Governed By Idiots, But It Doesn't Have To Stay That Way

The blogs are necessarily highlighting this amazing op-ed from the New York Times, which simply asked the question "What's the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?" and found that WAY too much of the current government couldn't answer it. We have public officials proclaiming from the mountaintop that no threat to civilization has ever been greater than the War on Islamic radicalism, and at the same time they can't even be bothered to have a basic understanding of the contours of Islam.

Take Representative Terry Everett, a seven-term Alabama Republican who is vice chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee on technical and tactical intelligence.

“Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?” I asked him a few weeks ago.

Mr. Everett responded with a low chuckle. He thought for a moment: “One’s in one location, another’s in another location. No, to be honest with you, I don’t know. I thought it was differences in their religion, different families or something.”

To his credit, he asked me to explain the differences. I told him briefly about the schism that developed after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and how Iraq and Iran are majority Shiite nations while the rest of the Muslim world is mostly Sunni. “Now that you’ve explained it to me,” he replied, “what occurs to me is that it makes what we’re doing over there extremely difficult, not only in Iraq but that whole area.”

Representative Jo Ann Davis, a Virginia Republican who heads a House intelligence subcommittee charged with overseeing the C.I.A.’s performance in recruiting Islamic spies and analyzing information, was similarly dumbfounded when I asked her if she knew the difference between Sunnis and Shiites.

“Do I?” she asked me. A look of concentration came over her face. “You know, I should.” She took a stab at it: “It’s a difference in their fundamental religious beliefs. The Sunni are more radical than the Shia. Or vice versa. But I think it’s the Sunnis who’re more radical than the Shia.”

Did she know which branch Al Qaeda’s leaders follow?

“Al Qaeda is the one that’s most radical, so I think they’re Sunni,” she replied. “I may be wrong, but I think that’s right.”

Did she think that it was important, I asked, for members of Congress charged with oversight of the intelligence agencies, to know the answer to such questions, so they can cut through officials’ puffery when they came up to the Hill?

“Oh, I think it’s very important,” said Ms. Davis, “because Al Qaeda’s whole reason for being is based on their beliefs. And you’ve got to understand, and to know your enemy.”

Why these people who are sending American soldiers and Marines off to die don't try to "know the enemy" BEFORE the fact is, honestly, stunning. I can be expected to be pretty cynical about the knowledge of our political leadership. But this is enough to literally send me screaming into the streets. This is five years out from September 11, and Congressmen still don't understand that the two major sects in Islam differ over the line of succession to the prophet Muhammad? It's a ten-minute lesson, here, go read.

I think this ignorance doesn't only reflect a certain imperial mentality, but it also reflects a core desire of xenophobia in general, to lump in every single foreigner into a coagulated mass of "the other" in order to make it easier to attack any country on Earth we decide not to like. This is an outgrowth of authoritarianism, which infantilizes the public by promising safety and security from the big bad meanies out there, whether those meanies are Mexican or Sunni or Shia or gay people or whoever. Here's an example of this authoritarianism treating us all like we're 5:



We are truly governed by willfully ignorant authoritarians who want to blur all nuance and gradation from the political scene so they can demagogue their way to the next war. The battle for Congress right now is all about returning the country to those who don't treat the electorate like children, who do care enough about the country to understand the nature of the threat to it. Get involved. Call your friends. Make a difference. Ignorant imperial nations don't survive; just look at history.