Last Updated: 8-30-07.
INTRODUCTION - A
NOTE for Students: In the absence of page numbers, I have added letters to identify each sub-section in my posted Chapters, so that if you need to refer to a few sentences, you should indicate the Chapter number, the sub-section letter, and the date when the posting was last updated to identify the location of the sentences. Some sections in this appendix are not included in my forthcoming book.
NOTE: Some paragraphs herein are near duplicates of those in my forthcoming book, Countering Polarization. They are repeated here since some readers of this posting will not read that book. This posting is much more detailed in discussion about Muslims than is in that book.
In an effort to explain the diversity among statements made by Muslims in America and similarly by Muslims overseas after 9-11, on the one hand; and American media on the other hand, I have outlined some ideas, that I believe, should be considered as influencing the reactions of many Muslim youth to the problems that they face in a world that is changing far more rapidly than fifty years ago. More research is needed to clarify the extent to which the following ideas are relevant and important.
The following discusses four ideas.
1) Recalling the hard wiring of human brains from Section D of Chapter 1, consider that in Muslim societies which, in many cases have a patriarchal cultural tradition, young persons who see no clear path for their future, are likely to submit to a patriarchal, authoritarian image of God, often similar to the image they had of their father when they were children. Some of them with little hope for a good future are susceptible to joining extremist politico-religious causes. Yet others who had a caring and loving father are likely to be kind and compassionate, and view Allah with emphasis on kindness and compassion.
2) Children reared in a tradition of honor and shame, on average grow into adulthood with a somewhat fragile self-assurance and tend to blame others for their own failures. Shame and guilt are contrasted and the problems of honor are discussed.
3) Constructing personal and group identities has become very difficult as a culture changes from Pre-modern to Postmodern in a matter of a few decades, skipping much of the intermediate stage of Modernity. The social and psychological aspects affecting a young person's construction of his or her identity are important to an understanding of identity formation and management. Young Muslims, especially those in the West, have unique problems with identity management. Some opt for violence against those whom they blame as the cause of their hardships.
4) Many high school students, both in America and in the Middle East, Christians and Muslims alike, do not learn how to analyze a text, a speech and other sources of information by using critical methods of text analysis to ascertain the truth of the text. As a result they believe that what they see and hear is realistic and true, whether it be from news broadcasts on radio and television, by writers in the newspapers, by clerics, or by other community leaders.
A friend of mine suggested that I include a section on "Why Do They Hate Us?" in this appendix. Such a section is included as Section K, in Chapter 3 of my book, Countering Polarization.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND AUTHORITARIAN, PATRIARCHAL TRADITIONS - B
Remember the details of hard wiring of the brain and early child development stages from my Chapter 1. With those ideas in mind, some questions that I have are the following. Could research in the study of human development and religion help explain, some of the answers to the question: "Why do they hate us?" To what extent does the early care of Muslim baby boys and love for the baby boy coupled with traditions of patriarchal authority create in many of the very young children, a hard-wired proclivity for a relationship with, submission to, and dependence upon a strict image of Allah rather than a compassionate, liberal image? Many children and young adults imagine God to be similar in character to their father, or some other primary caretaker. In many cases, when people, Christians and Muslims, create in their mind an image of a strict authoritarian image of a caring other based on their relationship with their own father, their quest for a caring other, later in life, is more easily diverted by the promises from a charismatic leader who reminds them of their own father. Might these ideas help explain the reactions of young men who join al Queda and the Taliban? See a detailed answer to the question "Why Do They Hate Us?" in Section K of Chapter 3 in my book: Countering Polarization.
A reference to the foregoing ideas is found in a footnote #19 to verse [2:27] and also in verse [7:172] in Muhammad Asad's translation of the Quran. Similar ideas are found in the Old and New Testaments (Isaiah 42, verse 6). It is the idea that believers have a bond with God, or that they build a relationship with God that is referred to in many verses. See my posting on the Quran listed in the Bibliography.
