World History Students,
The first thing you will do for this assignment is to read the column from today's New York Times entitled "America vs. the Narrative."
After reading, I would like you to respond to ONE of the following question with a comment in the "comments" section below.
1. According to the author, how is this narrative "obscuring the truth" about American foreign policy in the Muslim world?
2. If President Obama made the statements mentioned in the article to the people of the Muslim world, in what ways do you think the governments and people of the region will respond? (Use some info or ideas from the article in your response).
Again, answer only ONE! If you have any questions about posting on the blog, please let Mr. Dees know at jdees@loy.org
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20 comments:
"The Narrative" is full of lies and propaganda. It attempts to convince Islamic people that the West, specifically America, has declared war on Islam in order to keep the Muslims down. The Narrative blames America for all of Islam's problems. This idea is forcefully and constantly spread on the internet, by preachers, books, and many other ways. Islamic groups such as Al Qaeda use this to create frustration and anger among the Islamic people, hoping that some of these people will lash out violently against the American people
If President Obama made a statement that inculded some of those comments the muslims would go crazy. They might see it as a verbal attack and retaliate either verbaly or violently or both. Also it might make things worse becuase of the way they react to these comments.
The Muslims would react to President Obama's comments in a negative way. They would be even more violent and keep resorting to the beliefs expressed in The Narrative. They would not answer to the Presidents comments, but would continue to blame the Americans for their problems like they have in the past.
Question 1:
The Narrative is obscuring the truth about Americas Foreign Policy in the Muslim world through its half truths and its lies. The Narrative spreads the message that America has declared a war on the entire Muslim faith, this is just one of their blatant lies which they created to gain support for their cause. The Narrative has yet to state that for the last two decades America has made a large commitment to helping the Muslim people through their many hardships, for example Bosnia, Iraq,and Darfur, just to name a few. Since the narrative has yet to state any of these, it proves that the Narrative is a pure propaganda machine which will stop at nothing to get more followers. The Narrative is also trying to find a scapegoat for all of Islam's numerous problems. Without blaming themselves for the numerous deaths of Muslims they point the finger at America and its Foreign Policy. Muslims rush to protest a simple cartoon but they leave out the number of people who are killed by Jihad around the world. The Muslim faith needs to turn away from the Narrative which has said that America has declared a war on them but recognize the fact that the Narrative is the true enemy in this global conflict. They need to start fighting themselves not the people who are trying to help them.
The Narrative is obscuring the truth about American foreign policy in many ways. It states that America has declared war on Islam just to keep Muslims down. The Narrative has caused this idea of keeping Muslims down to flourish throughout much of the Islam world. The idea has been spread to people through many sources including the internet, books, preachers and many more. All of these things have an impact on the Islamic people, who listen to what these sources say and immediately think they should react violently towards the U.S.. If those people would just realize that The Narrative ideas are propaganda and lies and think about how America has helped them immensely over the years, there would be a major turning point in the war.
If President Obama were to repeat the statement mentioned on the back of the article, Muslim leaders might become defensive and deny everything he said, as they resent us for the foreign policy strategies we have used in the past. They might see it as an insult to their country's religion and culture. In addition, the Muslim leaders might officially declare their support of the radical Muslim terrorists and aid them in their war against the United States and its allies. However, Obama would never repeat the statement on the back of the article to Muslim leaders because he follows an "always make friends" policy.
"The Narrative" suits Arabs because it allows them to blame America for all of their grievances. "The Narrative" suggests that the West (the U.S. and Israel) is completely responsible for the problems happening in the Arab and Muslim worlds. "The Narrative" obscures America's foreign policies by spreading lies, and while many Arabs know that it's not entirely our fault, their leaders are not willing to admit that.
According to the author, "The Narrative" is presenting false ideas to the Muslim world, and unfortunately, Muslims are buying into it. The Narrative is blaming the Muslim's own issues and problems on the United States, when, in actuality, over the past twenty years a majority of the focus in U.S. foreign policy has been devoted to rescuing Muslims in many Middle Eastern countries. The Narrative's message is that the United States is bringing Muslims down and preventing the Muslim world from developing. These ideas are completely incorrect, and are, in a way, giving people, like Major Hasan, a reason to attack innocent Americans.
1. The Narrative contains lies about the hatred of Americans toward Muslims. It says that America has declared war on the entire faith of Islam. Terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda use this to provoke frustrated Muslims to open fire on their own. The narrative is blaming the wrong people in general. Americans are only trying to help.
If President Obama had written this article there would be a huge upheavel. Muslims all over the world would resort to random acts of violence. The amount of terrorism would spike and airport security would be very strict. Some of the more educated Americans would think Obama went a little far and that his lack of experience was showing while the less educated would get out there guns and be ready for all out war on anybody with tan skin. The muslims would be outraged and offended and the speach would cause many muslims to believe in the narrative. They would believe it as an attack on their religion and maybe declare Jihad. Since the narrative claims that america wants to put down Islam Obama would only reinforce the idea. However, his reading it would shed light on this controversial writing and maybe provoke change. Unfortunately the negatives outweigh the positives and it would be better for the future to be educated in the classroom that Obama to educate the adults.
