How 'Baby, It’s Cold Outside' Created an Enemy Of The West

When you think of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” the pie chart of thoughts your brain conjures is probably divided pretty equally between wondering whether it’s still considered problematic, trying to remember who sang the duet with Michael Buble (it was Idina Menzel), and that scene from Elf. In any event, the Muslim Brotherhood is likely pretty far from your mind. After all, what could a ‘40s musical winter courtship of questionable consent have to do with the promotion of Islam in mid-century Egypt? Mostly, it has to do with Sayyid Qutb.

When Qutb came into the world in 1906, he was far from a born revolutionary. For most of his life, he was primarily an academic, devoted to the writing and criticism of literature. In other words, not exactly the kind of guy you’d expect to be convicted of plotting a presidential assassination. Never let them tell you that books aren’t dangerous, however, because Qutb was radicalized by criticism he read of Western civilization, particularly by French eugenicist Alexis Carrel. (Never let them tell you the French aren’t dangerous, either.)

What really convinced him of the evils of secular society, however, was a two-year trip to the United States in the late ‘40s, where he, alongside countless tourists before and after him, was horrified by the American lifestyle. They drank their tea unsweetened. They grew men to grotesque proportions for the purpose of watching them throw balls at each other. They wasted time and resources on something as frivolous as a nice-looking front lawn. He didn’t not have some points.

But what he was most disgusted by were the dance halls that “convulsed to the tunes on the gramophone and full of bounding feet and seductive legs” where “arms circled waists, lips met lips, chests met chests, and the atmosphere was full of passion.” He wasn’t talking about some sleazy gin joint but a good old-fashioned sock hop. He especially took issue with a song they danced to that he described as “a dialogue between a boy and a girl returning from their evening date. The boy took the girl to his home and kept her from leaving. She entreated him to let her return home, for it was getting late and her mother was waiting, but every time she would make an excuse, he would reply to her with his line.” Nope, not “Back That Azz Up.” It was “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

Qutb returned to Egypt convinced that the West was a force of evil that had to be brought down by any means necessary. As he rose to the top of the Muslim Brotherhood, he advocated for violent jihad, eventually inspiring Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and yes, allegedly plotted to assassinate the president of Egypt, for which Qutb was convicted and executed. Now, we’re not saying “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” was solely responsible for Qutb’s acts of extremism. But it was a lot more involved than you’d think.