THE GENIUS OF US AMERICANS: Jonah Goldberg quotes former Egyptian President Nasser on the Muslim view of the US:

“The genius of you Americans is that you never make clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves which make us wonder at the possibility that there may be something to them which we are missing,” former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser once said. But from the U.S. point of view, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Maybe they just don’t want what we’re selling?

That is the question though, isn't it: are Palestinian Arabs really interested in what the US--and Israel--are selling? The answer depends on whom you are asking. Some people think the answer is a no-brainer:

For many disciples of the “international peace process,” it’s a matter of faith that the Palestinians just have to want peace, because how else can you have a peace process? For many supporters of the Bush Doctrine, Iraqis have to want democracy, because if they don’t, what’s the point of having a freedom agenda? But what if these are just beloved Western fictions? We see a well-lighted path to the good life: democracy, tolerance, rule of law, markets. But what if the Arab world just isn’t interested in our path? As a believer in the freedom agenda, that’s what scares me most.

Goldberg quotes a friend living in Israel who to have seen these disciples of peace--multiculturists who know far less than they think about the people they claim to defend against intrusion from Israel and the US:

I ran into so many of these characters in Israel, hanging out in the coffee shops enjoying the free wifi and laid-back lifestyle of a western country while they get their authentic activist street cred agitating for the plight of a group of people they have only ever know in textbooks and on CNN, a group of people who would literally murder them if they actually had the balls to go to Jenin or Nablus or Gaza City. (Saul Bellow called this phenomenon "moral tourism.")

These people have built up in their own minds a massively prejudicial conception of who the Palestinians really are, a conception wrapped around their desire for "solidarity" with a group of noble oppressed people, rather than any real knowledge of the Arabs. In this way, those who have most vigorously denounced Orientalism have ended up today as the only true remaining Orientalists.

From the "Noble Savage" to the "Noble Terrorist"
Genius!

Update: Actually there is plenty of ignorance to go around--it seems that no one understands the Muslim world:

Apparently, the committee that recommended Salman Rushdie for a knighthood had no idea that Rushdie's selection would be taken as an insult by vast sections of the Muslim world. On the contrary, they believed that honoring Rushdie would actually improve Britain's relations with countries like Pakistan. Whether you think knighting Rushdie was a smart move or not, the fact that the decision was taken in colossal ignorance of its actual symbolic significance shows how profoundly clueless large sections of the European elite must be about the nature and extent of the challenge from the Muslim world.

The question is whether Rushdie himself realized what the reaction would be.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Palestinians.