“None of this happened by accident. It is directly due to cultural depravity advanced in the name of progress and amplified by a sensation-hungry media.
* We were told putting women into combat areas is progressive and enlightened.
* We were told pornography is liberating, and that anyone who objects is a narrow-minded Puritan who needs therapy. We have been flooded with porn imagery on mainstream television and in magazine ads. Where did those soldiers get the idea to engage in sadomasochistic activity and to videotape it in voyeuristic fashion? Easy. It’s found on thousands of Internet porn sites and in the pages of “gay” publications, where S&M events are advertised alongside ads for Subarus, liquor and drugs to treat HIV and hepatitis.
* We were told homosexuality is harmless and normal, and the military should live with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows homosexuals to stay in the barracks. We were told that men “marrying” men and women “marrying” women is inevitable – not only for America, but for the world. Imagine how those images of men kissing men outside San Francisco City Hall after being “married” play in the Muslim world. We couldn’t offer the mullahs a more perfect picture of American decadence. This puts Americans at risk all over the world, especially Christian missionaries who are trying to bring the Gospel to people trapped in darkness for millennia.
This is a Perfect Storm of our own making, and it is up to normal Americans to unmake it.” – religious right leader, Robert Knight, blaming America again. Let me get this, er, straight: if we allow gays to marry, the terrorists will win?
THE ROOTS OF ANTI-AMERICANISM: Here’s a fascinating account of an American’s tour in Central Asia. The author captures the level of propaganda and misinformation that is out there. Here’s an exchange with some post-Sovietized Muslim students:
The quietest girl in the class shyly suggested, “Muslims have to defend other Muslims against attack” I stopped her mid-sentence. “What if the Muslims are in the wrong? And what happens when Muslims attack other Muslims?” “Muslims don’t attack other Muslims,” she insisted. “Iran and Iraq? The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait? Should I go on?” A boy in the back raised his hand. “But Muslims have no choice but to hate the United States and declare a jihad, since the United States is always attacking Muslims,” he said. “Is that true?” I pressed. “Where have we attacked Muslims?” “I don’t know. That’s what people say.” “In Bosnia and Somalia, we were supporting Muslims,” I said. “And in the war against Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait, we were supporting Muslims who were attacked by other Muslims.” A stony silence, more of bewilderment than hostility, enveloped the room, as if I’d just announced to a group of American students that the earth wasn’t round, or that Utah was just a cartographer’s fantasy.
When people are indoctrinated, it is hard to get through. But elsewhere, there is much hope:
Nothing I heard or saw on my travels offered a single, practical clue about how to turn back the global tsunami of anti-Americanism. In fact, in Iran, where I spent my winter break reporting and vacationing, I couldn’t detect so much as a glimpse of it. No matter where I wandered there —from Qom, home of the revolution that toppled the shah, to old Bam and Tehran, passers-by stopped to chat or invite me to tea, their warmth to an old enemy perhaps the clearest reflection of their animosity toward their own government. “Why don’t more Americans come to Iran?” they asked. “We love Americans.” In Afghanistan, where I sneaked in to do some reporting just as the Taliban were sneaking out, women peeked out of their doorways, kissed my hands, and murmured, “Thank you.” The following summer, in Myanmar, strangers approached me and whispered, “Why won’t the United States do for us what you did for Afghanistan?”
We should perhaps recognize that there is much in anti-Americanism we cannot change; but that the truth of our intentions and actions will eventually be rewarded by wider recognition. The deep truth is that we are doing an amazing job for Iraqis – losing lives, spending billions. But no one enjoys being occupied and no one enjoys being reminded that they were unable to liberate themselves. Useful to remember about our current problems. Useful to remember, also, about the French.
The Dish 