Jonathan Zimmerman: Can Conflict Abroad Mean Progress Here?
[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history at New York University and lives in Narberth. He is the author most recently of "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory" (Yale University Press).]
Hey, Americans, stop hating each other! Don't you know there's a war going on?
That's essentially what the United States' top commander in Afghanistan said in a much-publicized interview, condemning a Florida pastor who has vowed to burn Qurans on Sept. 11. "It could endanger troops, and it could endanger the overall effort," Gen. David Petraeus told the Wall Street Journal. "Not just here [in Afghanistan], but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community."
Petraeus was right, but he didn't go far enough. The problem runs deeper than the bigoted Florida minister whose stunt sparked protests around the globe. From attacks on mosques to charges that President Obama is secretly Muslim, America is suffused with anti-Islamic sentiment right now.
As Petraeus' comment suggests, the best argument against our current bout of Islamophobia might lie in the war itself. For the past century, America's overseas conflicts have catalyzed campaigns against prejudice and discrimination at home. So we have good reason to hope that the current war does the same....
Read entire article at Philadelphia Inquirer
Hey, Americans, stop hating each other! Don't you know there's a war going on?
That's essentially what the United States' top commander in Afghanistan said in a much-publicized interview, condemning a Florida pastor who has vowed to burn Qurans on Sept. 11. "It could endanger troops, and it could endanger the overall effort," Gen. David Petraeus told the Wall Street Journal. "Not just here [in Afghanistan], but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community."
Petraeus was right, but he didn't go far enough. The problem runs deeper than the bigoted Florida minister whose stunt sparked protests around the globe. From attacks on mosques to charges that President Obama is secretly Muslim, America is suffused with anti-Islamic sentiment right now.
As Petraeus' comment suggests, the best argument against our current bout of Islamophobia might lie in the war itself. For the past century, America's overseas conflicts have catalyzed campaigns against prejudice and discrimination at home. So we have good reason to hope that the current war does the same....