a footnote

[winterbadger]

I find the whole exercise of reading through the page I was just commenting on rather sadly wearying, and upon starting to read Barnet's weblog entry for 9/11 I became even more wearied (partly because I disagree with Barnett about things, partly because I agree and that bothers me, but mostly because he's two years older than I am and has already held and left senior researcher or director positions at institutions I could barely get an entry-level job in today.)

But I feel it worth adding that I one of the reasons I am so bothered by the JUS owner's rantography is that at root I agree with her about many of the reasons the United States finds itself in the position it is in today. We have been arrogant; we have sided with the strong against the weak, the invader against the dweller, the tyrant against the peasant. Of course, remember the French Revolution: the peasant is not always a much worthier or generous person than the tyrant. But we have been our own worst enemy.

What frustrates me is that, especially knowing as little as I do about Arab culture, I'm not sure I know what we could have done differently that would have made us seem less of an enemy and more of an ally. We love to believe that we brought an end to the Cold War and "liberated" eastern Europe from communism. But do Russians think of us as friends and allies? My impression is they still see us as a vagely threatening, distant, unknowable Whore of Babylon--rich, seductive, destructive. How coudl we have done better with the Arab world?

Comments

The koran

[bright-serpent.livejournal.com]

That's how I did it. I read the entirety of the Koran, backwards to forwards, so that I'd better understand where the culture was coming from. i also did some reading...I can't remember the professor's name now, but I believe he works at UCLA. He's written several well-researched books about mistranslation of the hadiths (Muslim laws) that have led to the Middle-Eastern brand (generally speaking, obviously) that is so anti-US, anti-technology, anti-Christian, etc.

Just like most conservative Christians in this country (CONSERVATIVE, not all Christians), those Muslims who interpret the Koran to mean "murder in the name of Allah" do a great disservice to their religion. In fact, the Koran specifically calls Christians and Jews the "brothers of Islam," exhorting Islams not to kill or cause injury to them, and even stating that doing so is the same as killing or injuring another member of the Islamic faith.

Getting from that to "it's ok to launch terrorist strikes against the Twin Towers" seems something of a stretch to me, the same way that getting from "judge not lest ye be judged" seems a long way away, to me, from bombing abortion clinics and spitting on homosexuals.

It's funny, but those most ready to kill each other over religion often have the most in common.

Re: The koran

[winterbadger]

Getting from that to "it's ok to launch terrorist strikes against the Twin Towers" seems something of a stretch to me, the same way that getting from "judge not lest ye be judged" seems a long way away, to me, from bombing abortion clinics and spitting on homosexuals.

I'm reminded of how, before they decided that they were bitter enemies and needed to be exterminated, American conservatives were able to work happily with the religious fundamentalists in Iran on issues like working to restrict international recognition of women's rights and international support for family planning and sexual health care education.

I'll point out that actions like these, while anti-feminist, are not actions that disempower women in favour of *men* but in favour of (often, but not exclusively, male-dominated) religious authorities. Anyone who really seriously doesn't believe there's a meaningful difference need only ask any of (off the top of my head): misia, azbound, blackperson, one_undone, willowsinger, or redactrice if they think their male partner would be inclined to think he has the right to make choices for her or would seek to control her property or reproductive rights. Just a tangential point, but an important one IMO.