Hi Lawrence:
> > > 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.
We don't hear much from Muslims leaders who admire the West. Who
are they? What do they admire about the West? How come Muslim
clerics don't speak out against the Taliban?
> 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.
Radical Muslims are against Christianity, the religion of the West. US
policies in Arab and Muslim worlds have largely been supported by
other Western nations. The last few American interventions abroad--in
Kuwait, Somalia and the Balkans--were all conducted in defense of
Muslims. If Israel is what you have in mind, let us not forget that the UN
created it.
> 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.
Hate is no excuse for terrorism. The only possible conversation
between intellect/society and biological acts of terrorism is a soldier
with a gun.
> 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.
Please name the countries in the Muslim world which are liberal
democracies. In the context of comparing nations, freedom means
political freedom, not freedom from Western rock & roll or other cultural
expressions. What "freedoms" do Muslims believe we threaten? Unlike
them, we offer our people freedom of religious belief. Surely they don't
mean freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom to vote, etc.
> 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.
I respond to all this as I do for the very reasons you cite--to improve our ability
to think about these matters. Nothing is more static and self-righteous
than reactions to terrorist attacks such as "can't we all just get along" or
"blame the victim." Let us agree at the outset that it is "openess and
inquiry"--the very things we value so highly--that the Tailban wants to
snuff out.
Platt
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