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In my last post, I tried to understand why Diana West would write a sympathetic article on Hirsi Ali.
To be fair, Ali is a confusing and confused character whose views seem to vacillate based on the time of day. This doesn't make for a stable ally, or a trustworthy writer. Here's a quote from an article (I misidentified it as a Time article, but it is in the Daily Beast) which quotes Ali admonishing Geert Wilders, which I posted in my latest blog on her, "Hirsi Ali, Ex Infidel":
"His weakness is that he plays the renegade, he still wants to position himself as being outside the establishment," says Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an author and former Dutch parliamentarian whose critiques of Islam have been ferocious in their own right. "Once upon a time it was necessary for him to distinguish himself by saying, 'I take a stand, and I am a man of clarity.'"West has an earlier article where she discusses this Daily Beast article, and is a little more critical of Ali's statements on moderate Islam and Wilders.
"He has to move to the middle," urges Hirsi Ali. "He has to distinguish between violent Islamists and nonviolent Muslims. You know, there are so many shades of Muslims right now, and he could use some of them as his allies."
But, my advice stays the same. Ali is a confusing and confused personality. I think it is best not to hold her as any kind of reliable writer or thinker when it comes to issues on Islam.
