I’m a burgeoning Middle Eastern Studies Major; I’m far from an expert. Compared to the average American, however, I know a lot. I’ve spent a summer living in Turkey on a State Department cultural exchange program, taken classes taught by people who actually are experts, written research reports, and read more books on the topic than I can name. But a person with one tenth of my knowledge would feel the same frustration I do when most people talk about the Middle East: everyone has strong opinions, and no one actually knows much.
The old cliche “The more I know, the less I understand” comes to mind here. If you can make confident, sweeping claims about what the real truth behind ISIS, or Israel, or anything else, than you almost certainly know very little about that topic. It’s easy to declare the real truth when you’ve only ever heard one. If you’ve ever devoted yourself to the study of any Middle Eastern topic, you’ll probably find that there are as many conflicting accounts, as much contrary evidence, and as many competing truths as you can fathom.
Claims such as “the U.S. created Al-Qaeda” or “Islam is inherently violent” are not false because they do not hold kernels of truth, but rather because they ignore competing truths for the sake of an easy to swallow and repeat bit of propaganda. It is true that U.S. helped fund the war which helped create Al-Qaeda, but there are other truths as well: Russia started that war, the ideas at the heart of Al-Qaeda had been building for more than a century, and there are more other factors than can be discussed here. It is true that there is violence condoned in the Qu’ran and that many Muslim governments practice a great deal of violence. It’s also true that there is violence in the Torah and the Bible and that the Qu’ran says “whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.”
We cannot solve problems we don’t understand. We cannot end a war when we don’t know how and why it began. Compelling but dishonest half truths generally serve the people who tell them and no one else. I’m not asking that everyone become an expert-- I know that’s not reasonable. I am, however, asking that everyone try to approach this complex, amazing, horrible, contrary place area with humility, nuance, and an open mind.
