Attitudes, attitudes
One of the things we have to confront when teaching about any country is the set of preconceptions we and our students hold. The greater the unfamiliarity with the subject, the more the preconceptions control our thinking. Then there are the preconceptions "the others" have about us.The New York Times article on Friday, June 23 (and reports in other papers), illustrate the idea.
Poll Finds Discord Between the Muslim and Western Worlds
"Non-Muslim Westerners and Muslims around the world have widely different views of world events, and each group tends to view the other as violent, intolerant and lacking in respect for women, a new international survey of more than 14,000 people in 13 nations indicates.
"In what the survey ... called one of its most striking findings, majorities in Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Turkey ... said, for example, that they did not believe that Arabs had carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States...
"This led majorities in the United States and in countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East to describe relations between Muslims and people in Western countries as generally bad, Pew found.
"Over all, Muslims in the survey, including the large Islamic populations in Britain, France, Germany and Spain, broadly blamed the West for the bad relations, while Westerners tended to blame Muslims...
"Pew found sharp divergences regarding respect for women: non-Muslims in the West view Muslims as lacking respect, the survey indicated, while Muslims outside Europe say the same of Westerners..."
Here's the BBC report, Survey highlights Islam-West rift
And here's the Guardian report Poll shows Muslims in Britain are the most anti-western in Europe
From the Washington Post: Survey Details 'Deep' Divide Between Muslims, Westerners
posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:25 PM
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