Islam, 911, and the conspiracy websites. Muslims in fear.
 

Watched this show last night on World Link TV on how the US is viewed in the Middle East.

Here's a snippet from their website: "This Mosaic Special Report looks at the prevailing views and perceptions of America held by those in the Middle East and examines how those views are shaped and how have they changed in the two years since 9/11." More here

Pretty interesting show. A few highlights. I draw no conclusions myself of the universality of these statements.

1. Rumors and conspiracy theories are popular. Many hold the view that it was not really Muslims that hijacked the planes but Americans or Israelis. A popular conspiracy theory is that 4000 jews that worked in the WTC were called the day before the attacks and told not to go to work.

When people were asked where they learned these things, the answer was invariably ?the internet?.

I did a quick search and there are 3360 sites listed in google for the terms ?4000 jews wtc? and 6550 for ?4000 jews 'world trade center'". The narrator of the show pointed out that the merging of technology with information on the internet has made many in the Middle East have a healthy respect for internet news - even over local sources - regardless of the source.

2. Much of the negative attitude towards America, Israel, and the West in general is related to humiliation. That word was mentioned by many Muslim commentators. Many Middle-Eastern Muslims think of Islam as a great society but yet can?t escape the reality that the combined GDP of the entire Middle East is less than that of a European country such as Spain. They are a humiliated society and can?t figure out what has gone wrong. Many of the Muslims interviewed that sounded anti-American lit up when asked if they?d like to attend school in the United States. Of course!

3. According to many interviewed the Muslims with the most pro-US outlook influencing others back home are the ones that are educated in the US. Post-911 it is much more difficult for an Arab/Muslim to attend school in the US. We Americans may be losing one of our best tools to influence the hearts and minds of Islam.

4. I didn?t hear much regret for 9/11 at all. The interviews, if common, showed most Muslims saying things like ?I don?t think the US deserved 9/11 but ....? and then some variant of ?it had to be done?. If this attitude is prevalent, maybe the majority can be judged by the minority.

Interesting sidebar. A recent Pew poll conducted in the Middle East shows tremendous support for Osama bin Laden. Only Yasser Arafat was ranked as more trustworthy than Osama. Might it be that those who say the majority of Muslims are non-militant are wrong?

5. Many Muslims despise their draconian rulers and blame the US. In their view, the US keeps their rulers in power and this adds to their humiliation. They want democracy but are blaming the US for not having it. A Pew poll of Muslim nations show a majority of Muslims in 8 of the 9 countries polled believe Democracy can work for them. It should be noted that no one interviewed assumed that the responsibility was theirs. No one said "we need to get rid of our rulers".

6. They are afraid. Public opinion polls throughout the Middle East show a population in fear that the US is beginning a war on Islam. Even a good percentage of Moroccans are concerned the US might invade.

With the obvious caveat that this is a television show with limited scope, it should be noted that World Link?s programming is decidedly liberal with programs such as ?the War Spin?, ?Counting on Democracy? (investigating Florida recount) and ?Israel?s Secret Weapon?.

bush invaded because he wanted his rich friends and the companys he has stock in to get the benifits, he uses the money from their oil to pay his friends for those $50 million parks while raping US tax payers $50 billion a week.........great isnt it? seems the americans cant even topple their own evil government and they think they can take on the world

I hate threads like this

Colin, I think I liked you better when you were snorting the drain cleaner.

Set up some more lines! :thumbsup

I've built up tolerance.

Damn!

Then roll up a phat joint and get high!

There's this old experiment where a dog is shown a fairly flattened ellipse and a circle. When the dog is shown a circle it receives a shock unless it pushes on a lever. When the dog is shown an ellipse it receives food by pushing on a different lever. When the experimenters showed the dog a shape half-way in between the flattened ellipse and the circle the dog couldn't make a decision. It freaked out, got down on its belly, put its paws over its eyes and whined.

This thread is the experiment.

You are the dog.

That's an interesting experiment

HAHA. Those muslim countries are already americanized.

They're blaming someone else for all their problems. All we need is the muslim countries in the mideast to file a lawsuit saying that America is responsible for all their backassed, imbecilic ways, and all their other problems and things will be complete.

muslims in general are the most uneducated, bottom of the barrel, wastes of life you're going to find in this world.
There are MANY backward, even primitive societies in the world, only the muslim faith strives to go backward, not forward.

I dont like being the dog

Can I be the expirement now?

Sure, you're expired. ;-)