09/14/2011
A recent poll in Canada indicates that the propaganda project to portray Islam as consistent with Western values is not going over very well. Many people recognize the historical nature of the conflict between Islam and everyone else, calling the culture clash âirreconcilable.â
Perhaps the respondents remember the basic background that Islam was âspread by the swordâ before modern Westerners were told not to hurt the sensitive feelings of headchoppers. Or maybe the persons polled have noticed the increasing number of attempted jihadist attacks as reported in the news.
Propaganda can only go so far in the face of actual events, particularly when there are now dissenting views in the media and on the internet.
Western, Muslim societies âirreconcilableâ: poll, National Post, September 11, 2011
A majority of Canadians believes conflict between Western nations and the Muslim world is âirreconcilable,â according to a new national survey that revealed a strong strain of pessimism in the country leading up to Sundayâs 10th anniversary commemorations of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
The survey of 1,500 Canadians, conducted over three days last week for the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies, showed 56% of respondents see Western and Muslim societies locked in an unending ideological struggle, while about 33% â just one-third of the population â held out hope that the conflict will eventually be overcome.
Another 11% of those polled didnât answer the question.
ACS executive director Jack Jedwab said the finding has âserious ramificationsâ for Canadian policies aimed at bridging divides between cultures, which are based on the premise that citizens believe significant progress in mending such religious and cultural conflicts is achievable.
The dark view expressed in the survey âcontradicts a fundamental idea in multicultural democracies like ours, that conflicts between societies can be resolved through dialogue and negotiation,â said Jedwab. âThis is also a key element in multiculturalism, where Canada is often seen elsewhere in the world as a model in conflict resolution.â
He adds: âIf a majority of Canadians feel it is irreconcilable, what does this imply for the various projects and programs in place that aim to bridge gaps?â
The online survey, carried out Sept. 6 to 8 by the firm Leger Marketing, is considered accurate to within 2.9 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
The results also confirm the findings of other recent surveys highlighting Canadiansâ ongoing anxiety about the state of security in the post-9/11 world and their deep doubts about whether the long and bloody war in Afghanistan has done much to thwart the threat of terrorism.
In fact, 65% of respondents in the ACS survey said they donât believe the world is safer from terrorists today than it was 10 years ago. And 70% of those survzeyed said they donât believe the war in Afghanistan has reduced the chances of terrorist attacks.
Jedwab said the âpessimistic feelingâ about what the war has accomplished is likely linked to the âwidespread hopelessnessâ about the prospects for ever resolving the deep-rooted, âideologicalâ conflict between Muslim and Western societies.
Many Canadians have come to believe ânothing will workâ to end that conflict, said Jedwab, adding that this grim state of mind will require more scrutiny to fully understand and more carefully crafted public policies to rebuild a sense of optimism about the future of global relations.
The survey did offer one notable âray of hope,â Jedwab suggested, pointing to a result showing that a slight majority of Canadians (52%) believe it would be wrong for airport security officials to do âextra checksâ of âpassengers who appear to be of Muslim background.â
While 39% of respondents were open to that kind of profiling, Jedwab interpreted the majorityâs rejection of the practice as a sign that most Canadians realize such infringements âwould make the purportedly irreconcilable conflict even deeper if the enshrined principles of our rights charters are to be disregarded.â