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Jonathan Dresner - 9/29/2005
Unfortunately, he's misunderstood the distinction between shame and guilt as the anthropologists (Ruth Benedict invented it largely to explain WWII Japan) understood it. Shame is about a failure to maintain honor in one's relationships and does not apply to strangers; guilt is about transgressions of principle, and applies universally. What Ajami (rightfully) finds shameful about Zarqawi and Arab governments is their failure to be sufficiently universalist and humanist.