All Muslims are like this

by phil on Monday May 17, 2010 12:49 AM
regionalism

I often have a hidden agenda when arguing about foreign affairs, and its to convince people that everything's gray.

I'm often irked by the black-and-white attitude Americans have toward Islam. Not only do people see Sunnis and Shiites as the same, but they see Saudi Sunnis as the same as Iraqi Sunnis. Or they hold a stereotype that all Muslims are repressive (Did you know that an Egyptian cleric issued a fatwa against veils?). Or they think all Muslims hate Israel (Without Jordan's help and compliance, I doubt Israel would have survived long or be as mighty as it is today). Most Americans also have a certain picture in their mind when they think of a Muslim face, when its actually Indonesia that has the largest Muslim population. (Philippines also has a sizable Muslim population that's trying to secede.)

If we want to get super-cynical here, it's actually more strategic to hold a gray perspective, so that we can pit them against each other, rather than doing our enemies within Islam the biggest favor, which Dubya did, by lumping them all together.

Comments

Guru said on May 19, 2010 4:15 PM:

Case in point: Rima Fakih, the "first" arab american miss USA (lebanese?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rima_Fakih

PS - and there's this whole controversy about photos of her on a stripper pole, whatever.