Posted on 12/03/2004 5:25:11 PM PST by kupia_kummi
While the results of this year's American election may have liberal Democrats and much of the extended international community shaking their heads in disbelief, a surprising number of Arabs seem to have not only expected President George W. Bush's return to power but also supported it.
Since I began teaching in Damascus six months ago, I have been continually surprised to find support and even admiration for Bush in that city, mixed in with the usual polemics about American imperialism. The presumed wildfire of anti-American and anti-Bush sentiment that has consumed much of Europe and Asia has apparently skipped over parts of the Arab world, where people often have more in common with Middle America than they do with the Middle East.
A few days after moving into my new home in the middle class Christian quarter of old Damascus, my landlady asked me whom I preferred between the two American presidential candidates. I replied, almost in passing, that of course I was voting for John Kerry. Besides being an Ivy League-educated New Englander and the son of extremely liberal parents, I was a foreigner and a guest in a country laboring under American economic sanctions. As a guest, surely I would be expected to distance myself from my own government, which had started a pre-emptive war against Syria's neighbor, denied considerable foreign investment to the Syrian economy and branded Damascus a "supporter of terrorism."
"I like Bush," she said, without a trace of irony. "He's a good man - a good Christian."
(Excerpt) Read more at dailystar.com.lb ...
a liberal teaching in Syria?
frightening
nice story though
Magnificent post. Thanks for finding it. This confirms something I have found in my travels to India and Singapore...that religious and intelligent people all over the world who understand the issues facing America, are admirers of GWB.
"Since I began teaching in Damascus six months ago, I have been continually surprised
to find support and even admiration for Bush in that city"
You've got to give Osama credit for this...he was right when he said that "people prefer the
the stronger horse".
EXCELLENT insights, and from a (typically) leftist academician no less!
On Monday, I will share this article with my university colleagues . . . it will absolutely ruin their day!!
Only dictators and their supporters and apologists don't support President Bush.
The people who actually live under tyranny support him and what he is doing to bring them freedom.
Actually I would love to see the Democratic Underground reaction to this story.
An ecstatic ping! Nice to know people *all over* get GWB. :)
George W. Bush: in your heart, you know he's right.
There probably aren't too many Saudi type madrassas in Syria. Think of Asad as a slightly gentler Saddam Hussein (mostly secular). In fact The Baath party of Syria tries to keep muslim extremism down as the rulers of Syria are Allawites, who are a minority (again, similar to Iraq under Saddam, but even more so). There was an attempted revolution by the muslims against the elder Asad who responded ruthlessly but destroying the cities of Homs and Hama.
Back to this article, it's interesting how Democrats think of their party as the party of scientific progress just because they don't feel they have to think about moral ethics in science. However, they're the first ones to use non-scientific methods to scare the population half to death about their favorite agenda items (global warming, the environment, endangered species, socialism...).
University professors probably constitute 90% of the DU posters!!!
George Bush is a Good Man.....ping!
Typical liberal elitest academic. He refuses to even try understanding the attitudes and positions of average americans in fly over country, but let the same words slip from by the lips of those he would consider our enemy, and an epiphany results.
Even more stunning is this dimwit doesn't remotely smell the irony.
Great post! Really fascinating. It's the "values" thing again. The reason they prefer Bush is his conservative values and it's also the reason the Europeans prefer Kerry.
We should think about another source of hatred for America that is related to their religious conservative outlook. A pervasive image of America comes from Hollywood, and that image is one that is pretty twisted and distorted and in particular spits upon religiosity Christian or Islamic.
I don't know how we crack that nut.
"I pressed them further for a few minutes, asking individual students why they liked Bush. The same ideas came up again and again: he is a strong leader, an honest man, and, most of all, a believer. Like the winning margin of American voters this year, these Middle Easterners related to Bush's sense of religious conviction and his confident steering of a nation and culture they admired."
Thank you very much for the ping!
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