Supposedly Western sins, such as drugs, bribery and rampant consumerism,
turn out to be as common in the Muslim world as they are here. In Saudi
Arabia, homosexuality even seems to be tolerated as long as it is not
overtly discussed in public. Indeed, the only real difference may be our
Western tendency to talk freely in a secular context about controversial
topics rather than hide or repress their presence.
Moreover, it is not always what we do in the Middle East, or even who we
are, that infuriates the radical Muslim world. Its frustration also rises
out of fascination with the West -- and the ensuing religious embarrassment
over wanting what we enjoy.
It's worth noting that the United States is not hated in numerous other
places, such as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, where it has had a
military presence or adopted controversial foreign policies.
In contrast, the peculiar furor at the U.S. in the radical Islamic world
arises because our culture, when viewed on DVD, satellite television and the
Internet, is judged to be incorrect in the ideal world of 7th-century Islam
-- and impossible for conflicted Muslims to enjoy fully in the 21st.
Of course, our foreign policy, or even the crassness of Western pornography,
can inflame this preexisting anti-Americanism. But, ultimately, there
remains this divide between vibrant modern life that is the product of the
Western Enlightenment and a static tribal order that is not.
What to do? The time is over both for coffee-table talk in the West about a
pie-in-the-sky "reformation" needed in Islam, and the endless habit in the
Middle East of blaming others for self-inflicted miseries.
Instead, right now we should hold the Muslim world to the same standards of
tolerance that we demand of ourselves -- no more apologies for things like
our insensitive cartoons or excuses for their insane anger against
novelists. In turn, the Middle East must grow up and accept, like the rest
of the world, that there are social and cultural costs and consequences for
any who wish to embrace the benefits of modernism.