Can a Value System Supposedly Primitive Pose a Threat to West?

By Aussiegirl

Straight from the camel's mouth, the philosophy of eventual Islamic world domination from an Arab perspective, for those who think that we are going to win these people over to our western way of thinking. They don't want to be won -- they already think their way is superior. They do not suffer the pangs of multiculturalism and feel bound to express endless tolerance for ways that are unlike their own. They simply want to impose their own values on everyone else.

Can a Value System Supposedly Primitive Pose a Threat to West?

As the West enters the twilight hours of its civilization it demonstrates a desperate desire to recapture the glories of a past when the world meant the “West” and the only value system was that dictated by Western powers. According to this way of thinking, modern history started at the Renaissance and Western sciences were the sum of all knowledge.

America, of course, is the most glaring example of this Western malaise as manifested by its refusal to abide by international pacts and agreements or by its savage assaults on Afghanistan and Iraq. Also, let us not forget the horror film the world has been forced to watch of torture and abuse of the so-called terrorists in American gulags spread across the planet.

However, Europe also shows signs of stress given the hysteria with which it views the Muslim world. Europe feels both fear and a sort of wounded indignation toward the Muslims. On the one hand it is trying to force the Muslims to abandon Islam as a universal value system claiming it is nothing more than a primitive and archaic religion incapable of dealing with the complex issues of the modern way of life; on the other it feels threatened by this very same culture which it regards beneath its own.

[...]For too long the world has lived with one dominant culture imposing its view on everyone else, where all human experience, be it negative or positive, was seen through Western eyes only. However, recent developments show it is no longer the case. In other parts of the world where people who until recently could never control their own destiny or the fate of their nations a new sense of independence and defiance is evident. Like in Palestine where the people voted into power the Hamas party by an astounding majority.

[...]Though we are witnessing the end of a world system which has dominated this planet for over two centuries one should expect a bitter resistance from the West to their slow but inevitable decline. As human beings most of us have difficulty accepting our mortality and many of us never do even to the last minute. The West can’t for the moment come to grips with the fact that they occupy this planet with other individuals who have a different set of values which are as true as theirs. Muslims are not the only ones who feel the intrusive and high-handed behavior of the West. We see examples of this kind of attitude all around the world from Latin America to Africa and Asia.

However the West should be careful for they might be mighty but they are no longer the only kid on the block. The block is getting mighty crowded and we the rest of humanity no longer accept their dictates nor do we regard our civilization as any less.

— Reem Al-Faisal is a Saudi photographer. She is based in Jeddah.