| | I used to spend some time in the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, mainly in Dhaka and Chittagong. During one of these trips, about ten years ago, I asked my hosts, educated Muslim naval officers, "Why does the Muslim world hate the West?"
They corrected me. Paraphrasing from memory: "The Muslim world does not hate the West; the Muslim world fears and loathes the West. It is led by America, and we are taught from a young age that America is officially a Godless place, that the most powerful nation on earth is officially a Godless thing running loose in the world, unguided by morality." I asked if they thought I was a person without morality, and they laughed, and corrected me again: "We understand the difference between the American people and the American government, the state. The state is officially a Godless thing, and so, unguided by morality."
Well, of course we are. To me, this isn't a complaint. We get it. We understand our 1st Amendment. I mean, that is something our education system does a great job at, as well as much of our popular culture. The 1st Amendment is important to us, to our way of life, it's a keystone of our freedom, its the 1st of the BoR. We get it. But from their worldview, they are in fact absolutely speaking the truth, and although places like Bangladesh nominally have a secular civil government, in fact, in practice, the place is run by the religious leaders, who regularly demonstrate that fact via the calling of 'Hartals' (national strikes) on any whim whatsoever, simply to demonstrate who is really running the place. It should really be called "The Islamic Peoples Republic of Bangladesh," like Iran or Pakistan, because that is the political reality. It controls their education, it is their political reality, these places are effectively thoecracies if not actual theocracies. They control government, they control education, they control the local political context. They also recognize the political reality that, in a world dominated by a secular giant, their political reality is threatened if that secular giant, whose shadow is never far from sight, is not regularly shown to be bleeding from the a$$. In their political reality(the local old men in robes clinging to their gig), they have correctly perceived that is is 'them or us,' and they are acting to secure the preservation of their power. So, although we, here, are perfectly happy living in a world that also includes theocracies, those trying to maintain power inside of de facto thocracies cannot politically suvive in a world that includes us. They correctly calculate, "it is us or them." How else to explain to their people, "Why do we live like this, and why do they live like that?" The way we live must be demonstrated to be "not so well," and their task in demonstrating that to their people is also aided by our actual cavalier exercise of the other half of the 1st Amendment, which regularly demonstrates to them that some of our choices with our freedoms can be used to paint us as Babylon incarnate.
These were not islamic radicals; Bangladesh does not have a fighting navy, per se, their navy is more like their civil defense corps. Former East Pakistan was created by force at the exit of India's sewage disposal system, at the mouth of the Ganges River Delta, and is always getting flooded, so they are always busy. But, the navy is one of the outlets in a place like Bangladesh for 'the best of the best.' It is not possible to effectively describe in words what life is like on the streets of Dhaka or Chittagong, or how the air burns your lungs with every breath. But, life on a naval base in Bangladesh is shangrila in comparison with life outside the walls and gates. These were some of the most highly educated individuals in the country, and this was their belief, which in fact, was based on the truth. America the state is officially a Godless thing, proudly, and in writing, and the local old men in robes, the local politicos, use every tool at their disposal to maintain their local political power, in their context, and that demands that secular America be demonstrated to be 'not such a great idea to emulate.'
During one of these trips, I had a chance to use the services of a local 'small business shop.' They had, for hire, a fax machine, a desktop computer, a modem, a copier. The shop sold fruit, and ancient Soviet era electronics, like power supplies, inverters, and such. It was diversified. It had a dirt floor and no door, just a large blanket hanging in the doorway. But, the desktop computer had internet access. For a few Taka, you could avail yourself to everything the world sees fit to post on the electronic equivalent of a public bulletin board in the Men's room of the Port Authority. I thought, "What an opportunity; here I am in a 3rd world country, about to take a peek at what struggling folks with access to the world's library are interested in." I took a look at the IE browser history. Sure enough, nothing but "SMUT" this and "XXX" that as far as the eye could see. Oh, well. So much for technology transfer to the 3rd world.
We know to change the channel. We know to just shrug and laugh when the excesses of 'free speech' offends. We know that's just people's choices with their freedoms. We've been taught, it's a cost of freedom, tolerance of others excesses. And, the local old men in robes know to use those factual excesses against us, to characterize us by our excesses, as readily demonstrable via satellite and internet and media of all types, 24/7/365 around the world. "See how these Godless people use their precious 'freedom?'
We've been taught differently from those who have grown up in theocracies. We can live with them in our world, they can't live with us in their world, and modern technology/media makes our world far too front and center in their world to ignore. The old men in robes correctly have calculated, "it is us or them."
They are absolutely right, and they are fighting for their political reality, and our oblivious and irresponsible exercises of our freedoms in the face of others in different political contexts is fueling their fear and loathing and no matter what my hosts once said, resulting hatred against us.
We don't get that they don't get us.
regards,
Fred
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