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Afghanistan, Soccer Balls, and Flag Burning |
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The BBC reports today that World Cup soccer balls distributed by the US military in Afghanistan have angered some Afghan Muslims. Why? Because the soccer balls include, among many world flags, that of Saudi Arabia, whose flag contains the shahadah, or Islamic declaration of faith: “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.”
Many Muslims view the text on the flag as sacred, and would object to its being kicked around and touching the ground. Indeed,
Saudi Arabia has complained to the World Cup’s ruling body in the past about the use of its flag on footballs.
Some “anti-jihadist” blogs are citing the soccer balls incident as yet further proof that Muslims are overly sensitive about their religion and that it is impossible for even our most well-intentioned gestures of goodwill to succeed. Their frustration is no doubt shared by some Americans.
For my part, however, I do not think that Muslims exhibit an unusually high degree of sensitivity in situations such as these in comparison with other groups. Many Jewish people do not pronounce or write their name for God - they certainly would not be comfortable if God’s name were to appear on a soccer ball. Many Christians believe that the Bible is sacred and would object to its use in certain contexts. Finally, many Americans consider our own flag to be sacred, and object when it is defaced.
I do not feel that it is intrinsically unreasonable to create sacred and profane spaces in one’s life or one’s community, and I understand why people become upset when their sense of the sacred is violated.
Speaking personally, I do consider some things sacred. And I am bothered when people mistreat them. For example, I consider books sacred - books in general that is, because to me they represent knowledge and human achievement. I am offended when people burn them, upset when people ban them. Not everyone feels the same way about books that I do, and I don’t ask you to. But my own beliefs about books and other things I consider sacred help me to understand where other people are coming from.
To return to the case of the soccer balls, the main point is not the question of whether the soccer balls were a “reasonable gift” or whether Muslims are “overly sensitive.” What is at stake here is the concrete effort to win hearts and minds, and by extension to settle conflicts. While the “anti-jihadists” might claim that moments such as these illustrate that no matter what we do, our outreach will fail, I think they are wrong.
The worst reaction on the part of Afghans, in a way, would be apathy. I would be more worried if they were so cynical about our inability to understand their religious and cultural values that they completely turned their backs on us. Their protests, however, signal to me that they want our attention - they want us to understand them better, to acknowledge their anger and where it comes from. This in turn says to me that there is hope that we could master approaches that they would appreciate and respond to. Our mistake shouldn’t lead us to throw up our hands and walk away; it should encourage us to learn, move on, and try again.
To make that suggestion more concrete, I will say that US military and propaganda efforts in Islamic countries will go more smoothly to the extent that we create and train more religious and cultural experts who are truly sensitive to local realities and beliefs. A trained expert may have spotted the error in time to prevent anger, misunderstanding, and a waste of taxpayer money.
The attitude that “overly sensitive” Muslims will always react negatively to whatever efforts we make is not borne out by reality. Furthermore, the approach it suggests - either aggressive military action with no eye toward building relationships with local population, or hostile isolationism - seems misguided, unrealistic, and above all sad and hateful to me. If we have the best military in the world, then let’s be the best at engaging with people too. One way to start that process is to think about the things that are sacred to us, and relate to other people on that basis. After all, a sense of the sacred is something a lot of us have in common.
If Saudi Arabia has already complained about the use of its flag on the footballs (sorry, soccer balls), then I think the problem lies more with the design and production of the balls rather than with the decision to hand them to people in Afghanistan. Come to think of it, I’m not sure the side of a soccer ball is the appropriate place for any nation’s flag precisely because so many people hold them sacred, honor and respect them and expect others to treat them with dignity. It would be easy to look at this incident as another episode of perceived over-sensitivity, but I’m glad you brought an alternative perspective to it.
Oh, come on. They are a bunch of whining, bitching, crying babies. I mean, aren’t these the same people who went apeshit over some doodles of their holy man? Or what about the death warrant put on Rushdie for writing a book that was controversial (such tolerant people). And then the threats against the West for knighting him.
All of these things add up to the simple fact that the Islamic people in general are oversensitive and really need to learn to relax and just accept things for what they are. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I don’t look a gift gorse in the mouth. So you get some free soccer balls. Cool. So why nitpick?
As far as the whole flag thing goes, I don’t get it. Ok, sure, I wouldn’t much like to see a bible being kicked around, but I also wouldn’t like to see it hung out and battered by the weather. So why is it ok for a flag bearing some holy mumbo jumbo to be beat by weather and exposed to the elements, but not ok to grace the side of a soccer ball? It’s all very silly, and it seems to me that it’s really nothing more than another excuse to bitch about the evil West and how we just don’t understand them.
@arclightzero,
I feel I addressed most of these things in the article, and I don’t want to get into petty discussions about why it would be acceptable for a holy text to be on a flag but not a soccer ball - can’t you figure that out for yourself?
