At Friday, 20 September 2002, you wrote:
>Please correct me if I'm mistaken but it seems the three of you all
>blame the West for whatever problems there are in the Arab nations.
[...]
>A cursory look at the history of nations reveals time and again
various
>peoples throwing off the yoke of "oppression." So now that the colonial
>powers have long since departed, what's keeping the Arabs from forming
>democratic, capitalist, free enterprise, private property, individual
>rights,
>free speech countries? I can't think of anything other than stifling,
>static
>social patterns that haven't changed much since the Middle Ages.
With all respect, you are mistaken. Please read the article in the
TLS (or any book on colonial history and modern history/politics)
and LEARN. To say that colonialism doesn't have any influence anymore
is just naive, excuse me for having to say this. Obviously the Islamic
religion has inflence as well - it would be foolish to deny this.
But to deny any colonial flavour of current western politics is
just as foolish. Please try and avoid extreme views - these are unfortunately
the easiest to have. It is impossible, in any problem, to blame just
one group/country or whatever. There is a history of mistakes in
both east and west which has led to the current, dim situation. Blaming
only one party in a conflict doesn't solve anything - see the Israeli
conflict...
but yet again, I hoped this forum wouldn't have to be the place for
these discussions. My comment (which started it all) was just meant
to show that knowing a bit of history can give one's opinion some
nuance and weight and can prevent superficiality. And that could
be the first small step towards improvement of quality in this world.
Respectfully yours,
With hope
Thomas
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