AYAAN HIRSI ALI

Hello, dear reader. I hope you've had a wonderful Spooktober and that everything is going well at work and with your family. It's important to keep a good work-life balance and to maintain the relationships in your life that make you happy. Don't let your boss take your golden years from you - live in the moment.

Today, I'd like to discuss an author who has garnered quite a bit of criticism for her views and opinions. However, she has great character and she has not backed down from her positions. The person I'm talking about is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Some of you might know her already, as she made a name for herself among atheists during the 2010s, but in modern times she has been written off as a discriminating right winger. Is she a bigot? By the end of this post, you'll be able to draw your own conclusions.

The post will take the following structure:

1. The Early Life of Ayaan Hirsi Ali

2. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Becomes an Apostate

3. Prey

4. Conclusion

Neighbour, you better be ready, as this is going to be a particularly long piece, but I trust you're used to lengthy effortposts. I'd also like some feedback regarding the quality of the post. Let's begin!

1. The Early Life of Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali! Oh, how I love that name! Say it aloud; it's quite fun. Ayaan Hirsi Ali! The lady's life began in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1969, the same year as the famed moon landing. For those unaware, Mogadishu is the capital city of Somalia and it has served as a vital trading port in the Indian Ocean for millennia. The city has a rich history and it is also very Islamicized, though this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Somalia's demographics. According to research, over 99% of the country identifies as Sunni Muslims.

Not unexpectedly, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's family is devoutly Islamic as well. Her father, Hirsi Ali Magan, was a prominent figure in the Somali Rebellion Movement, and he is a co-founder of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front. Magan was a very opinionated man, and he was even imprisoned for his political dissidence. Perhaps this is where Ayaan Hirsi Ali gets her bravery and outspokenness from. Do you believe the tendency to be politically active is an inheritable trait?

Now, before we continue, we must discuss a very important topic - circumcision. Female circumcision, also known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), is very common in Somalia. I will not be using this term because I believe that all forms of circumcision constitute mutilation. CIRCUMCISION BAD! The country has one of the highest rates of circumcision in the world, and the UN has these harrowing statistics to share:

99 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 in Somalia, have been subjected to FGM, the majority between ages five and nine.

Why is female circumcision so common in Somalia? There are many answers to this complicated question. It is a cultural phenomenon passed down from generation to generation. The practice is associated with purity and honour, and it is considered a rite of passage for girls.

Scholars have pointed to the lack of strong legal consequences for the practice as one of the reasons it has endured. They have also looked at patriarchy as a possible reason why female circumcision is widespread. However, it is worth noting that the practice is often perpetuated by older women. This does not disqualify patriarchy as a motivation for the practice, though it does suggest that there is more at play than the mere desire to control women's sexuality.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was circumcised at age five. This happened despite her father's wishes, as he was opposed to the practice. She has the following to say about this part of her history:

I remember the celebrations. I remember the goodies and the gifts. And I remember being caught by these two women - one of them my grandmother. But they couldn't find a woman to do it. They found a man, and fortunately for those girls circumcised by men, it's much milder. So I wasn't circumcised in the way that I should have been.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has spoken out against female circumcision. However, she doesn't stop there. She is also careful to highlight that male circumcision is bad! She has the following to say on the topic:

Though her father was progressive in many ways, he still clung to some customs of Islam and his culture. This meant that he married Ayaan Hirsi Ali off to her cousin when she was in her early 20s. Already, Ayaan Hirsi Ali had developed a forceful personality and she wasn't going to be easily told what to do. She has said the following on the topic:

But because I also love and admire my father, I spoke to the man he wanted me to marry, and I asked him what kind of life we were going to have together. And he said, 'Well, you're going to have six sons for me.' And I told my father I didn't want this, and he said he couldn't go back on his word." When Hirsi Ali refused to attend, they carried out the ceremony without her. "Clan members came together, papers were signed, and I was married."

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/may/17/religion.immigration

Ayaan Hirsi Ali wasn't happy with the marriage, and she soon made plans to flee from Somalia. She made it to the Netherlands, where she would change her life and the trajectory of Europe.

2. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Becomes an Apostate

Now, growing up, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was a devout Muslim, and she believed wholly in the Quran. As you might have already guessed, things took a turn when Ayaan Hirsi Ali found herself in Europe. After fleeing from her arranged marriage, she sought asylum in the Netherlands. She received a residence permit, and she began her life anew.

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Quick notes from Holly!

