In The Islamic World, The U.s. Is

Since The 1960s, We Have Seen The Failure Of The Melting Pot Ideology. This Ideology Suggested That Different Historical, Cultural And Socioeconomic Backgrounds Could Be Subordinated To A Larger Ideology Or Social Amalgam Which Is "america." This Concept Obviously Did Not Work, Because Paradoxically America Encourages A Politics Of Contestation.

Captain Ahab Was A Man Possessed With An Obsessional Drive To Pursue The White Whale Which Had Harmed Him - Which Had Torn His Leg Out - To The Ends Of The Earth, No Matter What Happened. In The Final Scene Of The Novel, Captain Ahab Is Being Borne Out To Sea, Wrapped Around The White Whale With The Rope Of His Own Harpoon And Going Obviously To His Death. It Was A Scene Of Almost Suicidal Finality.

It Is Very Easy To Make Wild Generalizations About Islam. All You Have To Do Is Read Almost Any Issue Of The New Republic And You'll See There The Radical Evil That's Associated With Islam, The Arabs As Having A Depraved Culture, And So Forth. These Are Impossible Generalizations To Make In The United States About Any Other Religious Or Ethnic Group.

My Argument Is That History Is Made By Men And Women, Just As It Can Also Be Unmade And Rewritten, Always With Various Silence And Elisions, Always With Shapes Imposed And Disfigurements Tolerated.

If You Look At The Curricula Of Most Universities And Schools In This Country [usa], Considering Our Long Encounter With The Islamic World, There Is Very Little There That You Can Get Hold Of That Is Really Informative About Islam. If You Look At The Popular Media, You'll See That The Stereotype That Begins With Rudolph Valentino In The Sheik Has Really Remained And Developed Into The Transnational Villain Of Television And Film And Culture In General.