The writer highlights how we have adopted the life of the cringe and apology in the face of assertive Islam. The spirit of Richard Coer de Lyon and the Knights Templars has long gone.
Threats from Muslim Clerics and other fanatics should be treated as the crimes they are not overlooked in case we upset their co-religionists. I have Muslim friends and have nothing against Islam as such but we should not allow religious bullies to prevail.
You say you have nothing against Islam and have Muslim friends?
Can’t you see that Islam is incompatible with Western Democracy and human rights?
Lets stop pretending that people commiting violent acts in name of Islam are somehow not Muslim.
They are driven to commit their vile crimes by their religion.
The first stage of recognizing the problems with mass immigration of these savages to the West is understanding that.
Even forgetting terrorism, Muslims are burden on Western society in financial terms as Douglas Murray clearly outlines in his book “Slow Death of Europe”
Every one of your words rings true, particularly “They are driven to commit their vile crimes by their religion”. Somewhere within their holy texts, savagery is not only permitted but encouraged. Only when such tracts are thoroughly revised and the entire creed reformed so as to be more compatible with the modern world will the monstrous behaviour, referred to in this fine essay, cease. Ali A. Rizvi in his excellent book, “The Atheist Muslim – A Journey from Religion to Reason” suggests a possible way forward. But nobody should hold their breath.
Last edited 1 year ago by james goater
Steve Murray
1 year ago
Ultimately, the way in which Islamists express themselves reeks of fear.
If you’re not afraid of being challenged, you don’t seek to silence those who challenge you.
If you’re not afraid of the power of women, you don’t chastise and seek to cover them from head to foot. Nor do you cite your god as being offended, who created you (if you believe your god did create you – he did so and offended himself?)
Leila, you may have quaked as a young girl, and the aftermath may still live with you, but you are strong and in their actions against those who choose freedom – which they fear most of all – they demonstrate for all the world to see how weak they are. Their pretence at strength is laughable – their lurid machismo the stuff of comedy to those of us in the west who see through these things.
Of course, as a collective they represent a mortal threat, but not as much as those in the West who seek to undermine our values such as freedom of expression from within. We all need to stay strong, and push back against these threats. It’s not just you Leila – your fight is our fight too.
Leila is a fabulous writer who writes searingly about the human condition, sex and conflicted identity. She is also prepared to stand against the islamofascists and their apologists in contrast to the celebrated ethnic authors who write about nothing and who care only about their own careers. Read her book Adele. You won’t be disappointed.
Good article. Of course, it’s not just the fanatics the author refers to. Their intolerance finds a ready echo in the intolerance of the woke. True, the wokesters are unlikely to kill you for disagreeing with them – but they would like to see you lose your job and or be jailed for disagreeing with them. They all exist on the same spectrum of intolerance; and that’s what makes the current cultural trend in the West so dangerous – while barely realising it, todays’ Western wokesters are de facto aligning them selves with the forces of intolerance.
>True, the wokesters are unlikely to kill you for disagreeing with them
Not yet.
Warren Trees
1 year ago
The real question is does the West wait until these maniacs have access to nuclear weapons before engaging them in the coming existential struggle? Do doctors wait until the cancer is partially or fully metastasized before dealing with it? Do gardeners only pull weeds from the ground up successfully? Do we wait until fossil fuels are completely eliminated from society, which will completely devastate many of their countries and send millions more into abject poverty.
Or do we continue to roll over, kneel, cower and feebly work towards “nation building” or even allowing places, like Iran, to have nuclear weapons, then deal with it?
Excellent, and I’m quite sure you’re well prepared should some fool decide to object to your choice of reading material!
Last edited 1 year ago by james goater
Kerie Receveur
1 year ago
This is us,and we are you. Xx
Isabelle Dubois
1 year ago
Leïla Slimani is a great writer, and person as this article shows.
Just one thing though, because it seems important to really understand the point of her article: she writes in the present tense in the 5th paragraph, in French: “There IS one moment when I DON’T feel afraid. One moment when I FEEL brave. It IS enough for me to close my office door, open up my computer — it IS enough for me to start to write, and the fear VANISHES”. Hence her advice to writers in the final lines.
Tony Sandy
1 year ago
I must not fear. Fear is the little death, the mind killer that brings obliteration. I will face my fear. It will let it pass over and through me and when it is gone, only I will remain (Frank Herbert, author of Dune)
Tony Sandy
1 year ago
We must remember that the frightening are frightened. A confident and courageous person does not try to shut up others for fear of what they might say or do. They are scared of tomorrow, so hide in yesterday and want you to do the same. They don’t have the courage to face their fears and quell them but instead project them onto others in their insanity. They try to suppress others by attacking those who might open their mouths and blaspheme by saying those words they fear or carrying out those acts that equally frighten the ‘life’ out of them.
I applaud her courage. When I wrote my own novel The War for Islam, I wondered if a non-Muslim like me, a religious studies professor, could be targeted. Or even worse, be labeled an Islamophobe by my colleagues. For too long Islamist fanatics hav been killing, burning, and bombing in an extravagant display of well-coordinated force designed to terrorize humanity out of its “godless slumber.” Their goal is global conquest, not peace. Like Leila before her bold conversion, peace-loving Muslims fear for their lives if they dare to criticize. If only large numbers dared to follow Leila’s example.
The writer highlights how we have adopted the life of the cringe and apology in the face of assertive Islam. The spirit of Richard Coer de Lyon and the Knights Templars has long gone.