The Netherlands. Holland. Dutch. Which one is it? The terms Netherlands and Holland are often used interchangeably, but they actually refer to different things. The Netherlands is the correct and official name of the entire country. It includes 12 provinces, each with its own distinct culture and identity. Holland, on the other hand, refers only to two provinces: North Holland (Noord-Holland) and South Holland (Zuid-Holland). These provinces include major cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. Historically, Holland was the most economically powerful region in the Netherlands, and because of its influence in trade and commerce, the name became associated with the whole country.

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At first, she took odd jobs to keep herself alive. However, her intellectual prowess would reveal itself, making it clear that she was destined for more than being a cleaner. In the Netherlands, she exposed herself to a wealth of literature, and this gradually began to expand her worldview and stretch her imagination. She attended Leiden University, where she obtained a Master's degree in political science. Her love of politics only grew, and after graduating, she became a Fellow at the Wiardi Beckman Stichting (WBS), a think tank of the center-left Labour Party (PvdA).

It's at this point of the story that we skip to a historic day - September 11, 2001. The USA was the intended target, but the whole world felt the blow. On this day, Osama Bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda, orchestrated four aeroplane attacks on various key USA infrastructures. Most notably, the Twin Towers went tumbling down. What motivated the terroristic attacks? As you're intelligent enough to guess, it was a number of factors, including opposition to the USA's military presence in the Middle East and a desire to draw the USA into a prolonged war. There were also religious motivations, and Bin Laden considered the West an enemy of Islam. Al Qaeda's ideology is rooted in Salafi-jihadism, a radical interpretation of Islam that advocates for violent jihad (struggle) against perceived enemies of Islam. The 9/11 attacks were meant to provoke a global confrontation between the West and Muslims, hoping to mobilise Muslims around the world to join the cause. The attackers were promised martyrdom and heavenly rewards, further motivating their participation.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was taken aback by the attack, and it caused her to question Islam and its tenets. She listened to Bin Laden's tapes and discovered him citing the Quran to motivate the attack. Ayaan's crisis of faith continued when she was introduced to the Atheist Manifesto by the Dutch philosopher Herman Philipse. She found she could not associate herself with Islam any longer and slowly but surely, she gave up her religion. Do you think she made the right choice?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali began writing against Islam and, in particular, its treatment of women. Her writing garnered a lot of attention, good and bad, and it made her a prominent figure in the Netherlands as her political career flourished. To promote her anti-Islam message, Ayaan Hirsi Ali teamed up with filmmaker Theo van Gogh to create a documentary detailing the treatment of women in Islamic society. The documentary, titled Submission, caused much of a stir for its content, especially among Dutch Muslims. A fatwa was called upon Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh, but those are harmless, right? Wrong! Theo van Gogh was assassinated on 2 November 2004 by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim. Bouyeri shot Theo van Gogh with a handgun eight times before pulling out a knife and attempting to decapitate the filmmaker. When that failed, he used a knife to pin a letter to Theo van Gogh's dead body. The letter mainly contains death threats aimed at Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Soon after the attack, Ayaan Hirsi Ali went into hiding, but that didn't last forever, and she eventually resumed her regular political life. After a while, she relocated to the USA where she gained citizenship in 2013. Here, she's lived with her spouse Niall Ferguson and her son whom she had when she was 41! There are so many questions I have regarding her s*x life and her circumcision, but they would be inappropriate to pose to her.

To sum up this section, it is worth noting that Ayaan Hirsi Ali does not believe that Islam is a religion of peace. In her own words:

3. Prey

The Crux of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Argument

So what the frick is her problem? She details most of it in Prey, a non-fiction novel released in 2021. It outlines how Europe has changed since the mass immigration of asylum-seekers from Islamic countries, as well as the effect mass immigration has had on the lives of women in Europe. Let's take a deep dive into the text. Hope you're ready!

Ayaan Hirsi Ali begins her critique by pointing out that women are seen less in public:

"Walking in certain neighborhoods in Brussels, London, Paris, or Stockholm, you suddenly notice that only men are visible. The shop assistants, waiters, and patrons in cafés are all men."

According to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, this is because women have chosen to remove themselves due to the behaviour of men. It isn't native men that are the problem - no, the problem lies with Muslim immigrants who haven't assimilated into liberal Western society.

"It is no secret—though it is considered impolite or politically incorrect to point it out—that the perpetrators are disproportionately young immigrant men from the Middle East, South Asia, and various parts of Africa."

Why do the immigrants behave this way? Well, they are coming from societies that do not value women and that oppress women. The immigrants are bringing these values with them instead of adopting Western values. Of course, Ayaan Hirsi Ali points the finger at Islam for birthing many of these patriarchal norms. The other problem? The West is not taking the problem of mass immigration seriously enough. When crimes are reported, they are swept under the rug and authority figures pretend the problem doesn't exist.

