“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”
