> > On 14 Oct 2001 at 9:33, Platt Holden wrote:
> >
> > > Yes, I pondered that passage many times and concluded that Pirsig is
> > > simply wrong in assigning the blame for Moslem hatred of the West on
> > > our release of biological forces of evil. What they really
> hate is our
> > > release of the intellectual forces of freedom that threaten their
> > > fundamentalist social religious forces.
There are several mistakes in this statement.
1. There is no such thing as a unified Muslim view of the West. Some Muslim
POVs denigrate the West, for several reasons, but other Muslim POVs hold
much about the West in admiration.
2. The phrase 'hatred of the West' is also incorrect (though much in the
press and in the statements of the White House). Many Muslims who oppose the
United States do not have anything against the other 'Western' countries.
Why? The US pursues some highly specific and idiosyncratic polcies in parts
of the Arab and Muslim worlds, and it is those policies that are opposed,
not 'the West.' It may bring comfort to some Americans to believe that we
are not singled out for opposition in the events of September 11, but it is
a false comfort.
3. Some Muslims (as do some people from other cultures) do 'hate' the USA,
in the same stereotypical way that some Americans 'hate' other peoples. But
the use of this phraseology -- crude and general as it is -- does not
advance understanding. It represents only blind anger. Rather, we Americans
should begin to ask WHY this 'hate' exists. Surely the WTC and Pentagon
attacks do not mean that we have to suspend analysis and careful thought.
4. Muslim opposition to the US has little to do with our self-ascribed
'intellectual forces of freedom.' Rather, this opposition is based on
specific US polcies that are perceived by some Muslims to threaten their own
rights of self-determination and their own freedoms. It may be hard to
fathom, but there are many different views of what constitutes 'freedom,'
and though it may be to our dismay, the adherents of those different
definitions feel as strongly and intelligently about their definition as we
do about ours. Generally, those Muslims who look with skepticism or
contempt upon our definition of freedom and a good society will anticipate
that US culture will 'fall' of its own corruption and excesses, and that
they don't need to make it fall via acts of terrorism.
I go into all this because it is important that we Americans improve our
ability to think on these matters if we are to help build the kind of future
that we talk about in MOQ. Stereotypical and angry views are part of a
static and self-righteous approach to the world that precludes the kind of
openness and inquiry that lies at the heart of positive change.
Lawrence
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