Monday, May 15, 2006

Ayaan Hirsi Ali to work at AEI

Ayaan Hirsi Ali to move to US. Just a heads up. Let's make a list of desirable European refugees for the coming decade. I'll start by proposing open borders for the French Jews.

This all reminds me a bit of the 1930's. Will the American think tanks play the same role as the University in Exile?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

chuck:

Conservative Universities in Exile, too.

truepeers said...

Yes, I think there should be a policy: no asylum for Europeans unless they fight first for their countries.

Are you aware of the controversy surrounding Hirsi Ali, that she lied about her family history to gain asylum in the Netherlands and that now some there are calling for her deportation? See here, here, here, and here.

I am willing to break bread with all enemies of the Jihad, but I would not be quick to champion the immigration of people who are broadly condemnatory of religion (including Christianity) and conservative values - especially someone who has tried to ban a European political party on these grounds.

Anonymous said...

truepeers:

Good point. Seeing how I'm keeping Amazon in the black all by myself, I'm now halfway through her new book The Virgin's Cage about the status of women in Islam and it is quite clear that she is very much the European intellectual,the social engineer, and the anti-Christian secularist.

On the other hand, she is fearless in her condemnation of the jihadis. And at this point we need all the friends we can get.

truepeers said...

Yes, I could learn a thing or two about courage from her, when we share our meal, but perhaps there is a distinction to be made between allies and friends?

chuck said...

and it is quite clear that she is very much the European intellectual,the social engineer, and the anti-Christian secularist.

No doubt she will continue to change. European philosophical views remain influential around the world and they need informed critics, perhaps she will become one. Anyhoo, I find it interesting to watch the development of such as Hitchins and Horowitz. One can always condemn them for not getting there sooner but such is life. Even I am a bit smarter now than, say, forty years ago. It may be incipient Alzheimers that makes me feel so, but it is pretty to think otherwise.

Anonymous said...

truepeers:

perhaps there is a distinction to be made between allies and friends?

Yes. Very true.

chuck:

One can always condemn them for not getting there sooner but such is life.

And interesting isn't it how such folks swing around to the conservative side, where they instinctively feel more welcome, while the carpet-chewers go left. Taliban Man at Yale, Hirsi Ali at AEI.

truepeers said...

Maybe some of the links I gave out earlier do not give a full and fair account of what has been happening in Holland these last few days. See also this.

truepeers said...

Amazingly, the Dutch minister, Verdonk, is now talking about taking away Ali's citizenship and passport, kicking her out of Parliament, the country, and making it tough for her to come to the US, at least according to this post

chuck said...

Aayan Hirsi Ali (by the way this is not her real name).

Gosh, scrabbles, what a surprise. And what a sinister revelation. May I ask where your own name comes from, for it seems an odd name for a mother to bestow.

The last educated Dutchman I met in this country was Goudsmit. Frankly, he wasn't terribly happy with the way his family had been sent off to die in the camps nor did he cherish fond memories of his erstwhile colleagues who collaborated. Ah well, peace is priceless when purchased so cheaply, eh?

truepeers said...

Yes, it's dirty politics indeed. Knowing, as I somewhat do, the kind of values commonly held by the men who liberated Holland from the Nazis, one wonders, judging from a couple of the comments here, if their sacrifices were what they would have wished them to be. No doubt there is ugliness in many a person's past. At least she has widely admitted it.

But you have to pity the Europeans: they have a big problem on their hands that they were too dumb to see coming. As a Canadian, we have to take some resonsibility for our creation of the modern ideology of multiculturalism. But, knowing that the ideology is a failure in various respects - it is not very compatible with nationhood, and is more suited to a country like Canada that is as much a creation of empire as it is a nation - I wouldn't think of taking out my fears of coming violence in Europe on Hirsi Ali - eventhough she holds certain of the liberal, anti-Christian, anti-national sentiments I reject - because she has stood up to the violent in ways that can only shame the appeaser who resides in most of us.

chuck said...

cos goudsmit died on his way to the usa in the early 40s

Goudsmit immigrated in 1927, led the Alsos mission in WWII, and died in 1978. I don't see how you can not be embarrassed at spouting nonsense like you have.