Ignorance fuels Hatred

I think Said's article could be summarized in a nut shell. He describes the ignorance that was so evident on Huntington's article "The Clash of Civilization". He spoke as if he had complete knowledge of all civilizations. in particularly the West and Islam. And spoke with confidence of the impending struggle between the West and Islam dominating global politics. It is more sad that in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks, many have adhered to his vision and accepted his views. These are the same people that have plagued themselves with the ignorance of Huntington's understanding of Islam and the conflict that is growing each day. They fear as Huntington did, and believe that the West must grow so strong to fend off the threat Islam poses in this global conflict.

The sad part of this is that in the presence of fear from terrorism and the portrayal of the muslim threat to West has fueled this ignorance. People have become oblivious to the growing interdependence of cultures and grow in interest of the so called conflict that has been brewed up between Islam and the West. And soon they will forget what describes each, become confused of what identifies as western and what as Islamic. The worse that comes out of this situation is the generalizations and labels that are attributed to each culture, that will persist overtime to become norms and realities in mind of future generations.

Unfortunately, as Said also mentions in his article, the media plays a very important role in this. Wether by their ignorance or purpose to present material that may not be contrary to realities of the muslim world, but presented in a manner that would fuel the ignorance of people by drawing upon their fear of terrorism. The same has also been used by public figures, politicians and whomever that stands to gain from the prospect of a global conflict between the Islam and the West. The media is constantly engulfed in presenting Islam not its true image, but the image people are interested to see, the image that would justify their fears and give them comfort in hating all muslims rather than realizing the fault of few radicals, that could very well exist with in their own. fanatics exist in all cultures, but if they were to define an entire civilizations, that the threat of terrorism from Islam would be just as real as the threat from the West.

We must put aside the false generalizations and assumptions that easily satisfy our needs and realize the interconnectedness that exist between all people. The sooner people realize that the global conflict exists not between civilizations but in the ignorance that exists between them. The ignorance that fails to recognize the interdependence between cultures and looks to hail one a superior to others.

In the end, theres