Mulsim Complaints About the U.S. and the West

MUSLIM COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE U.S. AND THE WEST

Christopher Ebbe, Ph.D.   1-6-11

It seems reasonable to posit that understanding the grievances and feelings of others toward one gives the best opportunity for settling disputes and avoiding violence.  This was certainly true of the “war on terrorism” that the U.S. is engaged in, but it has led only to the most superficial focus on the feelings and attitudes of Muslims around the world regarding the United States and the West in general.  Our media reported comments by some that the U.S. “deserved” the 9-11 disaster, and other Muslims felt some satisfaction that the U.S. had been taken down a peg.  The overwhelming majority of Muslims decried the 9-11 violence, of course (although this was not well publicized in our media), as well as the violence that has followed.  As in most wars, our media have ignored the question of whether Al-Qaeda has some legitimate complaints and reasons to oppose and even attack the U.S.  The U.S., like most countries, cannot see its own flaws and considers all of its actions appropriate and blameless.  This situation provides an opportunity to see ourselves through the eyes of others and to learn something about ourselves, but we are letting it slip away, and the government and the media have done almost nothing to take advantage of the opportunity.

Historically Western countries have taken advantage of and bullied Middle Eastern Muslim countries for business gain, starting before World War I.  The West was involved even in setting some nations’ boundaries in the Middle East (including Iraq and Iran).  Muslims naturally resent this patronizing and disrespectful treatment.  (See the history of the Middle East in the Twentieth Century for more on this.  It is of interest also that China resented this same sort of disrespectful, self-serving, manipulative treatment toward it by the West and now feels some satisfaction in evening up the score with its growing economic and military power.)

Since World War II the U.S. has stationed some of its military forces overseas, to reduce the chances of further wars (although the need for this is now quite unclear due to the break-up of the Soviet Union).  One of Al-Qaeda’s main reasons for starting its attacks on the West was the presence of U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia.  These bases were agreed to by the Saudi government, but Al-Qaeda saw the presence of foreign troops on Saudi soil as intolerable disrespect (to Islam as well as to Saudi Arabia).  (Differing ideas of what constitutes honor and respect add to this issue.)  Before you dismiss this as silly, ask yourself how you would feel about having foreign troops on U.S. soil.  (It’s hard to imagine, because we have not needed such troops, but try anyway.)  Imagine having Chinese army bases on the West and East coasts, supposedly to help us defend our country.  We could assume that we would not need or tolerate this unless we really needed the help, and that therefore we would feel OK about it, but imagine yourself driving by such bases, seeing the Chinese flag, seeing Chinese troops marching on parade, and knowing that Chinese troops get financial privileges in the local economy that U.S. citizens do not have.  (You may not realize that U.S. troops have such financial privileges when stationed in other countries.)  Throughout the Iraq war, even those Iraqis who were glad to have Saddam Hussein overthrown still wanted American troops out of the country, and one of the factors working against the U.S. in Afghanistan right now is the strong desire by the Afghan populace to have U.S. troops out of the country .  I’m guessing that most of us would feel the same about foreign troops in the U.S.

Perhaps the issue evoking the greatest animosity among Muslims toward the West is the West’s apparently unthinking support for Israel and lack of concern about displaced Palestinians and their needs.  Israel has somehow become a sacred cause in the U.S. and one that cannot be questioned and can do no wrong.  It may certainly be appropriate for the U.S. to militarily guarantee Israel’s survival against its resentful neighbors, but it has also become apparent over the decades that Israel could settle the Palestinian questions in as fair a manner as realistically possible, perhaps even in a unilateral manner, but chooses not to do so.  Thus, the failure of the U.S. to put effective pressure on Israel to do all it can to settle the Palestinian questions appears to Muslims to be egregious favoritism, and it puts the lie to any other expressions by the U.S. of concern for Muslims.  Is it any wonder that many, many Muslims doubt the sincerity of the U.S. and doubt that the U.S. really views them as equal citizens of the world community?

Americans may need to be reminded that the Israeli-Palestinian problem originated when, after World War II, Jews took over the country of Palestine by force to make it a Jewish state, and the Western powers, fatigued from the war and saddened by the Holocaust in Europe, looked the other way and let it happen.  We can understand the Jewish desire for a homeland, especially after the events of the Holocaust, but we tend to ignore conveniently that this was accomplished at the cost of expelling the Palestinians who were rightful residents of the territory that became Israel.  Many of them are still in difficult straits due to this displacement.

