Once again the streets of the Arab world are burning with false outrage. But we must hold our heads up high. Ayaan Hirsi Ali on how she survived Muslim rage—and how we can end it.
It is a strange and bitter
coincidence that the latest eruption of violent Islamic indignation
takes place just as Salman Rushdie publishes his new book, Joseph Anton: A Memoir, about his life under the fatwa.
In 23 years not much has changed.
Islam’s rage reared its ugly head again last week. The American ambassador to Libya and three of his staff members were murdered by a raging mob in Benghazi, Libya, possibly under the cover of protests against a film mocking the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
Islam’s rage reared its ugly head again last week. The American ambassador to Libya and three of his staff members were murdered by a raging mob in Benghazi, Libya, possibly under the cover of protests against a film mocking the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
They were killed on the watch of
the democratic government they helped to install. This government was
either negligent or complicit in their murders. And that forces the U.S.
to confront a stark, unwelcome reality.
Until
recently, it was completely justifiable to feel sorry for the masses in
Libya because they suffered under the thumb of a cruel dictator. But
now they are no longer subjects; they are citizens. They have the
opportunity to elect a government and build a society of their choice.
Will they follow the lead of the Egyptian people and elect a government
that stands for ideals diametrically opposed to those upheld by the
United States? They might. But if they do, we should not consider them
stupid or infantile. We should recognize that they have made a free
choice—a choice to reject freedom as the West understands it.
Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/09/16/ayaan-hirsi-ali-on-the-islamists-final-stand.html
Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/09/16/ayaan-hirsi-ali-on-the-islamists-final-stand.html
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