I would encourage you to think about a few things:
1. Why are all Muslims so often depicted as being responsible for the actions of all other Muslims? Are you as an American responsible for the actions of Hillary Clinton? Timothy McVeigh? Rush Limbaugh? Are all Christians responsible for the words and actions of other Christians? Is TD Jakes to be held accountable for what the Pope says? In other words, yes, the issues of Rushdie’s book, the Danish cartoons, and the Afghan soccer balls are related - but not identical. And if we assume that Muslims in general all think the same way, how is that useful to us on the ground as we fight this war?
2. Why is it acceptable to use such phrases as “holy mumbo jumbo” to describe Islam? Why is it acceptable to deny dignity to another people and their religion? Forget what you think “they” may have done to us - is that the standard we set for ourselves? And why is it acceptable to talk about Islam in ways that one would never talk about Judaism or Christianity? Finally, what’s “mumbo jumbo” about “there is no God but God, and Muhammad is His Messenger”? The first part Christians agree with, and the second part, whether one agrees with it or not, is certainly in plain and straightforward language. Or is it the fact that this is in Arabic that bothers you? Is Arabic, then, mumbo jumbo?
3. What strategy are you actually suggesting? Are you suggesting we “cut and run” from Afghanistan because we cannot find a way to engage with the people there? Are you suggesting that all Muslims are so unreasonable that we should abandon our alliances or diplomatic contacts with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, and elsewhere? Are you suggesting we attempt to exterminate Islam, a religion of over one billion people, rather than dealing with it?
To go on with that and perhaps get a bit more pointed, arclightzero, how do you feel about the following things:
1. The supposed attack on Christmas and the removing or Christmas themed decorations from our schools and public buildings.
2. The painting of the Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili, which featured the virgin and elephant dung.
I hope you’re not offended, cause that would be overly sensitive…
I’ll take J-ro’s questions first:
As far as Christmas decorations, yes, it pisses me off to no end. Not because of the religious connotation, but because they are stripping away people’s rights. This whole separation of church and state thing has gotten out of hand and has lost its context completely. So effen’ what if a Christmas tree offends somebody. Why is it ok to cater to them and not to the person who may be offended by having to take it down? This really has nothing to do with the subject at hand.
As far as the painting goes… Whatever. Art is a free expression. I don’t care if somebody paints Jesus anally raping Mary, it’s their own damned right to do it. It may be offensive to some, but at no point is it acceptable for anybody to challenge their right to do it.
And now on to Ish…
As for point #1: We are all products of our society. Are we responsible for Rush and Hillary? You bet we are. We created these people. We allowed them to become what they are. It’s all part of being a community, which is something that you liberals seem to have a big problem with understanding. It’s the same reason I lump all of you liberals in with Daily Kos and the rest of the extremist kooks out there, because not only do you allow them to become as powerful as they are, you also support them. Just like anything else, if you ignore them, their power and influence dry up and they eventually disappear. Why is Rush so popular? Because you hate him so much. As for the war bit, I don’t think we’re on the same page here. Do I think that they are a lost cause? No, but they are slipping away. I liked Saddam. He did a good job of understanding how Muslims worked and how to keep them from killing one another over petty shit. I don’t think we should be fighting for a US-style democracy over there. I think we should be fighting to give them a chance to get on their own two feet and allow somebody to take control who’s as powerful as Saddam but not as a big an asshole. There may be some freedom loving people over there, but they are outnumbered and overrun with assholes. If they could start policing their own people and stomping out the extremists who have taken over their religion and culture, then we might have something different to work with.
Point #2: I would use the term “holy mumbo jumo” to describe any religion. I’m not a religious person. I think that religion (even Christianity) is interesting mythology, but it shouldn’t be treated any differently than the way we treat ancient Egyptian, Greek or Viking religions. Religion is nothing more than a bunch of mythological stories and beliefs designed to bind people together under a common banner. Words are words. Can I proclaim that “Arclightzero is the mac-daddy of Wisconsin” and then get uppity whenever somebody uses or abuses that phrase or makes fun of it? No, of course not. So why is religion any different? If you want to argue that it comes from a book that people revere, then maybe I should pull a line out of “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (a book oddly revered by many) and declare that anybody who insults that line is wicked and bad? Sounds good to me.
Point #3: I’m not saying we should change any strategy other than what I stated above. Stop trying to turn Islamic nations into US-style democracies. Otherwise, by all mean, continue to exterminate the radical assholes who seem to think that they need to wage war against us, continue diplomatic relations and trade and continue with business as usual. But if they want to continue with business as usual I think that they should drop this oversensitive bullshit and get with the 21st century a bit. It gets a bit tiresome to have to watch every little thing that is done for fear of offending somebody because of a soccer ball or an political cartoonist’s drawing…
I’m glad you’re consistent arclightzero, that’s refreshing. I too would love people in general to lighten up about religion, but I don’t feel Muslims are particularly sensitive, or necessarily more sensitive than others. Calling it holy mumbo jumbo is a bit insensitive, sure, but hey, that’s your right and I’m not offended.
