Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim woman who authored a fascinating book, “Infidel,” about her life, has penned an article in this week’s Newsweek entitled “Muslim Rage: How I Survived, How We Can End It.” The article and the cover are infuriating the Left, as it tries to skew coverage of the violence occurring in the Middle East.
Ali, now an AEI scholar, is Somalian-born woman who escaped an arranged marriage by moving to Netherlands, where she then became a member of the Dutch parliament. While in the Netherlands, she worked with Theo van Gogh on the short film “Submission,” which detailed Islam’s treatment of women. Van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim man with terrorist ties for his part in the movie; the man shot him eight times before attempting to decapitate his dead body.
How should American leaders respond? What should they say and do, for example, when a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s newly elected ruling party, demands a formal apology from the United States government and urges that the “madmen” behind the Muhammad video be prosecuted, in violation of the First Amendment? If the U.S. follows the example of Europe over the last two decades, it will bend over backward to avoid further offense. And that would be a grave mistake—for the West no less than for those Muslims struggling to build a brighter future.
For a homicidal few in the Muslim world, life itself has less value than religious icons, such as the prophet or the Quran. These few are indifferent to the particular motives or arguments behind any perceived insult to their faith. They do not care about an individual’s political alignment, gender, religion, or occupation. They do not care whether the provocation comes from serious literature or a stupid movie. All that matters is the intolerable nature of the insult.
In response to this woman’s very personal experience with Islam, the Left lashed out. Think Progress attacked Newsweek for printing an “Islamaphobic” cover and an opinion piece in the International Business Times by Gianluca Mezzofiore, he decried her article as a “figment of fantasy” and ridiculed the American Establishment (he didn’t elaborate as to what, exactly, that is):
Instead of following the example of president Obama, who responded to the mission attacks by calmly shoring up security in endangered hotspots and dousing fires with diplomacy, many American outlets have sought to blow the attacks out of all proportion.
I recommend both Ali’s article and her excellent book for insight into a personal story of one woman’s clash with extremism.
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Comments
Hey, if Muslims can ban a movie trailer, can we ban ThinkProgress or it there a different sauce for the gander than for the goose?
Damn, if truth isn’t hate speech to the Left !
That cover, an accurate photo, is declared islamophobic? Huh? The Left has utterly given itself and its members over to lunacy.
Islam is everything that Robert Spencer and Pam Geller and Steve Emerson and Daniel Pipes and the ROP website plus lots and lots of others say and show it to be, not with opinion, but with verifiable evidence.
I’m gratified that more and more Americans are paying attention and are watching and taking note of the behavior of Muslims, whether they live here or overseas.
In the end, it is the ideology, Islam itself, that is so ugly and so reprehensible at warping the human mind.
I recall Churchill’s statement about appeasement – where you feed your allies to the crocodile so it eats you last.
Seems particularly appropriate to all non-Muslims in the Middle East or in America.
You can always tell when an ideology is losing an argument. In this case, they consistently attack anyone and everyone, even if overall sympathetic to their cause.
Once again, you can embed tweets without embedding just the JPEG image of a tweet. And then people can respond through twitter to the tweets you embed. Now, they can’t because you’re embedding images or screen grabs.
Eh-Hey!
once again you fail to realize how an embed can disappear.
once again you think you should make the decisions on how the blog is run.
once again you assume all tweets CAN be embeded.
get over it.
Gianluca Mezzofiore and Mona Eltahawy and their ilk NEEEEEEED to be spirited off to…say Pakistan…and kept there for about six months.
Living NOT as Americans but as Pakistanis must.
ONLY THEN can they say a word against Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has been there and done that.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Salman…
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/17/salman-rushdie-actually-no-i-dont-sympathize-with-the-mohammed-filmmaker-whos-now-being-threatened/
You’re right, but you’d never get them there. They know already. Unless they were born yesterday, they’ve heard of FGM. They know that those bearded guys can douse their wives with gasoline and torch them, for any cause, and face no penalty. They know this.
So, why do they torch Ayaan? Because her very being attacks Obama. FGM is fine for brown-skinned third-world women. Just don’t touch my Obama! Hypocrites. Scum.
Spit on the Mohammedans! They murder us. They torture their women. We should not allow any more immigration, nor the building of another mosque until a dominant faction, worldwide, denounces jihad and apologizes for all the crimes of jihad. Even then, I’d be leery.
