Gallup poll: how muslims view the US

[MrFun]

Transcend, your last quote is nothing but a gross generalization about both groups of people.

European monks played an important role throughout the Middle Ages in preserving knowledge and intellectual texts. The same with Muslim intllectuals in that same historical era.

[Saint Marcus]

Indonesia has the biggest muslim population in the world, and is one of the 9 countries in which the poll was held. I won't call them "insignificant".

[Garth Vader]

The United States is damned if it does, damned if it doesn't. We're hit on for supporting repressive regimes in the Middle East and we'll get bit in buttocks if we would ever actually try to overthrow the same regimes and replace them with more democratic regimes.


Your problem is that you see only these two options. You shouldn't try and violently overthrow the government of other countries, but you shouldn't sell weapons to governments that violently repress their people either.

[Saint Marcus]

And are we talking about Arabs or Muslims? There are Arabs who are not Muslim, and there are Muslims who are not Arabs.

"Gallup poll: how muslims view the US".

[DinoDoc]

Was the sample size big enough?

9,924 adults??? That can not be correct. IIRC, even Nielson polls more people than that for thier surveys and they only deal with one country.

[Garth Vader]

You've taken stats haven't you Dino? I thought the sandard sample size was a little over a thousand. That gives you the +- whatever % 19 times out of 20 comment at the bottom of the poll that nobody ever reads

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Garth Vader
You've taken stats haven't you Dino?

I'm taking it now. We haven't gotten that far yet. That's why I asked.

[Transcend]

Originally posted by MrFun
Transcend, your last quote is nothing but a gross generalization about both groups of people.

Don't you understand sarcasm?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Transcend

Don't you understand sarcasm?

Oh -- well in that case, you should have used the rolling eyes smilie with your original sarcastic quote. I sometimes need visual aid to determine if it's sarcasm on Internet forums.

[Lefty Scaevola]

I expect Transcends do not feel obligated to pander to inferior intellects by posting visual aids, some old Romans also commonly omit winkies and roll-eyes; and those who can not comprehend without them be damned. If fact some of the more egotisctical of us might find it amusing to dertermine which posters are so feeble that they must be expressly alerted to common usages of communication.

[Comrade Tribune]

Re: Re: Gallup poll: how muslims view the US

Originally posted by CYBERAmazon
At least in the United States we have a representative government and an open and free media that actually investigates claims made by our leaders.

Thanks for that one. I notice your jokes are getting better over time.

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by Saint Marcus
A bit overly simplistic, don't you think?

Perhaps. I am not going to write a thesis on any subject at Apolyton; in order to do so, 'Poly will have to become an accredited educational institute. That way I would at least get academic credit for the work, if nothing else.

Not all the arab/muslim nations have represive regimes, and there are democracies.

Really? Where folks can cast a vote for an individual who then goes on to represent them either in a House or Senate set-up? Or where voters can put some judicial officials in office? Which countries are these (I'm genuinely curious). The impression I currently have is that most, if not all, legislative and judicial branches of governments in the Arab world are "rubber stamp" entities for the dictatorial, ahem, monarch, er, EXECUTIVE branch of government.

I know Kuwait has something akin to democracy ... not sure how much of that was brought about by the resolution of the Persian Gulf war in 1990-91, though.

Furthermore, Al Jazeera is a big free broadcasting network based in Qatar, and they aren't the only free and open media out there. It's true that Al Jazeera (and the BBC, CNN, etc) are banned in some arab/muslim countries, but certainly not in most.

Which nations ban Al Jazeera? I'm wondering if it's these same nations where I've seen examples of government and religious-sponsored media bashing of the United States.

CYBERAmazon

[Gatekeeper]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gallup poll: how muslims view the US

Originally posted by paiktis22
And you should not forget the impact of Israel. It's creation but moreover its previous expansions to Egypt and Lebanon reflect directly on you. You can say that in the eyes of the muslims it is you who have commited these expansion. The reason is that US and Israel are considered "one". A logical even though too far fetched explanation IMO because of the american constant support to Israel.

The U.S. was the first to recognize Israel, true. But we didn't out-and-out become their main "backers" until the late 1960s (and maybe later ... my history is foggy here, admittedly). Hell, there was even a time when we acted against Israel, France and Britain (when they tried to make a move against the Suez Canal in the 1950s). Speaking of France, weren't they Israel's main backer through the 1960s?

If the Arabs and Muslims have such long, detailed, memories, it sure is selective. Gee, how human, eh? They apparently forgot the events surrounding the Suez Canal, the fact that one of our ships was attacked by Israel and that former President Bill Clinton was fairly even-handed when it came to trying to forge permanent peace between the Palestinians and Israel. They forget that even today we have 800 or so U.S. peackeepers along the Israeli-Egyptian border (that we can't remove w/o said nations' approval). They forget that we tried to protect Muslims in the Balkans during Slobodan Milosevic's regime in the disintegrating Yugoslavia.

By no means am I saying that my nation is perfect; that state is unattainable in physical reality. But, by God, we aren't the Great Satan that we're also portrayed to be by some in the Middle East and elsewhere. We have our successes. We have our failures. We try to learn from both.

CYBERAmazon

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by Garth Vader
The United States is damned if it does, damned if it doesn't. We're hit on for supporting repressive regimes in the Middle East and we'll get bit in buttocks if we would ever actually try to overthrow the same regimes and replace them with more democratic regimes.


Your problem is that you see only these two options. You shouldn't try and violently overthrow the government of other countries, but you shouldn't sell weapons to governments that violently repress their people either.

Tell me: What would happen if the United States alone stopped selling weapons — defensive or offensive — to *any* nation that didn't use them appropriately?

Here's what I think would happen: We'd be cheered and then other governments would step up to the plate and pick up where we left off. I could live with that, but the point is this: it wouldn't solve the problem of governments that repress their citizens.

One of our statesmen once said that America should never entangle itself in the affairs of another nation, that we should only *trade* with them. Not a bad idea, IMHO. Now if only trade could be completely delinked from other aspects of country-to-country relationships. We could be the Switzerland of the world! All we wanna do is trade!

If only it were that simple.

CYBERAmazon

[Gatekeeper]

Re: Re: Re: Gallup poll: how muslims view the US

Originally posted by Comrade Tribune
Originally posted by CYBERAmazon
At least in the United States we have a representative government and an open and free media that actually investigates claims made by our leaders.



Thanks for that one. I notice your jokes are getting better over time.

Either contribute something meaningful to this thread or hold your silence, scavenger.

CYBERAmazon