American Fundamentalism
by Azhar Muhammad Usman

There's lots of talk about fundamentalism nowadays.
Fundamentalists are extremists. They are militants.
They can even become terrorists sometimes.

Fundamentalism is a type of narrow-mindedness.
It is marked by staunch ethnocentrism.
A total refusal to acknowledge the validity of another's way of seeing things.

It is the willingness to destroy others and their way of life,
In order to defend one's own.
To defend against the enemy.

It is fueled by pride and pompousness.
Haughtiness and hubris.
Arrogance and ignorance.

It has no regard for rules and regulations,
And laws; religious, moral, spiritual, international, and domestic laws.
It is anarchy.

Lately, I feel like I am in the middle of a great movie, one with lots of twists and turns.
And then, suddenly, you find yourself lost in this complex plot, with all these
Interesting characters, unexpected surprises, unforeseen events, unpredictable outcomes.

And as my government is dropping bombs on Afghans,
I am forced to stop and disengage. How did this happen again? 
How did we get here? What events transpired since September 11 that produced this?

Is this really a fight for truth and justice?
A truly multi-lateral coalition to seek out the perpetrators and punish them?
Or is this merely jingoism of the worst kind?

You can't even question anything nowadays. Take the word 'terrorism.'
It has become synonymous now with anti-Americanism, which, in turn, has become 
Synonymous with being critical of the United States, which, in turn, has become 
Synonymous with being unpatriotic. That's an unacceptable series of equations,1 isn't it?

It's like suddenly all the patriots have become American extremists.
If you reason with them, they might even become militant.
And we all know that innocent Afghan civilians are being killed - why isn't that terrorism?

Oh yeah, because we are the only model for humanity, I almost forgot.
Because you've got to do it the American Way.
Anything else would be uncivilized.

That's why we have to bomb them, and put an end to their way of life.
We have to defend our great American way of life.
Those turban-wearing, beard-growing, five-times-a-day-praying wackos must be stopped.

After all, this is a matter of red, white, and blue pride.
These colors don't run! We are the lone superpower,
And we will bring them to infinite justice.

And after all, this is war, not simply a crime.
To hell with international laws and the International Criminal Court!
We do whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want, however we want,
to whomever we want. The good ole American Way, baby.

Sure it started with a couple dozen hijackers.
But don't you see all the legal loopholes, the pro-war propaganda, the media blitz we've pulled off?
And now, about six weeks after the attacks, we have manufactured consent for a new kind of war.
One that will achieve whatever we decide and will last however long we want it to.

There sure is a lot of talk about fundamentalism nowadays.
But no one seems to be talking about one of the ugliest, most extreme and militant forms of it.
American Fundamentalism.

1 From an interview with Edward W. Said, in the November 2001 issue of The Progressive.

© 2001 Azhar Muhammad Usman