In sum, it is desirable to broaden how the young imagine God in order to counterbalance the image of an authoritarian God with that of a compassionate God who liberates one from out-dated cultural traditions. The Quran and hadith include important statements concerning compassion on the part of Allah and His Prophet.
SHAME, HONOR AND GUILT - C
In addition to the foregoing questions, two others are - Might the cultural traditions of honor and shaming so prevalent in traditional patriarchal and tribal cultures of the Middle East and Central Asia contribute to a habit of blaming others for unhappy situations and events? I believe that the answer is: "Yes". How might shaming contribute toward some young persons responding violently to feelings of frustration, loss of honor, rage, and powerlessness? Honor and shaming are important cultural traditions in a number of Middle Eastern cultures since before the time of Muhammad. In many segments of Muslim cultures today it is still important to maintain honor at an individual level and also at the level of extended families.
An article by Jeffry Gettleman of the New York Times, reporting from Iraq and published in the Denver Post, 4-11-04 on page 19A, provides the following response by Khalif Juma, an Iraqi citizen, to the return to fighting against both Sunnis and Shiites. " We're religious people, and our leader has been threatened. We would be ashamed to stay in our houses with our wives at a time like this." Khalif is a vegetable seller aged 26. "To be honest, we weren't like this before." The word ashamed is directly tied to the system of honor as interpreted by many Muslims. American troops, following the rapid attack tactics of urban SWAT Teams in the USA, humiliate and dishonor the families whose homes they break into at night. Such humiliation is viewed much more severely in patriarchal societies than in America.
Two recent sources contribute much to clarifying these concepts. They are: a recent book by June Price Tangney and Ronda L. Dearing, Shame and Guilt, and a recent unpublished work on Honor by Bertram Wyatt-Brown at the University of Florida discusses honor. A condensed version of the unpublished paper is accessible at Perspectives On Honor.
Blaming others for one's plight is closely related to maintaining honor. Tyrants like Saddam Hussein often "blame" others for the plight of their own people. Bernard Lewis, uses the term "blame" several times in his book What Went Wrong? - The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East, (pages 152 and 153).
Please Note: I am not proposing a "Muslim Mind-set". Historical events such as colonialist exploitation/domination and support, by the West, for authoritarian and corrupt regimes have disrupted a more normal adaptation to economic development and related cultural adaptations in Muslim societies. However, psychological considerations still remain useful when explaining how some of the cultural traditions that are mixed with interpretations of the Muslim faith, restrict adapting to changing times.
The following discusses the idea that children raised in a tradition of honor and shame; grow into adulthood with fragile self-assurance, tending to blame others for their own failures.
An important distinction between shame and guilt is often overlooked in discussions of honor and shame. Clarifying the difference between guilt and shame is the major topic in the work of Tangney and Dearing. The authors wrote that shame involves negative self-evaluations. Shame is typically accompanied by a sense of being worthless, powerless and exposed. One does not live up to the image that one wishes to present to his or her group or community. One has lost respect. The shamed child is often told: "You are no good."
Guilt, on the other hand, involves the ability to empathize with others and a sense of remorse and regret that can lead to doing better next time. By middle childhood, children begin to be able to see themselves as others see them and they experience guilt, asking themselves when they transgress: 'Did I do that?' They are motivated to take corrective actions. If children are not sensitive to others, they may be inclined toward destructive feelings of shame that can lead to denial, blaming others and anger. Some adults who have been shamed often as a child, engage in violent behavior when they feel threatened.
Those children who respond more often with feelings of guilt, as defined by Tangney and Dearing, might be the result of parenting that focuses on corrective behavior and behavior change rather than ridicule. An example of working with guilt is the coach who counters a player's error by taking the time (sometimes during an educational moment) to help the player improve her skills. A good coach teaches her players how to avoid making particular mistakes, and how to perform better next time. Such guided practice helps the players develop self-assurance as they improve their skills. Good coaches do not put their players down by shaming them.
On the other hand, blaming the child for transgressions, putting him down and sometimes withdrawing love, often leads to feelings of shame in the child.
