Muslim world is more peaceful than media would have us believe

The Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 8/25/2003 | Gwynne Dyer

[Utah Girl]

Sitting in Cairo in a flat borrowed from a friend. Turn on the TV and catch the news on BBC World: six stories in 15 minutes. Iraqi guerillas blow up a couple of pipelines. European hostages released by Muslim guerillas in Mali. Nigerian peacekeeping troops in Liberia. Rioting between Muslim sects in Pakistan. Iceland resumes whaling. Islamist terrorists arrested in Indonesia. End of world news.

Four out of six: that's how many of the stories were about Muslims who do violent things. That would make sense if two-thirds of the world's people were Muslims, and most of them were violent. Because only one-fifth of the world's people are Muslims, and many of them don't even spank their children, it calls for an explanation. Especially because the international news is like this most of the time.

BBC World is not particularly bad. In fact, from Minnesota to Moscow to Manila it is the preferred source of TV news for people with an interest in the world, a knowledge of English and access to cable. It is serious about delivering "balanced" news to a multi-national audience, and yet it is doing an absolutely terrible job. Why?

Consider the four "Muslim" stories among the BBC World six I listed at the top of this article. The Iraq story is legitimate. When the world's greatest power is sinking into a political and military quagmire, it is going to get coverage. But why Muslim hostage-takers in Mali rather than politically motivated kidnappers in Colombia? Why sectarian clashes between Muslims in Pakistan rather than inter-caste violence among Hindus in India?

The story of suspected terrorists arrested for the Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta is of legitimate interest, but there's a lot less follow-up when suspected Basque terrorists are arrested in Spain, or when a resurgent Sendero Luminoso blows something up in Peru. The BBC is not anti-Muslim, but it is responding to a definition of international news that makes "violent Muslims" more newsworthy than violent people in other places.

It is largely a Western definition, following an agenda set mainly by the dominant U.S. media. It is rooted in Western perspectives on the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict, and has been vastly strengthened by the Islamist terrorist attack on the United States two years ago. It is also a steaming heap of horse-feathers.

I am not preaching pious nonsense about Islam being a "religion of peace." The only peaceful religions are dead religions. And I am not denying that the Muslim world has a big historical chip on its shoulder. Having run one of the most powerful and respected civilizations on the planet for the first 1,000 years after they burst out of Arabia and conquered large chunks of Europe, Asia and Africa, Muslims have spent the past three centuries being overrun, colonized and humiliated by the West. But the image of Muslims that the rest of the world gets through international news coverage is deeply misleading.

For the past month I have been wandering around the Middle East with eight other members of my extended family. For some, it was their first time in the region; others of us have lived here or visited often enough to be able to lead everybody astray. And we gave less thought to our personal safety -- and much less to petty theft -- than we would have done on a comparable trip across America, or even through Europe.

I won't go on about how kind and friendly most of the people we met were, because most people are like that everywhere. I would point out that every single person I discussed current events with was against the U.S. invasion in Iraq, but that I nevertheless encountered no personal hostility although I am easily mistaken for an American. (Would an Arab doing a similar trip around the United States have the same experience?)

If Iraq gets completely out of hand, the patience and tolerance that still prevail at street level in the Muslim Middle East will be severely eroded, and even Asian Muslim countries may end up taking sides against the United States and Britain. But for the moment Samuel Huntington's nightmare vision of a coming "clash of civilizations" is still a long way off, and the most striking thing is the sheer ordinariness of daily life in the Muslim world. Don't be misled by television.

[Utah Girl]

If the shoe fits...

[Utah Girl]

Ping

[BenLurkin]

Seems to me that the violent actions speak for themselves, especially when accompanied by these "peaceful" people dancing in the streets in celebration.

[WOSG]

oh yeah, good timing for a whine about too much reporting on muslim terrorist violence in the news, right before a bomb goes off in Bombay and kills 44.
Muslim terrorists.

It's news to me.

[Cold Heat]

She had the guts to write this after Islam struck India's Hindu's.

I suppose they were mad about western intrusions and Palestine.

[vpintheak]

Hmmm... Maybe it's because of 90% of all wars or conflicts hapenning around the globe have to do with muslims, and Muslim terrorist extremists. Just a thought.

