A lot of interesting material insights in an interview from the NYT with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi as he prepares to come to the US. It is a fairly long article so here are some highlights. - US must respect Arab values, culture and history to repair relations with the Arab World. - Both US and Egypt must respect each others values. - The US must help build a Palestinian state to live up to the 1978 Camp David Accords. - He didn't act faster in the face of the protests at the US embassy to contain an explosive situation but did act decisively. - Egypt is no longer a dictatorship, under military rule or a theocracy and the civil elected government is in control. - He accepts that Egyptian constitution allows for women and non Muslims to run for president but he might not vote for either. - He learned a lot scientifically from his time at USC and respects the US work ethic but doesn't approve of US culture. - He is still a USC Trojans fan. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49137087/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/?ocid=msnhp#.UF9LIa5mOD7 NYT: US must respect Arab values, says Egypt’s Morsi On the eve of a visit to Washington, the Islamist President says the US needs to repair its relations with the Arab world CAIRO — On the eve of his first trip to the United States as Egypt’s new Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi said the United States needed to fundamentally change its approach to the Arab world, showing greater respect for its values and helping build a Palestinian state, if it hoped to overcome decades of pent-up anger. A former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mr. Morsi sought in a 90-minute interview with The New York Times to introduce himself to the American public and to revise the terms of relations between his country and the United States after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, an autocratic but reliable ally. He said it was up to Washington to repair relations with the Arab world and to revitalize the alliance with Egypt, long a cornerstone of regional stability. If Washington is asking Egypt to honor its treaty with Israel, he said, Washington should also live up to its own Camp David commitment to Palestinian self-rule. He said the United States must respect the Arab world’s history and culture, even when that conflicts with Western values. And he dismissed criticism from the White House that he did not move fast enough to condemn protesters who recently climbed over the United States Embassy wall and burned the American flag in anger over a video that mocked the Prophet Muhammad. “We took our time” in responding to avoid an explosive backlash, he said, but then dealt “decisively” with the small, violent element among the demonstrators. “We can never condone this kind of violence, but we need to deal with the situation wisely,” he said, noting that the embassy employees were never in danger. More at link.
The thing is that if you demand that someone else "respects" your values, it can mean that you expect them to submit to them, which basically means you dictate your values to others who have different values. Example that actually happened: At an embassy reception in Germany, Iranian officials demanded that no alcohol be served to anyone. To me, respecting their values just means not expecting them to drink alcohol. To them, respecting their values means that nobody is allowed to drink alcohol when they are in the room. That is intolerance, not a reasonable expectation of values to be respected. My impression is that a lot of people from the Middle East do not understand this.
I think it's pretty simple. If you're pro-choice, you can still respect the views of someone who's pro-life, despite strongly disagreeing with them. It simply means understanding their perspective and that they have different beliefs and values and came to different conclusions than you.
The reactions and demands in the Middle East and Muslim world in general to cartoons and Youtube videos do not indicate that only that is their interpretation. Their reaction says: We demand to see your standards of freedom of speech restricted because ours are more restricted.
Culture is a sham. It's something that people who hate change hold on to IMO. If you think about what culture means - holding on to traditions of the past - it is the opposite of seeking progress. It is also shamelessly abused as a tool to bring people under a single umbrella. I don't respect any culture. I tolerate it to the best of my abilities. I appreciate the tiny part of it that has shown better results than new traditions and new inventions. If Morsi wants Egyptian culture respected, someone should ask him what he thinks is the culture of Egypt and whether that's agreed unanimously or at least by the majority. It's not. Not in Egypt, not anywhere. If he wants to know about Egyptian culture, it includes being critical of anything and everything. Mocking anything and everything. It includes belly dancing, free intermingling between sexes, it includes the culture of the Egyptian Copts. Why then did he have people arrested for being critical of him? Why isn't he respecting Egyptian culture? When he is prepared to accept that Islamic culture is only a part of Egyptian culture, and that Egyptian culture is not only a part of Islamic culture then perhaps we can take his word more seriously.
Oh and btw, Morsi being called an Islamist President is really low even for the NYT. He is a conservative Muslim. He is as much an Islamist as George Bush was a Christianist President.
It's not an interpretation issue. I don't think anyone would argue that people who are rioting or threatening to kill people respect other cultures' values.
LOL. Morsi is clearly an Islamist. Only someone who is slightly crazy and either an Islamist himself or at least ideologically very close to Islamists (I am not saying violent) would doubt that. But let's hear it from the horse's mouth: "I hope the people will choose me, an Islamist candidate from the FJP and Muslim Brotherhood, and God willing the system will move towards stability and development," he said. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/21/us-egypt-presidency-islamist-idUSBRE83K0AE20120421
I am not talking only about those who riot and kill. I am talking about the general sentiment in the population in these countries. The fact that they demand that the US government (or the Danish government or whichever other Western government) move to punish people who draw cartoons, make Youtube videos, etc., shows that they want to dictate their "values" rather than respect that standards are different in other countries.
Some more statements from Morsi so that even naive leftists know whom we are dealing with here: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=4541 (shows how much he understands/thinks of separation of powers and an independent judiciary) http://www.elbashayer.com/news-194250.html (in Arabic, I used Google Translate) etc.
According to the article, he spoke to Reuters - he speaks English, so it can be assumed that the interview was conducted in English. But thanks for trying. Aside from that: Yesterday: I knew you would be desperate for some more schooling and wisdom!
Who is this "they" that's making these demands of the US government? Did I miss some polls about how the Islamic world as a whole feels?
Do you doubt that the majority of people in the Muslim world would like to see "insults to the prophet" outlawed everywhere in the world? Do you think the Pakistani government would put itself at the front of these protests if they did not reflect the majority sentiment of their population? Have you heard many Muslim representatives speak up and say "calm the **** down, it's free speech in their country and it's not up to us to tell them how their laws are structured"?
Hell yes, I doubt that. In fact, I'm virtually certain of it. I think the overwhelming majority around the world don't remotely care about any of these insults. They live their daily lives and go about trying to make a living in their local African and Middle Eastern communities. Most don't care about foreign affairs or even have significant interaction with the outside world. You have a very vocal and violent minority that does care, though. I think the Pakistani government is completely dysfunctional, and does all sorts of dumbass things in an attempt to prevent this vocal and violent minority from trying to cause problems and/or start a coup. I think the US tolerates them as an "ally" for the same reason. Yes. Messages of tolerance regularly get posted here, and you say "hey, that's a good sign!" and then you proceed to pretend it didn't happen. You and I hear a tiny, tiny fraction of what actually happens in the Muslim world, and what we hear is always going to be the most extreme stuff because that is the most newsworthy. It's similar to coverage here of the tea parties or OWS. The vast majority of Americans don't have interest in what either of those groups is selling, but there are no protests of that, so it's not covered in the news. But crazy tea partiers or hippie OWSers are fun to cover, so you those huge rallies everywhere. The phrase "silent majority" is very relevant here.
