It is somewhat odd to me that much mainstream analysis of highly vocal salafists and self-declared jihadists has so readily accepted their rhetoric on its face. We interrogate the symbolism and coding and rhetoric of our own political figures, and see that it is complex and maneuvers various cultural symbols to achieve political ends. I have never understood why we aren’t as sophisticated about our approach to extremist rhetoric. We (the institutional U.S.) are extremely poor at grasping the degree to which various actors in the Middle East manipulate and reconstruct tradition and religion in what are by all definitions modern states. Think of the Jumeirah malls in Dubai as an overt symbol of this process– what self-conscious Disneyification of an Arab Bedouin identity -- and for local consumption. That is just an easy visual symbol of more complex politics, though.
Doing that requires much more effort than sending a few graduate students to study those societies, it requires an ongoing communication with those societies. Sadly, the US and the West neither has the patience nor the inclination for that kind of conversation.

I am an African, I live in Africa and I also know that the West narrative about Africa hasn't changed significantly since the 1600's. The same applies to the Arab nations.

Why is it so? Slavery could be justified if Africans were deemed inferior. The Arab/Muslim World was branded an enemy, all enemies lose their humanity. It is easier to tell the Western people that "they hate us for our freedoms" than to initiate a useful conversation about where the hatred actually stems from.

What is of interest to scholars is of little use to politicians. Politicians want a simple line, a simple story to sell to the populace. Complexity is frowned at. The present state of affairs will continue.