our generation's war
Tom Brokaw was at Fordham University yesterday for an interview in front of a student audience. During the interview he was asked about the long-term impact of the Iraq War on our generation. His answer peaked my interest and brought to mind a question which I have been thinking about for some time. I thought to share his response and the question here for discussion.
Brokaw: "What I do believe—and people should be aware of this—is that Islamic rage is real. There is—there are too many people in the Islamic world who believe the only way they can be faithful is to join jihad against the West and attack all that we all hold dear, the Western ideal of modernity and pluralism and rule of law and tolerance for other faiths. That has not gone away. In many ways it‘s been exacerbated, I believe, by what‘s been going on in Iraq.
The demographics are frightening. The population growth within the Islamic world is exponential. I go to Pakistan a lot, as you know, and spend a lot of time up at the border with Afghanistan. And as I go through Peshawar and those other places outside of Islamabad, I see all of these young people in the streets, and they‘re giving getting married and giving birth to more young Muslims.
They have not many prospects for jobs. There is really no public education system in Pakistan that can compete with the madrassas, which are the religious schools. And in the religious schools, the mullahs say the way to heaven is to attack the west. So these are difficult circumstances. And you can‘t solve it just military."
Brokaw argues that many Muslims believe that their religion requires them to attack the United States because of our commitment to modernity, pluralism, religious freedom, and the rule of law.
This is not an uncommon analysis of the Muslim world, and I'm sure it doesn't surprise any of you to hear that a man of stature, seriousness, and respect has voiced it; indeed, many such men have.
I wonder if he's right. Clearly, the poverty, poor educational system, lack of civil rights, and gender discrimination (to name a few) point to a problem with the Islamic world. (Certainly these problems are not unique to the Muslim nations.) So I guess my question is, To what extent, if any, does the Muslim religion contribute to these problems? Is Brokaw right; does the Muslim religion require people to "join jihad against the West?" If it does not, then why do so many Muslims believe that their religion requires them to do so? Why do "the mullahs say the way to heaven is to attack the west?"
I would encourage the current RAs to join in the discussion as opposed to exclusively talking about this at my desk during office hours!
posted by Reflections @ 8:35 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Mike has put in a serious effort to get people to post on this blog, so I will respond.
I think the underlying cause for much of what is going on is a powerful sense of dissatisfaction in much of the Muslim world. There is vast and readably apparent inequality in the world. The inequality itself may be tolerable but what creates a serious issue is that there is no avenue for many people to improve their situation. There are countries with huge numbers of college graduates who simply cannot get jobs.
I think religious plays an important role is channeling that frustration and turning it into anger, but I do not think that this is anything specific or unique to Islam. Blaming others is easier then introspection and religion is a common way to separate us from them. I don’t think it is unreasonable to look at the Crusades or the Holocaust in a similar light.
I guess I am saying religion plays an important role, but I doubt it is cause for the current conflict.
I'd say that this question has two parts two it: First, why are religious/political leaders in Islam compelled to use their power to wage a war against the West? Second, why is the general population so easily swayed to carry out this war?
I can't claim much in the way of savviness about the Middle East or Islam, but I do think that highlighting the intersection of religious and political power in the Middle East is critical to understanding Tom Brokaw's observations. Like Mr. Bedoll pointed out, Western ideals and Western ways of life threaten the very foundation of the political power of religious leaders in Islam. Why? Well, I believe that any political leader's power is derived from his ability to hold sway with his followers. When that power is challenged by a way of life that is demonstrably superior (measured by income, education, employment, and health), then it doesn't look so good in comparison. Maybe this is cliche, but globalization brings this comparison to the forefront; suddenly societies which were once closed off to each other are face to face. Islamic factions suddenly realize that they are providing their followers with a microcosm of what Western capitalism and freedom can provide. How can they rationalize this and still keep their power, aside from declaring that, put simply, the West is corrupt and evil? If they admit that the West is doing things better, then they're also admitting that they've been wrong about things like denying basic freedoms to women or restricting religious diversity; I imagine that it's much easier for them to do the opposite. I would guess that religion contributes at this point as a form of justification for war. It's a very opportunistic way to consolidate power on a local level by fighting a “war” on a global one.
Given that, why are the followers so easily swayed to follow through with Jihad? For one, as Krisha notes, their lives are not very good. What can they hope to do about it, aside from following the same men and the same God they've been following all along? Perhaps religion plays a large role here as well; religion tends to emphasize the afterlife, although I can't say to what degree that is true for different religions. But my guess is that Islam values the next life far more than this one, and this allows people to deny what seems obviously rational to us (that civil liberties are good and tyranny and violence are bad) in favor of the promise of being rewarded in the next life.
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