Comments on: Mark Steyn’s greatest hits – with love from his reader of the day

By: Paul C

Paul C — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:19:35 +0000

The reason that Mohammed is an extremely common name in the UK may be because Muslim communities tend to name all their male children Mohammed because it’s auspicious, and that in fact not many people actually go by the name Mohammed. If this is the case, then the fact that so many children are called Mohammed has virtually no significance whatsoever – except to act as a signal for those who already believe the Muslims are taking over, who can exchange meaningful glances with each other.

Mary K., I have no idea whether you are “racist, homophobic, a zealot, crazy” or anything else. Please stop having an argument with the imaginary Leftard in your head.

By: David Steven

David Steven — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:07:51 +0000

Yes, Nick’s right. And Kate made a similar point in the other thread. My mistake.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:52:27 +0000

Whether the so-called Prophet’s name was the fifth or the 23rd most popular baby boy’s name in the United Kingdom in 2005 may depend on whether you combine all the different English spellings. According to this analysis of ONS figures by the Times — http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1890354.ece — by 2006 Mohammed and all its variants were jointly the second most common boy’s name in Britain. Perhaps a similar analysis for 2005 would show Mohammed and variants in fifth place?

So while Steyn was technically wrong (assuming you’ve quoted him correctly), his point is not so easily dismissed. The significance he places on it is another matter.

By: Mary K.

Mary K. — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:55:51 +0000

Thanks for reprinting Steyn – love reading him wherever he appears. But of course, I’m probably “unlikely to be open to reason” which is code for, “You and I disagree so you are racist, homophobic, a zealot, crazy, etc.etc.”. Tolerance and diversity for me but not for thee!

By: Paul C

Paul C — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:01:48 +0000

Yeah, David – “man up”!

You can’t fault Steyn for finding a niche and milking it for everything it’s worth, but that doesn’t mean that anybody outside that market has to take him seriously. As with most of the paranoid style, there’s no point in commenting on his writing – people who follow it are unlikely to be open to reason, and people who don’t follow it just get confused by the mixture of fantasy and bile.

By: B Clarkson

B Clarkson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:06:32 +0000

Cut and paste journalism. Context is everything. Man up and print a whole column unedited. Have faith in your readership and resist the spoon feeding.