The following commentary from the Libertarian blogger Willis Hart featuring support for the Islamaphobic Right in the context of bashing the "Regressive Left".
| Willis Hart: On the Fact that Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Condemnation of Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Countries Is Seen by a Great Many Regressive Leftists (Maajid Nawaz's Term and I Like it) as an Example of Imperialistic Condescension... Do these idiots just not understand how condescending that THAT sounds? Apparently they don't. P.S. They also apparently don't seem all that exorcised about the rigid separation of the sexes in Muslim societies, honor-killings, the paranoiac and ridiculous emphasis on sexual purity, the forced covering of women, the murder of Christians, forced conversions, the destruction of numerous churches, the death penalty for apostasy and homosexuality, the viscous dehumanizing of Jews, etc. Nope, it's all about the relatively mild imperfections of the West. That's their bread and butter. (3/27/2016 AT 3:15). |
Figures Willis would like this woman's slamming of the Left. He says for referring to female genital mutilation in Islamic countries as "imperialistic condescension", but this Hirsi person is apparently the Black Pamela Geller... in that she has "called for amending the US Constitution in order to discriminate against Muslim Americans" and has been praised by the likes of Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks.
| Breivik idolised Hirsi Ali; putting her forward as a worthy Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He saw in Hirsi Ali almost limitless propaganda potential declaring in his manifesto "...because of her background she has made criticism of Islam acceptable to people who would otherwise find it difficult to digest". (The Progressive Left? by johnnyspooner. From the blog "drifters and parking spaces", 1/2/2016). |
Breivik is a far Right nut who views "Cultural Marxism" as the enemy (something he has in common with the Tea Party movement). "Cultural Marxism" is a reference to a far Right conspiracy theory that says "all the ills of modern... culture, from feminism, affirmative action, sexual liberation and gay rights to the decay of traditional education and even environmentalism".
Breivik targeted The Workers' Youth League which "is Norway's largest political youth organization and is affiliated with the Norwegian Labour Party", murdering 77 people.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is directly associated with Dutch anti-Muslim extremist Geert Wilders, a politician who "campaigned to stop what he views as the Islamisation of the Netherlands". Ali emigrated to America after she was found to have "falsified her asylum application" in the Netherlands.
Although before the Netherlands kicked her out, she "was elected a member of the House of Representatives (the lower house of the Dutch parliament), representing the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy", a Rightwing Dutch political party tha is anti-Islam and anti-immigration.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali says that "we are at war with Islam [and that] there comes a moment when you crush your enemy". She is among the haters who believe that "the majority of Muslims aren't moderates and they must radically alter their religion", making her a natural fit for the American Enterprise Institute, which she joined as a "fellow" after coming to the United States.
According to a 6/21/2012 ThinkProgress article, The American Enterprise Institute's Islamophobia Problem, AEI Scholar Robert Spencer (an Islamaphobe who has collaborated with Geller) was "cited 162 times in Anders Breivik's manifesto".
Re the notoriously Islamophobic Geller, Willis Hart has defended her "free speech" rights on his blog.
| Willis Hart: Like it or not, the Constitution was written to protect the speech of people exactly like Geller (and Eugene V. Debbs, the KKK, etc. before her) who don't go around saying, "I like kittens" or "gee, that rose is pretty". And if the Muslims don't like it, they can go fuck themselves... or at the very least turn the channel. Boom, done. (5/9/2015 AT 6:54pm). |
OK, so Willis does say "the gal's not my cup of tea", but that's a incredibly weak rebuke of Geller's hate. Actually, it isn't a rebuke at all. And notice that he says Muslims can "go fuck themselves", as opposed to them using their own free speech rights to denounce Geller's hate? Maybe he thinks they should just shut the hell up and let Geller spew her hate unchallenged? (OST #42).
My point is that Ayaan Hirsi Ali has (and has been) aligned strongly with the Islam-hating Right and these are the kind of people the Harster gravitates to. It doesn't hurt that Ali is a former Muslim, so her criticisms carry more weight for that reason. And she isn't entirely wrong. I agree that Islam has many problems in this area, but the answer is not hate. Obviously we need to be reaching out to the Moderates, but you're clearly not going to get anywhere if you deny Moderates even exist!
Which is why I call BS on the Hart's assertion that the Left isn't "all that exorcised about" these issues. They are. They just disagree with the Right's belief that hate is the way to go. They don't want to solve problems. The purpose of their hateful rhetoric is to inflame their racist bigoted base for profit and votes.
As for the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation being referred to as "imperialistic condescension", I could find no "regressive Leftist" usage of this term. So, because Willis provides no proof that a "great many regressive Leftists" hold this view (and my own Google search turned up nada), I can only guess as to what he was talking about. My GUESS is that (if any Leftists raised this concern) they were referring to how Muslims who approve of this practice might view Westerners who attempt to tell them they need to change their ways.
And why the hell would they be eager to be lectured to by their former colonizers? Sounds like a legitimate concern to me. Seems to me the Right thinks, re the old saying that "you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar", that actually the opposite is true. In their minds the BEST way to change people's minds is with condemnation and hatred.
Me, I think that the fact that this hate speak inspired terrorists like Anders Breivik is proof that hate does NOT work because hatred only breeds more hatred. But I think that's the goal here. Because more riled up the more hateful idiots are the better it is for the bottom line of those in the Islamophobia Industry. Ca-ching!
But back to the Hartster... I really don't think he gives to big of a crap about female genital mutilation in Islamic countries. The REAL reason for his post is that it's an opportunity for him to bash the "regressive Left", while aligning himself with bigots who fear monger about "Islamization". What's next, posts about how we need to be passing laws banning Sharia Law here in the US?
Perhaps not. But the posts from the regressive Libertarian idiot bashing Muslims and promoting hate as an answer (via agreement with those whose bread and butter is selling Islamophobic hate) will NO DOUBT continue. How shameful.
Image: Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Pamela Geller. Ali's writings are cited frequently by Pamela Geller's blog Atlas Shrugs. Willis quotes Ayaan Hirsi Ali "...because of her background she has made criticism of Islam acceptable to people who would otherwise find it difficult to digest", while saying (re Geller) "the gal's not my cup of tea". However, as the picture shows, THEY'RE ON THE SAME TEAM! And that quote? Remember that it's from the terrorist Anders Breivik!
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