|
America: Satan and Santa Claus
To the alienated, leftist mind, the United States is simultaneously Satan and Santa Claus, the source of all the evil in the world and the source of all goodies; who is, moreover, evil precisely because he is withholding the goodies that it is in his power easily to give. The latest manifestation of this resentful-adolescent syndrome is a report by Arab intellectuals in Jordan complaining that progress in the Arab world is being hindered by the American government’s tightening of visa restrictions and treatment of terror suspects. As a result, says the report, 30 percent fewer Arabs are studying in the United States than prior to 9/11, so that the very people the Arab world depends on for its progress are being deprived of an education. But, in all honesty, what did these people expect? When a large part of the Arab world erupted in frenetic joy over the 9/11 attack, and the rest of the Arab world stood by and said nothing, did the Arabs actually think that this would have no effect on their relations with the U.S.? How childish can people be?
At bottom, however, I don’t blame the Arabs for this sick attitude; I blame America, who in this psychodrama has played the role of the dangerously indulgent parent. It is white liberal America that nourished the attitude—first among its own children, then among its domestic minorities, lastly among immigrants and foreigners—that they had every right to demand everything of America while simultaneously expressing their utter contempt for America. Comments
There is a 30% reduction in Arabs studying in the USA? Well, according to Thomas Friedman’s column today, 25% of college graduates in the Arab world immediately emigrate, as there are no jobs waiting for them at home. So, the cutback on studying abroad would seem to have little economic effect back home. So much for that whine. Posted by: Clark Coleman on October 20, 2003 10:03 PMIt would seem there is not such a great demand for university graduates in Arab lands. If that is so, we should stop giving Arabs university educations (if that is the word for what our universities provide today) so that those Arabs will stay home and do whatever is in demand in Araby. HRS Posted by: Howard Sutherland on October 21, 2003 10:05 AMAnd, of course, the more unemployed university graduates with Western educations there are in third-world countries, the larger is this discontented class that doesn’t fit in; they’re not Western, yet they don’t feel completely at home in their own societies either. Such people are often drawn to radical politics. Posted by: Lawrence Auster on October 21, 2003 10:09 AM |