Thanks Phil, that's good enough for me. The point I've been trying to make
is that it isn't just ideology. It is a two-way process and people all over
the world are responsive to their perceptions and their experiences.
Simon
Simon Ward wrote:
"Why is it that Muslims are prone to get angry when ..."
In the movie _The Outlaw Josey Wales_, Wales is a farmer with a wife and son working a farm during the Civil War. When Northern raiders burn his house down and kill his wife and son, he joins a gang of Southern raiders. Throughout the movie, and emphasized both at the beginning and end, the message is that if Wales is let alone, he would not and will not be a raider.
One gets the impression that the same is true of Simon's Muslims, but it isn't the case. For a variety of reasons, many home-grown but some legitimately drawn from actions of the West, many Muslims are angry before the Pope or the U.S. does anything. Arabs have been fighting Persians for centuries. Arabs have been fighting amongst themselves for centuries. The culture of the Middle East is filled with bravado, long memories for insults, and an insatiable thirst for conspiracies. Young men grow up hearing stories of wrong done to their forefathers and taught that revenge is a part of being male. The vast majority of the population deeply resent their leaders, justifiably since almost all of them are corrupt and despotic. In short, the Middle East is filled with anger. Leaders, both political and religious, are quite happy to channel this hatred into conveniently remote targets, whether it be Israel, the U.S. or the Pope. The last thing they want is for the target to be close so that these angry young men will start acting on their resentments, since those resentments include those towards the leaders themselves. Better for Saudi young men to shout death to the Pope or Israel, less so of the U.S. and certainly not of the ruling family.
It is a mistake to think that the young men of the Middle East are like Josey Wales, living contented lives until unbearable violence is visited upon them. Rather, many of them are very angry from a young age and they will draw on opportunities to vent that rage whenever possible. The U.S. is in part responsible for causing these angry young men to fix their hatred on the U.S., but it is naive to think that the U.S., or the Pope, or Israel, is causing the hatred.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns Toronto, ON
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