Many Muslims view Western societies as being basically immoral or at least loose morally.  The U.S. was called “the great Satan” by an Iranian religious leader, indicating his view that the U.S. is purposely and thoughtlessly immoral.  Living inside our society, we naturally fail to see ourselves objectively, but we should strive to be objective and truthful about ourselves.  There is no doubt that over the past seventy or so years, our pressing for more and more freedom has resulted in more violence, more public sexual behavior, and more sexual indiscretions in our society, and the U.S. has become a symbol of that unrestrained behavior to the rest of the world.  The correlation between people seeing endless violence in our media and our growing murder and incarceration rates is no accident, since more and more of us want to have guns and see using guns as a “normal” way to settle disputes.  Since our economy keeps running by inducing desire in people for more and more expensive products, it is no wonder that there is more theft.  The latest evidence of this sense of freedom to do whatever we want regardless of the risks to others is the behavior of financial professionals in profiting from the mortgage bubble and then causing the mortgage crisis that resulted in the recession of the last three years, leaving many other citizens out of work.  None of these people who were taking unreasonable risks with other people’s money have received any punishment, and few have lost their jobs (which is part of the energy behind the Tea Party Movement in the last election).  Many homeowners have simply stopped paying their mortgages, since their currently low home prices make their homes seem like bad investments.  They have no moral concern about the mortgage contract that they have, something that would have brought strong public condemnation in the last century.  Our churches appear to have no stand on the moral issue here!  We seem to believe now that if a behavior is not illegal, then it must be OK.  Is there any wonder that many in the world, especially members of stricter religions, see the U.S. as deeply immoral?

The U.S. has absolutely no concern about the impact of its culture and systems on other cultures.  If profit can be made, then we will make it, whether or not our activities introduce new diseases to the other culture and regardless of whether our examples (e.g., “freedom” and profit-making) corrupt the morals of the affected culture.  Some Muslim cultures have been and are being affected by us in these ways.  Our attitude is that everybody should take care of themselves, so how we affect others is not our responsibility.  People in cultures that are more concerned about how everyone impacts everyone else understandably view this as basically immoral on our part.

Since the U.S. has been militarily dominant in the world for several decades (despite its inability to defeat insurgent movements), some Americans have come to feel that it is not important to consider the rightness of our actions, because if anyone objects, we can intimidate them militarily or if needed, simply “blow them back into the Stone Age.”  This “might makes right” attitude of the dictator and the bully understandably arouses animosity among other nations and peoples.

Our application of the term “terrorist” to those who attack U.S. interests but are not part of a national army is another example of our willingness to bend the truth if it serves our purpose.  Many in the U.S. may have been frightened by the 9-11 events in New York, but only those running from the Twin Towers or the Pentagon were actually terrorized.  Al-Qaeda’s attacks have not been oriented toward causing terror, even if they hope to cause widespread fear and economic disruption.  Our willingness (both government and media) to stoke wartime energy with hyperbole by calling all who attack the U.S. “terrorists” is an example of our willingness to lie to ourselves and to others, which naturally calls into question our concern about morality and immorality.

I am not suggesting that these examples of how we unthinkingly affect others justify killing and war, but it is important to understand that many Muslims in all parts of the world are bothered by our behavior and do not look on us as a “good” or righteous people, and they have some good reasons for this view.  If we want to avoid being seen in this way, and if we wish to be seen as a fair and considerate nation, then we cannot simply dismiss the views of anyone who has different opinions than ours.  At the very least, we must grant others the respect of taking their views seriously and trying to understand them, and we should be able to present an honest and comprehensive argument for why we act as we do, so that others can understand “where we are coming from.”  (Should we take more responsibility for how our culture affects other cultures?  Why or why not?  Is it really right to wait until Israeli politicians are comfortable settling the Palestinian issues, instead of doing more to speed up the process?  Is it right to lie to ourselves about why Al-Qaeda attacks and hates us?)  Only through these efforts to see ourselves as we really are and to understand each other better can we hope to get along with other nations and minimize open conflict among nations.

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