The authors concluded: "Recognizing the distinction between shame and guilt is an important first step in making ours a more moral society."
James Fowler, in his book Faithful Change on page 211 discussed shame and its effect upon some Americans. He wrote: "Excessive shaming and demands for perfection as conditions of worth can lead to the creation of a false self or, worse, the strictures of a shame-bound personality. On the other hand, severe abuse and neglect, not offset by someone in the child's world who gives consistent love and effective care, can give rise to the shamelessness and the cunning rage of the sociopath."
Professor Bertram Wyatt-Brown's historical paper, entitled: Honor's History Across the Academy is accessible at: Wyatt-Brown.
presents a number of historical accounts that show the many ways that HONOR influences political, psychological and sociological decisions of individuals concerned with identities that range from self to family-clan, to tribe, to community, to state, and to world communities.
The examples he presents cover a range from American Presidents, to Middle Eastern tribal chiefs and Presidents, to individuals in a duel. Both the Middle East and America seem to be following policies that clearly were and are influenced by attempts to preserve HONOR. The governing systems of Muslim states, with and without hierarchical organization of their Islamic religion (Sunni and Shiite) are impacted by honor considerations in different ways.
Yet, the American Administration and the American Media, in the year 2003, act in ways that showed an almost complete ignorance of the role that honor plays in these decisions. This ignorance is largely because we all lack an interdisciplinary paradigm that is adequate to handle the complex nature of honor.
RESPONSES TO INCREASING THE SCALES OF COMMUNITIES OF COMMITMENT - D
As the scale of a community increases and as communities become more diverse, a frequent response that we have seen in the past few decades is for clerics and political leaders to attract young people by providing a regressive way to overcome their confusion, frustration, lack of hope and rage. We see this among Muslims and also among Christians. These leaders rely on a return to the old ways, a return to literalist-orthodox and traditional approaches to religion that still includes the patriarchal and tribal emphasis. These trends are evident in Muslim nations and also in the USA among Christians, as described in Karen Armstrong's book: The Battle for God. Separating out from religion, the cultural aspects that have lost relevance, is an important step that can lead to a hope-filled future.
Young people who can not find any basis for hope of a secure future are especially susceptible to recruitment by demagogues who: provide what appears to be certainty in a confusing and hopeless world, distort the Islamic faith, and blame others for their plight. Some religious clerics focus blame on the USA and brainwash kids to hate Americans. It is easy to blame others with whom you have never shared experiences. I believe that terrorist actions are performed by persons: who are brainwashed by charismatic leaders who themselves have limited interactions with others from different cultural and/or religious backgrounds.
We cannot deny that negative effects from Western colonialism, are one of the more important considerations, when examining development and progress in the Middle East and Central Asia. The restrictions and distortions of societal development that resulted from domination and exploitation by Western imperial powers - France, Britain and the USA are many. Focusing on this one cause alone is not the way to solve these problems.
As societies become more diverse and the community scales increase, the need to expand jurisdiction of justice systems from systems based upon tribal honor and shame, to national scales becomes very important. An effective system of justice that focuses on fairness rather than revenge is needed to guide the transitions in society and its cultures as people move from rural areas to cities and face increasingly diverse populations. I discussed this topic in more detail in the first chapter of by book, Peace Is Possible.
Blaming others for economic conditions is not only a problem in Muslim societies. In America, immigrants are blamed for declines in economic living standards, performance standards in public education, industrial employment opportunities, and problems with enforcing civil rights legislation, overlooks conditions in ones own community that also contribute to the problems. One must also consider that there are some positive aspects of external influences and there are both good and bad effects from internal considerations.
CONSTRUCTING PERSONAL AND GROUP IDENTITIES HAS BECOME DIFFICULT - E
The frustrations and confusion of living through the complexities of rapid change, from tradition-bound cultures to modern/urban ways of life, affects the way in which young people construct their personal identities. To explore these effects, one must consider psychological aspects of identity formation, such as how clear are the boundaries of one's identity, how are boundaries presented to other persons, how does a person strengthen his self image, and so on? One example of identity boundary maintenance is the use of a particular vocabulary and jacket decorations used by urban street gangs, uniforms worn by boy scouts, scarves worn by some Muslim women, crosses worn by some Christians and so on. Turf boundaries are signified by graffiti in the case of street gangs and by fences and curb painting in Northern Ireland. The Kiwanis and Daughters of the American Revolution wear special pins to identify fellow members.
