Deadly Perceptions: Mankind's Failure to Coexist

"If our contemporaries are not encouraged to accept their multiple affiliations and allegiances... then we shall be bringing into being legions of the lost and hordes of bloodthirsty madmen." - Amin Maalouf.

First, allow me to pose these questions to you as a prelude to this discussion: What is your identity? Is your identity what makes you similar to people around you or is it what makes you different from everybody else?...and by the way, where are you from?

The concept of ‘identity’ has been debated by great philosophers and thinkers throughout human history and it is in that tradition that we must continue to actively pursue a deeper understanding of what leads humanity into a path of conflict and mutual destruction.

Identity is not a predefined state that is either innate or permanent, unless we limit our definition of it to elements such as race, ethnicity, and/or gender, and even then it is not so much those fixed elements that shape our identity but rather their significance within our living environment.

Let’s take me for example. If you were to have asked me 15 years ago what my identity is, I would have thought that my nationality, ethnicity, and religion (Moroccan; Amazigh; Muslim) are the only elements comprising my identity. Ask me again today and my answer would be a tad more complicated. Since my seventeenth birthday, I have lived in Europe and spent all of my adulthood to date in the United States. I am a Washingtonian insofar that I consider this nation’s capital to be my home, not to forget that I am an avid Redskins fan. Yes I said it, I love American football. I also love the constitution of this nation and I never tire of reading ‘The Federalist Papers’.

So, am I American and no longer Moroccan? Wait a second…

I also love my Moroccan heritage. I love my Middle Eastern culture and Arabic music is my favorite. Identity, I gather, is three-dimensional. There is the vertical plane that carries our heritage from our ancestors and there is the horizontal plane that carries elements transmitted to us through our living environment. It appears that it is the horizontal plane that makes our identity so dynamic. It is also supposed to be the dominant one, although many still scourge the vertical plane for elements that focus their ‘need to belong’.

I found out that what I have is a ‘Composite Identity’. I thought it must be because of the particular experiences I have had in my life, until I realized that every human being lives through a unique set of circumstances. Even two identical twins would grow up to have two different identities because not all of the elements contained in the horizontal plane of their identity would be similar. Therefore, we all have composite identities. The problem is that we often look within ourselves for specific allegiances in which we can recognize ourselves as opposed to looking for all the ingredients comprising our identity.

Ok, I have a composite identity, but where am I from?

To a fellow Moroccan, I would say that ‘I am Soussi (Amazigh from Southern Morocco)’. Yet, to an American, when ‘from Washington’ draws a skeptical look, I hastily add: ‘Originally from Morocco’. See, in my native land, it matters that I am Amazigh for it is an integral part of the vertical plane of my identity. But in America, I am only ‘Middle Eastern’ (despite the fact that Morocco is in Northwest Africa) or ‘Muslim’. Both of these labels are used interchangeably and they both trigger a consistent set of perceptions and responses. It matters not that my last trip to a place of worship was to a Synagogue nor does it matter that the two most influential people in my life are his holiness the Dalai Lama (a Buddhist) and Dr. Martin Luther King (a Christian). Finally, it matters not that my political heroes are the founders of these very United States of America.

Once, I met a nice woman who tried to 'console' me after I had told her that I am originally from Morocco by saying: "Well, there is nothing wrong with that!" suggesting that there was, in fact, something wrong with it. She was a well-intentioned lady. She was just exercising her memory and produced a response that reflected her built-in perception of my place of origin all while trying to be courteous and nice at the same time.

After 9/11, America’s negative perception of the Muslim World went into overdrive. The words ‘Muslim’ and ‘Middle Eastern’ have, in the collective memory of Americans, become attached to words such as ‘terrorism’, ‘insurgency’, ‘suicide bombings’, ‘Bin Laden’, and ‘Al-Qaeda’. The US media and the Movie Industry have streamlined those stereotypes into mainstream America. They do so for the sake of public consumerism and market economics. This is the theory of the ‘Boogy Man’. The media loves the ‘Boogy Man’ because it sells. Apparently, people consume more media when they feel anger, fear, and hatred of the other.

The Pew Research Center found in a 2003 Survey that a third of Americans say media coverage of the Middle East has had the biggest influence on their thinking about the issue, followed by education (21%) and religious beliefs (20%). The same survey found that American views about Islam have worsened since the previous year (2002). A majority of Americans now believe that Islam encourages violence, a 20-point jump from a year earlier, and that nearly half of Americans now think that half or more Muslims worldwide are 'anti-American'. The survey points out that this opinion is as prevalent among better educated Americans as among the less educated and that there are few differences among other religious groups in the US regarding this opinion (Evangelicals and mainline Protestants have the same opinion while the negative opinion of white Catholics, black Protestants, and seculars has grown).

On the other side of the divide, a 2004 Survey also conducted by the Pew Research Center found that in the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed, anger toward the US remains pervasive. People in Muslim nations strongly doubt the sincerity of American anti-terror efforts and see the motives behind US actions to be Mideast oil, support for Israel, and targeting unfriendly Muslim countries. Majorities in Middle Eastern countries considered to be US allies (Jordan, Morocco) viewed Americans unfavorably in 2004 when majorities expressed the opposite opinion only two years earlier. The decision to go to war in Iraq has clearly worsened Middle Eastern perceptions of the US. Furthermore, Arab media, especially satellite-based television, plays a prominent role in shaping opinions in the Middle East similar to the role played by the media in the US. The US and Arab media perspectives may be diametrically opposed, but it is the same old market theory that governs both.

As I witness these hardened perceptions on both sides of the information divide, I can not help but be reminded by Amin Maalouf, who writes: “If our contemporaries are not encouraged to accept their multiple affiliations and allegiances; if they can not reconcile their need for identity with an open and unprejudiced tolerance of other cultures; if they feel they have to choose between denial of the self and denial of the other – then we shall be bringing into being legions of the lost and hordes of bloodthirsty madmen.”