did? On that, Dr Shahin was in no doubt: 'I believe a dirty Zionist hand carried out this act.'

In Australia:

"Here’s the Sunday Age in Melbourne reporting on 31 July on Werribee Islamic College: 'The imam told the students that the Jews were putting poison in the bananas and they should not eat them.’

You don’t have to be bananas to teach in an Islamic school but it helps. That’s a college, by the way, that receives funds from Australian taxpayers of about $3 million a year. For three million bucks they can’t hire a catering guy who can find them Jew-free bananas?"