Our Way of Life

"We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life."
- A. J. Muste

"This way of life is worth defending."
- George. W. Bush

Over the last few years, as the War on Terror (WOT) has dragged on and people seem less inclined to accept non-answers, the backers of the war have trotted out a steady stream of causes, excuses, justifications and stated goals that shimmer and morph, chameleon like - one into another. The latest explanation for the mess we're in is that terrorists are opposed to "our way of life". Yep, that's what you get with comic book "evildoers" - one dimensional plot devices.

What is it about our funky lifestyles that really gets Osama's goat? Let's do a quick side-by-side comparison.

Democracy
This is one that clearly defines us and them.
In the "havens of terror" where evildoers come from, people tend to be resigned to voting for the same guy each time - the one who promises not to shoot you if you vote for him. This is called a one-party state or dictatorship. Opposition to the ruling party, where it exists, lives on the fringes and is constantly hounded by the state-run media. Opponents of government policy are branded as unpatriotic traitors.
In the West, we tend to elect one of two major parties whose differences in foreign policy (and most others) can be measured in "bee's dicks". A few minor parties contest elections as well, although they tend to be ridiculed in the free press. Those that oppose government policy are branded unpatriotic traitors on talk-back radio.

Equality
In the axis of evil (and supporting cast), your status in society is defined largely on tribal grounds. Your "tribe" may be defined by your ethnic, religious or party affiliations. If you aren't in the ruling tribe then you tend to be considered at best a borderline subversive, and at worst an enemy of the state.
In the civilised West, we believe that all men (and women) are created equal. We won't discriminate against you regardless of your race, religion or creed. Unless you come from somewhere east of West. Or if you're a towel-head. Or one of those lily-livered liberals out to subvert our democracy. In those cases, you better goddamn assimilate pretty quick Mohammed or you can take your chocolate coloured ass back to your own country!

Freedom of Speech
In the the outer darkness people aren't allowed to say what they think. Ideas that are contrary to the tribe's beliefs are considered heretical and subversive. It can be dangerous to your career or even your health to espouse what you really think.
On the contrary, in the lands of hope and glory we strongly believe that people should be allowed to say what they think. Even if it is contrary to popular opinion. However, since we also believe in democracy ie majority rule, we employ special people to help those with contrarian views accept the majority position. We call these people "shock jocks" which comes from their origins in radio, although we have them on TV and in the papers as well. Holding unpopular views is a strong tradition in the West. As long as they're not too unpopular.

Independent Media
In the tortured lands east of Freedom government controlled media outlets are thinly disguised vehicles for the propagation of the faith or the party line (depends on whether its is a theocratic or secular tyranny). These so called journalists make no pretence of independence and merely parrot the prevailing meme.
In the lands of the Free we have media outlets owned by independent moguls. These unbeholden media corporations whose stated goal is profit maximisation, tend to echo the majority view. Minority views on substantive issues rarely get a decent airing as this would hardly help the bottom line. Instead, we have government run media outlets for the publication of unpopular views.

Freedom of/from Religion
The world's tyrannies can be neatly divided into two kinds. Godless and fundamentalist. Both are bad.
The world's democracies tend to be secular...ish. We believe people should be free to believe in their own god, or not as the case may be. As a result we keep government and the courts free of religion. Anything else would be an unjust imposition of one particular strain of religion on the whole nation. We don't let religious leaders unduly influence our policies eg foreign policy, or education.

As you can see, there is plenty there for the terrorists to hate. We are just so different to them. They try and impose their hateful beliefs on their own people and on the rest of the world whether they want them or not. We on the other hand, are nobly trying to plant the seeds of democracy around the world. Whether people want it or not.