To: GST who wrote (127686 ) 3/29/2004 8:07:26 PM From: skinowski Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 281500 The most effective tool for changing this situation is to bring as many ME young people as possible to study at American universities. Sayyid Qutb lived and studied in America back 1949. For Qutb, with his fundamentalist way of interpreting Islam, American culture - even back during those idyllic times - was way too materialistic and sensual -- the experience brought out enough hatred to last him a lifetime. We are still experiencing repercussions of that hatred.npr.org Excerpts: When it came to culture, Qutb denounced the primitive jazz music and loud clothing, the obsession with body image and perfection, and the bald sexuality. The American female was naturally a temptress, acting her part in a sexual system Qutb described as "biological": "The American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs -- and she shows all this and does not hide it." Even an innocent dance in a church basement is proof of animalistic American sexuality: "They danced to the tunes of the gramophone, and the dance floor was replete with tapping feet, enticing legs, arms wrapped around waists, lips pressed to lips, and chests pressed to chests. The atmosphere was full of desire..." To Qutb, women were vixens, and men were sports-obsessed brutes: "This primitiveness can be seen in the spectacle of the fans as they follow a game of football... or watch boxing matches or bloody, monstrous wrestling matches... This spectacle leaves no room for doubt as to the primitiveness of the feelings of those who are enamored with muscular strength and desire it."