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If we could get one thing right today, it would be our ability to recognize a false paradigm when we see one. One could actually argue that Western ideas have been manipulated into an East vs West, Islamic vs Christian false paradigm, a division crystallized by the events of 9/11 by way of a relentless current of mainstream media. Western government and media authorities have attempted to engineer what amounts to a crude and simplistic division of the Muslim world, between 'Jihadists' and 'peaceful Muslims' is one such attempt to divide and rule.

Our best tool for understanding how these idealogical divisions are built is our knowledge of history. The danger in 2007, at a time where intellectual laziness has never been more pervasive in our culture, is that we forget our history and its facts which could bring a sense of perspective to today's polarized conversation. Such divisions usually serve those in power, whose only aim is divide, rule and profit from the type of open-ended wars we are witnessing today.

A few pillars and assumptions are constantly being used to support the false cultural paradigm of East vs West. Here are but a few examples:

- Islam is an aggressive, militaristic religion.

- Muslim culture subjugates its women by the use of force.

- Muslims are out to destroy the West and its culture.

Not only do these assumptions distort our ability to understand and experience the other side of the cultural coin, but on each of these points, we could easily argue the opposite to be true. Since 2001, Western nations have proven beyond a doubt, their willingness to wage undeclared wars on an unprecedented scale. Their own aggressive, militaristic motivations have been laid bare for all the world to see, determined to occupy and stay in Iraq for years to come. Putting these events into perspective, Islamic countries look peaceful in comparison. But the real truth may run deeper than we think, as a repression of free speech and civil liberties slowly creeps into Western culture. Mostly, these assumptions are a result of conditioning by our Western corporate media. But they are also culturally ingrained, long and painful hangovers from our roots in Western colonization, where we encounter "the other" in far off lands believing that it is our duty to bring them a taste of our more advanced "civilization".

On the surface of the conversation, we are first presented with the West's passionate claim that Islamic societies and culture subjugates their women by force,

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