I must say with all due fairness and in light of everything that has happened in the last few years.
The Muslims ARE doing most of the whining when it comes to derogatory statements about their religion
If a town got ravaged by riots everytime someone drew a cartoon of Jesus in a controversial way the earth would be a clean slate.
I’m with Micky on that one. You don’t see Christians flying off the handle every time somebody pokes fun at them. You don’t see Jews going out and killing people every time their right to exist is challenged. On the other hand, Muslims put out death warrants and riot when they feel they’ve been offended. If that’s not a case of being more sensitive than others, then I don’t know what is. Most of the rest of the world just shrug it off.
Here’s a good example of an oversensitive reaction and a shrug off…
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2007/08/walking-on-the -.html
It seems that the Muslims in the picture here expect the whole world to be as passionate about their senstivities as they are.
On the other hand I dont expect everyone to be as passionate on the subject as I am. If you think my reactions are over reactions, so be it. I’m not gonna torch my neighborhood over it.
To expect the whole world to change its values in the face of your religion is just wrong. Even if those values sometimes represent the worst man has to offer.
My faith and my beliefs are what they are and there is nothing you could say or do that would make it less of what it is to me.
You could call God and Jesus the biggest shitheads in creation, and I would just look at you and move on.
Michael Vicks just found Jesus ! Thats an insult to all Christians !
I’m glad you feel this way, but we must face realities that some Christians and Jews are sensitive (perhaps just as sensitive) when it comes to their religion. There are Jews out there who will cry anti-semitism when you barely mention criticism of Israel. There are Christians who complain about heresy at the drop of a hat. Granted, Muslims seem more likely to resort to mass protests or violence, but I find it hard to criticize that (not the violence, but the feeling and the protest). Sure, I wish they’d lay off a bit, but as Ish pointed out, we don’t understand the Muslim community very well. Instead of complaining about their reactions, maybe we should swallow our pride a bit and be PC just to get things done over there. I’d rather have happy children running around with non-flag bearing soccer balls then stick to our guns over this minor issue, right?
No, not right.{ in my opinion}
These happy little kids will be happier if they are not shelterd by all this PC bullshit we live around.
We cant insulate them from a whole world full of assholes.They need to be taught that not all people think the same way.
They should be taught tolerance and to be forgiving in the face of ignorance.
Getting things done over there is another topic that should have no connection to this subject. But unfortunatly our fuckups give them reason to be angry. Insensitivities towards their faith should not be used as a medium to convey that anger.
It is the religeous zealots that need to drop their pride
Like I said before, it is wrong for any religion to expect the whole world to change in the face of that religion.
I try to respect everyones religeous beliefs. But there are people out there that are not as empathetic as you and I are. Lots of them. And I am a lot more comfortable accepting them than I would be if expected them all to change according to my sensitivities.
I would go nuts if I expected the whole world to understand me. There is way more peace in understanding others. Unfortunatly this philosophy is not being sent in both directions.Could the rest of the world apply this to to Muslims ? Yea . But shouldnt the Muslims also take a step to understand westerners better ?
It seems kinda one sided.
I mean, in a perfect world, yeah, there would be a good mix of politeness and turn-the-other cheekedness. But I firmly believe in picking your battles. We’ve got all sorts of issues with the larger Muslim world and specific Muslim countries. This problem just doesn’t rank high on my list.
I agree.
Who would be offended if Afghanistan made their own soccer balls with a map of the globe and named us “united states of Assholes” on the map? Or printed “jihad!!” all over the balls? My point is, muslims are not only upset about the message written on the balls but also at the message being sent to their children - that it’s ok to kick around holy scripture. It seems as if we are trying to brainwash them.
Brainwash ?
Hardly brainwashing.
All my fruit comes with a little sticker on it.
This is so the cashier knows that its an apple and not an orange.
I hate the damn things for some personal reasons.
I wouldnt put a bumper sticker on my car, so why the hell would I want one on my food?
These stickers represent the sloth and pathetic condition of our society.And have taken the personal element right out of a big part of our lives. Cashiers today are of no use but to scan codes and numbers.Most of them cant tell you a thing about your food or products. I was a cashier at a retail outlet in the 70s and we had to know what it was that was being sold. We were taught the name of the item and given a list of the market price.And given a little education on the particular foods application to a meal.
The point is , as offensive to me as these little fuckers are I just peel them off, wash the fruit and move on with my day. I dont go ballistic jihad and start whining about it.I am absolutly 100% positive that no one did it with the intention of pissing me off or wanting to defile my image of natures purity.
Religious extremism and sensitivities have been with us for centuries. But the most overly sensitive group I have ever seen are the Muslims.
There may be explanations and rationalizations for this and I dont care what they are. These zealots need to get a grip, just as much as those who got pissed off over Ms Griffins latest remarks on Jesus.