Feeling Slightly Dirty

That’s how I’m feeling at the moment, having read, and had a shudder of revulsion at the content of, this piece by Pankaj Mishra in the Guardian. As Ophelia says, it’s ugly stuff.

A good rebuttal of Mishra’s tripe is this comment:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was mutilated as a child because of the patriachal religion of her homeland.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali received death threats after publishing her first book, detailing the treatment of women in Islamic society

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s colleague Theo Van Gogh was murdered. A letter threatening Ayaan Hirsi Ali was pinned to his dead body with a knife. As a result, she had to go into hiding.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali still regularly receives death threats.

And yet, according to you, a few criticisms of a planning application represent a tide of hatred, while Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the one to be vilified. It is people like you, Pankaj, the apologists and appeasers, that allow islamists operating in the west to think they can murder and threaten with impunity.

Now are you going to come down below the line and answer our points, or do you think you’ve done enough damage with your witless blathering?

For a longer and more in-depth background on why Mishra is talking shite, then I would point you to this piece by Clive James, penned in September 2009.