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BORA Consulting - Consultancy for Entrepreneurs - Ralf Borlinghaus
contact: ralf.borlinghaus@bora-consulting.com, +41 44 58 66 157

After the last year's international clashes due to the Danish Mohammed cartoons another cultural strife is going to come up. Since last Friday Geert Wilders' video >Fitna has been published in the internet. The initial British publisher >liveleak closed the link after couple of hours only due to "serious" death threads towards its staff. However, the video has spread around already in the internet and cannot be stopped any more. Should it? I think no:

The video can be regarded as a feedback from a rather right wing part of our western society provided to the Islamic world. Obviously, this part of the society got an overall image of the Islam as a rather martial and terroristic, anti individualistic and anti western, domineering and oppressing religion. That's indeed a very poor feedback and the Islam as a brand has an issue in the western world. If all over the world terroristic attacks and suicide bombings are done expressively in the name of Islam and are top news over years, Islam as a brand turns to be negative in the eyes of people. And like a negative brand of a company always affects all its employees, the poor Islamic brand affects the majority of those Islamic believers who represent a peaceful and tolerant understanding of Islam. 

Receiving feedback offers always the chance to learn something about oneself. The feedback might be given others cautiously and indirectly or directly and rather aggressively. It doesn't matter. Not the one who gave the feedback has the issue but I as the one who got it. If I get a feedback there are 4 questions to rise:

1. What's the image I've got?

2. Is that the image I want?

3. If not, which would be the preferred image?

4. How can I get there?

If Geert Wilders now has to live with death threads under permanent police protection, some might say that this is the receipt for formal unfriendly and offending feedback. However, that's definitely unacceptable since in our western culture the regular way is to put Wilders to trial, if someone feels offended. But we would miss a big opportunity if we wouldn't challenge the Islamic world to focus on working on its image and to start a convincing image campaign. Changing its image of the Islam is up to the Islamic world, not to the non-believers.

> Your comment is welcome

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."

Ralph W. Sockmann
                                                              

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