"It is easy to be disgruntled if you are denied rights and freedoms to which you feel entitled. But if you are not coherent, if you cannot put into words what it is that displeases you and why it is unfair and should change, then you are dismissed as an unreasonable whiner. You may be lectured about perseverance and patience, life as a test, the need to accept the higher wisdom of others."
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born writer and public intellectual who has also served as a Dutch politician. Her work focuses on religion, women’s rights, and liberal democracy.