# Is America really as wild as you say?

*Is America really that wild? Replying to a viewer's pushback*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/1zghntbmpis/s/4/
- Date: 2021-01-12 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #197 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (21:37–25:46)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zgHntbMPis&t=1297s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/1zghntbmpis/

**Topics:** Current events commentary

**Question as asked:** They are not crazy; the news is wholly sensational. They are not as wild as Saudi, the Levant or South Asia, and they are the beacon of innovation. The wealth gap is a global phenomenon. I think you need to live in the US a few years; the views you shared are naive, with all due respect.

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says he was not dissing the US, but that it is a paradox: great wealth and innovation alongside poverty, no free health care and routine school shootings.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the perception of the United States is sometimes quite deceptive.

**Evidence, his words at 23:55:** “not dissing it i was saying that you see the united states is sometimes the perception of the united states is quite deceptive” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zgHntbMPis&t=1435s)

## Longer summary

After a short aside about opening messages in public and a poem he decides to read, Mufti Abu Layth reads a chat comment arguing that the United States is not as wild as the sensational news suggests, that it is a beacon of innovation, that the wealth gap is global, and that his views are naive. He says the viewer makes a good point and that he was not dissing the United States. He says the perception of the United States is sometimes quite deceptive: it is not quite like Europe on values such as human rights, yet some Americans champion them. He describes it as paradoxical, with the greatest innovation and incredible wealth alongside very poor states and no free health care, and calls it in many ways an experiment, repeating his dismay that school shootings have become casualised.

## Transcript (machine tier, 21:37–25:46)

[21:36] you know nowadays you have to be careful when you open certain messages in public you never know could be one of those pranks uh you know which one i'm talking about you harami's right so what is going on people what is going on let's share with the poem yeah this is one there isn't we've heard this before but i had to read

[22:37] so let's take a look at what's going on with the jamaa with you guys what's going on there's a question here uh ramen nazem has asked they're not crazy the news is wholly sensational while it's not as takers the commonwealth they are not as wild as saudi the levant south asia moreover they are the beacon of innovation it's come out of the east lately they've got problems which is expected but it's a large country for the most part as with most its business as usual the wealth gap is a global phenomenon they were built from a rebellion of the

[23:15] monarch it's in the um okay it's in their blood i think you need to live in the u.s a few years the views you shared are naive in my opinion with all due respect of course sure i mean amiga an interesting meaning as well [Laughter] no you know you make a good point i agree that look i'm not dissing the united states when i said that it might come off as it is but i i was

[23:55] not dissing it i was saying that you see the united states is sometimes the perception of the united states is quite deceptive you know there's this it's not quite like europe uh in certain values for example when it comes to human rights and things like this it's not but ironically some people in the u.s are also the champions of these projects so it's interesting and then it's it's it's it's a strange place but you know you've got this the greatest innovation in the world and you've got

[24:32] some of the most you know poorest states in which people are living you've got some of the most incredible wealth and um you know the economical global it's an economic global power but yet they won't even provide free health care to their own citizens you've got so it's kind of paradoxical i'm not dissing it i mean there's problems with every country i think the united states is in many ways it's like an experiment i don't know what you know what to but don't take it as it is i'm just being real i think that it's got

[25:09] um in some ways it's a saw you know this is what and the school shooting thing is an example i mean can you imagine how that just the thought of that that children are being shot it's like sends shivers down you know and and yet unfortunately tragically it's become somewhat uh casualized but anyway my love to the united here's the dollars geogeoge right so let's move on people let's move on

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 1zgHntbMPis/s/4. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/1zghntbmpis/s/4/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.