Why some people hate the West

'Occidentalism; The west in the eyes of its enemies' by Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit. Published in 2004.


   On September 11, 2002 Arab fanatics hijacked four planes and drove three of them into the World Trade towers in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C.
     Over 2000 people, mostly Americans but some 11 Canadians too, were killed. An era of war was unleashed as U.S. and NATO forces invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq. The Osama Bin Laden Arabs who hijacked the airplanes hated the western world. But how typical were their views of the west? And did Islam encourage such terrorism?
      No, says Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit to the second question in their book called 'Occidentalism'. "In the heat of  battle," Bin Laden said about his recruits, "they do not care about dying, and they cure the insanity  of the eenmy by their 'insane' courage."
     As Buruma and Margalit point out, human sacrifice as Bin Laden urges "is far removed from Islam." Occidentalism, or a hatred of the west or a belief in stereotypes about the west has been embraced by many people. Margalit and Buruma's small book outlines anti-western feelings that ran through 20th century Japan, 19th and 20th century Germany, 19th century Russia and many Islamic countries.
     Western countries and their conquest of Arab countries in the 19th and 20th centuries encouraged the spread of Occidentalism. This book doesn't deal directly with the western imperialism in Arab places, only with the ideas that came with it.
      But the book does end with the rise of revolutionary Islam and its hatred of Israel. Now the western world faces what the authors call, " a synthesis of ancient bigotry and modern technology." Published nine years ago and long before the rise and fall of 'Arab Spring', 'Occidentalism is still a useful guide to the history of anti-western feeling, both inside the Arab world and outside it.
    

One Violent Film

 'World War Z' . Starring Brad Pitt and Mireille EnosPitt. Directed by Marc Foster. Running time 116 minutes.


    "Zombie" says Wikopedia, "is an animated corpse raised by magical means such as witchcraft."
    But after the 1968 horror film 'Night of the Living Dead', zombies turned up in more modern versions. Now in 'World War Z' millions of humans turn into fightening zombies. Soon it seems all humans will be zombies and then where would we all be?
    But along comes Brad Pitt, the very famous partner of superstar Angela Jolie and saves the day and the world. Pitt in the film is United Nations employee Gerry Lane. His wife Karen Lane played by Mireille Enos, waits and waits for him to come back from his world saving mission and be with her and their two children again.
   "It's human nature," an Israeli big honcho tells Lane who goes to Israel to find out how they've kept zombies as well as Palestinian bombers out of their land.'World War Z' can frighten anybody and it sure scared me.
   Yet in the end it's a hymn of praise to battleships, the U.S armed forces and violence. I soon lost count of the number of zombies mowed down in this film by guns wielded by U.S soldiers and Brad Pitt.
     At film's end there's a Canadian connection too as a bearded, wounded and longhaired Lane re-unites with his wife and two daughters. Director Marc Foster and script writer Matthew Carnahan have turned out a competent thriller that was far better than another violent film, namely 'Man of Steel'.
    But the next film I go to I hope will be a quieter, less violent flick than "World War Z'. It had its moments but I need a rest from its blood and gore.