Sunday, January 6, 2019

"Baby, Its Cold Outside"



“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”  

Curiously, this song––which some today want to ban––contributed to the radicalization of a Muslim educational exchange student in the 1950s.  The following quote is taken from my book, Diplomatic Tales, which includes my experience working with Muslim students in Malaysia.

“Educational exchanges with Western countries caused a few young Muslim students to become radicalized. Many believed the West was in decline and had reached its twilight. A case in point is Sayyid Qutab,Egyptian and leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s. His many books are still influential among Islamic extremist groups today and supply much of their ideology. His radical anti-Western views were formed while he was an exchange  student at  what is today Colorado State University. He was shocked by the materialism and violence he found in America, and what he considered sexual immorality. He found the popular song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which he heard at a church dance, solid evidence for his views”

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