Why the West craves materialism and why the East sticks to religion? by Imran Khan

Excerpt:

My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan. Despite gaining independence, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public schoolboys rather than Pakistanis. I read Shakespeare, which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal — the national poet of Pakistan. The class on Islamic studies was not taken seriously, and when I left school I was considered among the elite of the country because I could speak English and wore Western clothes.

Despite periodically shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in school functions, I considered my own culture backward and religion outdated. Among our group if any one talked about religion, prayed or kept a beard he was immediately branded a Mullah. Because of the power of the Western media, our heroes were Western movie stars or pop stars. When I went to Oxford already burdened with this hang up, things didn’t get any easier. At Oxford, not just Islam, but all religions were considered anachronism. Science had replaced religion and if something couldn’t be logically proved it did not exist. All supernatural stuff was confined to the movies. More...

Excerpt:

Why do so many Muslims hate the United States? What has America done to alienate so many people in the Muslim world? These are the questions that former Pakistani cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan, tries to answer in this latest offering of the Unreported World series.

At Islamabad's Women's College, a concert for peace is taking Place. The students are mainly from privileged, middle-class backgrounds. If you were looking for Muslims that sympathized with the West, this would be the first Place you would go. But even here, amongst the more liberal, "Westernised" Pakistanis, anti-American feeling is riding high.

"It's as if one white life was far more important than thousands of black or brown lives," comments one young, educated, middle-class woman. "They feel they can basically come in, use as they please, and then, when they want, they can just walk across the border, go somewhere else, and do exactly as they please there," complains another.

The underlying feeling here is clearly that the US only cares or acts when its own people are at risk. If these liberal, cosmopolitan women feel this way about America, how must those who do not benefit from the Western way of life feel? More...