The first edition in a series of posts attempting to make sense of the world.
Terrorism, in the Islamic Fundamentalist sense, is thought to be a phenomenon caused by Neo-Imperialism or the backwards nature of Islam that takes particular offense to Western culture. The true reason, is rather simpler and much easier to rectify. When Arabs started coming to the USA, like most immigrants, settled in urban centers. A large number of them found jobs as taxi drivers, shuttling around the best/worst these cities have to offer. So outside of their Muslim communities, their only exposure to America is on TV and the drunk kids or coked up business men. Word spreads back to these Muslim countries that people in the United States are constantly on drugs and in a hurry.
Screaming at the cabbie to hurry or else they're going to be late for their hedge fund meeting with disregard for Ahmed's feelings. Or the drunk post-college frat boy who is trying to fight everyone including the cabbie because they are different. All of the sudden, Muslims are up in arms over the United States power and influence in the world considering they are all sex craved, rude, ignorant, drug addicts. At least thats as it would seem to your Muslim cab driver, considering all he sees is the worst our country has to offer (network TV, frat boys, hedge fund managers). Think about it, if your family member left home for a place that is supposed to provide riches and opportunities to everyone comes back with word that everyone in that land is tacky, obnoxious and generally a bother to be around, you would start throwing rocks too.