Many in the West find it hard to understand the degree of outrage throughout the Muslim world over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have been published in the US and European press. Some assert it shows the Muslim world’s lack of respect for freedom of expression, its intolerance, or even its hypocrisy.
We all like to be confirmed in our assumptions or predilections, but there are lessons in this affair that go deeper than issues of freedom of speech or cynical manipulation. One is the ever-present danger of such cultural clashes in our shrinking, globalized world. Another is perhaps the inevitability of such conflict, given our ignorance in the West of foreign values and our missionary tendency to propound our own as “universal.”
But the most telling aspect of this incident is what it reveals about the sheer depth and extent of Muslim anger toward the West, an anger waiting to be tapped by such a random, unpremeditated incident.
We cannot say we have not been warned. Poll after poll has in recent years charted the rise of Muslim anti-Americanism, usually explained by objections to US foreign policies as aggressive, biased, or unjust. This theme is long familiar to those of us with overseas experience but is usually ignored at home. Given the lack of interest of most Americans in foreign affairs, this warning has perhaps never struck home, either before or even after September 11, 2001.
Some might argue that a serious discussion of a possible relation between policy and terrorism has been deliberately avoided or suppressed. Although we dismiss hostility to United States policies at our own risk, Muslim anger may have even deeper roots. I recall hearing hostile remarks about the US on the streets of Fez, Morocco more than 30 years ago. Intriguingly, at that time I found Americans were most welcome in Soviet-aligned Syria. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia the status of Westerners and especially of Americans, once regarded there as super-humans, has steadily declined since the 1950’s.
Before we dismiss this latest incident as one more proof of Islamic extremism and take comfort in the fact that it is not directed against the US, let us ask ourselves whether Muslim rage, which has been percolating below the surface for decades and anger over perceived insults, humiliation, and impotence to influence events, is not also a real motivating factor for acts of terrorism.
In view of the above, perhaps we should be less dismayed and instead welcome the recent victories of Islamist political parties in increasingly free Middle East elections. After all, empowerment might create responsibility. Today we find groups such as Hamas condemning acts of kidnapping and calling for calm in the cartoon uproar.
Now is the testing time for Islamist parties that have gained power through peaceful means to transform that anger and rage into responsible governance for those who have chosen to channel their energies into a democratic solution.
Kenneth Audroue is a member of the Middle East Institute. He recently retired from the US Foreign Service, where he held numerous domestic and international postings primarily focused on the Middle East.
Disclaimer: Assertions and opinions in this Commentary are solely those of the above-mentioned author(s) and do not reflect necessarily the views of the Middle East Institute, which expressly does not take positions on Middle East policy.
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Many in the West find it hard to understand the degree of outrage throughout the Muslim world over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have been published in the US and European press. Some assert it shows the Muslim world’s lack of respect for freedom of expression, its intolerance, or even its hypocrisy.
We all like to be confirmed in our assumptions or predilections, but there are lessons in this affair that go deeper than issues of freedom of speech or cynical manipulation. One is the ever-present danger of such cultural clashes in our shrinking, globalized world. Another is perhaps the inevitability of such conflict, given our ignorance in the West of foreign values and our missionary tendency to propound our own as “universal.”
But the most telling aspect of this incident is what it reveals about the sheer depth and extent of Muslim anger toward the West, an anger waiting to be tapped by such a random, unpremeditated incident.
We cannot say we have not been warned. Poll after poll has in recent years charted the rise of Muslim anti-Americanism, usually explained by objections to US foreign policies as aggressive, biased, or unjust. This theme is long familiar to those of us with overseas experience but is usually ignored at home. Given the lack of interest of most Americans in foreign affairs, this warning has perhaps never struck home, either before or even after September 11, 2001.
Some might argue that a serious discussion of a possible relation between policy and terrorism has been deliberately avoided or suppressed. Although we dismiss hostility to United States policies at our own risk, Muslim anger may have even deeper roots. I recall hearing hostile remarks about the US on the streets of Fez, Morocco more than 30 years ago. Intriguingly, at that time I found Americans were most welcome in Soviet-aligned Syria. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia the status of Westerners and especially of Americans, once regarded there as super-humans, has steadily declined since the 1950’s.
Before we dismiss this latest incident as one more proof of Islamic extremism and take comfort in the fact that it is not directed against the US, let us ask ourselves whether Muslim rage, which has been percolating below the surface for decades and anger over perceived insults, humiliation, and impotence to influence events, is not also a real motivating factor for acts of terrorism.
In view of the above, perhaps we should be less dismayed and instead welcome the recent victories of Islamist political parties in increasingly free Middle East elections. After all, empowerment might create responsibility. Today we find groups such as Hamas condemning acts of kidnapping and calling for calm in the cartoon uproar.
Now is the testing time for Islamist parties that have gained power through peaceful means to transform that anger and rage into responsible governance for those who have chosen to channel their energies into a democratic solution.
Kenneth Audroue is a member of the Middle East Institute. He recently retired from the US Foreign Service, where he held numerous domestic and international postings primarily focused on the Middle East.