Threats from Muslim Clerics and other fanatics should be treated as the crimes they are not overlooked in case we upset their co-religionists. I have Muslim friends and have nothing against Islam as such but we should not allow religious bullies to prevail.
You say you have nothing against Islam and have Muslim friends?
Can’t you see that Islam is incompatible with Western Democracy and human rights?
Lets stop pretending that people commiting violent acts in name of Islam are somehow not Muslim.
They are driven to commit their vile crimes by their religion.
The first stage of recognizing the problems with mass immigration of these savages to the West is understanding that.
Even forgetting terrorism, Muslims are burden on Western society in financial terms as Douglas Murray clearly outlines in his book “Slow Death of Europe”
Every one of your words rings true, particularly “They are driven to commit their vile crimes by their religion”. Somewhere within their holy texts, savagery is not only permitted but encouraged. Only when such tracts are thoroughly revised and the entire creed reformed so as to be more compatible with the modern world will the monstrous behaviour, referred to in this fine essay, cease. Ali A. Rizvi in his excellent book, “The Atheist Muslim – A Journey from Religion to Reason” suggests a possible way forward. But nobody should hold their breath.
Ultimately, the way in which Islamists express themselves reeks of fear.
If you’re not afraid of being challenged, you don’t seek to silence those who challenge you.
If you’re not afraid of the power of women, you don’t chastise and seek to cover them from head to foot. Nor do you cite your god as being offended, who created you (if you believe your god did create you – he did so and offended himself?)
Leila, you may have quaked as a young girl, and the aftermath may still live with you, but you are strong and in their actions against those who choose freedom – which they fear most of all – they demonstrate for all the world to see how weak they are. Their pretence at strength is laughable – their lurid machismo the stuff of comedy to those of us in the west who see through these things.
Of course, as a collective they represent a mortal threat, but not as much as those in the West who seek to undermine our values such as freedom of expression from within. We all need to stay strong, and push back against these threats. It’s not just you Leila – your fight is our fight too.
Leila is a fabulous writer who writes searingly about the human condition, sex and conflicted identity. She is also prepared to stand against the islamofascists and their apologists in contrast to the celebrated ethnic authors who write about nothing and who care only about their own careers. Read her book Adele. You won’t be disappointed.
I will. Lullaby was excellent.
Good article. Of course, it’s not just the fanatics the author refers to. Their intolerance finds a ready echo in the intolerance of the woke. True, the wokesters are unlikely to kill you for disagreeing with them – but they would like to see you lose your job and or be jailed for disagreeing with them. They all exist on the same spectrum of intolerance; and that’s what makes the current cultural trend in the West so dangerous – while barely realising it, todays’ Western wokesters are de facto aligning them selves with the forces of intolerance.
The truth.
>True, the wokesters are unlikely to kill you for disagreeing with them
Not yet.
The real question is does the West wait until these maniacs have access to nuclear weapons before engaging them in the coming existential struggle? Do doctors wait until the cancer is partially or fully metastasized before dealing with it? Do gardeners only pull weeds from the ground up successfully? Do we wait until fossil fuels are completely eliminated from society, which will completely devastate many of their countries and send millions more into abject poverty.
Or do we continue to roll over, kneel, cower and feebly work towards “nation building” or even allowing places, like Iran, to have nuclear weapons, then deal with it?
“Si vis pacem, para bellum”.
Oui, je vais écrire aujourd’hui!
Bravo
I bought The Satanic Verses a few days ago, and have been reading it ostentatiously in my local library.
Excellent, and I’m quite sure you’re well prepared should some fool decide to object to your choice of reading material!
This is us,and we are you. Xx
Leïla Slimani is a great writer, and person as this article shows.
Just one thing though, because it seems important to really understand the point of her article: she writes in the present tense in the 5th paragraph, in French: “There IS one moment when I DON’T feel afraid. One moment when I FEEL brave. It IS enough for me to close my office door, open up my computer — it IS enough for me to start to write, and the fear VANISHES”. Hence her advice to writers in the final lines.
I must not fear. Fear is the little death, the mind killer that brings obliteration. I will face my fear. It will let it pass over and through me and when it is gone, only I will remain (Frank Herbert, author of Dune)
We must remember that the frightening are frightened. A confident and courageous person does not try to shut up others for fear of what they might say or do. They are scared of tomorrow, so hide in yesterday and want you to do the same. They don’t have the courage to face their fears and quell them but instead project them onto others in their insanity. They try to suppress others by attacking those who might open their mouths and blaspheme by saying those words they fear or carrying out those acts that equally frighten the ‘life’ out of them.
She sounds a bit “islamophobic” (sic)…
She knows a lot more about Islam than the people who throw that word around.
And?
And you sound a bit apologist..
I applaud her courage. When I wrote my own novel The War for Islam, I wondered if a non-Muslim like me, a religious studies professor, could be targeted. Or even worse, be labeled an Islamophobe by my colleagues. For too long Islamist fanatics hav been killing, burning, and bombing in an extravagant display of well-coordinated force designed to terrorize humanity out of its “godless slumber.” Their goal is global conquest, not peace. Like Leila before her bold conversion, peace-loving Muslims fear for their lives if they dare to criticize. If only large numbers dared to follow Leila’s example.
A ridiculous propaganda term designed to protect Islam from any criticism by secular societies — but you might be using it in jest, hard to tell.