Way too Simplistic, Schills

Submitted by sara (United States), Jul 3, 2012 at 19:56

Sorry Schills, but again, I find your analysis overly simplistic and based on theoretical assumptions. Yes, there is an impact from our support of Arab dictators and there is a backlash against cruel and inhuman rulers who subjugate their citizens. But that is not nearly the whole picture, and again, it is your naivete which prevents you from seeing the real picture.

The fact of the matter is, first Israel and Jews were used as a unifying hate and motivator by many Arab rulers to deflect the hardship they experience under such regimes. And that has always been a major factor, recently extended to the rest of the West, with the US being the 'father of all evils'. But in the past decades another factor has become much more influential and that is the preaching of islamic fundamentalists to teach in their schools, universities, streets, talk shows, children's programs a religious based hatred, a commonly held belief to equate not being a good Muslim if one does not strive for Jihad (and sorry, but the Jhad they are referring to is holy war against infidels by violence, not your theoretical oft used interpretations of the Quranic verses). There has been so much religious influence and pressure to conform to Islamic codes of conduct within the majority of Muslim countries that there is no going back from it. It is engrained in the culture, in the news, in the belief system. To be a good Muslim now means to hate whoever is the 'oppressors' who are trying to murder Muslim children, steal Muslim land, attack the Muslim Ummah.

It is the truth and you cannot omit this critical factor from any analysis. If it was possible to sway their minds with funding, education or anything, it would have happened already. Just look at the PA vs Hamas. The PA has/had tons of money coming in, and a relatively secular approach, and now Hamas totally discredits them as not real Muslims because they are not preaching religious hatred. (And I am not saying I like PA any better than Hamas as a partner for peace with Israel, but the religious component takes it to another realm and westerners simply cannot go there).

In the case of the Palestinians, t will take a generation of teaching non-hatred to begin to bring forth anything that can remotely resemble a partner for peace, and this is mostly due to religious belief and indoctrination. The cultural upbringing is self limiting. The major obstacle to negotiations in Iran is, again, religious belief. The indomitable surety that bringing about armageddon will hasten the return of the Mahdi. The only silver lining is that the Sunnis, just as religiously fervent, do not agree with that.

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