When observing the daily demonstrations by Muslims and their radicalized supporters on the campuses and streets of America, I never cease to be amazed by the primal rage, overt hatred, and endless blaming of Jews expressed loudly, obsessively, and repeatedly. One cannot escape the question: why are Muslims so easily offended? When I see and hear these voices of hostility, I am reminded of the classic novel “Moby Dick” authored by Herman Melville. “Call me Ishmael”, is the opening sentence that opens the novel “Moby Dick”, and recounts that he, Ismael is sailing to sea out of a sense of alienation and cultural inadequacy. Ishmael describes the behavior of Captain Ahab who is so relentless in his obsession to kill the great white whale, that he is willing to endanger the entire ship, all of his sailors, just to kill the great white whale. The name Ishmael, the son of the Patriarch Abraham from the old Testament as well as the Koran, symbolizes more than anything the sense of being rejected and being scorned my one’s peers and by one’s civilization.
Ever since the days of Napoleon's landing upon the shores of Egypt at the very end of the 18th Century bringing with him the modern era to the people of the Middle East, Islam has been unable to free itself from the shackles of inferiority and self-destructive primal rage that typifies the hatred of modern day Muslims and their radicalized supporters against Jews and essentially everyone else. In recent years, and even more so since the Oct 7th massacre by Hamas of civilians living in communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip, the intensity of the hate, blame, and violence against Jews has reached new heights.
The European continent has over the past two decades undergone a rapid demographic transition that has led to a large Muslim population harboring an unchanging, hostile attitude toward their respective communities and host countries. We have much to learn from their experience during this transition. Nicolai Sennels, a Danish psychologist who has had extensive experience with treating Muslim youths has identified four main cultural differences that are important in order to understand the behavior of Muslims and how they interact with Western influences. Sennels has identified four main cultural sub-types that are important in order to understand the behavior of modern day Muslims. They concern anger, self-confidence, the so-called "locus of control" and identity.
Westerners are brought up to think of anger as a sign of weakness, powerlessness and lack of self-control. According to Sennels, in Muslim culture, anger is seen as a sign of strength. To Muslims, being aggressive is a way of gaining respect. When we see violent demonstrators, or the more classic pictures of bearded men jumping up and down while shooting in the air, we should take it for what it is: these are the true role models of acceptable behavior and the explicit legitimization of anger. In Western culture, self-confidence is connected with the ability to meet criticism calmly and to respond rationally. We are raised to see people who easily get angry when criticized, as insecure and immature. According to Sennels, in Muslim culture it is the opposite; it is honorable to respond aggressively and to engage in a physical fight in order to scare or force critics to withdraw, even if this results in a prison sentence or even death. Non-aggressive responses to such threats and violence are a sign of a vulnerability that is to be exploited by Muslims. They do not interpret a peaceful response as an invitation to enter into a dialogue, diplomacy, intellectual debate, compromise or peaceful coexistence but the opposite, as a sign of weakness.
"Locus of control" is a term from the field of psychology, and relates to the way in which individuals feel that they have control of their lives. In Western culture, we are brought up to have an "inner locus of control," meaning that we see our own inner emotions, reactions, decisions and views as the main deciding factors in our lives. There may be outer circumstances that influence our situation, but in the end, it is our own perception of a situation and the way we handle it that decides our future and our state of mind. The "inner locus of control" leads to increased self-responsibility and motivates people to become able to solve their own problems.
According to Sennels, Muslims are brought up to have an "outer locus of control." Their constant use of the term “Inshallah”, ("Allah willing") when talking about the future, as well as the fact that most aspects of their lives are decided by older traditions, clan tribal affiliations and authorities, leaves very little space for individual freedom. Independent initiatives are often severely punished. This shapes their way of thinking, and means that when things go wrong, it is always the fault of others or external factors (Jews, discrimination, so called corrupt American culture and so forth).
Identity plays a significant role when it comes to psychological differences between Muslims and American society. Americans and Europeans have been brought up to be open and tolerant toward other cultures, races, religions, etc. This makes us less critical, impairs our ability to discriminate, and makes our societies open to the influence of other cultural trends and values that may not always be constructive. According to Sennels, Muslims, are taught again and again that they are superior, and that all others starting with the Jews are subservient and inferior and that Allah will throw them into hell when they die. Muslim culture's self-glorification achieves the very opposite when exposed to the overall freedom afforded in America. In general, Westerners are taught to be kind, self-assured, self-responsible and tolerant of others, while Muslims are taught to be aggressive, insecure and intolerant.
The Pavlovian tendency to being overly forgiving in response to Muslim self-pity and blame is the psychological crowbar that has welcomed the escalating Muslim violence against Jews and everyone else in their way. It was Newt Gingrich who stated that "the Islamists cannot reconcile with a secular system of laws. They cannot truly tolerate a West that maintains a presence in the Arabian Gulf or that would defend Israel's right to survive as a country. They cannot tolerate freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or freedom for women. Their demands are irreconcilable with the modern world.
While trying to understand the volatility of millions of Middle Easterners taught from birth to hate America and to despise Israel, we in the West should be asking one basic question. Why do we feel the need to pander and apologize to the most radical, violent and intolerant extremes around the world, to let them set the tone; a tone designed to stifle all criticism of Islam, to declare as blasphemy any attempt to reform radical Islam. This more than anything is at the crux of the transformation America is undergoing, making the campuses and streets of America intolerant of Jews and anyone else in their way. It can also provide a pathway to explaining why Arabs are so easily offended.