The decline of contemporary Islam The Islamic civilization that has produced so much tolerance, knowledge and beauty throughout history is now capable of producing only terrorists. Extreme acts of violence, such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, test the courage and moral depth of societies: the society that is targeted by violence and the society that generates it. For example, the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor tested both the attacker and the victim. Pearl Harbor challenged the moral integrity of Japanese normative values, but it also challenged us, the victims. For our part, we responded to one extreme act of aggression with another extreme act: we interned our Japanese citizens in concentration camps, which resulted in grave damage to our constitutional and civil rights. to aggression: as a society we tend to vent our anger and hurt at our own citizens and then spend decades expressing regrets and talking about lessons learned. Considering the scope of what has been called the second Pearl Harbor, unfortunately, I fear that there is already an explosion of hate crimes against Muslims and Arab-Americans, both by ordinary citizens and law enforcement. Islamophobic pundits began flooding the airwaves with endless speeches about the Islamic threat and “I told you so.” Anticipating the backlash, Muslim and Arab organizations were quick to issue condemnations against terrorism and hate-motivated violence, and went to great lengths to explain that terrorists who are Muslims, do not represent Muslims in general, or 'Islam. But, in the end, this didn't matter, and several Arab or Muslim-looking people were killed or beaten in several places... half the paper...ric. Our foreign policy towards Muslim nations remains guided by considerations of real policy and pure self-interest. In this sense, we have supported and continue to support very repressive and corrupt governments with terrible human rights records. As we advance the cause of freedom and democracy, we constantly refer to these repressive governments as our friends and allies. Even more, we arrogantly claim to be the leader of the free world, whatever that means, but we have not proven ourselves to be a very benevolent or principled leader. The claim to leadership comes with a heavy responsibility. It should be clear that the leader becomes the symbolic scapegoat for the frustrations and failures of his supposed followers. Significantly, when the leader relies on the logic of pragmatic and unprincipled self-interest, the lesson taught to others is not particularly moral..