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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 28, 2005 Commentary Leadership needed more than democracy Rob Asghar The Muslim world doesn’t need democracy. It needs leadership. Democracy’s strength is not in generating good leadership, but rather in preserving it once it blossoms. Jefferson and Washington created democracy, democracy didn’t create Jefferson and Washington. Take a look at Iran’s recently elected nutcase for the latest exhibit of how ballot boxes are not a panacea. Look at Hamas’ electoral popularity among Palestinians for further evidence. Look at alienated Pakistani men skulking around London’s subways for proof. No, we will not make the world safe for America by shoving Muslims around the world into the voting booth. The problem that Islamic civilization is facing is not a problem inherent in Islam’s Holy Quran, nor in the teachings or praxis of its prophet Muhammad. The problem is a lack of homegrown leaders who can guide mainstream Muslims past their timidity and recent irresponsibility. The ordinary Muslim is peaceful and moderate, and resents being lumped in with “Islamist” terrorists. “Those are just a few extremists,” he protests. “Why should I be associated with them?” That is precisely the issue: He is being associated in the Western mind with the extremists because he associates with extremists. Not with bomb-tossers, but with stealth sympathizers and sour-graping citizens who serve as the unwittingly fertile soil for chaos and social disintegration. The middle of any society sires its own extremes. The middle can blame no one else for them. The great mass is responsible for its infectious lesions. If it cannot or will not perform the necessary surgery, someone else might. The greatest problem facing the proud Muslim civilization, which stood high over European civilization a handful of centuries ago, is a collective sense of victimhood reminiscent of what psychologist Martin Seligman termed “learned helplessness.” Seligman found in the 1960s and 1970s that test subjects exposed to repeated shocks quickly decided it was pointless to attempt to escape, even if an escape route were easily available. An entire society now groans and grumbles under a similar imaginary bondage. And far too many fly off on what has been likened to verbal or physical expressions of narcissistic rage against the West. We have spent $180 billion so far on the Iraq conflict, with most of that considered to be the price for inserting democracy into that country. But it would be more beneficial to nurture indigenous leadership before forcing democracy on the Muslim world. Here are five steps: • Create more visible pulpits for Muslim leaders who are willing to ostracize extremists in the manner that American whites finally ostracized bigots. A number of Muslim leaders are bold enough to condemn not just bombings, but the victimhood mentality that fuels bombings. The Western media have given them too little of the spotlight. • Show respect to the Muslim faith. A Muslim will accept an atheist or a rival monotheist criticizing him, but he will not stay engaged with you if you criticize the basis of his faith, which is his scriptures and his prophet. • Challenge Arab societies to achieve what Martin Seligman saw as the opposite of learned helplessness: “learned optimism.” Learned optimism is the ability to recognize, in the face of seemingly hopeless obstacles, that you can stand up and exert some control over your environment in productive ways. Muslim-Christian-Jewish dialogue on the meaning of divine providence could help: All three faiths are founded on a gracious sense that a good deity organizes the affairs of humanity. Mideast societies especially need a renewal of optimism-based faith that God’s good work is inexorable. • Challenge Muslims everywhere in the world to create a productive response to pluralism. “There is no compulsion in Islam,” says the Quran. Yet there are many rules and mores that too many Muslims believe work well only when everyone in a society is compelled to obey. That worked on occasion in a pre-globalized world, but it cannot work now. Muslims must find ways to live out their faith without feeling assaulted by outside influences or by assaulting them as a pre-emptive action. These steps are easier said than done. But they are more effective than cramming free elections down the throats of an angry populace and then hoping for the best. 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