Stardate 20040124.1801

(Captain's log): An interesting question from a reader:

I'm an Arab-American now living and working in Syria. So far it's been quite an experience. I've anticipated questions about America and Americans ever since I arrived, but when someone actually asked me one, I felt so unprepared. I want to give him a good answer, so that's why I'm asking for your advice.

Today, a friend asked me to tell him what people in the United States are really like. He said that if TV was your only source of information, you would conclude that all Americans hate all Arabs and Muslims. Luckily for me, right then someone interrupted our conversation to tell us it was time to leave. I promised him we'd discuss this at a later date, and I was very grateful to have more time to ponder his question.

I want to convey the message that "all Americans hate all Arabs and Muslims" is nearly 100% false, and that supporting wars against Arab and Muslim countries does not equate to hating the people who live in those countries.

I think that what foreigners find, if they come here to live so as to find out what we Americans are like, is that we Americans are utterly unalike. What is most distinctive about us is our diversity. There is no single thing that we're like.

There are Americans who trace their ancestry to every nation and place on the planet where humans have ever lived. We are black and brown and yellow and white and red. We are European and African and Chinese and Indian and Arab. We are Muslim and Christian and Jewish and Hindu and Atheist. There are a lot of us who are simultaneously several of those things.

There is not a single substantive question you can ask about Americans or ask of Americans that you would find a single answer to. On any political question you'll find disagreement, and there is no single substantive characteristic we share as a people. The most important characteristic of Americans is that there is no such characteristic.

And for most of us, that is exactly what we like about ourselves as a nation and a people. It is that diversity, and that tolerance of diversity, which makes America different from any other nation. It is that diversity, and that tolerance of diversity, which we value in ourselves. It's what we call "the melting pot".

Do Americans hate Arabs and Muslims? Some do, some do not. On that question, like every other question, there is no unanimity. Some of us are Muslims. Some are fascinated by Islam, some are repelled by it, and quite frankly, most don't really care much about it one way or the other, or at least they didn't prior to September of 2001. If this nation is now actively trying to interfere in the affairs of the Arab and Muslim world, it is because Arabs tried to interfere with us, and made their problems become our problem as well.

But if we collectively hated the Arabs, we would not be acting as we are. If we hated Arabs, we would have sent nuclear weapons into the Arab region, not our soldiers. If we hated the Iraqis, we'd have exterminated them, rather than sacrificing our own young men to try to free them.

The Arabs who think America hates Arabs should consider what their own governments would do to Israel if they had one thousandth of the nuclear arsenal that the US has, and then compare that to what the US has actually done. Do our actions really make sense as an expression of hatred, given what else we could have done instead?

We are not acting out of hatred, but we will not pander to the Arabs. We are going to give the Arabs what they need, but that is not what many of them want. And in the short run, some Arabs will interpret that as cruelty on our part. But if we were motivated by hatred for the Arabs, we wouldn't be bothering with that; instead, we would have killed them all within the first week after the Arab attack against us.

Update 20040125: Ushbeti writes:

I wanted to add, if he wants to think about the diversity of Americans, he could consider the people who live in my condo building: There's the Pakistani-Muslim family, of whom only the extremely old grandmother wears a burqa; they live literally next door to the African-American First Church of the Redeemed Jesus Christ (seriously, that condo is a church); Across the hall there are 2 gays. Next to them is a nice young Jewish couple. Next to them are two elderly lesbian women. Up the stairs is a divorcée; across from her is a large Black trucker and his string of visiting girlfriends. Then there's that nice Japanese Christian family; next to them are those students from the local university. Downstairs is a single mother and her teenaged son; a family of Arab extraction, possibly Muslim; The Crazy Lady with all the cats; and me.

We all say "Hi," or equivalents thereto when we see one another; we team up in case of fire or quickly keeping an eye on a kid or two; we help one another with large packages or if the mailperson needs to leave something; we leave one another alone about everything else.

Update: Michael comments.