Fred Thompson on Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Andrew West wrote an article about how Ayaan Hirsi Ali became a hero of the right because the left deserted her in hour of need. In the article ms Ali explain in her words:

‘I called it the paradox of the Left,’ she told The Guardian. ‘On the one hand they support ideals of equality and emancipation, but in this case they do nothing about it; they even facilitate the oppression.’

In one of the more disgraceful episodes in the recent history of the European Left, Dutch Labour chose the votes of primitive mullahs — and I make no apology for labelling them as such — and the communities over which they hold sway, instead of a passionate human rights campaigner. Hirsi Ali bolted first to a libertarian business Party and, following her resignation from Parliament, to a Right-wing think tank in the United States.

What a loss. She became a victim of the Left’s fatal embrace of cultural relativism over universal human rights.

The Left is not being ‘culturally sensitive’ when it argues we need to accept or even ‘understand’ cultures, be they in Central Asia or Central Australia, that challenge liberal and social democratic norms or accommodate violence in the community or the home — it is being dangerously indulgent and its adherents need to rethink their position, with Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s words ringing in their ears.

Fred understands Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the message that she has for the world. This is just one more reason that I'm with Fred.