I just came across the text of the speech that Ayaan Hirsi Ali gave before an audience of journalists at the National Press Club in Washington last Monday. As befits someone with her courage (or should that be recklessness?), she didn't mind entering the lion's den and asking the lion why on earth it's being such a pussy.
The first time that I was at a gathering like this one, it was November 2005 at the Krasnapolsky hotel in Amsterdam; not quite like this one, though, because there is only one National Press Club. I was invited to a session on media coverage of Islam, and Submission was shown. Submission is a 10-minute film I made with Theo van Gogh. As many of you know, he was killed for it by a Muslim.
I found myself in the odd position of defending freedom of expression, free press, and the rights of women against Arab-Islamic journalists and commentators. I found it odd because the Western journalists whose conference it was were either quiet, mumbled something about free expression, or approached me after the session and whispered into my ear that I had done a good job. I noticed the embarrassment they felt at defending the very right from which they earn their bread.
I noticed the same sense of uneasiness in early 2006 among Western journalists, academics, politicians, and commentators on how to respond to the cartoons of Muhammad in Denmark. In fact, many seriously defended the assertion that Denmark had to apologize for the cartoons. This attitude was repeated in the fall of last year when the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor who wrote that the founder of Islam spread his religion by the sword, and the New York Times urged the Pope to apologize. ...
Why are Westerners so insecure about everything that is so wonderful about the West: political freedom, free press, freedom of expression, equal rights for women and men, gays and heterosexuals, critical thinking, and the great strength of scrutinizing ideas — and especially faith? ...
If we do not understand the differences between Islam and the West — why one is so great and the other so low — and we don't fight back and win this battle of ideas in order to preserve our civilization, in my view there is no point to your profession or mine.
The two-hour interview I had with Hirsi Ali on Wednesday should make it into the pages of Reason soon — I'll post a link. Thanks to all who sent me questions, by the way.
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