I guess it was inevitable from the beginning that this blog would come to deal primarily with politics, being young, idealistic, and passionate about politics as I am, but it is something I sort of lament because it’s a little trite. Give a guy a megaphone and he’ll start talking, and then he’ll like the sound of his voice and keep talking. I guess it’s good that I only think my little blog is a megaphone and it isn’t really, just a place for me to share my experiences with my home community.
This entry is going to get a little… indirect, but I swear that it does ultimately have a focus-slash-message that is pertinent, even to those of us not involved in studying the methodology of scientific enquiry in political subjects. That’s right, this entry stems from a number of oddly interconnected thoughts and discussions that would not have any real relationship except that they have all come in a recent flurry.
So for my Methods of Scientific Research in Political Science class, for code-name Dr. Fear (I promise, I will make good on my previous promise to tell the story of Dr. Fear… one day… in sha’ Allah), I had to give a presentation on the history of science as described by Thomas Kuhn, and the lessons he extracted thereby. One of the major messages Kuhn extracted from his own explorations was that for progress in a given field, a crucial element was communication between different scientists. He felt that in order to improve understanding and truly advance, scientists needed to be able to compare theories and thoughts based on what they had in common between them, and then work to reconcile the points of diversion. Thus, in his presentations and discussions, Kuhn was notable for his tendency to try to build agreement on certain issues before delving into points of contention with his own views. This was something that struck a chord with me because it’s something I feel is appropriate in any circumstances in which people interact.
Just to cover my bases, arguably the main purpose of this blog, my scholarship, and my time here in Jordan is to share my experiences and what I’m learning with my home community.
As anyone who’s been reading my recent blogs may have noticed, I’ve been preoccupied largely with what’s been going on at home, in the media, when it comes to what’s going on over here, on the ground. I’ve gotten on my little soap box and made indirect but not so subtle references to theories about what the future is for this region and even references to specific academics, such as Bernard Lewis, and expressed my opinion of them in no uncertain terms. This is a continuing theme. But now I’m kind of interested in the bigger picture, not just what one man with a camera is saying, but rather the larger discourse.
This interest- concern, even- was fed yesterday when I ran into a… colleague/ superior who is doing a similar program, meaning he is on a private scholarship through the permission of the military (in his case the Air Force). The big difference is that he is doing his over the course of two years and he also happens to be a Captain… with much more experience and credibility than I have. Mark- he told me to use first names- is now doing his thesis, in which he is studying American discourse on Islam. He said that this developed at the last minute from his personal attempts to learn more about Islam and his inability to find truly objective analyses: either authors were too inclined towards Islam and glossed over contentious issues or were radically critical of Islam and used false logic to support their negative preconceptions, and then pass it off as study.
The point of this entry is to emphasize that the problem that Mark encountered has serious consequences for us. It boils down to this: where does the honest enquirer in the U.S. turn to find information and analyses about Islam? I remember seeing a Newsweek issue a few years ago, the front cover of which depicted a group of very angry men in Pakistan, all bearded, one bearing his teeth, and the title declaring Pakistan to be the most dangerous country to the U.S. or something along those lines. These images create negative, fear-based perceptions and those perceptions frame our conclusions. To confound the issue, rhetoric from authors such as Robert Spencer, Pamella Geller and Bat Ye’or, or from ideologues such as Brigitte Gabriel, panders to the same fear-based perceptions. Yet this rhetoric, sold as scientifically deduced analysis, is often based on spurious causal relationships, cherry-picked empirical data, and poor or even deliberately misleading logic chains (thank you Methodology, yet again). The result is misunderstanding, mistrust, and ultimately conflict and mutual hatred. And that’s what concerns me; hence, this entry.
In the spirit of Kuhn, I tend to want to focus on what people share, because in my travel experiences, for one reason or another, I have tended to be blown away by the fundamental similarities between people of far-flung places, rather than the differences (which I often perceive as superficial differences, anyway). I’m no expert on Islam and I would never pretend to be. I’m also no expert on the discourse surrounding Islam, positive or negative; I can squarely leave that claim for Mark as he has managed to read a mind blowing body of literature regarding the subject (something like 40 books in the last 2 months). That said, I am at least literate in many of Islam’s facets and its controversies, and I feel like I can say with some confidence that it is not an evil, concerted threat to all things good in the world.
I realize that there is some danger in what I’m saying. But I also feel it’s important. One person cannot adequately serve as cultural bridge, and still I hope what I say and share can have an impact and might inspire further inquiry or curiosity. The seemingly vast distance between this part of the world and my home is not so great as one might imagine; it only seems so when the focus is on divisions, not what’s shared.
I hope you I didn’t put you to sleep during this entry… as always, thank you for your interest.
Respectfully,
Brennan
Monday, March 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
I guess it’s time for another update on what’s going on here in Jordan, because the Middle East continues to be in turmoil. This time, I feel compelled to include a number of other things, such as what’s going on in other countries and some commentary on things being said in the U.S.
