What passes for hero in Arab world
...What is it about the Arab culture that honors people who have been an absolute disaster for them. Nasrallah's hubris has left Lebanon in ruins and yet Arabs still think he is some kind of hero. In fact, he is an irresponsible terrorist who has created disaster for his host country. If he were the official leader of Lebanon, would the Lebanese or anyone else think he had done a good job? Instead he is like a cock roach making a mess for others to clean up. Even if he survives the war he prevoked with Israel, he will continue to survive on the charity of others and not on his on merits.Gone are the empty threats made by President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s official radio station during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war to push the Jews into the sea even as Israel seized Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula.
Gone is Saddam Hussein’s idle vow to “burn half of Israel,” only to launch limited volleys of sputtering Scuds. Gone too are the unfulfilled promises of Yasir Arafat to lead the Palestinians back into Jerusalem.
Now there is Sheik Nasrallah, a 46-year-old Lebanese militia chieftain hiding in a bunker, combining the scripted logic of a clergyman with the steely resolve of a general to completely rewrite the rules of the Arab-Israeli land feud.
“There is the most powerful man in the Middle East,” sighed the deputy prime minister of an Arab state, watching one of Sheik Nasrallah’s four televised speeches since the war began, during an off-the-record meeting. “He’s the only Arab leader who actually does what he says he’s going to do.”
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It is sad that Nasrallah is considered a hero. It bespeaks to the frustration and powerlessness that many Muslims feel.
ReplyDeleteShi'ites are repressed by Sunni in most areas of the Muslim world. The Sunni and Shi'ites are repressed by their predominantly dictatorial governments that fail them and do handsomely in business deals with the West. The West are collaborators, but not targets they should truly be angry with. And Israel is the ultimate in convenient targets for these corrupt regimes.
I don't think Nasrallah is a hero because Arab culture is screwed up. That's too simplistic by assuming "they" are somehow inferior and different from us. Look at the IRA. Nasrallah is a hero to Muslims because he strikes back at an easy-to-identify (and politically convenient) "oppressor" and gets the world to pay attention. And wrapping themselves in Islam is equivalent to an American wrapping themselves in the flag with an apple pie. It's patriotic.
Though, of course, religion is part of the problem. When religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows. The world would be a better place if people didn't use religion like junkies use drugs.
You write: What is it about the Arab culture that honors people who have been an absolute disaster for them.
ReplyDeleteWhile it seems you imply there's something inherent in Islam or people born within the borders of Middle Eastern countries that makes them predisposed towards violence and support of terrorism, I feel it's just not that simple.
Why is the scumbag Nasrallah held up as a hero? Well, I think a big reason is that the common Lebanese citizen feels totally helpless after being born into poverty in a third world country run by a dictatorship. They think no one is fighting for them and they have no hope. So naturally (and tragically) they flock to someone who (superficially) appears to be fighting back.
Yes, it's obvious to you and I (and probably himself) that Nasrallah is making life worse for his supposed 'people.' But the cause and effect isn't that obvious to a Lebanese villager. A Lebanese villager has his house and family destroyed by a rocket that has an Israel flag on it. Who do you think he's going to direct his anger towards? If you were in his position, who would you direct your anger towards?
The people of every nation or group on Earth will always, always, blame 'the other' before they blame their own people. Right or wrong. For better or worse. It is the way human nature is in modern society.
Given this, it is beyond me why Israel is going to continue to bomb the hell out of Lebanon's infrastructure hoping that one day, against modern human nature, Lebanese people will wake up and realize it's their own leaders they should hate, not Israel.
Whether the common Lebanese citizen is right or wrong in their loyalty and blame is irrelevant. What should matter to Israel (and Lebanon) is peace, and by that I mean the safety and well-being of their own citizens. Leveling the nation of Lebanon, regardless of legal legitimacy, is not going to protect future Israeli citizens from terrorism.
Israel is free to bomb and kill all it wants, but it's not going to bring peace and security, so they might as well stop acting surprised when groups like Hizbollah rise out of the destruction and attack them.
For decades upon decades upon decades….
"The people of every nation or group on Earth will always, always, blame 'the other' before they blame their own people. Right or wrong. For better or worse. It is the way human nature is in modern society."
ReplyDeleteI guess Democrats are the exception to that rule, since most of the time they blame the US or George Bush.
Israel is not bombing Lebanons infrastructure to persuade Lebanon, they are doing it to cut off Hezballah's ability to resupply their weapons arsenal. It should be noted taht Isarel has not for example taken out Lebabon's power plants and water treatment factilities or sewage system. Nor has it his non Hezballah government buildings. However, if Lebanon does not recognize what Hezballah has cost them, it will continue to suffer.
Its resistance to the UN cease fire proposal is another example of it continueing to suffer to achieve some Hezballah objective when it could stop the destruction immediately.