I have noticed that throughout the Egyptian and Middle Eastern blogs many of the posts are filled with anger at America. A HUGE amount actually.
Yet out of the millions of American blogs I would guess only a handful have anything to say about the middle east. (Except for 9/11, and that has to do with terrorism and terrorists, not the actual Middle East situation).
Why? Americans care about many different things. They are not particularly lazy when it comes to educating themselves...so why do they not seem to have any interest at all in the Middle East? (or any culture for that matter!)
I think a bit of it has to do with Americans wanting to know EVERYTHING about a subject before they talk about it too much...and the situation in the Middle East is so extremely complicated and foreign to them that they don't believe they will ever understand it...so they don't even bother. You could question people in the streets for days here and never find one who is really clear on what is going on between Israel and the Palestinians. They would not even give and opinion. They may mention suicide bombings, but that is it. That is all they know! Is this because of the government and the media? NO! The media focuses on the situation in the Middle East every single day. Yes, a lot of it is about terrorism - but there is a lot about politics too, and yet still no average citizen understands it or cares. I have very educated friends and when I start discussing Israel I have to start from the very beginning...they simply know nothing. And if I bring it up a few months later I have to start from scratch again. I can see their eyes glaze over after 10 or 15 minutes and they can no longer listen...I lost them somewhere along the way. It is not because of the media. It is not because they are haters of Islam...most Americans do not even know what religion the Middle East is. If you ask them they will say "Isn't it Hindu, or Muslim or Buddhist or something?"...as if they were all different words for the same religion.
They figure someone in Washington must understand the situation so it's probably best to leave the opinions up to them. Politics are never simple though. One of my favorite teachers used to always say "Nothin's all good, and nothin's all bad" - and it is a simple phrase, but it is more true than most phrases. The American government has selfish motives, but they also have selfless motives too. If anything about American is misunderstood by the rest of the world it is that most Americans are willing to fight for what they believe is justice. Americans are idealists. You can see it in our movies, and hear it in our songs. We want a perfect world and we are willing to help other people out to achieve it.
The problem is that few Americans in Washington or elsewhere truly understand and respect culture...perhaps mainly because our main cultural trait is having no culture at all. I don't believe every country should be a democracy...some countries NEED dictators to function. I think Americans also have a very strong belief that when people are faced with a choice between good and evil the majority will always choose good. First of all, this is not true. Second of all, good and evil are not always clear.
Americans like to help other people - even if they don't care to get to know them. Few other cultures TRULY like to help or get involved with strangers. How can the Middle East understand that we did have MOSTLY good intentions with going into Iraq? No other country in the world would have taken the risk to simply get rid of what they believe was evil. Was it America's right to do so? of course not - but they didn't do it for oil or power or blood alone. Americans and the American government don't even think that far ahead!!! George Bush couldn't care less about what happens when his presidency is over! If the States run out of oil in 15 years, it has no effect on politics or policy now. As long as Israel is secure we have a place to plant ourselves in the Middle East. We didn't need Iraq and their land. We don't need their oil money. I think for the most part America really just thought they were going to do some good in the world. Laugh all you want at that ignorance, but in the end it is truer than most of the world will ever know, simply because they would NEVER be willing to risk anything simply because they want the world to be a nicer, freer place.
So what went wrong? Culture. America thought they were doing the right thing and that the people in Iraq would be so happy that they would forget their religious differences and be one big, happy and free country. After years and years of learning everything I can about the Middle East, there are still things I know I will NEVER understand. The role of religion is one of them. I try and try and try and in the end I know I am not truly understanding. In the same way I know when I am speaking to Middle Easterners they simply can't grasp the religious situation here either. They seem to understand quickly when they live here, but it comes as quite a shock at first. Even if they understand that it's different, they couldn't describe what is different about it. I will save that for another post - but my point is that if I, who love culture and read everything I can get my hands on and live amongst Egyptians etc., cannot understand, how can some guy or lady sitting in some office in Washington who has no interest whatsoever in the Middle East? So, they make their decisions based on what they THINK the culture is like, or what it should be - and they have failed miserably.
But it is NOT because they are evil!!!! It is because they are ignorant! It is not because they are selfish and want to harness the entire earths resources!!!! It is because they are ignorant!
If anyone has good intentions in this world it is the United States. Good intentions are simply not enough when they are backed by naive ignorance. Will it ever change? Probably not. Every time an American hears of a suicide bombing they drift farther and farther away from wanting to find the truth.
The Middle East considers us terrorists. It is hard for an American, myself included, to see how the Middle East cannot see the difference between what we have done, and what suicide bombers have done. It is very clear to us what is terrorism and what is not. Terrorism (to an American) is when an individual or group INTENTIONALLY targets civilians, who are completely unaware of their prescence, to make a statement to the government or military. It is pure and total evil. It is not a disregard for human life - it is a hatred of human life. Why is America different than a suicide bomber? It is the reason behind the actions that make the difference (to us anyway). War is different than terror. Innocent people die in war, but it is USUALLY an accident. If it is not an accident it usually happens because the stress and strain of war has made the fighters lose control of their own minds and they don't care anymore, or are no longer able to see right from wrong. When they return to their homeland after a war they usually live the rest of their lives messed up because they live with the guilt of what has happened ever minute for the rest of their lives. Terror does not end in guilt - it ends in jubilation. Terror is about HATE.
Yet it is clear to me that others see it completely differently and believe from the bottom of their hearts that it is the same thing.
Anyway - Americans do not hate Muslims, or the Middle East. They don't know what Islam is about and they couldn't find Iraq on a map if they had to.
It is not as easy to hate when you realize the person standing in front of you has nothing but an empty mind...and hate eats the soul of the hater. Americans souls are not being eaten with hate for Islam, or anything else - their souls are floating around in some perfect world they imagine they can create if only they try hard enough. I suppose that is yet another reason they say ignorance is bliss (paradise). If the Middle East does not stop hating so deeply, they will lose EVERYTHING they have that is beautiful. If they can stop hating they will be able to come into the world with a complete soul and hold their heads up high and proud - they will be able to affect changes that will make their lives better, without compromising their religious beliefs or cultural heritage.
Anger can be a good starting point for change - but HATRED leads to nothing but pain , and just as the suicide bomber kills himself, so too does the hater.