"Authorities understate the incidence of assaults and harassment of women. In the interest of political expediency, politicians play down the threat and encourage the police to do the same. Excuses are made for criminal behaviour. Judges hand out light sentences to perpetrators. "

What is important to highlight is that Ayaan Hirsi Ali isn't opposed to legal immigration. She believes that people have the right to seek better lives for themselves. It would be hard for her to hold any other position, as she is an asylum seeker herself. However, her main concerns lie with the beliefs and behaviours that migrants bring with them, especially Muslim migrants. To her, Islam is incompatible with Western values and the religion needs drastic reform before it can be accepted in Europe.

The Rise of Sexual Assault in Europe

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a noooooticer, and she has noticed a rise in r*pe cases just as the number of Muslims immigrants has risen in Europe. She provides the following stats:

"In Denmark, sexual offences remained stable or slightly decreased from 2010 to 2014, then steadily rose. Danish law expanded the definition of r*pe in 2013, it is true, but between 2014 and 2017, the number of r*pes (based on the new definition) more than doubled"

"England and Wales saw a 15 per cent increase in r*pes in the year to March 2017 and an 8 per cent increase in sexual assaults from the year before"

"France's national statistics also point to an increase in sexual violence. Between 2017 and 2018, the French Interior Ministry reported a 17 per cent increase in r*pes and a 20 per cent increase in other forms of sexual violence, including harassment"

"In Germany, there was a striking increase in r*pe cases after 2015. The number of victims of r*pe and sexual coercion (Vergewaltigung und sexueller Nötigung) had ranged between 7,000 and 9,000 a year between 2000 and 2015, with no discernible trend. In 2016, it was 8,102, but in 2017, it was 11,444—a 41 per cent increase."

"Sweden's crime statistics show that s*x offences against women were at relatively stable levels between 2005 and 2011 but trended upward after that and doubled between 2014 and 2016"

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is adamant that we are not dealing with a case of correlation - the causal relationship between immigration from Muslim countries and the increase of r*pe in Europe are directly connected. In a radical moment of noooticing, she states the following when discussing the refugee r*pe crisis in France:

"Though they account for only 7 percent of the population, they are suspects in 14 percent of s*x crimes."

The R*pe Game

Perhaps the most interesting part of the text comes when Ayaan Hirsi Ali dives into the cases of r*pe that erupted in Europe during the 2010s. It is here that we learn that Muslim immigrants are coomers of the highest order, and they'll stop at nothing for a crumb of kitty. They have no regard for the law or for the sexual autonomy of women, at least according to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Do you agree? It doesn't matter what you think actually, don't bother commenting with your response. Now stop interrupting me. Anyway, here are some of the cases Ayaan Hirsi Ali brings up:

"In 2016, a 45-year-old woman jogging in a Munich park was attacked from behind. Her assailant strangled her so tightly with her headband that he lacerated her neck and she collapsed unconscious. He r*ped her, then left her in a bush."

"Four Eritrean asylum seekers r*ped a 56-year-old woman in Dessau that same year. She was collecting recyclable bottles behind a school near where the men were drinking. They lured her with the promise of giving her their bottles to recycle, but instead they smashed one of the bottles, cut her face with it, and gang-r*ped her. "

"In August 2018, a 19-year-old Somali broke into a retirement home in Halle, Central Germany. He sexually assaulted one of the residents, a 74-year-old woman, simply "because he wanted s*x."

Coomer!

"Eighteen-year-old Franziska W. left a Freiburg nightclub in October 2018 with a Syrian asylum seeker she had met inside. What she did not know was that her new acquaintance was wanted by police for drug offenses and as a suspect in a gang r*pe. Majid H. was 21 at the time. It appears that he drugged the girl, dragged her behind a row of hedges, and r*ped her. He then phoned his friends, inviting them to join him. According to the court prosecutor, Majid told them there was a woman outside "who can be fricked." Over several hours, eleven men—eight Syrians, one Iraqi, one Algerian, and one German—between 19 and 29 years of age either r*ped or provided cover for the male feminists"

Pathetic.

