STOCKHOLM SYNDROME When the towers of the World Trade Centre came crashing down, the fear on the faces of those running, those jumping to a certain suicide and those covered in a cloud of dust, told us exactly who the victims were that day. On September 11, we all had a classic view of who the bandits and sheriffs were. Six years on, with the war in Iraq, the rise in anti-Semitism and the hot topic of Islamophobia, it seems the roles of the classic sheriff, bandit game have been reversed.
The saddest thing though is that not only are the western governments considered the bandits these days, but western culture as a whole is ashamed of itself and apologetic for its own values. Our values of freedom, equality and liberty of the individual are the greatest strength and weakness of the western world. But because of the blunders in Iraq on the west’s behalf, matched against the religious zeal of Islamic fundamentalism, it seems as though the western world has become remorseful for its own existence.
After September 11, Muslim communities had a heavy onus of rooting out terrorism from Islam, disassociating themselves from fundamentalism and condemning radicalism. Rather, the opposite has occurred. Western society has had to apologise for its very nature. Our obsession with individuality and liberty has backfired, deliberately or by circumstance, to make us into eternal apologists for our beliefs so as not to be politically incorrect.
Straight after the Madrid bombings, Spain, in a climate of anxiety, immediately changed her government and withdrew troops from Iraq. Fundamentalists in France soon after warned of further bombings should the French government go ahead with banning head scarves in public schools. These events should have unified their respective nations into a common call of solidarity against violent blackmail, but instead, the west went on its own crusade of self-introspection. The west’s internal psyche of rationalism and deliberation posed questions on itself, asking “If these guys are willing to blow up hundreds of people without remorse, then surely we have done something to displease them to deserve such a reaction?”
This political bashfulness was most evident in the Mohammed cartoon fiasco. An irrelevant little Danish newspaper published cartoons of the prophet, and with a touch of spin by instigators, provoked mass riots in the Middle East and attacks on Scandinavian embassies, so much so that European leaders had to apologise for the cartoons. The fact that the cartoons are controversial and inappropriate is immaterial, considering the Arab media have a no-holds-barred approach to attacking the revered values of the west. What is depressing is that European leaders had to apologise for their values of freedom of speech even though they were not remotely responsible for the cartoons.
Perhaps the reason why America and the west are losing the war on terror is because our society is detached from and rueful for our values, while our radical Islamic counterparts have been unrelenting in theirs. When a detainee is under hostage for so long, they begin to lose hope of their own beliefs and sympathise with the hostage-takers demands. Yes, the west has made mistakes in the past, but we should not be under duress to apologise for our existence and values.
2 comments:
sup M,
dig the new blog vibe. And the post you have written is mature and smart.
My fitty cents on the topic are as follows:
The world in which we live is diverse and multiple. There are billions of people, each with different ideologies and identities. Those individuals within the "west" choose to identify with the ideologies set forth by the european colonial powers who have dominated since the roman empire. While those who prescribe to eastern philosophies, their dominance can be tied back to Arabian, egyptian, turkish periods of dominance in world history.
The trajectories of these two imperials, while interweaving throughout history on numerous occasions, are mostly distinct. Today, they find themselves on a collision course, spurred on of course by a return to religious ideology on the part of the leaders of both sides. fundamental Islam in the east, fundamental judeo-christianity in the west.
This return to religion, on both sides, has put both sides on a collision course. One cannot deny that fundamentalist islam stems in part from the economic hegemony of Anglo-american dominance, yet to suggest that this anglo-american dominance is irreligious and secular is a "big" statement.
Today, George Bush's foreign policy is reinforced by the christian viewpoints that they aim to protect. By his reckoning, Democracy equals the acceptance of judeo-christian doctrine. In the past, european imperialism was guided by religion that led to a superiority complex and an inferiorisation of other forms of religion throughout the world.
I disagree with the arguments that the west is detached from its values. That is what religious leaders would have you believe, however it does ignore the history of imperialism and current influences on American foreign policy.
Just because TRL is popular, and Jessica Simpson prances about half naked in movies that are pg-10, does not necessarily mean the west is corrupt and valueless. In fact, if the west were more corrupt and secular, then perhaps eastern and western ideologies would not be on such a collision course. Maybe, an abandonment of religious values and fundamentalist doctrine on both sides is a way to resolving a large number of disputes in the world today.
Controversial words, i know - but ultimately, if religion only exists to ensure the dominance of one group over another, if the strengthening of western religious values is the key to overcoming burgeoning eastern values, then i propose that these values be abandoned, and the world adopts a unified, secular and peaceful ideology.
El Hermo
Out
My esteemed and learned colleage, el hermo.
I appreciate your response and appendix to this article. Just to clarify, the values of the west that I am talking about revolve around liberty and egalitarianism. These thoughts may or may not be linked to Judeo-Christian philosophy but I was refering more to the former thoughts rather than the latter.
My attack is not on the corruptness of the west in the form of TRL or in the support of the Bible belt and Bush crew. Thats another argument for another time.
I am merely saying that it seems to me that Greenday's subtle dig at American life and the west not trying to do anything to further provoke riots, in France or Syria, suggests that there is a wave of self-pity in western society that makes us embaressed and aplogetic for our values... the same values that determined the French Revolution up until the fall of the Berlin Wall.
This OCD version of being politically correct is a strength of a democracy but ultimately has backfired in that we are ultimately ashamed of our democtratic leaders and apologetic for our so called "imperialist agenda" to the extent that we are agnostic in our values like a Russian was agnostic in his after the collapse of the Soviet dream.
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