"Clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future." (Huntington 366)
In Clashing Civilizations?, Edward Said battles Huntington's quote, finds faults in the predominant westerns views on Islam, and tells readers why "fault lines between civilizations" don't exist. Throughout the essay, Edward Said maintains an agitated tone, as if he were venting. This disappears towards the end when Said decides to weave all of his thoughts together to show the reader why Muslim Civilization and Western Civilization are convergent.
Said, who grew up in the Muslim world, tries his best not to show his bias but it still manages to seep through. If we look at each paragraph of the essay in terms of partiality, we can see that only one paragraph was neutral, two paragraphs criticized Muslim society and four paragraphs criticized western society. It is also worth noting that his arguments against western society were much more intricate then the arguments made against Muslim Society. In one of the paragraphs where Said criticizes Islam, he uses the example of 9/11 but is also quick to point out that the terrorist were a "small group of deranged militants "(Said 366). In the next paragraph where Said tries to mask his bias, he recalls a personal experience where he is confronted by a man who attacked his "ideas as 'western' as opposed to the strict Islamic ones he espoused"(366).
In the four paragraphs where Said attacks western society, he uses a myriad of well thought out examples. He artfully disproves influential western writers over the span of three paragraphs and then to put the exclamation point on his argument, he accuses that the western media aims to "inflame the reader's indignant passion as a member of the 'west,'"(367). Said was bias towards Islam for most of the essay, but it also could have been that because his audience primarily consists of western readers, he wanted to show them that western civilization, like Islam, has faults too. Thus proving the underlying point of the essay which is Western Civilization and Muslim Civilization are similar.
Said goes off on a literary rampage on the western writers who shaped their society's negative perception on Islam. He points out that Samuel Huntington's influential article, The Clash of Civilizations?, derived its core ideas from an article titled The Roots of Muslim Rage. Said then compares The Clash of Civilizations? main conflict to the conflict between Popeye and his arch nemesis Bluto, where good and bad are clearly established and grey area doesn't exist. Said questions the research the authors of The Clash of Civilizations? and The Root of Muslim Rage put in, "Certainly neither Huntington nor Lewis has much time to spare for the internal dynamics and pleurality of every civilization"(366). Said is so perplexed at the sweeping generalizations that Huntington made towards Islam without researching, he takes a shot at Huntington again three paragraphs later questioning "Did he canvass one hundred Indonesians, two hundred Moroccans, five hundred Egyptians and fifty Bosnians? Even if he did, what sort of sample is that?"(367).
Even though Said's essay may have been filled with rants, bias and a dose of frustation, his message is positive. He urges his readers not to believe the common perception that Islam is an enemy and that our societies are far apart because in fact, there are many similarities. The method by which Said connects Islam to western society may not have been the most effective way to do it, but he does communicate the general idea that Muslim Civilization and Western Civilization are convergent.
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