Huntington Response
Maverick Fisher (mavfisher@mail.utexas.edu)
Wed, 20 Sep 1995 10:37:14 -0500
While Huntington and Said probably would share much in common on
the imminent probability of a clash between the West and the Middle East,
they most likely would not see eye to eye on the origins of this coming
conflict.
Huntington sees a coming conflict between Christian West and
Musilm East based on fundamental differences of culture and interests.
The West's goals will not jibe with the Middle East's, and the inevitable
result will be armed conflict. Helping to bring about this culture clash
are the vast differences in religion, mindset, philosophy, customs, and
values in general. Neither side will be totally to blame. The coming war is
the inexorable and natural outcome of vast differences bringing about a
global misunderstanding. Huntington naturally seems to present a certain
bias in the West's favor; quite understandibly, since he hails from here.
Said, on the other hand, would see the coming conflict as a natural
reaction against over a century of Western Imperialism in which
Middle Easterners became second-class citizens in their own home lands
and Christian overlords called the shots for the Muslim multitudes. Said
would probably see the process of imperialism continuing with the Persian
Gulf War and the continued UN (actually a Western tool) blockade of Iraq.
Any impending culture clash will be the result of a wrathful Middle East
lashing out against Western domination of the region in Said's world view.
While Said and Huntington probably could agree about the
probability of a culture clash, they would look to different reasons for
its start. Whereas Huntington would see such a fight as the product of
mutual differences, Said would see it as a creation of the West's global
arrogance towards the Middle East.
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