Gallupping Giddy Aunts

Hold the phone.

A Gallup poll in 2006 found that only 49 percent of Americans believed U.S. Muslims are loyal to the United States and 44 percent believed that the entire religion of Islam itself is inherently extreme. [P.W. Singer: Salon.com article War of Ideas, 26/06/07]

Shocked? Not really. Try this:

Likewise, in the 2006 poll, 39 percent advocated that all Muslims in the United States be required to carry a special ID.

Special IDs … read: dompas. Rather frightening stuff. Singer’s argument is that what is required is an ideological shift. It is clear as day that the election of a new US president alone will not provide the much-needed fungicide to this mushrooming narrow-mindedness.

An overhaul of deeply entrenched belief systems requires an understanding of what they hinge upon. Undeniably, it is the unadulterated, burning bonfire of fear, onto which Dubya, Condi, Cheney, continually throw more lighter fluid, (and Qurans).

Singer’s article concludes:

America provides a model of what citizenship and integration are all about, presenting an example that shines brightly compared with the autocratic regimes of the greater Middle East … Yet we seem to be on a path to repeating the worst of our periods of prejudice of the 1960s, or even the 1940s.

In full agreement with the broad argument, at the risk of offsetting another double-pronged insomnia attack, I will state my argument that living in the UAE has dramatically shifted my perceptions of ‘autocracy’. In some cases, it can work.

Ruled by His Heighness Sheikh Mo, Dubai is progressive, open-minded, and arguably, all-encompassing. It is a success story because it has recognized the need to draw upon foreign input and accommodating foreign influences. Mo is highly respected and loved by nationals and expats. His is an open office policy where ideas and suggestions from the average bloke or bird on the street are encouraged. He is generally philosophical and aims for the betterment of his nationals and Dubai and everyone in it. He allows expats their freedom of religion, has allocated land for churches, and tolerates boozing. He is a fair guy.

In 1999 the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) placed the UAE forty-third in its list of countries with high human development. The HDI measures overall achievements in 174 countries on the basis of life expectancy, education and general standard of living.

The UAE is, in a lot of ways, the antithesis of the Western perception of the Middle East as backward and oppressive.

The philosophy behind the UAE is outlined in a statement released in 1971 as the new state was formally established:

The United Arab Emirates has been established as an independent
state, possessing sovereignty. It is part of the greater Arab nation.
Its aim is to maintain its independence, its sovereignty, its security
and its stability, in defence against any attack on its entity or on
the entity of any of its member Emirates. It also seeks to protect
the freedoms and rights of its people and to achieve trustworthy
co-operation between the Emirates for the common good.

Among its aims, in addition to the purposes above described, is to work
for the sake of the progress of the country in all fields, for the sake
of providing a better life for its citizens, to give assistance and
support to Arab causes and interests, and to support the charter of
the United Nations and international morals.

I think Dubya and his lemmings could learn a thing or two.