Considering its economic and strategic significance for our national interests<br > the Arabian Peninsula iS not well known to the general publicMedia report<br > irig and comment are at best sporadicand usually intensify only at moments of<br > international tension when American interests appear to be in jeopardyThe<br > public tends to regard the Arabs and Islamtheir predominant religionas<br > backwardmorally deficientand as t11reateningboth economically and<br > politicallyto the industrialized democraciesThis perception naturally colors<br > the popnlar interpretation of news and other discussions of the region<br > The question is not one of deliberately distorted reportingour journalists<br > sent to the area are mostly competent and consciemiousHoweversince<br > access to these countries is ditiicultbroad and sustained coverage is imprac<br > ticalEditonal conceptions of what constitutes a good news story add a further<br > element of selectivityUnderstanding the societies of the Arabian Peninsula<br > requires an intimate acquaintance that relatively few outsiders have the oppor<br > tunity or the inclination to acquire<br > Since the days of our founding fathersAmericans have assumed that the<br > principles on which our nationS political institutions are based are universally<br > and eternally applicableWe have become convinced that if our manner of<br > conducting public affairs were faithfully copied everywherethe common<br > aspiration of all humanity toward peacematerial progressjusticeand civil<br > liberty wonld be realized throughout the WOrldWe tend to iudge another<br > society according to its governmentS resemblance to our ownWe overlook<br > the fact that our nation s principles evolved within a tradition of thought<br >