The most chilling phrase in the Norwegian horror was the killer’s statement, through his lawyer, that it was “atrocious,” or in another translation “gruesome,” or even just that he was sorry — but it was necessary. I’ve never seen anything that expresses the toxic potential of ideology so eloquently. It’s especially in that note of regret. Rage and hate do terrible deeds but they may falter. An idea that you know with certainty is true can be put into action no matter what your state of mind or feelings. You might even have tears in your eyes as you shoot.

So the Nazis depended on dull-minded bureaucrats to implement their final solution for Jews. They weren’t seething with hate or emotion. It doesn’t matter whether the ideology is religious, anti-religious, left or right. The film clip from The Town that U.S. Republicans in Congress are showing each other to stiffen their resolve about killing off services that people need has the same quality.

What ideology lacks is humility. You might have thought a thing through as best you can but what makes you sure you haven’t missed something, or even that a human mind is capable of solving this problem? And religion is no answer. You can believe you have the word of God to guide you but how do you know you’ve understood or, very often, even translated it properly? Non-ideologues do the best they can to reach a decision, then proceed with extreme caution.

Another chilling phrase comes in his manifesto: “This does not mean that I oppose diversity. But appreciating diversity does not mean that you support genocide of your own culture and people.” It has an odd touch of the political correctness he deplores. It’s chilling because it’s so close to what respectable people keep repeating.

Angela Merkel says multiculturalism has “failed, utterly failed,” then quickly adds that immigrants are welcome in Germany. France’s Sarkozy, Britain’s Cameron, and our own government echo that. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat writes, “Mass immigration really has left the continent more divided than enriched, Islam and liberal democracy have not yet proven natural bedfellows . . . ” None of them would draw Anders Breivik’s murderous conclusion. But he could easily feel encouraged by their words and decide they just lack the courage to do what is necessary. What follows from that? Should they shut up? Of course not.

They won’t and shouldn’t. But one can at least argue with them:

– We don’t have immigration because of a belief in multiculturalism. We have it due to workforce needs, a declining birth rate and an aging population. None of that will go away. Arguing over multiculturalism is a murky sideshow.

– It’s murky because there are no clear definitions of multiculturalism or mainstream. Multiculti today is mostly code for Muslim and a clutch of scary stereotypes. As for mainstream, 50 years ago, this was a “Christian society.” The scary outsiders were Jews. Now it’s Judeo-Christian and Muslims are the threat. In 50 years it may be Judeo-Muslim-Christian with Hindus to fear. Or they’ll be added too and eventually it will all get silly. As for mainstream values, gender equality is often cited. But women weren’t legal persons here 80 years ago. Fifty years ago there were still no women in cabinet. Thirty years ago the mere mention of abuse in Parliament led to male hilarity. Mainstream values are up for grabs, otherwise we’d still have gender inequity and official anti-Semitism.

– Diversity equals transformation. A more uniform society may mean a bit more cultural stability but we’ve got diversity due to immigration, so forget stability. Anyway, what’s uniform? Ukrainian and Italian used to be considered too foreign and Jewish was positively exotic. Now they (including me) are Us and Muslims are Them. Do you think that earlier batch just assimilated? They didn’t. Jews transformed American culture and American culture transformed Jews. Culture (or “civilization”) is an uncontrollable crapshoot. You can be optimistic or sour or just decide to deal with it. The latter sounds good to me.

So I’m not saying the Merkels and Douthats should shut up about this. But it would be nice if they started making some sense.

This article was first published in the Toronto Star.

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Rick Salutin

Rick Salutin is a Canadian novelist, playwright and critic. He is a strong advocate of left wing causes and writes a regular column in the Toronto Star.