Dalia Mogahed: I would reframe the question, and I would actually talk about the forces within each of us as human beings.
I really believe very strongly in the idea of human agency. I believe in free will and I believe in choices. I don’t think that historical forces cause things to happen. I think human beings create historical forces. And so where we are today is a product of individual choices.
If we agree that where we are today isn’t a very good place, I would blame that – if you can use the word “blame” – on us as a human race falling prey to selfishness, and to going more with the call of quick benefit, rather than long term selfless compassion.
So if there is an answer to that very difficult question, I would place it squarely in the lap of human agency and decisions that people make that might not be true to even their own espoused values.
Recorded on: July 3, 2007.
Discuss
Peter Klok on October 8, 2008, 6:15 AM
I think it’s a shame that this interview is so short. Off course I’m in favor of optimism, who could be against it, but I would like to know what those ideas of Ayaan Hirsi Ali are.
I know some of her ideas from the period when she was a Dutch politician and I didn’t like any of those. They mainly involved showing and restricting the ‘evil’ Islam in Dutch society. Although every religion has it’s dark side, I have never seen anything accomplished by focusing on only one aspect of a religion. Hirsi Ali tried this and in my opinion made things worst rather than better. It seems that naming and shaming every aspect of Muslim culture in the Netherlands has become a national sport.
If these are the ideas and change she talks about I can understand her optimistic viewpoint. I think Europe is changing, in her view for the better in my view for the worst. If she’s talking about something else entirely, than I would like to see the whole interview instead of a 40 second clip.
I am by the way in no way religious and I can understand that Hirsi Ali had bad experiences with Islam which lead her to her believes.
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