Self-promoting liberals

It’s not only conservatives who have doubts about Hirsi Ali. Ken Hechtman, a Canadian leftist, writes:

I always thought there was something not quite right about the whole Theo Van Gogh circle (Hirsi Ali, Ron English, Pym Fortuyn, etc.). It’s hard to put into words exactly what it is that rubs me the wrong way but there’s something dishonest and self-promoting about all of them.

It isn’t that they’re complete phonies. They’re not. They’ve all said and done righteous liberal things at considerable personal risk. Two died for it and Hirsi Ali would have but for some extreme personal security measures.

They want to be known world-wide as courageous liberals. But they want the reputation just that little bit too much. And in the end it always seems to be about them, not about any particular liberal goal.

Some but not all of Theo Van Gogh’s criticism of Islam consisted of calling Muslims “goat-f*ckers” on his website and in interviews. If the object was to get known as the guy the Muslims hate—that’ll do it and quickly. But it undercuts his claim that they hated him for saying an important truth that needed to be said.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 17, 2006 10:51 AM | Send