To provide some insight into how identity and status considerations affect responses to change, consider the following examples. A group of friends, or a ball team, loses respect from others when the group is thought to be involved in theft or the team has a low record of wins. Loss of respect or status in the community weakens one's self image and group members might counter this trend by leaving the group, changing their identities, or trying to counter the negative contribution to status by trying harder to win a game, to counter the image of thievery, and so on.
Identity issues are discussed in a book entitled Allah in the West by Giles Kepel. One topic to which he gives considerable space is the issue of wearing headscarves and the veil in France. His book also details the differences between approaches to identity in France from those in Britain. Other writers on the topic of changing identities appear in: Haddad and Esposito's reader: Chapter 4 - "Muslims and Identity Politics in America" and also their Chapter 12, and in Haddad and Smith's Chapter 9 (pages 167-173) and Chapter 10. Both books are listed in my Bibliography.
IDENTITY AS A PROBLEM FOR MUSLIM COLLEGE STUDENTS - F
The following refers to work by Professor Marcia Hermansen on identity alternatives for Muslim youth. Her work has sparked some of my ideas that are outlined below.
What do we mean by "identity"? As a child my identity was mainly that of a child of my parents. As I enter adulthood, I have to select other identities. One's identity is influenced by how a person answers the following questions. "How do others see me? How should I act particular situations? What careers should I prepare should I prepar for? How do I manage these many different identities? If I live in the West as a student or professional, how do I manage contradictions between the values of my old culture and those of the new one? For example, a woman might consider wearing the scarf only in more traditional settings, or th signify that she is a follower of the Muslim faith.
Managing identities in a changing world is stressful. Where does one go for help?
Identity and status are important for developing a framework to view alternative ways a Muslim young person might react to loss of status resulting from restricted job and career opportunities, discrimination and prejudice from persons of other religions or ethnic backgrounds, and the like. I found a chapter that describes identity problems that are faced by Muslim youth in the West, written by Professor Marcia Hermansen. It appears in a book edited by Omid Safi entitled Progressive Muslims. The chapter is entitled: "How to Put the Genie Back in the Bottle? - "Identity" Islam and Muslim Youth Cultures in America". Hermansen discussed components of identity, culture as a problem, Muslim Student Association sub-cultures, extremism and fringe movements, gender issues within the brotherhoods, accountability, and more. She ends with recommendations for helping young Muslims living in the West apply their energy (symbolized by the Genie) in positive ways that could help them make a contribution to existing institutions and activities rather than becoming alienated and isolated.
She defined a progressive Muslim outlook as: "one based on informed understanding of the tradition in its historical and multi-cultural context as evolving to address the needs and issues of the time in a way that is both spiritually and politically empowering." (p. 306)
When a young Muslim chooses to join a Muslim Student Association (MSA), identity considerations influence this decision. Some MSA's emphasize a return to orthodox Islam that, in general, strengthens a follower’s identity, and reduces confusion, by emphasizing a clear set of rules and values to follow. Regression to an idealized past may seem to be attractive, but is easily distorted and misleading. Other MSA's get involved in political action on campus to safeguard student rights, enlighten non-believers about Muslim culture, and project a particular interpretation of Islamic religion. Still other MSA's, are more progressive and help students provide a balance between living a good Muslim life and adapting to life in a postmodern American society which includes persons of many ethnic backgrounds, occupational experiences and religious backgrounds. It takes time to learn how to adjust to such diversity and some individuals find it easier to adjust after having shared experiences with diverse others.
