James, over at OTB [1] writes today about an article posted by worldpublicopinion.org : [2]
(Link fixed, sorry James…-Ed)
Worldpublicopinion.org a project of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, has recently published an public opinion poll [2] on attitudes toward the US, terrorist organization, and a generalized ‘clash of civilizations’. [The link is to a 28-page PDF document. The questionnaire [3] is also available as a 20-page PDF] The polling was conducted in Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, and Pakistan between December 2006 and February 2007.
The results are pretty depressing. Majorities have negative views of the US government. Gross majorities believe it is US policy to undermine and divide the Islamic world and to spread Christianity. Majorities have a negative view of Western culture and believe that groups like Al-Qaeda are right in trying to fight its spread.
Majorities believe that the US is actively working to help Israel extend its territory and large numbers believe that the US is not really interested in a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli problem.
Surprisingly large numbers believe that the true identities of the 9/11 attackers remain unknown with many believing, still, that either the US or Israel is behind the attacks. In none of the four countries is Al-Qaeda identified as being responsible by more than 35% of the polled population.
Majorities share the Al-Qaeda belief that Muslim countries should be ruled by strict Sharia law and that Islamic countries should be unified in a single Islamic state or Caliphate.
James goes on to identify part of the problem;
A large part of the problem of attitudes is that foreign audiences, even in highly educated places like Europe, do not have a clear conception of how the US government works, the role of policy advocates and opponents, the role of Congress or the media.
Commentor Floyd says in response:
What a surprise! Look at the media. We don’t seem to think much of ourselves lately either!
Correct.
Therein lies the key to all of this, and nobody, including, alas, James, seems to see this one key element. And if we did think much of ourselves, we wouldn’t much CARE what a bunch of holdovers form the 14th century thought of us.
If we didn’t think much of ourselves, the people who don’t understand how our government works, wide, and would likely be trying to emulate more than they are now. But the fact is, that we haven’t been selling ourselves to other nations in the world, because we no longer believe in it. Such is the state of things, after nearly 60 years of Democrat domination.
I’m sorry, but I’m running out of patience with leftist attempts to get people so fundamentally opposite from us in terms of worldview, to like us. I dare say, the Nazis didn’t much care for us, either. And I think the comparison apropos.
If we thought more of ourselves, the issue would be whether not we like them. And, properly so.
As it is, we’re so worried about whether not bay like us, that we’ve stopped being ourselves. It’s not only we in America that lose, when we do that, but the rest of the world as well. In my view it is not they who should be sitting in judgment of us, but rather, we of them.
I recognize that’s not going to make the us any more popular; in the short term it probably won’t. But what will? And what would the advantages be of making ourselves popular among a group of people willing to stone to death [4]a 17 year old girl for falling in love with the ‘wrong boy’, since we would have to cast a tolerant eye on such events?
Let’s play ‘what if’….Let’s say, just for giggles, that we were to pull out of Iraq tomorrow, for example. Or, let’s say we would never have gone in there. Would they dislike us at any less? I doubt it. There’s only one way that we can get them to like us, and that is capitulation. That is something America must never do.
And this not only applies to Islamic fundamentalism, and the results of that, but socialist fundamentalism, such as the current situation in Venezuela for example, and the results of that.