"In March 2017, a 27-year-old Nigerian living in an asylum reception center in Bagnoli near Naples sexually assaulted a 41-year-old woman. In 2018, a 20-year-old Somali, who had just received a subsidiary protection permit from the Italian authorities, sexually assaulted a 68-year-old woman sunbathing at a beach"

What Ayaan Hirsi Ali is concerned about is that authority figures are not taking action. The migrants committing these crimes are often granted light sentences that do not reflect the severity of the crime. Furthermore, governments aren't acknowledging that s*x crimes by migrants have reached intolerably problematic levels. Some of these attacks are the consequence of taharrush gamea or the "r*pe game". Ayaan Hirsi Ali points to Islam as the basis for the game, and she has the following to educate us on:

"Accounts of taharrush gamea have been recorded in Algeria and Tunisia since the 1960s. "In 2006, Egyptian bloggers witnessed hundreds of men thronging the streets to celebrate the end of Ramadan, harassing women with or without hijabs, ripping off their clothes, encircling them, and trying to assault them. Girls ran for cover in nearby restaurants, taxis, and cinemas. As protests continued in Tahrir Square in 2012, mob attacks against women became more organized. Men formed concentric rings around individual women, stripping and raping them."

Ayaan Hirsi Ali highlights that the game has taken root in the West:

"The r*pe game crossed the Mediterranean in December 2015. During New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne, as we have seen, more than a thousand young men formed rings around individual women, sexually assaulting them. When the victims identified the perpetrators as looking "foreign," "North African," and "Arab," they were pilloried as racists on social media"

Ayaan does not merely point out the problem. She also attempts to determine it's cause. One of the issues she highlights is that in the global South, women are taught not to draw attention to themselves. This is not the case in the West where women are not afraid to flaunt their bodies and sexuality. Ayaan believes Muslim migrant men who move to the West do want to assimilate, but they encounter a culture clash upon arriving in places like Europe where they are suddenly faced with emancipated women and don't know how to react or deal with their sexual desires.

She also considers the fact that Muslim migrants are resentful of the West. They arrive in Europe seeking success and stability, but very few find it. Instead, most are relegated to the lower class where they find themselves with reduced status, lower than women even! Hence, the misbehaviour may be a form of lashing out at society.

Failure to Assimilate

One of the issues brought up is that Muslim migrants are failing to integrate into Western society and adopt secularist liberal worldviews. Instead, researchers are finding that migrants are clinging hard to their religion and culture, even as they run away from the countries where they are most prevalent. Ayaan Hirsi Ali divides Muslim migrants into four categories

1. Adaptors

These are Muslims who come to the West and adopt liberal values. Such people usually immerse themselves in Western literature and education, and they take advantage of all the opportunities the West has to offer.

2. Menaces

These are mostly young men who are antisocial. They don't have much of a moral framework - they just want s*x and drugs. They are unemployable, land up in trouble with the law, and they take advantage of the welfare system.

3. Coasters

Coasters arrive in the West and follow the rules, but they don't exhibit ambition. Instead, they leech off the welfare system, invite other family members over into the West, and never take up employment that would not pay them much more than what they get in benefits.

4. Fanatics

The last group is comprised of devout Muslims who have no desire to abandon their faith. They are traditionalists and they would like to destroy the liberal West and replace it with Sharia.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues that while the dream is to have all Muslim migrants be adaptors, the truth is that they are the minority. When immigrants don't assimilate, they form parallel societies that exist within the host country but feature the culture of the global South. Such communities are problematic. They make Muslim migrants unemployable, as many young men do not want to work in places that serve alcohol, men and women mingle, and they will certainly not work for a female boss.

Solutions

One of the last topics Ayaan Hirsi Ali discusses in her explosive book is whether there are solutions to the r*pefugee crisis. One of the hinderances to finding a solution is that Europe is engaged in victim blaming. Instead of admonishing men who r*pe, they instead turn to women and blame them for egging on the attack. Police and headmasters will ask women to dress more modestly, lest they set off Syrian refugees, and bad behaviour from migrants will be excused with weak explanations appealing to the fact that many are traumatised after travelling from warn-torn regions. Ayaan Hirsi Ali applies her brains to the problem and comes up with the following solutions:

1. Repeal the existing asylum framework

2. Address the factors that lead to mass immigration

3. Address the factors that lure migrants to Europe in particular (e.g. welfare)

4. Reinstate the rule of law

5. Listen to successful immigrants

6. Provide s*x education to all children

4. Conclusion

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has come a long way from her humble beginnings. Despite being circumcised, she has started a family and became a prominent figure in the West. She is brave and she has not given up her viewpoints even when her life is threatened. We should all strive to be more like Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates her genius and in recent years she has been labelled an Islamophobe and a bigoted member of the alt-right. This is interesting, as she began as a figure the atheist left championed. This goes to show how much the Overton window has shifted and how the left has went from staunchly opposing Islam to considering it bigotry to criticise it. It's brutal.

So what do you think of Ayaan Hirsi Ali? Do you think she makes valid critiques of the migrant crisis? Or is she unfairly biased against Islam? Do you believe her rhetoric helps women, or is it inviting more discrimination toward Muslim women in the West? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this fascinating woman.

Totsiens!