The theme of envy and jealousy figured strongly in much of the right-wing media. In the Chicago Tribune, Thomas Friedman, who coined the term 'They hate us' early in 2001, months before 9-11, laid the blame on 'pure envy'. 'Even in the club of industrialized democracies', he suggested, 'there is resentment at America's stature as the world's richest nation, its sole superpower, its predominant culture'. The crux of the matter, declared Robert Kaplan, correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, on National Public Radio (NPR), is 'a kind of existential hatred of a very dynamic, pulsing civilization, the West, challenging the middle classes of this part of the world and, therefore, a competitor to traditional Islam in a way that no other ideology has been'. Muslims are also anti-Communist, but, suggested Kaplan, they 'never really hated communism because it was such an abject, obvious failure'. It's the success of American democracy and capitalism that is the real source of hatred.

The West Wing is above this kind of simplistic analysis. The show aimed, as it usually does, to be both urbane and worldly-wise, to champion such positive American values as open-mindedness, tolerance and the program's favorite essential ethic, plurality. Lyman tells the students: 'It's probably a good idea to acknowledge that they do have specific complaints.' The 'complaints' that he itemizes are: 'the people America supports'; 'US troops in Saudi Arabia'; 'sanctions against Iraq'; and 'support for Egypt'. And we are told that he hears these complaints every day. Since we can assume that the Deputy Chief of Staff is not in daily contact with terrorists or Islamic extremists, these cannot be the only people voicing these 'complaints'. In which case, it might be a suitable place to begin an instructive exploration of these issues, even if 'complaint' seems a distinctly neutral term for such contentious policy issues. It might, for example, be significant to consider the fact that such 'complaint' comes from many different sources - Americans, Europeans, people and governments across the Third World - as well as from Muslims. When such 'complaints' are made so often, from so many sources, might they not contribute to the creation of terrorism, or the conditions in which terrorism festers and recruits? But The West Wing finds such a question to be quite unnecessary. Lyman simply tells the class: 'I think they are wrong.' Therefore it need not detain our civics class from getting on with matters of real interest.

What explains terrorists, what defines their difference, is solely concerned with the nature and history of their beliefs - this is the essence of the lesson we are to be given. So what is Islamic extremism? 'It is strict adherence to a particular interpretation of seventh-century Islamic law, as practised by the Prophet Muhammad.' And Lyman adds for emphasis: 'When I say "strict adherence", I'm not kidding around.' With a single bound, at the very beginning of the civics lesson, we have been plunged into the sort of misinformation that is seriously detrimental to reasoned judgment. Islam was first preached by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century, in which case, by this definition, terrorism is original to Islam. If strict adherence to Islam ’as practiced by the Prophet Muhammad' is what makes an extremist – and we have already been told that extremism has nothing to do with millions of Muslim men and women of faith - then what exactly is the connection between these many millions and their faith, or indeed the Prophet Muhammad? Presumably these millions are less than strict in their adherence. The practice of Prophet Muhammad is second only to the Qur'an itself and is essential for all Muslims, who refer to it as a guide and example of how to live; it provides the moral values and ethics of Islam, as well as such vital details as how to pray and what form prayer should take. Furthermore, all Islamic schools of law, which actually developed after the seventh century, as well as all shades of opinion and interpretation among all Muslims, are grounded in, refer to, and are justified by reasoning based on the practice of the Prophet Muhammad. So we are being offered a distinction that can only generate confusion and the inability to distinguish an Islamic extremist from any other Muslim.

Indeed, the liberal analysis of The West Wing, although couched in much more cautious and understanding language, turns out to be not far removed from the right-wing perspective on Islam and Muslims. The language of the right wing is hostile and uncompromising, as demonstrated by, for example, Karina Rollins, senior editor of The American Enterprise. 'It is a grave and dangerous mistake', she wrote, 'to leap from the fact that individual Muslims are innocent to the notion that the nations and societies in which they live are benign'.

Continues...

_____

Excerpted from Why Do People Hate America? by Ziauddin Sardar Merryl Wyn Davies
Copyright © 2002 by Ziauddin Sardar & Merryl Wyn Davies
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd.