“Perceptions of policy,” said two-time journalism Emmy-nominee Lawrence Pintak, “can be as important as the policy itself.”

Pintak, the director of the Adham Center for Electronic Journalism at The American University in Cairo, spoke to an audience of approximately 50 to 60 students and community members in Building 420 Thursday night.

Pintak’s speech, entitled “America, Islam and the War of Ideas,” was co-sponsored by the Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, the Muslim Student Awareness Network (MSAN) and the ASSU Speakers Bureau.

Pintak began his presentation with the Steve Earle song “John Walker’s Blues,” written about the so-called “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh. Pintak conducted a survey with the audience and explained the reason many people had never heard the song was because it was banned from American radio.

“Even this misguided take was banned from U.S. airwaves,” Pintak said.

One of his main points was that, “We all have a different world view. We are all shaped by our culture.”

Pintak showed a series of political cartoons — from both the U.S. and the Middle East — to demonstrate his point: “It’s all a matter of perspective.”

He also discussed a key change from Sept. 11 when the United States had, “the largest wellspring of sympathy in the Muslim world in recent history.” He compared that sentiment to today, when our favorability rating in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt has fallen to only 2 and 4 percent, respectively.

“There is an essential disconnect between 9/11 and where we are today in how Americans view the world in terms of communication, perception, and perspective,” Pintak said.

“After 9/11,” he added. “We descended into an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dichotomy. Islam was there to replace the Soviets. Stereotypes became the frame of reference.”

This was caused by media coverage in both the United States and abroad. Pintak said that “absolutist” rhetoric was used on the part of both the American and Middle Eastern media.

“Where Americans asked, ‘How can they do...’ Arabs asked, ‘Can’t they understand why we do...’”

Pintak used the example of the toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad. Arab media printed a photo of U.S. soldiers ripping down the statue, while the widely-circulated American photo showed the tumbling statue framed alone. One perspective supported a view of U.S. colonization; the other simply portrayed the overthrow of a tyrant.

“Now which one,” Pintak asked rhetorically, “is truth with a capital ‘T’? We saw a completely different version of reality than what was seen in the Arab world.”

Pintak outlined the way in which Americans compare “what we do” versus “what they are.” Pintak pointed to John Winthrop’s popular 1630 “City on the Hill” viewpoint. He connected this self-justifying American attitude to the current popular notion that, “individuals may make mistakes, but not our society,” while at the same time maintaining that “others intrinsically are flawed.”

This is a double standard, which Pintak said packs powerful policy implications.

“The U.S. can no longer say one thing and do another, can no longer speak only to the domestic constituency,” he said. “The U.S. must carefully view — in advance — each statement and action through the opposing prism.”

After the 45 minute presentation, Pintak fielded questions from the audience. When asked if he thought the current administration was making progress, Pintak replied that he sees at least a “glimmer of hope.”

He also advised, “Educate yourself. Don’t just read The New York Times; read the news from Beirut, from Jakarta. Educate yourself and get others to educate themselves.”

“An image in the news which is innocuous to us,” Pintak said. “May to others be an absolute confirmation that [the Iraq War] is a war of Muslims versus Christians.”

Reactions to Pintak’s speech were positive.

“It was a really successful event,” said sophomore Sanah Parvez, an MSAN member in attendance. “The amount of people that attended shows that our community is really receptive to Muslim issues. We are lucky to be at a place like Stanford.”

“The talk was very informative,” said Chang-Yeon Kim, who said he was unsure what to expect at the talk, but added, “Now I wonder what root causes and other perceptions there are other than our own media bias and propaganda.”

“It was nice to see a different perspective,” said sophomore Anissa Kanoun, MSAN treasurer. “Pintak was a very engaging speaker.”

“We had a diverse audience,” added junior Omar Shakir, MSAN president. “The talk was good for those without much experience to the Muslim world. It was a great introduction to the main issues; I hope it inspires people to learn more about the Arab-Muslim world.”

Audience member Hiam Hindi concurred.

“Pintak spoke on relevant topics. It was interesting to see the comparison between the U.S. and the Middle East,” she said.

Audience members were able to purchase advance copies of Pintak’s new book, “Reflections in a Bloodshot Lens: America, Islam and the War of Ideas,” to be released Feb. 15, 2006.

Pintak has delivered speeches at USC and UC-davis this week and will travel to Washington, D.C. next week to visit the Naval Academy and the State Department.

“The more people who are exposed to ideas from other perspectives,” Pintak said in an interview with The Daily. “The better off we are.”