Tarek Masoud's recent Slate article just got my goat. It had the sensationalist title, Why Can't Muslims Remain Calm? (which was prudently changed to Is This the Clash of Civilizations?) that we now come to expect from most news media, where the glibly used identity-marker of "Muslims" covers a staggering 1.6 billion people, and the desired (but sadly unattained) emotional state for said billions is an opiated state of "calm". The subheading and most of the article speaks of how the United States is being an "adult" in this whole situation -- how they are responding to "Muslim Rage" and senseless mob violence with an even-toned and very reasonable call for afore-mentioned calm. This elicited from me a sardonic smile, a mirthless chortle.
Michael Muhammad Knight hits the nail on the head when he writes of the kind of violence being exported from the United States abroad, in his response to recent events: "[The anti-Islam movie] is simply the playground bully calling your mother a slut after already breaking your jaw, and then wondering why you can’t take a joke."But on the face of it, the United States response does seem to be a very grown-up one -- sensible press releases and press conferences that speak of sorrow at loss, condemnation of a "reprehensible" video, defense of free speech -- the very epitome of good sense...on the face of it.
Here's the thing to not lose sight of, though. The United States is a two-headed beast -- both the good cop and the bad cop. Official press-releases and statements from the United States are all markedly elegant and restrained, not allowing for more than a creased brow and a sombre tone. And yet, this creature coexists with a United States that routinely kills civilians through drone attacks (read as "collateral damage"), places its own citizens on "kill-lists", indefinitely detains people whose only crime is being born in the wrong country and being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and props up oppressive regimes all over the world.
The violence we're seeing in response to the video, and the deaths that have resulted are tragic and horrifying. That is a given. But to say that "the United States is the only one willing to act like an adult" in all this is tantamount to commenting on the restraint of Don Corleone and the elegant cut of his suit, while paying no heed to the bloody horse-head under the sheets.
The violence we're seeing in response to the video, and the deaths that have resulted are tragic and horrifying. That is a given. But to say that "the United States is the only one willing to act like an adult" in all this is tantamount to commenting on the restraint of Don Corleone and the elegant cut of his suit, while paying no heed to the bloody horse-head under the sheets.