Spit? Let me change that. There’s nothing to be gained from showing contempt. What we must show them is force. Raw force. That’s all they understand.
Not pausing to reflect upon how much worse things would be if Obama hadn’t given his Cairo speech …
… is like not pausing to reflect upon how much worse the economy would be if Obama hadn’t given us porkulus.
I don’t think Obama will be giving another speech in Cairo anytime soon. I don’t think Obama would dare set foot in Egypt right now. How’s that Smart Diplomacy working out?
We can only hope he goes to Cairo, and gets the Chris Stevens treatment.
I read some of the comments there.
I feel dirty now.
No, I’m pretty sure you were soiled before you arrived.
We just hold up a mirror.
Emperor Obamas response of calmly shoring up security and dousing fires witth diplomacy is sure working out wonderfuully, isn’t it. What a sick joke.
What a stunning deterioration of America: Free speech down the drain; freedom of religion down the drain; the once main-stream media is now the corrupt media, doing the bidding of a fraudulent, lying, America-hating president. This November is our last chance.
The media and the Obama administration are doing everything they can to downplay the wave of Muslim riots that spans a continent (that almost circles the globe, in fact), and especially to disclaim any responsibility for the decisions that ultimately led to the murder of our ambassador and three other Americans. Instead, they misdirect all blame to the maker of a film trailer.
I have a question, and I am afraid to hear the answer.
We know some gruesome details about the murder of Amb Stevens, but much is still unclear. I have not yet read any reports that give the cause of death for the other three men or that attempt to explain the last hours of their lives. We’ve seen photos of the column covered with bloody handprints, described as an American’s desperate attempt to avoid being dragged out of the building. But that is ALL that I have seen about what actually happened to these three men. We all have reason to suspect that they were tortured and suffered horribly — it is the standard Muslim way.
Is the Obama administration withholding information, perhaps disturbing and inflammatory information, about the likely torture and cause of death of these Americans? Would the truth stoke the anger of the American people and possibly affect his re-election prospects?
I do not want to know the grisly details, but I do want to know the truth about what happened to our people. The truth will help the American people better understand the enemy we face. It will also help dispel the Obama adminstration’s myth-making about how well his foreign policy outreach to the Muslim world is doing — and that alone is sufficient motive for them to hide information from us.
So, has anyone seen any reports that reconstruct the last hours of the lives of the three murdered men or that give a cause of death?
NASA has video of the three astronauts trapped in Apollo 1, burning to death. It has never been released. You can expect the video of the last minutes of these 4 lives to end up on the same NASA shelf for eternity.
We are not likely to ever find out what happened to these 4 men in Benghazi. It wouldn’t enhance Obama’s election campaign…
You are about the first to question the fate of the other 3 Americans. I have been thinking of it . Unlike the Ambassador they would not have been pushovers -being ex Seal.
Really they were casketed off . Where is the autopsy ? There has been no information.
Where are the survivors & what is their story?
But the extremist thing is …that even if it let out they all suffered a similar fate (& why wouldn’t they ) Americans would not get very worked up. They will not place the blame on Obama or Clinton.
Fact is these 4 men -of differing backgrounds – served America & americans can’t care less about their last hours at the hands of the most brutal people out there. yeah Benghazians – remember the guy hung out of the window to have his head chopped off ?
My guess is murdered sodomized beheaded In no particular order.
I am fast losing any hope for Americans.
Yesterday I posted about Ghaddaffi ‘s warnings re Mali & Islamists.
Today the Libyan president just threw the Taureg/Islamists under the caravan.
it is not much but a split is a split . Soon he may be forced to go to war with Mali.
Tripoli could easily be attacked from the east 9benghazi ) & the South. I think the west Mountain people will stick with Tripoli.
Bring it on .
We should be careful about uncritical deference to ‘authority’, as Prof. Jacobson has written previously, but her arguments stand on their own, detached from her personal experiences. And no one can doubt her courage.
The DNC media is absolutely correct, she should be flogged and reprimanded for speaking her opinion! Funny how the leftstream meda, aka DNC media is complicit with Sharia……Hmmmmmm, do you think the left and Islam is implementing a fatwa? Seems like they have attempted to expose anyone, including giving their home addresses, to those that would enforce their fatwa. The left is becoming the Islamic Jihad. Quite enlightening.
