Unfair generalization
Reader comment on item: La Rage et l'Orgueil

Submitted by Carool Kersten (Thailand), Oct 15, 2002 at 22:07

Dear Dr. Pipes,

I could not agree more with your appraisal of Oriana Fallaci's La Rage et l'Orgueil.
However, I question your final remark "what they show is the primitive nature of the public debate about Islam in those countries." I assume "those countries" refers to (Western) Europe and in that case I strongly disagree with your qualification.

I admit that we do have our fair share of bigotry, but as a Dutch arabist and islamicist (who has become increasingly critical of ultra-orthodox Islam in the course of a ten-year residence in Saudi Arabia) I am of the opinion that the debate on Islam in Europe is more level-headed than in the USA, where I detect a much stronger black-and-white approach to the issue. In addition to that I think scholars such as Gilles Kepel, Hans Jansen, Pieter Sjoerd Koningsveld, Ernest Gellner, and others have made very valuable contributions to the academic study of things Islamic.

Carool Kersten

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