Comments on: A Feminist Critique Double-Standard?

By: Logan

Logan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:09:43 +0000

An interesting response to her book:

http://loga-abdullah.blogspot.com/2008/11/defending-our-diin-ayaan-hirsi-ali.html

By: Greg Forster

Greg Forster — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:39:14 +0000

Even more shamefully, they’re not going to make movies out of any of the three Narnia books that include the fictional country of Calormen – you know, because the Calormene-Americans will protest, and they won’t be able to sell tickets in Calormen or any of its neighbors, conquored territories and tributary states, and the Calormene ambassador will make a stink at the U.N.

The real joke is that the resemblances between the fictional Calormen and modern-day Arab societies are limited; and there are no real resemblances to speak of between Calormen and non-Arab Islamic societies. It’s mainly a depiction of older “pagan” civilizations like Carthage or the Aztecs – ones that hadn’t benefitted from the elevation of moral standards that followed the emergence of the world religions, Islam included.

By: Jay P. Greene

Jay P. Greene — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:57:01 +0000

The fact that Infidel is relatively new could cut both ways. Hot, current books may be more likely to get onto recommended reading lists in addition to traditional classics. And Infidel was a NYT bestseller.

I was going to ask when Hollywood is going to make a movie based on Infidel, but I now know that the answer is probably never. Judging by how cowardly Random House was in cancelling a fictional history of one of Mohammed’s wives because of the “fear of a possible terrorist threat from extremist Muslims,” it is clear that we are easily intimidated over anything having to do with Islam. (See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121797979078815073.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries for the full story)

By: matthewladner

matthewladner — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:39:03 +0000

True, but few in the United States took much of an interest in Islamic culture before 9/11.

By: Greg Forster

Greg Forster — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:54:38 +0000

Well, OK, but I’ll bet Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not the first person to write about about the abuse of women in Islamic countries. I’m pretty sure there were at least a couple of people in the world who had something to say on that subject even in 1983.

By: Jay P. Greene

Jay P. Greene — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:54:58 +0000

That’s a fair point. The book, The Color Purple, came out in 1983 while Infidel came out in February of 2007. And Infidel is only on 4 school reading lists in the entire country (as far as I can tell via Google), while The Color Purple is on hundreds of schools’ reading lists (if we consider FL and NY statewide lists).

By: matthewladner

matthewladner — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:42:56 +0000

I don’t know when the Color Purple was published, but I know the movie came out circa 1985. Given the glacial pace of all things academic, I’m a bit surprised that the discrepancy isn’t even greater.