You are here
The significance of America's bad guy image for the war on Islamist terror
By Julian Mann
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 15, 2014
Various films in recent years, such as the 2002-2007 Bourne trilogy and Rendition(2005), portray Americans in high places as bad guys with the good American being the lone outsider. But in the film version of John Le Carre's 2008 novel about the war on terror, A Most Wanted Man, the genre reaches its apogee with not even one good American on show.
America colludes with nasty elements in the German security forces to thwart the benevolent intentions of Hamburg secret agent Gunther Bachmann, played magnificently by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, towards a Muslim immigrant from Chechnya. Significantly for the film's message, he is called Issa, the Muslim name for Jesus.
The decline of Christianity in the West tends to lurk in the background of Le Carre's novels. But there is no reason to believe from any of his public statements that Le Carre himself would attribute the rise of American villainy, whether perceived or actual, to the death of the Christian God in Western hearts and minds. He would more likely blame the neo-conservatism of the George Bush Jnr. Administration.
But the increasing grip of political correctness on the American Left and neo-conservatism on the Right has coincided over the past two decades with the rising popular specter of the US as bad guy. This is a shock for those of us brought up on the Churchillian doctrine that Americans are our good friends because like we Britons they are prepared to defend Christian civilization. Films based on this moral presupposition, mostly of the war variety, are lodged in our childhood memories.
America's bad image, or at least that of its government, in the Western democratic nations is significant for the war on terror. It means that that the popular view of the US authorities among the American and European publics is converging with that of militant Muslims who loathe America because of its support for Israel. That is very worrying for those of us who cherish the influence of Jesus Christ's teaching on Western civilization because Israel's continuance as a sovereign democratic state in the Middle East is manifestly essential for the defence of Judeo-Christian values in the world.
Because the governmental combination of political correctness and neo-conservatism is already leading to a weakening of America's support for Israel, this convergence of popular Western perception of US villainy with Muslim hatred could well lead to the weakening of democratic resolve in the war on Islamist terror.
That is the terrible irony raised by the portrayal of the US as bad guy in this compelling film.
Julian Mann is Anglican vicar of the Parish Church of the Ascension, Oughtibridge, South Yorkshire -www.oughtibridgechurch.org.uk