At the present time, the response of many Muslims, especially the young, to the confusion and frustration with lack of opportunities in Muslim societies, is to rely on returning to literalist-orthodox, traditional approaches to an interpretation to Islam that still includes traditions that predate Islam - the patriarchal and tribal focus of their culture. This response seems to be a major avenue for overcoming confusion and simplifying lives for many Muslims, especially those living below the poverty level.
Increased diversity of life experiences found in societies that are modernizing causes intergenerational conflicts. The younger generation is exposed to increasingly diverse life styles as they become involved in relationships with others who might be specialists and workers from other ethnic and/or religious backgrounds, or occupational subcultures. On the other hand, although the older generations see young people changing their ways to adapt to new career opportunities and new (different) life styles, they are more likely to be satisfied with their own familiar life-style, especially if they live in a neighborhood with many other Muslim households.
COMPONENTS OF IDENTITY - G
Hermansen wrote on page 308 in Safi, "One of the main factors driving Muslim youth activities in America is the quest for identity. That this identity might be shaped (distorted) in odd ways is not surprising." A majority of immigrant American Muslims arrived only after 1980, therefore many of
"today's youth are the first cohort born in America. The struggle of a new generation for a place in the dominant society is nothing new. Muslim youth of immigrant parents are often more "different" in terms of skin color, names, and religion, than previous waves of immigrants were. The American political situation since the 1960's has, in increasing measure, constructed Islam and Muslims as the enemy or threat to the American way of life or Western civilization. At the same time, since the 1970's, a new form of internationalist Islamic ideology, combining political ambitions, anti-colonialism, and conservative religious revivalism, has often been the only oppositional voice raised against repressive regimes in the Muslim world. A litany of injustices of the West against Islam is part of Muslim collective memory and present rhetoric, and to a large extent present reality, most recent examples being the Palestinian situation, Kashmir, and the blockade on Iraq.""One can well imagine the identity dilemma of a Muslim teenager brought up largely in an American environment who has been encouraged by parents, Islamic groups, and extended family to dis-identify with American cultural and political contexts and to imagine himself or himself as being from somewhere else (Pakistan or Palestine, for example) as a critical or oppositional stance. At the same time, this young person is probably never going to 'make it' as an authentic citizen of the imagined homeland, since he or she faces substantial inadequacies in language competency, historical knowledge and even cultural and social assumptions of the idealized place of origin." (From p. 308 in Safi)
CULTURE CHANGE IS A PROBLEM - H
On page 309 Hermansen wrote:
"An ideological premise of internationalist identity Islam is that this 'true' Islam is apparently floating above everything cultural. It is pristine and unassailable, politically it had established a utopian state where everyone was happy and honest, and that this state should be re-imposed on humanity today and it will make a better world. Internationalist Muslim revivalist movements such as Jama’at Islami and Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimin) have encouraged this concept of a 'cultureless' Islam around the world. These revivalists have been able to dominate Muslim organizations and mosques because of their commitment, pre-existing networks, external material support, and defined ideological agenda.""I recall a campus MSA meeting where selections of the most naive and apologetic nature from a certain South Asian publication were read out before an audience of university students. No one commented or questioned and the few non-Muslim students in attendance were perplexed and alienated by the childish level of credulity exhibited. If anyone of the Muslim students had comments or criticisms to offer, it was stifled by the conformity and 'group-mind' culture that excludes diversity and marginalizes independent thinking."(From p, 310 in Hermansen's chapter.)
"Among some young Muslim ideologues, fear of being co-opted by the 'western' university system leads to a fascination with the madrasa style of learning. Online mullas provide the most rigid and hateful fatwas proscribing the most picayune and oppressive regulations. Western 'shaykhs' in robes and turbans purvey a new brand of authoritarian charisma." (from p. 311 in Safi)
"For many children of Muslim immigrants technical fields and medicine are seen as being less corrupting than the interpretive humanities and social science subjects and the former are sometimes justified as being of potential service 'to Muslims'. In addition, the issues of interpretation raised by the humanities and social sciences involve the sort of nuance and multivalency that more rigid Muslim youth wish to avoid confronting in understanding Islam." (from p. 311 in Safi)
EXTREMIST IDENTITIES - I
The following three paragraphs were taken from Andrew McKenna's very good paper in the journal "Anthropoetics" which is posted on the web. See my Bibliography. He described some interesting considerations that affect the personal identity of some religious extremists.
