We Paint Arabs with a Broad Brush

     American Muslims have been working to clean up their image since 9-11. They may well have thought they were making some progress when most of the mainstream media refused to print cartoons of Muhammad that Muslims found offensive. The explosion of outrage over the proposed United Arab Emirates takeover of some US port operations should disabuse them of any such notion. In American minds the stereotypical Arab has been and remains a swarthy misogynist brandishing rocket propelled grenades and spouting mindless anti-American diatribe. The rioting and calls for blood over the cartoons didn’t help. Frankly I don’t see how Muslims are ever going to dispel that image until they persuade their co-religionists to stop so much barbaric behavior. Every time a prominent Imam stands in front of an American audience insisting that his is a religion of peace he does so against a backdrop of exploding bombs and videotaped beheadings. Seldom do we see crowds of Muslims protesting any of that, just the occasional apologist trying to explain that we shouldn’t believe what we see.
     This week’s op-ed pages are filled with pundits protesting the ports deal and claiming their xenophobia isn’t xenophobia but that’s what it is. These people are Arabs for crying out loud! Let them into US port operations? Not in a million years! They may be allies and the Navy may trust them to replenish aircraft carriers but that doesn’t mean we should trust them anywhere near anything as sensitive as an American port. Too many Arabs have murdered too many innocents over too many years for that. They’ve burned too many American flags, called us too many vile names, taught their children too much hatred, made too many threats, and crashed too many airplanes into American buildings. To expect us to ignore all that and assume the bad guys are a tiny minority is asking too much. It’s xenophobia but there it is and there are good reasons for it. What do they expect?
     The Bush administration has taken to calling the War on Terror the Long War. It may be a better choice than some of us realize. Professor Samuel Huntington called it a clash of civilizations. I have reluctantly concluded he was right.  There has been a huge amount of damage done and it is going to take generations to undo it. Arabs are going to have to reform their entire society beginning with their schools. Some of the changes they will have to make are civilizational in nature. For nearly fifteen hundred years now they have been telling themselves that not only is theirs the superior culture, Jews and Christians are obligated to be subservient. When we don’t play the part they are outraged (they would say offended.) What we are seeing is the intemperate reaction of a very large number of Muslims. Our reaction in turn is to take a very jaded view of a culture we wouldn’t otherwise have thought much about. They are further offended and a lot of Arabs have turned to violence. The whole thing has escalated until it is very nearly out of control.
     The past few weeks have served to remind me just how deep the divides are. Demagogues have been out in force on all sides. Americans haven’t been rioting in the street but this ports affair has touched a nerve. With congressmen from both parties standing in line to weigh in with full bombast I’m expecting some poorly advised legislation. We aren’t going to look back on this as a bright spot in the Long War.