Proof we need our own media: “president Obama, … responded to the mission attacks by calmly shoring up security in endangered hotspots and dousing fires with diplomacy.”
Obama is calmly doing nothing. That is their inspiration. God help us.
Wasn’t there a discusion just a short time ago about standing up to bullying?
Putting a stop to bullying seems to be a priority when it’s 1) between kids or 2) between a man and a woman.
Between Islamofacist terrorists and the rest of the world? Heh. Not so much.
Women:
If a madman has hacked your clitoris in the name of his religion, you are authorized to debare this issue with Ali. Otherwise, you will either agree with her or STFU.
Men:
These madmen want to beat your mothers and daughters and wives/girlfriends into submission and would gladly rape or murder them for showing any skin. If you aren’t willing to go to war to defeat them, STFU and move out of my country.
How many times are we going to hear the “small percent of the population” rationalization to excuse barbaric intolerant behaviour?
The thrust seems to be …move along…nothing to see here.
But you know? Barbaric intolerant behaviour needs to be exposed and eliminated not permitted because of the small % wish wash. Wrong is wrong.
Shall we revisit history and excuse Hitler’s SS because…well..they were just a small % of all Germans.
Shall we do away with murder laws based on the same flimsey reasoning?
Is the government of Iran a small %? Seems to me they share the same values and intolerance voiced by the small % of all Muslims.
How long are moderate Muslims going to be held hostage by what amounts to a religious mafia?
If the “radical” Muslims are such a small percent of the population, why are they able to erupt all over the place, and why hasn’t the majority quelled their terrorism…
The kind answer (not the mean one, which is that this “minority” claim is a lie) is that yes, they are a minority percent of the population in the same way the U.S. military is a minority percent of the U.S. population.
Christopher Hitchens was a great friend and sponsor of Hirsi Ali. Hitchens recalled a talk he gave in which some Leftists were huddled in the back seething over their frustration with Hirsi Ali because of her untouchable moral authority. She was black, intelligent, a female, a victim, an atheist, she was from Africa — how were they going to destroy her? Because she had to be destroyed. She was totally ruining the narrative.
The following is an interview she gave to a Canadian leftist. He’s about as smug and snide as they get. Her responses are lovely, especially at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0zhZfhDGjE
Is it possible to be more of a dick than that guy? I don’t think so. She absolutely schooled him, annihilated him actually.
That video is amazing! I love how she just laughs at his liberal opinions and calls them out for the exaggerations they are. Most liberals go vacation in Turkey or Morocco and come back with a sense that they know what the Muslim world is like. Try living in a third world country before you start saying there is no freedom in America.
Thank you for saying that! I grew up in a third world country and I am amazed at the naivety (spelling?) of the general American public when it comes to Islam in general. Where I grew up the Shia and Sunni muslims often rioted against each other and we could not go to school because the authorities imposed curfew in our city to maintain peace and order. Just saying! The USA is the safest most free country in the world and I would not live anywhere else!
Great article by this lady!! I’ve heard her speack on cspan a while back, very enlightning and great article!
We will be holding a rally for moderate Muslims who wish to speak out against violence and for freedom of religion and speech.
There is still room for 3 more people in the phone booth so hurry and get your reservation in.
This reminds me of the time I saw four guys riding on the same motorcycle in Iraq.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of the finest people to walk the planet. She should be a regular read for conservatives.
The rage guys on the left looks like he caught his dick in his pants zipper.
“The left does not hate evil; it hates those who hate evil.”
–Dennis Prager
Islam is not a religion of peace, let alone a religion at all. It is a militant religious theocracy designed to control the world under the guise of certain people’s interpreted religious edicts- it is in effect a cancer on civilized humanity, and it will devour the free world unless confronted and defeated.
Anyone who who says that Jews must die, Israel must be wiped off the map America and their freedom must be destroyed and replaced with an islamic muslim country under Sharia law.. And women, let alone anyone else who does not subscribe to islamists views, and or does not convert to islam, should and must be enslaved and subjected to torture, beheadings, lashes, etc.. is truly insane and evil.
