Monday, 17.09.2001
Crusade (with a lower case 'c') is an unfortunate word used in the context by George W. Bush. It has undertone of the religious element (i.e. anti-Islam) and historically the Crusaders were a brutal lot - killing and pillaging Jews and Muslims not only in the Holy Land but on their way. Anyway that leads to the question why some people hate the West and in particular USA? Here I can only speculate because I'm not one of them (I at times disagree and dislike but not detest). The question should reformulated thus: why would anyone hate someone or something? Hate is a very strong emotion which is not lightly experienced. You probably feel hate when something or someone you cherish or hold dear is destroyed or killed and when something or someone can be blamed for it. America, justifiably or unjustifiably, has been identified by many who have suffered materially, feel their personal lives threatened, lost relatives and resent the Western values and ideologies as their oppressors. The paradox, if it can be said, is that this hate is magnified by this awareness of the impersonal presence of the USA but also of huge ignorance of what USA is like and what the Americans are like - how many of these have been to America and have met Americans, I wonder. Here is the medium-term problem - how to reconcile the aspirations of these people with that of ours? That cannot be done by force (short-term solution as in yesterday's entry) but change of how the Western governments act and how we see the other. The longer-term aim is to ensure the mutual acceptance of the others in a pluralised world. I fear, though, it is easier to be led to hate through ignorance than daring to know the unkown in an unprejudiced way.
Regards Blitz
