Skip to main content

Getting the perspective wrong

Although things have quietened down a bit around the world, the reverberation from the toxic video clip with regard to Muhammed continue.    Where it will all end is anyone's guess at the moment (see here for an American perspective).    But one thing appears certain.    The dynamics of relationships will likely alter.  

Over-arching all that has occurred is that the USA, and the West in general, hasn't reflected on some of the underlying causes for the unrest.     Glenn Greenwald did so in The Guardian (see a previous post here on MPS) and now Paul McGeough, veteran reporter and journalist on the Middle East, also does in The Age newspaper.

"Nothing excuses the killings in Libya; just as nothing excuses the too-simplistic riff by some American commentators saying how ungrateful these Egyptians and Libyan are, "after we liberated them".

But when for decades whole populations have been treated as an inconsequential mob, some of them can hardly be blamed for behaving as such when provoked.


Their social landscapes have been cruel, intellectually barren spaces, in which broken-down education and state censorship fostered ignorance and narrowness.


Mrs Clinton appeared be be aware of some of the realities of the region. She told reporters: "It is hard for some people to understand why the US cannot or does not just prevent [such videos] from ever seeing the light of day."


But the Secretary of State failed to join the dots, to sheet home some of the blame for that incomprehension to Washington and the other Western powers, which actively sponsored the dictatorial regimes, or were indifferent to their behaviour.


Those years of rigid censorship are why many in the Muslims world cannot conceive of a society in which the offending film could be produced without the blessing of an arm of government.


To throw off the yoke of state-sponsored ignorance and control without consequence is a big ask.


The naivety of some as they grappled for understanding was touching. There was genuine puzzlement on the part of one imam who spoke to The New York Times in Kandahar, Afghanistan.


"I ask the government of America," he said, "why did they allow a person to insult a man, Muhammad, when by insulting him they sadden the whole Muslim world, and create hatred towards Americans?"



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary.   The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as

Climate change: Well-organised hoax?

There are still some - all too sadly people with a voice who are listened to - who assert that climate change is a hoax. Try telling that to the people of Colorado who recently experienced horrendous bushfires, or the people of Croatia suffering with endless days of temps of 40 degrees (and not much less than 30 at night time) some 8-10 degrees above the norm. Bill McKibben, take up the issue of whether climate change is a hoax, on The Daily Beast : Please don’t sweat the 2,132 new high temperature marks in June—remember, climate change is a hoax. The first to figure this out was Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who in fact called it “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” apparently topping even the staged moon landing. But others have been catching on. Speaker of the House John Boehner pointed out that the idea that carbon dioxide is “harmful to the environment is almost comical.” The always cautious Mitt Romney scoffed at any damage too: “Scientists will fig