But first, to set the tone, I’d like to recount a story that, for me, had a lesson. A few days ago I walked to my car from the University, with my girlfriend. It was parked in a big, open parking lot where a number of students (= $) park. There was a young boy there selling packets of gum, speaking an odd, rural Arabic that I had difficulty understanding. My girlfriend, being the very generous person she is, bought a pack of gum and hoped he'd go away; of course, it simply had the opposite effect because he started to hassle me more. No problem though, I just repeated “No, I don’t want any.”
The next day I returned to the parking lot and my new friend was waiting to very generously help guide me in to a parking spot. He then continued to hassle me as I collected my things to get out of the car. When I told him I still didn’t want any he promptly bent over, picked up a rock and told me in very clear Arabic that if I don’t buy any, he would scratch up the side of my car when I was gone. At that point I was a little surprised and felt a little put on. The temptation would be to throw up my hands and say: “Ah! The third world,” or even worse, “Ah! Arabs.” Having spent time with a number of different groups of people, I expect those would be the two most common reactions from foreigners. But then I realized I had a number of options and that similar things happen everywhere in the world, from the Middle East, to Asia, to Europe and the U.S.
Of course, like most people, I’m not a fan of being coerced by threats, so I decided not to play his game. I told him to wait just a second as I fiddled in my bag, pulling out my camera (now I’m going to get in trouble because I’m admitting that my camera does travel, but I promise, it was a complete accident and I rarely remember to bring it anywhere…). So I quickly turned, snapped a quick picture of his surprised face, and told him in clear Arabic that if I came back and my car was scratched, then the policeman just up the hill would get a nice clear picture of the perpetrator. The poor kid didn’t really know what to do, but his brother came over and assured me he would take care of my car. So now, I really do have a new friend. The lesson I took away was that problems like that happen everywhere, people will try to get away with what they can, and the process for preventing it here is not so different from home.
So, politics. To begin, I’m bursting to shoot some holes in some fears being expressed and disseminated by some popular TV personalities. I will try my best to be relatively neutral and not condescending. I have to admit that I’m something of an intellectual snob sometimes, which doesn’t help when I hear someone with a camera discuss and analyze something they obviously know nothing about. It makes it even worse when absolutely faulty logic is used alongside those poor analyses to make unsound predictions. So to the point: it would be extremely unlikely, reaching towards the point of impossibility, that any one organization or person is directing the unrest in the Middle East. There is no plot to create a new age Caliphate, uniting the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe. Demonstrations in Ireland and the United Kingdom do not mean that they are on fire, or in any way seriously unstable, and that Russia is going to conquer Europe as a result. In addition, the Egyptian Revolution was not led by Islamists in the background (I do have a number of Egyptian friends, many of them college students or young professionals and many of them lawyers, in fact, as I have twice taken part in legal competitions at the American University in Cairo).
I’m not sure where to begin on supporting my refutations of the popular fears above. Easiest and simplest, namely, citing facts? Or addressing the more complex fears derived from faulty deductions?
Ultimately the most important thing to address is the fear of Islam and “the Muslims.” It is essentially impossible to say there is a monolithic “Muslim” identity. There are too many different types of Islam (as I've noted in a previous post) to even claim there is one "Mulsim Identity." Just as a side note, this is why Bernard Lewis is incorrect in his histories and analyses of "Muslim World" politics (see "The Roots of Muslim Rage"). Even if there were, the tendency at this point in history is for people to identify more with their nationality and heritage than to the religion. Syria, for example, has a rich multi-religious history of which many Syrians are proud. Islam is also not a violent religion, any more than any other religion can be such. For an example, one can look at the Amman Message or the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (which isn’t always followed, just as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the UN is also not always followed). Acts of violence are perpetrated by members of any and every religion.
Showing film clips of a lady wearing a hijab (not a requirement in Islam) yelling about how “WE hate America” and “WE hate Israel” is a great way to fear-monger. The important thing to remember when watching those clips, whether they are on CNN, Fox, or a talk show, is that they are consciously making a choice of what to show out of a plethora of different clips and one person in the middle of the millions in the Cairo protests does not define the sentiments of the entirety. That particular lady was using “We” very loosely. The circumstances might be comparable to a reporter going to the protests against the mosque in Murfreesboro and taping one person in the crowd saying, “We hate Muslims,” and then that same reporter claiming that all Americans hate Muslims.
Just to conclude: I promise I’m not going to get emotional and teary to tell you I think these issues are important. I think people need to be informed; and while analyses of information are necessary, pandering them as fact is deceitful. If anyone reading has any particular questions, would like me to explicitly support my claims above, or would even like to start a dialogue and challenge my views, I welcome the contact at my email brennanroorda@yahoo.com. And I promise I am much less combative in actual dialogue than I am when I’m on a soapbox… which I feel like this blog has become.
Thank you for your interest!