Even if 10 Billion people say this, it is still insane and evil. No amount of indoctrinated islamist evil can and will ever replace the truth, humanity, and goodness in the world. Not confronting this evil, aka appeasing and capitulating to it and them, only makes them more aggressive, emboldened, and determined to destroy us / Western civilization, Democracy, Freedom, and Liberty.
The world is once again on the verge of another world war with the radical far left anti-American socialist marxist Obamacrats and the radical extremist islamists allied with each other, against the free people of the world. They neither get it, see it, nor do they care to.. Thus ours is not to appease, reason, and understand them, ours is only to defeat them, for if not, we will eventually be at their mercy- enslaved, beheaded, and tortured.
The lessons of WWII and the Nazi’s must stop being ignored as if they wee never learned.
Ali is a brilliant and incredibly brave woman. Not too bad on the blinkers, either.
WTF, Mona: Angry mustached liberal woman?!
Ali is in good company.
Churchill’s assessment of Islam in a single sentence:
“No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.”
Link to the extended version: http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2012/09/15/churchill-on-islam/
Linking you today:
http://www.syd4.blogspot.com/2012/09/once-woman-has-her-genitals-cut-off-by.html
I have read Ayaan’s books. And this article.
It is over her experience that I break with the Left’s “Feminists.”
No woman who has had her genitals cut off, been sold into marriage against her will, and had her life threatened should ever be told to sit down and shut up.
Ms. Hirsi-Ali is one of the bravest people alive!
gasper | September 17, 2012 at 7:49 pm
“Obama is calmly doing nothing. That is their inspiration. God help us.”
I would think he has done enough. That speech is Cairo and other parts of the ME are nothing but incitement. I would bet he negoiated with the leaders of these rebel factions and agreed that the US would help overthrow Mubarack and Quadaffi, etc. and darn if he didn’t give that aid. We all wondered why he invaded libya. Well, that’s why. He agreed to the release of the Lockerbie bomber thinking it would never get out but it did for a short while but is now forgotten. That was to be his excuse for deposing Quadaffi in case he needed to.
He tried to force communism on Hondurus, he met with Farc in Columbia (our ally) and other drug lords in other countries during his 2008 campaign but the media as usual was mum. All the bad guys in fact.
He has subverted the government of Mexico and Quatamalia and who knows what other countries with guns to drug lords. Probably part of that agreement. Hezbollah is in South America and he is doing nothing about that. Islamic militants are in Mexico (and probably coming here) if you go by all the beheadings there have been down there lately. You never heard of Mexicans beheading anyone before the last few years. They just shot them and left them where they laid.
He is allowing illegal aliens and who knows who else cross our borders with impunity and refuses to deport them. By EOC (one of many taking away our freedom) he is allowing Mexicans to stay her legally. Poor fools don’t understand that they are documented now and the EOC is no good after obama leaves office (if he ever does).
He is dismantling and taking away the wealth of Americans leaving about a fourth of our citizens in poverty.
He is building his own private army and is buying ammunition through Depts of education, energy, epa, etc. All these gun sales skyrocketing? Don’t run away with the idea they are all conservatives. His private army will consist of Blacks, Illegals, definitely muslims and brainwashed whites. I can’t help wondering when or if he is going to turn these people looose on the rest of us. Before the election or will he wait until he loses? Or is he going to use the whole islamic crisis and say it would be wrong to change presidents during this crucial time and then turn them loose to make us behave.
He is not allowing our military to have guns even on bases (as we saw in the Fort Hood fiasco) so how will they defend us and/or stop him. The police, firemen and teachers are unionized. H*ll, even the street cleaners re unionized. And the unions are all in his pocket.
I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the terms of the loans from China was to refuse to build the Keystone pipeline so Canada would have to sell their oil to China instead. He is not the first democrat president who sold us out. BTW, are the oilfields un Canada the same ones that are under us that we are not allowed to drill?
His goal is world communism with him at the helm and he will let nothing stop him from that goal. All he has to do now is play golf while the world goes up in flames.
A smart president would pull all our embassies out of the ME…at least until these riots are over but not him. He doesn’t care if our people are killed in atrocious ways. Hr will use their deaths for his own benefit. He is a sociopath. He has no empathy for his fellow man. I will never forget that he said 25 million Americans would have to die for him to implement his policies.
All this is scary and I hope I am wrong but I doube it.