Extremists feel that they are living on the margin of society. Andrew McKenna wrote:
"The marginality we are dealing with here is not that of the oppressed themselves, but of those who, like many an American campus radical, seek their own identity and justification, and a sacralizing vocation, in taking up the cause of the oppressed from a position that is materially underwritten by the society of the oppressors, whom they effectively resemble in their cultural and socio-economic circumstances.""The decisive flaw in romantic rebellion, as Raban points out about himself and as a Muhammad Atta or a John Walker Lindh could never see, is the self-exiling rebel's need of his oppressors as a prop for his victimary theology, his symbiotic dependence on real or imagined persecution to authenticate his sacred identity, to consecrate his destiny: ... ."
"… the opponent's need of a hostile milieu to sustain his belief, is a point brought out long ago by Sartre, when he distinguished the revolutionary from the rebel in his essays on Baudelaire and in What is Literature." He raised the question, ..."who depends on the system in place to consolidate his oppositional and largely derivative identity that is forged over against it. This construction of an identity "over against," rather than on a free-standing foundation of its own."
McKenna's paper sheds light on how identity problems influence responses of Muslim youth and if one is aware of these difficulties, it should help counteract the drift of young persons toward terrorism.
Jessica Stern, after four years of interviewing militants, has written a detailed account of causes of terrorist acts in her newly published book, Terror in the Name of God - Why Religious Militants Kill. Her book provides background that covers a wide range of conditions that contribute to violence.
CHANGING IDENTITIES FOR YOUTH MOVING FROM RURAL FARM AND TOWN CULTURES TO LARGE POSTMODERN CITIES - J
In rural, tribal societies the main source of a young person's identity was his or her family name. Then as young men began to work and start their own families, this was supplemented by their career: shepherd, farmer, trader, and so on. For married women, it was her husband's name, motherhood, and homemaker. In modern times the latter were expanded by such women's roles as teacher, nurse, physician, and other careers. Similarly, the professions and trades added identities for the men.
One of the stresses of adolescence, worldwide, is to search for a clear identity outside that of the family, one that is attainable, secure and which one can expand or develop as one advances into his or her career. Young people who live at the margins of society see little hope for achieving a good identity and a good life. This is because: poverty has kept them from a good education, war has made them orphans, economic depression and/or over-population has reduced opportunities for career development, and so on. In the first half of the last century many young men strengthened their identity by joining a labor or trade union, by a military career, by attending a university or school, by the neighborhood in which they lived and/or by professional associations to which they belonged.
ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS AMONG YOUTH - K
Gilles Kepel, a Director of the French National Science Research Council, in his book, Allah and the West described how since the 1990's, economic, political, and social change associated with the post-industrial age progressing into the information and computer age, has changed the kinds of identities especially accessible to African-Americans living in the black ghettoes of American cities.
Similar changes affected children of Muslim immigrants to France and Britain. On page 1 of his book, Kepel wrote: "...the present book seeks to analyze and contextualize the assertions of Islamic identity we see in the West today." Asserting one’s Islamic faith is occurring in the Black ghettoes of America, and with the veil incident in France.
An article 5-4-03 in the Denver Post, page 10A, indicated that wearing scarves in public schools was still an issue at the "Meeting of a new assembly representing Islam's diverse factions in France". The French Prime Minister said "The headscarf is a symbol for those who wear it...It is also a symbol for those who contest it". The article stated that the issue has brought France's long tradition of separation of religion and state into a clash with freedom of expression. An Afghan friend of mine said that the headscarf signifies modesty and chastity. It also identifies a Muslim believer who most likely follows Muslim values and/or wishes to be identified and accepted as such. To others it signifies one who might not wish to accept certain Western values, yet many Muslims can straddle the fence and be a good Western person and a good Muslim at the same time.
