If you can't wait for C-SPAN2 to air the Proud to Be Right panel at which I defended "Conservatism for Punks" and announced that there is no God, this dramatic clip (a mere twenty-eight seconds long) of Ayaan Hirsi Ali at an Intelligence Squared U.S. debate noting the role of Islam in her struggles might do as a substitute. And here's an oddly engaging clip (several minutes long) of a Christian videographer in Dearborn, MI complaining about the purportedly Islam-favoring police there.
Some of the neocons I partied with last night might not necessarily see the need for this next caveat, but: with some 3 million Muslims living peacefully in the U.S. for decades, even an atheist like me thinks it's unreasonable to treat all incursions of that religion (even a mosque near Ground Zero) as a creeping threat, but it is also true that for some bad eggs it is the primary motivation and thus worth studying.
TODD SEAVEY author of Libertarianism for Beginners and writer of/speaker about many other things
2 comments:
I was there. Her team swung the audience vote of the Oxford-style debate pretty dramatically
Pre-Debate Poll Results
41%For | 25% Against | 34%
Post Debate Poll Results
36% For | 55% Against | 9%
That's a 35-point swing. She had more "team chemistry" with her partner, a Brit I was not familiar with, than the other side did (they hardly spoke during the breaks). The pro-Muslim female had an inspiring personal story as a moderate Muslim but was in over her head and inarticulate, while her partner a foundation head was probably too glib. Hirsi Ali and her partner had a more consistent line in snark. Hirsi Ali played the ultimate trump card when she noted the fact metal detectors were required for this debate proved her side's argument.
Seven million. Obama's speech in June 2009, Cairo, said seven million American Muslims. For context, that's about as many as there are American Jews.
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