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Myten om muslimers støtte til terror
En ny undersøgelse viser, som det fremgår af en artikel i Christian Science Monitor, at der findes mere udbredt støtte til terrorangreb mod civile i USA end i noget islamisk land bortset fra Nigeria, hvilket skulle tjene til at sætte myten om "islamisk terrorisme" lidt i relief:
The survey, conducted in December 2006 by the University of Maryland's prestigious Program on International Public Attitudes, shows that only 46 percent of Americans think that "bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians" are "never justified," while 24 percent believe these attacks are "often or sometimes justified." Contrast those numbers with 2006 polling results from the world's most-populous Muslim countries – Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Terror Free Tomorrow, the organization I lead, found that 74 percent of respondents in Indonesia agreed that terrorist attacks are "never justified"; in Pakistan, that figure was 86 percent; in Bangladesh, 81 percent.Men betyder det så, at amerikanerne er rene terrorsympatisører og potentielle terrorister alle til hobe?
Næppe. Men det betyder måske, som artiklens forfatter også er inde på, at vesterlændinge skulle være lidt mindre hurtige på aftrækkeren, før de begynder at fable om farerne ved den farlige "islamiske terrorisme":
Public opinion surveys in the United States and Europe show that nearly half of Westerners associate Islam with violence and Muslims with terrorists. Given the many radicals who commit violence in the name of Islam around the world, that's an understandable polling result.Og så videre.
But these stereotypes, affirmed by simplistic media coverage and many radicals themselves, are not supported by the facts – and they are detrimental to the war on terror. When the West wrongly attributes radical views to all of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, it perpetuates a myth that has the very real effect of marginalizing critical allies in the war on terror.
Indeed, the far-too-frequent stereotyping of Muslims serves only to reinforce the radical appeal of the small minority of Muslims who peddle hatred of the West and others as authentic religious practice.
Terror Free Tomorrow's 20-plus surveys of Muslim countries in the past two years reveal another surprise: Even among the minority who indicated support for terrorist attacks and Osama bin Laden, most overwhelmingly approved of specific American actions in their own countries. For example, 71 percent of bin Laden supporters in Indonesia and 79 percent in Pakistan said they thought more favorably of the United States as a result of American humanitarian assistance in their countries – not exactly the profile of hard-core terrorist sympathizers. For most people, their professed support of terrorism/bin Laden can be more accurately characterized as a kind of "protest vote" against current US foreign policies, not as a deeply held religious conviction or even an inherently anti- American or anti-Western view.
Summa summarum: Den stereotype forestilling om, at vore muslimske medborgere er mere tilbøjelig til at sympatisere med terror mod civile end vore ikke-muslimske medborgere, er en myte - en myte, hvis udbredelse vi nok gjorde klogt i at gøre et eller andet ved.
Link (via Sabbah).