Ayaan Hirsi Ali last night at UW Madison (Badger Herald)
As I posted yesterday, Muslim apostate Ayaan Hirsi Ali spoke last night at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The first report on her appearance comes from Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch (Spencer is a fierce critic of radical Islam.)
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/02/-freedom-fighter-freedom-fighter.html
Here is the report from the Badger Herald (UW campus newspaper). It contains a video of the full speech, as well as the Q&A. I urge you to take the time (about 1 1/2hours) to listen to her words.
http://badgerherald.com/news/2010/02/03/hirsi_ali_gives_her_.php
I can not say I am surprised. While it appears there was no major problem, the shouts of "Allahu Akhbar" could only have been meant to intimidate Ali. It sounds somewhat similar to when Daniel Pipes came to my school (UC-Irvine) a few years back and had his talk disrupted by the Muslim Student Union.
I have attended many of the events sponsored by the UCI-MSU. Occasionally, there have been counter-protesters who carried pro-Israeli posters and flags. Yet the standard procedure is to let the speakers have their say then hit them with hard questions during the Q&A, which I think is the proper way to go.
What the Muslim Student Association at UW Madison apparently doesn't understand is that when they try to shout down a speaker who is criticizing Islam and making the case that certain aspects of Islam are incompatible with a free and open society, they are merely putting an exclamation mark on the speaker's words.
Prior to Ali's appearance, MSA president, Rashid Dar told the press that he was concerned that the audience would come away from Ali's talk with a negative impression of Islam. When you combined Ali's compelling story with the shouts from MSA members, it probably was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Entrance to UW lecture hall for Ali's appearance (Milwaukee Journal)
In addition, consider what neutral or uninformed audience members must have thought as they had to pass through metal detectors in order to enter the hall. Why was that? Just this past Sunday, I attended an AIPAC luncheon in Irvine (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). It was the same thing. We all had to pass through metal detectors. In addition, a bomb-sniffing dog was on duty. Why is that?
Those who oppose Ali's words might ask themselves why she has to live under such security.
6 comments:
I've mentioned before that I have my students read an excerpt of her book. I'd love it if I could get enough copies and make this part of my curriculum.
Yeah, good luck with that, Lance. Don't you think your superiors would come down on you in a NY minute?
I have posted her book on this site, and I think everybody should read it, but I am very cautious about imposing my views in the classroom.
Well, it's hard to get a new book into the curriculum no matter what. The controversy certainly wouldn't deter me though.
Personally, I think that it would make a nice counterpoint to The Autobiography of Malcolm X. With that, they get to see how Islam helped to get a man away from a dangerous and hateful lifestyle (after his pilgrammage to Mecca, of course). This book would be the other side.
Still, your point is valid. A lot of parents have a hard time seeing the difference between reading a book with a certain message and advocating that message. You see this from both liberals and conservatives, as the liberals think that some of us teachers are advocating for Christianity when we teach stories from The Bible, and conservative parents think that we're advocating euthanasia when we look at the reasons why George shoots Lennie in Of Mice and Men.
Just like with Malcolm X (and every other book we read) I tell them that it's okay to disagree with everything the narrator has to say. That would be the case for Ali's book as well, and if a Muslim student wants to conclude that she's off-base, then his or her grade won't be impacted negatively.
Lance,
You would never get her book approved. Calif's textbooks have to pass the most rigid pc muster in the us.
You're right - when it comes to textbooks, anyway. It's not just about being PC though - it's about making sure that there's nothing that could offend anybody's sensibilities. For instance, the literature books I use are sure to edit out the extreme violence from The Odyssey and the seduction scene from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Lucky for those kids, I'm sure to put those bits back in though.
Still, those are textbooks. When it comes to novels, we definitely have a lot more freedom. There are a lot of books that I would definitely say are not PC in any way - like Huckleberry Finn to name just one example.
Shoot, this is making me want to try and get her book approved. At the very worst, it will spur some debate and conversation. It all might be moot though, as my district continues to slash away at the budget, and it may very well be unlikely that we can get copies even if the book is approved.
LOance,
And even Huckleberry Finn had some tough times a few decades ago. How about Uncle Remus? Try and find those books these days. And I have argued that they are not racist.
So here is my challenge: Put in an application for Infidel and see how far you get. I may even give you an essay to write on fousesquawk.
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