In the recent print-issue of the Western Standard, an article by Matt Welch discusses the creation of a “media offensive” in Arabic. Welch quotes Donald Rumsfeld who wrote in the Wall Street Journal about “embracing new ways of engaging people across the world, as the U.S. Information Agency and Radio Free Europe did during the Cold War.” But, as Welch points out, Radio Free Europe “was staffed by well-known émigré intellectuals.” If we did that today, we’d staff a Radio Free Ummah with Ibn Warraq, Ali Sina, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Wafa Sultan instead of sending Karen Hughes to Egypt to tell them how much we love them the way they are.
During the 20th century we had a continuous stream of refugees warning us of the impending danger of both fascist and communist forms of totalitarianism. Economists such as Von Mises and von Hayak experienced the disintegration of Austria. Wigner, Teller, and other Hungarian scientific refugees warned about both fascism and communism—they experienced both first hand. Ayn Rand saw the Russian Revolution from her window and tried to wake-up an America in denial. Many of the early writers of conservative publications, such as National Review, were ex-communists.
However, there is a difference. The ex-Muslims above are rare individuals who broke free of their culture (let's remember how hard that is.) Few in the Islamic world share their sympathies. During the Cold War, several Eastern European nations tried to break out of the Soviet orbit. Today, few Islamic nations are trying to break free of Islam. When critics in the 1980s said Reagan was wrong and all we could hope for was communism with a human face, the populations living under communism took the first chance they got to get rid of communism. Today, at the first chance, Muslims vote for more Islam.
A few exceptions may dramatize the human spirit and its potential but they are just that: the exceptions. We have to face the fact that the enemy isn't just a few extremists. We have to wake-up to the full depths of the problem.
2 comments:
Hi Jason,
I'm sure you were probably trying to be fair when saying, "Today, few Islamic nations are trying to break free of Islam." But, really, when I think about it, other than Turkey, I can think of no Islamic country that has made the effort. And, Turkey does not seem to be doing well.
Wow, if only we had a Muslim apostate of the stature of Von Mises, or Hayek. That would be amazing.
Of course, many would say, "What about Afghanistan and Iraq?" But, those countries would not be where they are today (which is not far), without the help of the Infidels.
I was erring on the side of understatement. Thanks for adding to the picture.
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