Political System Beyond Saving. Nation is Done Forever.
Why Do So Many Americans Fear Muslims? Decades of Denial About America’s Role in the World.
There’s been lots of attention-grabbing opposition to Trump’s “Muslim ban” executive order, from demonstrations to court orders. But polls make it clear public opinion is
much more mixed. Standard
(
Read more... )
Bin Laden definitely stated some clear political goals, which were indeed about putting an end to American imperialism. But Bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda as it was in the 90s is a footnote in history. 20 years down the track, America has little to fear from terror groups in that vein. Outside of their theaters of operation in Syria/Iraq and Libya, ISIS is just a Twitter account that miscellaneous gangsters follow. America's biggest terror attacks since 9/11 have all been the result of homegrown lone wolves - not some Middle Eastern mastermind.
Personally I believe most of these domestic "terror attacks" (read: mass killings) are a direct result of America having shit for a (mental) healthcare system and the country being full of racists. Greenwald and his gang of provocateurs - who know perfectly well that most victims of "Islamic" terror are not Christians or Jews or Hindus, and definitely not Americans - ain't shit for trying to twist this around to complain about bipartisan international policy.
I totally get the point that the international policy of America and other rich nations has caused all kinds of problems in poorer nations around the world, but I can't help but side-eye these ivory tower left-wingers who have spent the last two years writing articles that parrot right-wing nationalist talking points. Even if Trump brings about their isolationist wet dream and all the anti-American terrorists in the world disappear in a puff of smoke, America is still going to have to deal with their domestic racism issue that is the true root of its Islamophobia.
Reply
Reply
I also think the article makes a good point that the reason so many Americans hate Muslims is because they know only a white-washed America, and therefore hold a skewed view. Everything they see about Muslims overseas is then seen completely out of context, which generate their worldview.
However, I also completely agree with you that domestic racism (and domestic violence, often ignored, which is linked with shooting sprees) is an issue that needs to be dealt with - but it isn't removed from America's imperialism. How could it be? The two issues are intertwined and work in tandem; America's racist bedrock enables it to perpetuate Orientalist, colonialist attitudes towards brown people in the Middle East just as it continues to recycle its own racist attitudes domestically. It's cyclical.
Reply
Reply
Nah, don't quite agree, because there are at least two ways to read that article.
I don't see the article as saying that all terrorism in the world is about "getting America." What I pick up is that the West's treatment of the Middle East plays a critical role in getting us to where we are today. If the British and French hadn't decided to carve up the remnants of the Ottoman Empire after WW I the way they did; if the CIA hadn't banded with the British to overthrow the legally elected Mossadegh in the 50s; if the US hadn't decided to buy off the Saudi Royal Family in the 1970s - at a number of key points in the last hundred years, after something of value (oil) had been discovered in the Middle East (note I'm *not* saying it's 100% about oil) the Western powers spent an inordinate amount of time preventing the people of the region from practicing self-determination in a number of directions. The US, as the largest, most powerful economy / military power after WW II, would have been the main face of Western policy (one reason why Israel changed its main diplomatic efforts from France to the US in the 50s).
Is racism a part of that? Yes, most definitely. As are power, and money, and the Cold War and its remaining power structures (among other things). Taking racism out of the picture doesn't fix everything else.
Lastly, you're right: the US hasn't had any real externally-based terrorist attack since 9/11. That's not from lack of trying, especially since one successful incident would put those groups back on the map. Faisal Shahzad and Richard Reid failed because their bombs failed. And today we have kids who get radicalized and go over to join ISIS.
On 9/10/01, you could have just as well have said that Al Qaeda was some two-bit operation that didn't stand much of a chance of mounting an attack in the domestic US. The main difference is they weren't caught in time.
So yeah: badly written article, definitely an internal threat from unstable people. But that's a different issue from external groups looking to score points.
Reply
One anecdote on Al Qaeda - I found out about 9/11 from an early morning phonecall from my mom ~6-7 hours after the towers fell because I was in Australia at the time, and one of my first questions was if it was bin Laden. He was definitely understood to be more than just a regional thug in 2001.
Reply
Leave a comment