Kepel pointed out that
"Behind the headline events, new social, cultural, political and religious fault-lines have emerged around a specific version of Islam activism which functions right at the heart of postindustrial modernity." (p. 2)"But in an unexpected way, this phenomenon also has considerable significance and instructive value for the Western societies in which it has developed. Over and above the Islamic question itself, the claim to a community identity expressed in Muslim discourse constitutes a prism through which we can observe how, and around which constructions of identity, our postindustrial societies are structured." "In this last decade of the twentieth century, the labor movement and declining trade unionism are no longer capable of assuming the demands and the social future of this new proletariat 'black-and-white-beur' youths living on the fringes of the labor market, in ... rundown housing projects..." (p. 2)
(The term 'beur' is widely used in France to designate children born in France of immigrant (or pre-independence Algerian) parents. They usually have French nationality but many of them claim an identity independent of both their parents' and the dominant French culture. From the first footnote on p. 239)
"By laying claim to Islam, which they load with extremely diverse meanings, ...they are seeking to construct a community identity and are thereby making a deliberate cultural break with the dominant values of countries of which they are in the most part citizens in law, but which in their view exclude them in fact.""This separatism is as much a means of defense against a dehumanized or hostile social environment as a way of mobilizing 'brothers' and negotiating collectively in their name with the authorities. In their fight against drugs, violence and all forms of exploitation, the protagonists are at the same time constructing an alternative identity, thanks to the specific teachings, modes of behavior and attitudes which heighten difference and 'otherness', among which the strict observance of all religious rules and prohibitions plays a fundamental role."(p.2)
"The book seeks to identify the social contradictions such groups exacerbate, sometimes in an extreme and outrageous fashion."(p. 3)
On page 5, Kepel contrasts the different policies that Britain and France follow with respect to assimilation of immigrant groups into their society and respecting the new identities that Muslim youth are trying to develop for themselves. These ideas might help explain why France follows different policies than Britain with regard to Saddam Hussein.
Pages 220-232 provide in detail the background of a struggle to be permitted to wear hijab (the scarf) by young Muslim schoolgirls and women in France. The last sentence, on pp. 232-233, summarizes the difference between America and Britain whom Kepel characterizes as being liberal and pluralist and France who is centralist and assimilative. This means that America and Britain freely let ethnic and nationality groups and communities exist and in some case be the primary commitment that a believer holds. There are many diverse groupings and ideally, they are free to exist in this way. On the other hand France demands that commitment to the nation be primary and that ethnic and nationality groups assimilate. In the postmodern era, as schools and labor unions become less and less significant as pillars of one's identity, young persons need a replacement and that, for increasing numbers, seems to be the Islamic faith. In America, evangelical and literalist-orthodox religious groups play a similar role of replacement pillars for the identities of young persons.
A NEED TO IMPROVE SKILLS OF CRITICAL THINKING - L
Critical think skills are discussed in several of my Chapters. (See the appropriate Section identifiers in my Table of Contents). In the following discussion, some specific perspectives on critical thinking are presented. Some very important help sorely needed in both Muslim and Christian societies is when parents and teachers include in their teaching skills of critical thinking. When these skills are applied to the idea of interpreting what one reads and hears, the child learns how to take the perspective of others and to analyze these perspectives to some extent. Such skills are essential for citizens to help adapt their culture to an evolving modernity. This does not mean that Muslim cultures have to copy modern forms from the West. Critical thinking will help dialogue that is sorely needed for Muslims to develop their own forms of modernity, forms that are compatible with the basic tenets of Islam.
Do patriarchal aspects of the Muslim cultures in the Middle East and Central Asia contribute toward believing distortions of the truth and in some cases biased information from certain government officials and some clerics? Critical thinking skills can reduce such gullible responses. Might this explain, in part, why the many Muslims have a view of reality so different from that of Americans when it comes to Mid East - American relations?
