Diana Hsieh refers us to this interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I'll quote the same bit Diana chose to quote, because there's more to be said on it:
SPIEGEL: What should the appropriate European response look like?
Hirsi Ali: There should be solidarity. The cartoons should be displayed everywhere. After all, the Arabs can't boycott goods from every country. They're far too dependent on imports. And Scandinavian companies should be compensated for their losses. Freedom of speech should at least be worth that much to us.
SPIEGEL: But Muslims, like any religious community, should also be able to protect themselves against slander and insult.
Hirsi Ali: That's exactly the reflex I was just talking about: offering the other cheek. Not a day passes, in Europe and elsewhere, when radical imams aren't preaching hatred in their mosques. They call Jews and Christians inferior, and we say they're just exercising their freedom of speech. When will the Europeans realize that the Islamists don't allow their critics the same right? After the West prostrates itself, they'll be more than happy to say that Allah has made the infidels spineless.
I agree with most of what she says here: an Arab-Muslim boycott of all European countries would mean a return to the seventh century for most of the boycotting nations, if not worse. So, true, it's not likely to happen.
But compensating Scandinavian companies for those losses? No, I can't see it. They are taking a chance by doing business with those societies which place, let's be frank here, a lower priority on rationality and human rights and just simple respect. Yes, freedom of speech is worth a lot to those of us in the west -- but why should we bail out those companies for their losses? None of them asked me before they took that risk.
Her statement that the Islamists don't allow their critics the right to exercise freedom of speech deserves more emphasis, too. Try starting a Christian radio station in Saudi Arabia. Or an Objectivist one, for that matter. But we're supposed to be "tolerant" and "sensitive."
Which is bullshit. Not to put too fine a point on it, but we've been kissing their asses and have been for years. As she puts it, "the West prostrates itself." I've no desire to foment a war -- of any sort -- with the entire Muslim world, but we damn sure should defend ourselves when one is declared on us.
Posted by Craig Ceely at February 12, 2006 08:09 PMSince I don't know much about her general political views, I'm not certain what Ali meant in saying that "Scandinavian companies should be compensated for their losses." She might simply mean that others ought to make a bit of an effort to buy goods from Scandanavian countries. While I'd much rather particularly reward the companies taking a principled stand on the matter, that wouldn't seem all that unreasonable. It's certainly nothing like sending foreign aid to Denmark!
In any case, that claim threw up some red flags for me too.
Posted by: Diana Hsieh at February 12, 2006 10:20 PMDiana,
If it's a question of supporting something like a "reverse boycott," then I'm all for it.
Posted by: Craig at February 12, 2006 11:15 PM