Yeah, Culture Does Matter

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One cannot get around the reality that not all people are right for a successful West.

There was a big announcement in Jerusalem that archaeologists had found a 2,000-year-old “mikvah” (ritualarium) under the Temple Mount. These baths have been used for thousands of years by Jews to remove “ritual impurity”. Finding another mikvah near the site of the two Temples is not a great surprise, though it is always moving to see such ancient stone structures. Priests or Kohanim (the basis for the name Cohen), as well as regular Jews, had to immerse themselves prior to entering the Temple. Many were quick to point out that the mikvah is one more proof that Jews lived here long ago, long before there was Islam or Palestinians. That’s true, but in my mind, such facts are secondary. I once lived in a house in Wilmette, Illinois. That does not give me the right to go there and take it over. The modern state of Israel is the product of lands purchased over generations and defensive wars won by Israeli forces. That there were Jews here long ago is an important fact, but the modern state of Israel exists, like many other states, as a product of victories in war and not solely via historical claims.

The key moment of a Jewish conversion occurs during the final step: immersion in a modern mikvah, nearly identical to the one recently discovered in Jerusalem. What is in the mind of the one converting to Judaism at the time of immersion—whether he/she accepts upon himself/herself the Torah commandments—is something that only the convert and God can know. Intent is key, and we cannot know a person’s honest intent, even if he professes that he really wants to be a Jew.

Similarly, we would ideally like to know what is in the head of an immigrant when he or she arrives in the United States. In the past, when much of immigration was primarily from Europe, people came to America to become Americans. I can attest to my own parents, who, while keeping certain aspects of their German and Jewish identities, made every effort to become Americans like their US-born neighbors. They learned English, became naturalized, paid their taxes, joined the PTA, sent their kids to public schools, and voted—just like any other American. My mother could belt out the National Anthem with the best of them when it played on WGN-TV immediately prior to a Cubs game.

And this is the point we missed during decades of immigration. There are many on the right who keep quoting statistics when whites or Brits or Dutch will be minorities in their own countries. And sure, a Muslim London in 2050 might feel different than London of 1990. Some have suggested that people born outside of the US should not be allowed to hold public office. We certainly have such restrictions for the presidency. But I think that we are missing a key factor when discussing immigration: there are those who wish to become Americans with all of their hearts, and there are those who simply wish to transport their home countries to the US in order to conquer or destroy it. It’s a strange thing when “refugees” don’t stop praising the supposedly terrible lands they fled: Minnesota's Rep. Ilhan Omar has made it clear that her allegiance is to Somalia over the United States. My parents fled Germany for real in 1937/1939 and did not step foot back in the Fatherland until 1989— and only to show us the key sites related to our family history.

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What happened in Minnesota is like what happened in England with the young girls: people showed up from far away (Somalia or Pakistan) with no intention of becoming a part of their new country’s fabric. They planned to keep living their lives as if they were still in Mogadishu or Peshawar. Not only that, many had plans to make all of the US or England, Sharia states. Such an approach and behavior is a far cry from the previous generations of immigrants who mostly desired to become Americans or were pushed in the same direction: there was no bilingual education and there was no DEI rubbish. Sink or swim. And most chose to swim. Personally, I could not care less that a majority of youngsters in Brussels and Vienna are foreign-born, with one proviso: that they are becoming real Belgians or Austrians. The problem is that they are not, and the fault for that is with the locals and the governments they have chosen.

When Frau Dr. Merkel and her peers let in millions of Muslims, those responsible were all elected by their fellow citizens. None of them landed on a rubber dinghy with thousands of mercenaries in order to take over Paris, Amsterdam, Rome or the like. All of the leaders who have let in millions of unvetted illegal immigrants were chosen by the people. Sure, there are many Brits who think like Tommy Robinson, but the fact is that they, too are ruled by a feckless Labor government hellbent on making English a second language. Rather than get their populations to make babies—something very closely tied to religious values and belief, they figured that they could bring in millions of post-diaper workers. But the problem is in the intent. I don’t have a problem with immigrants who become like the locals: that’s what my parents did. The problem is that not all cultures are into assimilation, and those who don’t assimilate will turn their new countries into the garbage countries many still consider home. Mark Steyn noted a while back that twelve contemporary European leaders had not a single child between them. So why should their citizens be encouraged to make babies?

When we were in South Africa recently, I saw that one could see-saw from beautiful, modern cities to shanty towns in nothing flat. Colonial Europeans and their descendants built the beautiful towns and infrastructure that could match anything in the West. The locals, while used heavily in construction, do not live in or have similar facilities. Kruger Park, known throughout the world, was named after Paul Kruger, the president of South Africa prior to the previous turn of the century. My wife asked our local park guide if we could visit his village, just to see it. It seemed like he was embarrassed and made excuses for why that would not work out. If Europeans had never set foot in South Africa, there would have been no apartheid. Sure, various tribes—like American Indian tribes—would have fought each other. But while the evil apartheid would never have been born, neither would Cape Town nor Johannesburg—at least not in the way we know them. Europeans and Americans build, create, research, test, and progress. Other cultures not so much. I believe that people from other cultures can pick up the Western approach, but there has to be an active intent for the same. There are those who believe that there is zero hope for anyone of a significantly different background ever becoming Western.

The time has come to stop illegal immigration into the West. Additionally, there must be mass ejections. The US has sent packing 2.5 million people in 2025, mostly of their own (paid) volition. Europe must do the same. For those who cannot be thrown out, there must be an aggressive and unapologetic effort to make foreigners become locals. If they refuse or cannot do it, then they must also get the boot. There is no mitzvah for Western countries to commit suicide—alone or assisted. If nothing is done, the UK will be more Pakistani than Pakistan. And that is not a good thing for mankind.

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