I noticed during the Afghan war, in statements reported in the American media that some Pakistani and other clerics, especially regressive Islamists, seemed to be out of touch with the major global realities. This makes them more easily misled and, in some cases, leads them to distort interpretations of the Quran and hadith to justify extremist and violent actions. For example, it appears that there still are some who believe that Israel’s special forces destroyed the Twin Towers and a part of the Pentagon.
An article by Emily Wax of the Washington Post that appeared in the Fort Collins newspaper, The Coloradoan on 3-38-03 was entitled "Arabs see war differently than U.S." Some Egyptians mentioned the following opinions. "America has killed thousands of Iraqi children...They want to destroy Islam as a religion... They started the war to steal truckloads of oil and sell it to Israel.... The war is a ploy of the United States to colonize the Middle East...Syria and Lebanon will be next. Neither Arab countries nor the United States are receiving an unbiased view of the Iraq invasion... The world is watching two entirely different wars...And everybody is reporting from their perspective of the truth. We, of course, think we are accurate."
Other opinions that I have heard are that the Israeli security people carried out the bombings of 9-11. The American evangelicals who believe in helping bring on the Apocalypse are eager to bring into being the events predicted in the Bible.
Statements by Saddam's generals and clerics indicate, in my view, a lack of appreciation and/or understanding of American government policies, military potential and world affairs in general. Dictators commonly have this problem because they are surrounded by yes men and are cut off from the common people by fear. Saddam's generals also blamed him for the collapse of the Iraqi military and government in less than one month's time.
The only way to bring these varied perspectives together toward one more-accurate view of reality is to bring people with diverse perspectives together in dialogue circles that include persons who are trusted as having credible information. These people need to get to know each other as human beings and realize how much they have in common. They need to listen to and appreciate the experiences that each one has gone through, experiences that have shaped their perspectives. Hopefully, schools of journalism will conduct some studies comparing coverage of events, since 9-11 by television, radio, and newspapers, in Muslim countries and Western countries. Such comparative studies can expose the true reality.
In the last paragraph on page 59 in Kimball's book When Religion Becomes Evil he wrote: "But clear thinking and honesty about one's sacred texts are not easy. Most people are not encouraged to ask critical questions within their own tradition." Near the bottom of the page he wrote: "My experience teaching intelligent undergraduates at top universities over many years reinforces the view that most Christians don't grow up learning to ask ... basic questions about their sacred texts." "The same is true for most Muslims. Jews on the other hand, have has a long tradition of reflecting on and speculatively interpreting their sacred texts." I believe that the impact of postmodern learning about deconstruction and reconstruction of texts will help the spread of critical thinking skills, though an obstacle to be overcome is the trend, in much of the mass media, to present short sound-bytes and oversimplify their presentations.
In sum, the education of young people requires, in addition to emphasizing compassion toward others, 1) helping children share experiences and take the perspective of diverse others, 2) increasing the jurisdiction of systems of justice to reduce shaming, and strengthening the self assurance of young persons, and 3) developing skills at critical thinking. I believe that skills in critical thinking will enhance the learning about the values and actions of diverse people in a pluralistic society. In America, many high school students also lack the experiences and skills necessary for critical analysis of texts, news programs and the like. For this reason, they are easily misled and have trouble navigating through the rough seas of communication overload and self-oriented distortions of information so prevalent in today’s media.
CONCLUSIONS - M
If modern societies desire to be successful in reorienting their societies toward prosperity and freedom, their people, especially the young, need hope for a better future. Reorienting these societies requires turning their economies around, building a fair and trusted justice system, opening broadly-based schools for all, and developing skills for critical thinking.
To reform the cultural aspects of Islam, the clerics and political leaders will have to consider how to de-emphasize the patriarchal traditions of authority and the parochial judicial system of shame and honor. This will take time and a broadly-based, open-minded, coordinated effort before progress can be made toward peace in a pluralistic globalizing world. Let's add it to the list of other considerations that are vital to building democracy and peace around the world.
A detailed bibliography is accessible at: Bibliography
© Copyright: by Charles Notess, 2004. "Fair use" encouraged.