“Ultimately it will lead to civil war inside our countries. The point where we could handle this challenge without blood, sweat and tears was passed decades ago. I blame our politicians and media.”
“1) What are the differences between the Muslim and Western man?
Nicolai: Working with Muslim clients I found four important psychological differences. Understanding these differences makes us more able to understand the psychological aspects of integration problems that the West experiences when it comes to Muslim immigrants.
The first difference concerns anger. Western cultures see anger as a weakness, and expression of anger is a way to lose social status. In the Muslim culture, where , “might is right”, anger is seen as strength. Some Muslim communities even declares “days of anger”, where they try to convince others by screaming, shooting in the air and hopping up and down. While we Westerners see such behaviour as embracing or even psychiatric, Muslim cultures defines our lack of aggression as weakness, that can – and should – be exploited. To avoid such invitations to exploitation, we should speak the truth, make demands, be consequent – and carry a big stick.
The second difference concerns honor and self confidence. Inside the Western culture it is generally seen as a sign of honor and self confidence, if we are able to handle criticism either with and shrug (if we disagree) or with a “I think you are right – thanks for helping me to improve”. In Muslim culture, it is honorable to defend against criticism with aggression and exhibit the courage to risk physical confrontation – no matter if the criticism is true or not. Islam can not defend, Islam can only attack. This is why we very seldom hear Muslims defend their religion through logic or reason, but almost always with intimidation and violence: It does not matter who is right, it matters who is the strongest. From the perspective of traditional Muslim culture, the Western concept of honor is dishonorable. It makes us look pathetic and fearful, and for a religion that is basically imperialistic and aggressive, it is an invitation to attack.
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