Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 | 12:35 p.m.
Maybe the State of our Union isn't as good as the man says.
I am having some trouble squaring what President Bush told us the other night at the State of the Union address with what he and the generals like to refer to as "the facts on the ground."
That's because what is going on all around us - in this country and around the world - is anything but good. Anything but secure. Anything but hopeful. And anything but the economically rosy picture he drew for us last week.
I am not saying that the president misled us - there is already a constant chorus of Americans who are making that case - but I am suggesting that maybe the president needs to get out a bit more because if he did, he might learn that whatever the "data" says, the facts tell a different story.
Perhaps this is nowhere more true than in the recent incredulous response by Muslims in the Middle East and Europe to editorial cartoons first published weeks ago in a Danish newspaper. The cartoons apparently depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a way that was demeaning and insulting to Islam. Without regard to whether they expressed a valid editorial opinion or a worthy discussion point for well-intentioned adults, the result has been a call to violence that is so entirely out of proportion as to be considered outrageous. At least to the Western mind.
I dare say not one person I have talked to can fathom a responsible scenario in which burning buildings and killing innocent people can ever be justified just because some not very professional cartoons were published in a newspaper. And while I have heard that sentiment expressed from some of my Muslim friends, there is an eerie silence among the world's responsible Muslim leaders when now is the time for moral clarity.
It is not enough to say that the people rioting in the streets are oppressed and put upon in such a way as to explain why they would destroy and kill. Sure, they are poor and hurting, but that is no reason to act so inhumanely, especially over a cartoon! Or, maybe it is.
We grew up in a world that no matter how poor and oppressed we were, the catch phrase "sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me" controlled our outward behavior toward friend and foe alike. While I don't believe that any media outlet should purposefully demean another person's religious icons, I also don't believe that doing so - for whatever reason - justifies the kind of response that is burning up the international television airwaves.
Where is the vast majority of Muslims at this time in our history when civilized society needs them to speak out against this outrageous behavior? Where are the Western clerics who should be speaking around the globe to gullible young Muslims who seem willing to follow anyone, even those who would lead them away from the promise of a long and happy life? Where are the newspapers in this and other countries who now more than ever need to speak out against the kind of reaction that is holding good, decent and honorable people hostage to the kind of fear that hasn't been visited upon this planet for more than 60 years.
It may have been in bad taste and even irresponsible to pick on Islam's prophet - just like it would be if Jesus were the subject of such editorial cartoon silliness - but it is the height of folly to think that this response is anywhere within the bounds of decency and human reaction.
So, maybe the president is wrong about where we stand in this war on terrorism. Maybe we aren't as far along as he believes or wants us to believe. Maybe we have to rethink the ways and means we are using to convince the world's 1.5 billion Muslims that we in the West are really well-intentioned people who want to live in peace with respect for each others' institutions and religions.
For sure, if that has been our plan we aren't doing very well. Not when we can't even get these people to distinguish between the actions of one tiny independent newspaper and those of entire countries and their populations.
This was a fight waiting to happen, a bomb ready to explode and a circumstance just itching for the opportunity to spill over into polite society. That, it has done, and by the looks of things it may be some time before emotions are cooled down enough to bring some sanity back to this issue.
I think that there are many people in this country - none of whom are as whacked out as the folks we see in the streets gone crazy over a cartoon - who are also near their wit's end and unable to see any hope from a life filled with hopelessness and despair.
Those folks probably didn't watch Bush last week, so they didn't hear him talk about how good the state of our union is. Had they heard him, they wouldn't have believed a word.
None of us can believe how people in this world react to something as meaningless as a cartoon that offends them. It doesn't make any sense.
There are Americans left without homes by natural disasters, uncaring banks, mortgage companies and overzealous credit card companies. There are Americans left without jobs by downsizing businesses and those looking for cheaper labor overseas. And there are Americans left without hope because of a lack of health care and no way to get it from a cash-strapped government seemingly more concerned for the big guy than the little guy.
If Americans find themselves in this situation - and they are - how should they react? Not by rioting and burning, we hope.
How then?
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
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