Brennan Roorda
But first, to set the tone, I’d like to recount a story that, for me, had a lesson. A few days ago I walked to my car from the University, with my girlfriend. It was parked in a big, open parking lot where a number of students (= $) park. There was a young boy there selling packets of gum, speaking an odd, rural Arabic that I had difficulty understanding. My girlfriend, being the very generous person she is, bought a pack of gum and hoped he'd go away; of course, it simply had the opposite effect because he started to hassle me more. No problem though, I just repeated “No, I don’t want any.”
The next day I returned to the parking lot and my new friend was waiting to very generously help guide me in to a parking spot. He then continued to hassle me as I collected my things to get out of the car. When I told him I still didn’t want any he promptly bent over, picked up a rock and told me in very clear Arabic that if I don’t buy any, he would scratch up the side of my car when I was gone. At that point I was a little surprised and felt a little put on. The temptation would be to throw up my hands and say: “Ah! The third world,” or even worse, “Ah! Arabs.” Having spent time with a number of different groups of people, I expect those would be the two most common reactions from foreigners. But then I realized I had a number of options and that similar things happen everywhere in the world, from the Middle East, to Asia, to Europe and the U.S.
Of course, like most people, I’m not a fan of being coerced by threats, so I decided not to play his game. I told him to wait just a second as I fiddled in my bag, pulling out my camera (now I’m going to get in trouble because I’m admitting that my camera does travel, but I promise, it was a complete accident and I rarely remember to bring it anywhere…). So I quickly turned, snapped a quick picture of his surprised face, and told him in clear Arabic that if I came back and my car was scratched, then the policeman just up the hill would get a nice clear picture of the perpetrator. The poor kid didn’t really know what to do, but his brother came over and assured me he would take care of my car. So now, I really do have a new friend. The lesson I took away was that problems like that happen everywhere, people will try to get away with what they can, and the process for preventing it here is not so different from home.
So, politics. To begin, I’m bursting to shoot some holes in some fears being expressed and disseminated by some popular TV personalities. I will try my best to be relatively neutral and not condescending. I have to admit that I’m something of an intellectual snob sometimes, which doesn’t help when I hear someone with a camera discuss and analyze something they obviously know nothing about. It makes it even worse when absolutely faulty logic is used alongside those poor analyses to make unsound predictions. So to the point: it would be extremely unlikely, reaching towards the point of impossibility, that any one organization or person is directing the unrest in the Middle East. There is no plot to create a new age Caliphate, uniting the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe. Demonstrations in Ireland and the United Kingdom do not mean that they are on fire, or in any way seriously unstable, and that Russia is going to conquer Europe as a result. In addition, the Egyptian Revolution was not led by Islamists in the background (I do have a number of Egyptian friends, many of them college students or young professionals and many of them lawyers, in fact, as I have twice taken part in legal competitions at the American University in Cairo).
I’m not sure where to begin on supporting my refutations of the popular fears above. Easiest and simplest, namely, citing facts? Or addressing the more complex fears derived from faulty deductions?
Ultimately the most important thing to address is the fear of Islam and “the Muslims.” It is essentially impossible to say there is a monolithic “Muslim” identity. There are too many different types of Islam (as I've noted in a previous post) to even claim there is one "Mulsim Identity." Just as a side note, this is why Bernard Lewis is incorrect in his histories and analyses of "Muslim World" politics (see "The Roots of Muslim Rage"). Even if there were, the tendency at this point in history is for people to identify more with their nationality and heritage than to the religion. Syria, for example, has a rich multi-religious history of which many Syrians are proud. Islam is also not a violent religion, any more than any other religion can be such. For an example, one can look at the Amman Message or the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (which isn’t always followed, just as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the UN is also not always followed). Acts of violence are perpetrated by members of any and every religion.
Showing film clips of a lady wearing a hijab (not a requirement in Islam) yelling about how “WE hate America” and “WE hate Israel” is a great way to fear-monger. The important thing to remember when watching those clips, whether they are on CNN, Fox, or a talk show, is that they are consciously making a choice of what to show out of a plethora of different clips and one person in the middle of the millions in the Cairo protests does not define the sentiments of the entirety. That particular lady was using “We” very loosely. The circumstances might be comparable to a reporter going to the protests against the mosque in Murfreesboro and taping one person in the crowd saying, “We hate Muslims,” and then that same reporter claiming that all Americans hate Muslims.
Just to conclude: I promise I’m not going to get emotional and teary to tell you I think these issues are important. I think people need to be informed; and while analyses of information are necessary, pandering them as fact is deceitful. If anyone reading has any particular questions, would like me to explicitly support my claims above, or would even like to start a dialogue and challenge my views, I welcome the contact at my email brennanroorda@yahoo.com. And I promise I am much less combative in actual dialogue than I am when I’m on a soapbox… which I feel like this blog has become.
Thank you for your interest!
Brennan Roorda
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