9 out of 10 times the media portrays the Muslim/Arab world as placing blame for their problems, for the worlds problems, on America and Israel. Do you believe that this is an accurate portrayal by the media?
note: when I say hte Muslim/Arab world I am referring to those who live in their native homes, not those who have moved abroad. Those who have moved, when you visit ‘home’ does this seem to be the case, people blaming America and Israel for the balk of problems?
when i visit i try and tell everyone how the problems faced today are due to our own inaction.... we've failed to emerge as a people who are disciplined and united for a common cause.. yada yada... but yes i cannot deny the meddling of foreign nations in the affairs of my and other "Muslim" countries.
PA, would agree that denial runs deep and America and Israel are used as scapegoats so that the real issues can be ignored and avoided?
^ They are used as scapegoats for a reason. Yes, the Arabs/Muslims have only themselves to blame for a lot of things, but being killed by foreign troops is not one of them.
How can you portray a population that is over a billion that resides all over the world in such uniform way? Ask the Muslims in China and see if they care about Israel or US, one in Turkey will give you mixed reaction and one in Jordan or Saudi Arabia and you will get what Fox News love to show.
That being said, I agree that there is a significant number of Muslims who cannot help but blame everything on US & Israel, and if you are frequent on these boards it is probably pretty evident.
Would that significant population who has a case of blame displacement reside in Pakistan and/or Arabia?
^ Close but no cigar. Try Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.
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*Originally posted by ahmadjee: *
How can you portray a population that is over a billion that resides all over the world in such uniform way? Ask the Muslims in China and see if they care about Israel or US, one in Turkey will give you mixed reaction and one in Jordan or Saudi Arabia and you will get what Fox News love to show.
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Exactly this point was made by a leading muslim author Asghar Ali Engineer in his book "Ethnic Conflicts in South Asia" written in about 1980's. He asked for instance, how many Tamil or kerala muslims give a damn about Kashmir or in fact any non south Indian muslims and of course vice versa.
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*Originally posted by underthedome: *
PA, would agree that denial runs deep and America and Israel are used as scapegoats so that the real issues can be ignored and avoided?
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well they don't blame Germany or France or Russia or China for their problems so i must say their apprehensions aren't all that ill founded..
it's all related. Yes. they don't correct themselves. and Yes.. they are justified in blaming those who wouldn't allow the kind of 'corrections' they want.. would u be willing to support the ordinary Arabs in dethroning the Saudi Monarchy? or the Egyptians in democratizing Egypt by kicking out Mubarak?
I didn't think so.
So before you go questioning the Arab/Muslims.. look inwards.
What types of governments, freedom, equality or stability would arise from an overthrow of Egypt or Saudi Arabia? Would it democratize the countries? Would you be willing to support the likely extremist governments that would arise? Didn't think so. So before you pretend overthrowing the current governments would result in a free or democratic society look inwards.
Seminole, seems like you are saying "oh we like democracy... but the kind of government that may come up, no we don't want that, so we will keep supporting the dictators".
There is always a huge discrepency on this board to the definition of democracy. A democracy is different from what a theocracy, oligarchy or any other form of government that is ruled by a single class or select group. Democracy places a high value on the equality of all individuals and frees people from restraints that are not self-imposed. Call me a skeptic, but I don't see that evolving any time soon anywhere in Arabia. So, fine, the majority of people in Arabia may not want a democracy. Would Pakistanis or other non-Arab Muslims be happy with the type of governments that would most likely be ruling over the holy lands? Or just happy because they would most likely be anti-American?
^^
The issue of a democratic isalmic country finally becomes the choice between Isalm first and watan (quam) first. Musharraf is leading Pakistan in the resolution of precisely this dilemma. Isalm first doctrine does not work (as has been cogently argued by Asghar Ali Engineer) due to widely differing interests of various muslim countries. As a matter of fact countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran where human rights are non-existent because they remain convinced that any atrocities can be accepted if they are committed under the name of an Islamic country.
And before some of the guppies get their kalishnikovs out to aim at me, consider what Quaid-e-azam had wanted for Pakistan. A country where isalm was dominant but with freedom of religion for all. Appraently zealots like Zia changed that prespective along the way. A true democracy will not exist in Arabia unless people demande it ahead of religion.