Worlds Apart

This is just, well, silly. The point is always made that we in the West need to be sensative about how we craft our messages so we will appeal as much as possible to the Islamic world in the Middle East. The point is never or at least seldom made that they should think about their message and how it might be received here. There's a basic disparity of expectation in the world between the West and the Middle East. In my view, these differences of expectation are built on a racist assumption--namely that the Arab world is incapable of responding with reason and sensativity and so we shouldn't expect them to do so. When this is applied conversely, then we in the West should assume the full burden of diplomacy and reason in sorting through the various cultural and diplomatic tensions that exist between the "Christian" west and the "Islamic" Middle East. The Western mindset towards the Arab world has basically assumed from them their duty to seek peace and understanding and transformed it into excessive attempts to reach out and go out of our way to appease. The fact that throngs of people in the Middle East have outrage towards America doesn't automatically mean it's because of something we've done. It's just as possible it's the result of misunderstanding, religious brainwashing, and ignorance on their part. The duty to establish a good relationship between our worlds will only be fruitful if its equally shared.