Susan Abulhawa: Hirsi Ali asserts that the skill of critical thinking is a distinguishing feature of western culture. If that were really true – if popular western culture were truly marked by insightful, critical thought – there’d not be such a wide embrace for yet another essentialist book that, like this one, promulgates otherness and broad hatred and mistrust of such a large swath of humanity. There would instead be a nuanced examination of the complex social, historic, and political realities that shape these ancient societies in the fullness of their contradictions, problems, and richness. I would argue that only when mainstream popular discourse finally learns to reject these reductionist, exclusivist, essentialist, chauvinist narratives, can we finally arrive at intelligent conversation that affords a concept of universal human dignity. Claiming that violence is inherent to any religion or any race or that moral superiority is inherent to any religion or any race, is stupidity in the extreme. It is inconceivable to me that this basic fact of our human condition remains so abstract to so many after so long. More here.