So it is said that if you
know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a
single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.
Sun Tzu: The Art of War, 6th
century Chinese Military classic
In passing the other week I
heard President Barack Obama criticized for having a “World View”, as if that
was proof that he was not American. My
jaw dropped. It is an asset to understand the mentality of multi cultures. This
is no liability; it is an asset in our taking on our top foreign policy concerns,
Al Qaeda and its barbaric child, ISIS.
So who knows its enemy best? Someone who only knows their local
experiences, peer group opinions, and media that justifies their preconceived
notions or someone who has multicultural hands on experience? The advantage
goes to holders of a world view.
The more extreme opponents of
Obama look at knowledge of the world very differently. Because President Obama has knowledge of the
Muslim culture and the religion, he is un American, does not love America, and
must have been born in Kenya. Because he understands other cultures by having
lived them, they automatically assume he agrees or sympathizes with them.
Respect of other cultures and beliefs is not a concept easily comprehended. Or
as Colin Powell called it “a dark vein of intolerance” recently. They suspect
that he had an agenda that is soft on Islam because he is unwilling to re-enact
the Iraq war and he even apologizes about US imperfections. Only a Christian
true believer should lead this nation because this is a Christian nation (never
mind there are Jews, Buddhists, atheists, and Muslims, and the First Amendment).
This is a war of Christianity against Islam. Some claim all Islam itself is a faulty
religion.
Why this birtherism and citing his different
upbringing has erupted again now is likely about the Republican primaries and
which candidate is the most conservative. Obama is not up for re-election, but
it speaks to the depth of their continuing personalized antipathy toward him.
Yes, Obama has his roots in
several cultures, but.as he frequently says, “Only in American could he have
had the chance to rise to the position he has today.” That is love based upon experience and a
knowledge of another culture. It is a
patriotism that speaks to what makes America exceptional.
Recently the Obama world view was
misinterpreted by some in the US to indicate Obama’s ignorance of the religious
nature of ISIS by failing to connect the religion of Islam to violent extremism.
It is not ignorance. It is a strategy in the propaganda war against ISIS and
done apparently in coordination with our allies since they are now using the
same terminology. The King of Jordan in a CNN interview February 27 said Pres.
Obama was right in not coupling Islam with violent extremism. The King called
ISIS’” outlaws/fringes of Islam” and to attach the term Islam to ISIS gives them
legitimacy they seek. For the interview, visit www.cnn.com/2015/02/27/middleeast/jordan-king-abdullah
Recommended reading:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/colin-powell-sees-dark-vein-intolerance-gop/story?id=29482208
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