It is hard to contest that blaming other people and circumstances for ones own shortcomings and failures preserves ones self-confidence. This is a universal psychological defense mechanism enlisted by people everywhere in an attempt to cope with hideous reality.
For many, however, this harmless phenomenon degenerated into a tremendous paranoia rife with conspiracy theories. From colonialism to the current socioeconomic malaise, to the political situation in Muslim countries and the "technological aggression" by Western cultural imperialists - all is quickly reduced to a monumental Western conspiracy against Islam. (...)
These psychological faultlines in the Muslim mind cannot be dismissed as harmless, for they effectively hinder any helpful acknowledgement of the Muslims' own mistakes and stifle proactive initiatives. In the final analysis, Muslims are thus responsible for their own fatalist mindset.- Murad Wilfried Hofmann, Religion on the Rise
