"Clash of Civilizations" and Current Events

       Over the holiday season, the American media took a break from Iowa and Christmas to report on a controversy surrounding a reality television show.  Lowe’s, a national retailer, pulled ads from this TV show in response to complaints from religious groups.  Large companies can be quick to pull advertisements off of shows if they feel said association is detrimental to the “company image”.  However, the move by Lowe’s to pull their ads from the show, “All-American Muslim” ended up generating more controversy then the initial complaints (for a summary of the story and it’s aftermath view: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/controversy-drives-advertisers-from-all-american-muslim-or-does-it/).  Sticking to stock formula, “All-American Muslim” illustrated the lives of real people dealing with real situations.  The only difference between the show and the multitude of clones that populate American television is who these real people are. In this case, “All-American Muslim” focused specifically on Muslims living in Michigan. 

Behind the initial protest letters to Lowe’s and other advertisers was the Florida Family Association.  The accusation leveled towards “All-American Muslim” was that it exhibited bias.  In particular, the Florida Family Association contended that “the show profiled only Muslims that appeared to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish” (for the full press statement see: http://floridafamily.org/full_article.php?article_no=108).  What is striking about this statement is not the obvious ignorance about the lives of American Muslims.  Ignorance about different cultures and peoples is something that is unfortunately prevalent within societies all over the world.  Remarking that Islam presents “a clear and present danger” towards American values goes deeper into intellectual arguments then the writer perhaps intended to.  Unconsciously or not, the statement adopts an “us vs. them” mentality and in particular implies of an incompatibility between “America” and “Islam”.  This statement is not the typical rhetoric of the misinformed. Change the word “Islam” with “Communism” and this phrase could have been copy/pasted out of a 50’s propaganda film.  In fact, using this differentiation between the “Muslim East” and the “Christian West” is not a new invention but rather was born out of a “need” to create a new enemy after the fall of the Soviet Union.  Whether or not it was the writer’s intention, he or she has tapped into the theories of Islam vs. the West as a “clash of civilizations”. 

            The term “clash of civilizations” was first used in the article “The Clash of Civilizations?” by Samuel Huntington.  Huntington brought forward the thesis that the post-Cold War political scene would be dominated not by nation-states but rather by cultural groups.  Cultural groups such as the “West” or “Islam” would provide conflict rather than nation-states.  Huntington viewed Islamic encounters with the “West” as inevitably violent due to the differing nature of the two “civilizations”.  As a shocked United States looked for answers amidst the tragedy in the aftermath of September 11, many commentators turned towards the “clash of civilizations” for answers. 

            The major reasoning behind the Florida Family Associations protests appears to be the fact that “All-American Muslim” directly contradicts their own preconceived beliefs about Muslims.  Here are Muslims acting and behaving as “Westerners” although differing belief systems did not render them into carbon copies of the stereotypical American nuclear family.  Certainly there is conflict and adjustment, but there is no “clash of civilizations” here.  Huntington’s work has been disputed among Middle Eastern scholars.  Criticisms can be made that Huntington relies too heavily on vaguely defined notions of culture and identity.  Where does Indonesia, a Southeastern Asian country with the world’s largest Muslim population stand?   Indonesia is certainly not a carbon copy culturally of Egypt.  Huntington also never factored in the increase of immigration within the modern era.  Additionally, Huntington conceives that there is a preordained tension between the ideals of the “West” and the ideals of “Islam”.   From the Arab Spring requesting democratic reforms to the participants of “All-American Muslim” attempting to live “normal American” lives, there is no definitive rule that the “West” and “Islam” cannot coexist.  Cairo will never look like Indianapolis (and vice versa), but despite tensions between what scholars define as the “West” and the “Muslim World” there is no preordained “clash of civilizations”.  

BDF