As a white american, I found this to be a really insightful and helpful look into the history of an entire region and was very different from the very western-heroic version I had been fed for...
As a white american, I found this to be a really insightful and helpful look into the history of an entire region and was very different from the very western-heroic version I had been fed for years. A specific quote I found particularly powerful:
After every terrorist attack in the West, people in Europe or the United States often ask blithely:, Where are the Muslims and Arabs speaking out against extremism and terrorism? It is deeply troubling to expect that all Muslims should apologize or take responsibility for a minuscule fraction of those who claim to share their faith. But, more importantly, the question ignores the devastating sacrifices of those who have long been fighting intolerance and its violent manifestations within their own countries—whether against tyrants or terrorists. Far too many progressive minds in the wider Middle East have been left to fend for themselves for decades, as they and their countries have been bludgeoned to death by forces of darkness—including leaders, such as Pakistan’s Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s, or Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi today, who often have tacit or open American support. And it bears repeating that the greatest number of victims of jihadist violence are Muslims themselves.
As a white american, I found this to be a really insightful and helpful look into the history of an entire region and was very different from the very western-heroic version I had been fed for years. A specific quote I found particularly powerful: