Why is the controversy from a few satirical pseudo-humourous cartoons by the obscure Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten still news?
Perhaps the answer does not lie within the powder keg of today’s angry Muslim world, but rather in the nature of human behaviour itself.
Is it an insult to any religion, including Islam, if a non-believer says or draws something out of ignorance? How about atheistic conviction? In some ways, being offended insinuates that everyone must accept an imposed set of moral values (as defined by a given religious belief system).
The growing tension can be traced to the following point of conflict: different groups may have different moral values. And some groups feel their values are supreme.
However, this over-simplification belies the complexity of the violent reactions around the world. Why are we seeing churches, flags and embassies burned? Do Muslims genuinely feel they are under attack? Is the existence of non-religious secular societies a threat to any religious theocracy? The answer is probably yes to the latter two questions.
Belligerence is a characteristic that you can find in many places and on many levels. In nature, certain creatures are left alone because would be attackers know the consequences of a confrontation. A great example is the skunk – size advantage does not alleviate the fear of having several days of tomato juice baths. Belligerence is effective.
To see how collective destructive behaviour is a product of the human experience, we need look no further than a typical schoolyard bullying episode. Gradually increasing the scale, there are many (too many) cases of ‘groups’ feeling and acting out aggression towards other groups. Yugoslavia in the 1990’s, Sudan today, the American experience with Native, African, and immigrant Americans, L.A gang wars, and gun violence in any major city where one group of youth has to make a ‘statement’ against another.
Does Islam promote belligerence? As with Christianity, Islam was at least partly spread with the sword, but proselytizing through force (in the name of any religion) has likely seen its heyday. That said, if we isolate the passion behind mass collective feelings, we can deduce a pattern. Large-scale violence for a cause (religious, or ideological) is nothing new. Has the Muslim world collectively decided that violence and terror somehow is an effective deterrent against competing cultural ideologies? Is this a defensive strategy? I am certain that the majority does not engage in violence or terror, but it is likely that mainstream attitudes do hold sympathy, or at least understanding for it.
Can we get any insights from other ‘competing’ cultures? Unlike previous iterations of international communism during the Cold War, China doesn’t seem to see the existence of democratic countries as a threat. Is belligerence simply not a character of the Chinese culture? Or have the Chinese strategically adopted elements of capitalism in order to maximize their national benefit?
In general, communists worldwide have given up on the idea of international revolution. Let’s hope cooler head prevail in the current Muslim world. Should the tide of violence and intolerance toward secularism continue, we may be witnessing the onset of a new Cold War between ‘East and West’. If this is the case, let’s hope that the inevitable global rise in nuclear proliferation does not cross paths with religious-based fanatical terrorism.
Unlike the conflict with the Soviet Union, it is hard to imagine any stability coming from Mutually Assured Destruction. Deterrence is irrelevant when actors are genuinely convinced of their righteous place in the afterlife.
The fundamental boundary between church and state is still being defined in much of the world, particularly the Muslim world. Until such basic issues are resolved, we are speaking different languages, and we will continue with competing cultures.
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This column was reprinted with permission from the author. NewsJunkie will be collaborating with myself and others on a new website called “With Good Reason”, scheduled to be launched March 2006. More details are forthcoming.
-Cynapse
I know not all Muslims are militant, but there does seem to be a fanatical streak in the Islamic religion which lacks a counterpart in other faiths like Christianity, Buddhism, etcetera (though as a Christian myself, I will admit to finding some Christian fundamentalists obnoxious).
However, I believe that Muslims and their allies who object to the portrayal of Islam as a fanatical religion should take a strong stance against incidents like the reaction to the Mohammed cartoons. That would in my opinion raise their credibility in the eyes of the West.