[Paradox]

Sure, 90% of Muslims are good and decent people, but about 10% of them identify with the Jihadists. Thats some 1 million people. The fact is, I can't think of another religion with that number of up and coming crazed lunatics.

The truth is, there is something FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG with these people and their view of their religion. The other problems in the world are just disconnected whacko's. Islamic Fundamentalism is a globally linked problem.

[Utah Girl]

LOL, I always forget to stipulate that Gwynne is a man, a British man.

[Rome2000]

I won't go on about how kind and friendly most of the people we met were,

You had better, or they will kill you.

[Cold Heat]

OOPS! I forgot............................

[TheCrusader]

"Four out of six: that's how many of the stories were about Muslims who do violent things."

Huh? Where is there any peace in the Muslim world? Daily bloodbaths in Afghanistan, where they pick on little girls and shut down their schools. The Saddamites destroying the peace and standing in the way of democracy in Iraq. Brutal violence between Iraq and Iran for ten years, until there were no more young men left to die. Muslims in Pakistan attacking India and Kashmir almost dialy. Bloosdhed in Indonesia, and Islamic terror attacks in the Philippines. Terror bombings and shootouts in Saudi Arabia. Daily killing of Christians by Muslims in Rwanda, and the Sudan. Brutal oppression of Christians by the Muslims in Lebanon. Palestinian murderers destroying the peace plan in Isreal with unprovoked bus bombings. And of course there is Somalia, Yemen, Syria, and Libya, none of them peaceful nations or bastions of freedom. Wherever there is Islam, there is misery and death.

[Salman]

Sure, 90% of Muslims are good and decent people, but about 10% of them identify with the Jihadists. Thats some 1 million people. The fact is, I can't think of another religion with that number of up and coming crazed lunatics.

Check your math. 10% of 1,200,000,000 is 120,000,000.

[ladyinred]

Sick and tired of these deceptions. While the media screams that our President misled us all about Iraq, they try to really mislead us with this sort of drivel.

[thoughtomator]

Sadly, you're wrong, 10 percent represents 120 million people, not 1 million. Which represents a lot of ammunition. I hope we're properly stocked up.

[bluefish]

A girly-man maybe..

[Paradox]

Check your math. 10% of 1,200,000,000 is 120,000,000.

Yikes! Its late here on the East Coast! The actual figure makes the situation more grim indeed.

[Migraine]

Incredible, willful ignorance! The Basques are no threat to civilized society worldwide; neither are the FARCs; neither are the Hutus or the Tutsies. But please, don't tell me this writer has no knowledge of the worldwide scope of Islamic gutter terror.
Nope. You'll never see a news story about the fact that the planets in their orbits are going along like clockwork, nor that the tilt of the earth with respect to the plane of its orbit remains a remarkably constant 23.5 degrees from vertical. These things are to be expected. Just as decent behavior is expected from people. So don't act so shocked that the news isn't full of Arabs in the street going "Salaam, Salaam" to everyone they meet.

[metalboy]

A guy goes into a cave by himself for a few nights and afterwards tells others he has been spoken to by God thus the origin of Islam. A guy tells everyone he is the son of god and heals the sick and gets crucified and comes back from the dead thus christianity is born. (Sound like doctors of today dealing with scumbag lawyers) From these two guys, millions upon millions of people have been murdered and countless other lives have been destroyed. It`s still going on. Religion is good...for the individual. When it gets organized it`s not good. Spirituality is personal and you can use those guys as examples or you can use them as inspiration. When a group forms, watch out baby. All organized religion can shove it as far as I`m concerned. When the human race can get an average IQ above 20 I`ll support organized religin, but as for now, I compare it to sex or shitting..Get your face outta mine while I`m doing it.

[Utah Girl]

You don't need to be so crude to express your dislike of religion.

[quidnunc]

Gwynne Dwyer fell hook, line and sinker for that phony study by a fictitious think tank in Pennsylvania which purported to prove that Dubya was the dumbest president in modern history and Bill Clinton the most intelligent.

It went on to say that the various Democrat presidents were head and shoulders smarter than the Republicans.

He even wrote a whole column about it.

That wil give you some idea of his perspicacity.