Political Apprehensions

I want to tread carefully.

In considering the media, I have also run into a very different view of the war in Iraq. I’m seeing images and hearing news of what is taking place in Iraq that I would never see in the US. And in this, I’m beginning to understand the power of the media, particularly the power of the media in America.

Here Bush is written off, and the news of the Middle East is not focused solely on “the war”. Rather, the news is of the many others battles taking place in the Middle East and the war with terrorists. This is a favorite topic of our senora, who lectures frequently about the craziness of the terrorists that are active here in Spain. Here, “the war” is not something between the United States and Iraq, but a struggle and, as Samuel Huntington wrote, a “clash of civilizations.” What is taking place is something larger than “our war”. A man on the metro in Portugal actually raised this point to me. When he found out that I was American, his first question concerned Bush and the war with Iraq. He was interested to know my generation’s thoughts and attitudes towards the situation, but also wanted to communicate that the war with Iraq is not simply an isolated war that will be neat and tidy to finish. Rather, it is a war pitting very different ways of life and thinking against one another.

While America is large and in charge, I realizing just how easy it is to isolate ourselves. I’m not saying the war with Iraq is all good or all bad, but I do think the insight of seeing ourselves as a part of the picture is helpful in seeing the power and the strife that make up much of the Arabic world. This broader perspective also challenges us not to simply digest the information on the 6 o’clock news, but search for a fuller understanding. Recognizing the power of American media is a lesson I’m learning, this time from the other side.

Oh, and like universities across America, there is a bumper sticker on the blackboard of my Contemporary History class that reads, “No a la Guerra” or “No to the war”. Students will be their liberal selves all over.