Suspend Your Disbelief

Shortly after the overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979, a book discussing the events leading up to the fundamentalist revolt of Khomeini was released. The Fall of the Peacock Throne discussed the culture of Iran and dissected the immediate history leading up to the events. I recall few of the details of the book which I read more than 25 years ago other than one unusual observation. The author pointed out that an unusual characteristic of that Middle-Eastern culture is the ready acceptance of statements as facts which are clearly in disagreement with actual observation. Essentially there is an eagerness to believe things that are said regardless of known facts. Whether this is simply a courtesy to the speaker or a philosophical acceptance that possibly events which one observes are interpreted incorrectly it makes little sense to the Western mind. The old cliché of “don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see,” is turned upside down.

Fast forward twenty years to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Recall the Iraqi Minister of Information standing before the TV cameras and reporting on the abject failure of the coalition forces to defeat the brave Republican Guards of Sadaam’s army even as US Abrams tanks rolled down the street in the background. “Baghdad Bob” became a punch-line for late night TV comedians and a symbol of the convoluted repression of the collapsing regime. But the behavior fits perfectly with the cultural observation of the book. The people of the region accepted the statements regardless of the conflict of their observations.

Now we can hardly pick up the morning newspaper without reading a tale about our misunderstanding of Muslims. We regularly hear of Islam being a religion of peace which forbids torture, murder, killing of Muslims and suppression of women. We are cautioned not to blatantly condemn the millions of Muslims because of the intemperate actions of the few fundamentalists. Muslims, we are told, are people just like us who seek to raise families, prosper, live in peace and make a better life for themselves and their children.

Yet, we see surveys of American Muslims which disclose double-digit percentages in favor of al-Qaeda and the jihadists. Extrapolating the numbers we quickly discover that there are hundreds of thousands living in the US who conceivably could be the next generation of suicide bombers.

Last week we watched a cadre of medical professionals in Great Britain, Muslims all, conduct a series of botched terrorist attacks. Here we have a double conundrum: not only are they supposedly peace-loving Muslims, but they are also healers under an oath to “first, do no harm.” Can we suspend our observations to believe the statements of peace?

Last year it was France that had the adherents of this religion of peace spilling into the streets of French cities burning cars wholesale. Should we consider this merely an unruly sub-set of the peace-lovers and deny the observation in favor of the declarations of peace?

Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, throughout Africa, in most of Europe, in short, wherever we find significant Muslim populations we see evidence of murderous extremism. Fatwas declaring that this or that individual should be murdered for a drawing, a publication or a statement that might be construed by some Imam or Mullah as disrespectful of the Prophet are commonplace. Is this the conduct expected of civilized people who are believers in a religion of peace? Should we believe what we see or what we are told?

An editorial this morning in the local newspaper, written by Clarence Page, pointed out a fact that needs regular and consistent repetition. “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all of the recent acts of terrorism have been committed by Muslims.”

Which raises the politically incorrect question: What is wrong with profiling? Why would it be improper to concentrate efforts to thwart terrorism on young, bearded, Middle-Eastern Muslims? Until young suburban soccer moms with babies on their hip start being linked to suicide bombings we might spend less time shaking them down at airports. Until eighty year old men with canes start parking bomb-laden vehicles in no parking areas we might lessen the focus on them for a while.

Should we believe what we observe or should we accept the cultural custom of the Middle East and believe what we are told regarding the desire for peace. I know what I think.