The Public Discourse and Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Yesterday the good folks at the Public Discourse published an uncharacteristically foolish essay by Brandeis grad student (and Islamic-convert) Celene Ayat Ibrahim-Lizzio, which takes the side of Brandeis and criticizes Ayaan Hirsi Ali for lacking a sufficiently “nuanced” view of the world in general, and Islam in particular.

As Galley Friend X put it:

[The Ibrahmi-Lizzio piece] was gross for a number of reasons–not least of which was that the Public Discourse was adopting a “free speech has consequences” view that they really don’t want to be adopting.  (“Brandon Eich could not be reached for comment.”)

There is something very rich about the girl who converted while living life’s lottery at Princeton lecturing Ali about how her position is insufficiently nuanced. I guess Ali missed the nuanced exegesis of the Imam in the Hague who prayed for her to get mouth cancer. Or she overlooked the critical-gender Sharia analysis of the Imam in Pittsburgh who said she should be sent to an Islamic country and beheaded for her apostasy. Those American Muslim communities are so diverse!