Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Boko Haram, and the failure of Western progressives

Writing in the Wall Street Journal Ayaan Hirsi Ali points out the relationship between the rise of the Islamic terror group Boko Haram and the reluctance of the West to confront Islamic extremism.

Key quote:

I am often told that the average Muslim wholeheartedly rejects the use of violence and terror, does not share the radicals' belief that a degenerate and corrupt Western culture needs to be replaced with an Islamic one, and abhors the denigration of women's most basic rights. Well, it is time for those peace-loving Muslims to do more, much more, to resist those in their midst who engage in this type of proselytizing before they proceed to the phase of holy war.

It is also time for Western liberals to wake up. If they choose to regard Boko Haram as an aberration, they do so at their peril. The kidnapping of these schoolgirls is not an isolated tragedy; their fate reflects a new wave of jihadism that extends far beyond Nigeria and poses a mortal threat to the rights of women and girls. If my pointing this out offends some people more than the odious acts of Boko Haram, then so be it.

At the Telegraph Martha Gill worries that Twitter campaigns such as the one about Boko Haram's kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian girls, could become dangerous since they may gain too much power over governments. I think the reverse is true: social media campaigns are the playthings of pampered Western progressives retreating from the real world outside their narrow social circles. Which is easier for Western progressives: using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, or confronting the harsh truth that their view of Islam is seriously flawed? As Mark Steyn noted:

Just as the last floppo hashtag, #WeStandWithUkraine, didn't actually involve standing with Ukraine, so #BringBackOurGirls doesn't require bringing back our girls. There are only a half-dozen special forces around the planet capable of doing that without getting most or all of the hostages killed: the British, the French, the Americans, Israelis, Germans, Aussies, maybe a couple of others. So, unless something of that nature is being lined up, those schoolgirls are headed into slavery, and the wretched pleading passivity of Mrs Obama's hashtag is just a form of moral preening.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has experienced first-hand the wrath of Western progressives forced to face the idea that their worldview may be mistaken. An outspoken critic of Islam's treatment of women, Ali was unceremoniously dumped as a commencement speaker by Brandeis University by a group of faculty and students who succeeded in pressuring university officials into rescinding their invitation of Ali. I wonder how many of the bullies and cowards who didn't want Ali to speak want Boko Haram to #BringBackOurGirls - and if they do, if they comprehend the irony of it.

It will take more than social media to combat Boko Haram. It is doubtful if Western progressives are up to the job.