1. According to the author, the Narrative obscures the truth because it is just an excuse for jihadist violence. The Narrative is ridiculous because it makes such claims as that America staged 9/11. It claims that America is attacking Islam. The Narrative also offers excuses for suicide bombers to kill their own people as well as others. It does not let the people realize that the U.S. has helped Muslim people is certain parts of the world. The Narrative is simply an excuse for Arab governments to allow them to blame their country's grievances on America.
1.The narrative completely obscures American foreign policy towards the Muslim world. It puts the spotlight on the mistakes we have made and shuts out all the achievements. As the author said, "For every Abu Ghraib, our soldiers and diplomats perpetrated a million acts of kindness aimed at giving Arabs and Muslims a better chance to succeed with modernity and to elect their own officials." The narrative also falsely portrays America as the reason for the deaths of Islamic people and the problems those people face. Also, the narrative is so widespread because Arab governments can use it as an excuse for their countries problems and instead of trying to fix these problems they just let their people build up a hatred towards America.
"The Narrative" is obscuring the truth about American foreign policy in the Muslim world by leading it's followers to believe many lies about America and our intentions. "The Narrative" has led people to believe that America has declared war on Islam just to keep the Muslims down as part of a consipracy. Although America has made stupid mistakes, the U.S. has been trying hard to help Muslims for the past several years. "The Narrative" has just become an excuse for people to blame America for certain issues and resort to violence. It has been created by jihadists to twist the real truth when in reality, they need to take an honest look at who they really are instead of immediately resorting to violent acts and blaming others.
After the comment that President Obama made about the people of the Muslim world, there will be different reactions to his statement. He has a good point. There are a lot of rumors and stereotypes going around about what Islam is and isn't, yet the Islamic people themselves haven't told us THEIR personal interpretation of what their faith is and how it wants to be represented. While some people will react in anger, others will look at this statement and really think about it. Obama's closing line, "You need to explain that to us-and to yourself." is really thought-provoking and challenges the Muslim people.
1) The Narrative was created by jihadists for the sole purpose of blaming their troubles on people they do not like. They claim America is leading an attack on Islam, and that America's foreign policy is to destroy the religion, its beliefs, and its people. In reality, American soldiers and diplomats have performed many acts of kindness aimed at giving Arabs and Muslims a better chance to succeed with modernity and to elect their own leaders. This whole concept is what the jihadists are "obscuring." Though the United States as a country has done, as the autor would put it, "some stupid and bad things" in the process, the whole reason American troops are still in the Middle East is to help set the countries and theire governments back on their feet and free them from the oppression of the jihadists and The Narrative.
2) If President Obama issued that statement, even if it was meant for the greater good, the Muslims would most likely react in a negative way. They have found comfort in looking past their mistakes and being blind to the problems that are facing them, and instead of accepting the reality, they frequently decide to create lies about America. This is a technique that is designed to make them feel better about themselves, but it honestly doesn't fix many problems. The statement would create a considerable amount of turmoil and angst.
"The Narrative" is a sick message that extremists have made to justify the evil they do. They blame all of their problems on America and others, because they're jealous and feel threatened. Its a normal human reaction. These murderous fiends have taken it upon themselves to bully the rest of the world, so their egos are satisfied. People hear their perverted messages, and unfortunately agree to the point of violence. No amount of foreign blood fills their lust for power. It is up to the sane people in this world to remove their hateful blinds. America has been a prominent group in the operation. But for all of our efforts, peace is still far out of our grasp.America has made a few mistakes, we are not perfect, but overall we have done lots of good in the Muslim dominated areas. I don't think we all need to come together and sing kumbia (spell check doesn't have this in their data base so sorry about a misspelling), but knowing that we aren't hated by a huge population would be nice. With the proper education, "The Narrative" can be abolished and the world can be at peace.( I sound like Ozymandais from the Watchmen, but don't worry, I don't think we need to blow up every major capital to bring people together. :))
The narrative is "bombarded" upon Arab and Muslim communities, forcing and placing negative ideas of how right now the U.S and Israel, are completely responsible for all the grievances of the Arab and the Muslim worlds. If President Obama were to make this statement, these Arab and Muslim communities would be put under extreme pressure to view the Americans as horrible, threatening people who have goals to take them down and make them suffer. If the president were to say this, a huge rise in people plotting against us and turning on us. The jihadists would take every opportunity to twist and turn his words to make him sound like an absolute enemy.
If Obama were to speak the words written in the article to the muslim world, they would most likely be heavily insulted. However, even if they weren't, we in America would never know- only their governments can speak, and they resort to using any means to attacks the united states. This is not the people, but the corrupt government thereof. The people are merely victims of propaganda and warped words.
"The Narrative" is obscuring the truth in many ways. The narrative is nothing more than lies about the U.S.A created by Al Quaeda and other terrorist groups to create anger toward us. Even though it is full of half truths " The Narrative" has successfully put the idea in Muslim minds that America is anti-Islam. This is exactly what the terrorists want. They wait for the news to boil over and wait for others to take it into their own hands and do the terrorists work for them like Hasan did.
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