In the past fifty years, many countries have caught up with the rich and developed Western World. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, with virtually no natural resources, have created advanced, urbanized and prosperous societies, complete with world-class technology that often exceed that which is found in the West. India, Brazil and China, although not fully developed, now all possess large and affluent middle classes that did not exist just a few decades ago. There is no reason to believe why their economic and social progress of all of these countries will not continue for the foreseeable future.
The Muslim world, on the other hand, has struggled during this era of unprecedented global wealth creation. These countries have profited almost solely, by happy geological accident, from oil and gas extraction. Beyond these activities, economic activity in Muslim countries remains scant, low tech and strictly oriented towards local consumption. Despite trillions of dollars in oil revenue over the past sixty years, Muslim progress in many other areas, such as scientific research, social issues and education, lags badly behind the rest of the world.
How could this be the case? The answer, which the major media dares not touch, lies in the very culture of Muslim countries themselves. Consider the following:
4 comments:
Muslims trying to destroy Nigeria http://www.modernghana.com/news/303060/1/the-arab-world-wants-nigeria-dead.html
The situation always seems to me to resemble that of Japan on the eve of WWII: a relatively backward, superstitious, tribal society with imperial ambitions. Once attacked by such an entity we have the right to beat the living crap out of them "until they know themselves to be subdued", at which point we can extend a hand and help lead them into the 21st century.
The Muslims, like the Imperial Japanese, are a megaton pain in the butt for pushing us into this situation, but it will likely be the only way to resolve it.
A movie, "127 hours", just opened telling the real story of a young climber who had to cut off his own arm to save his life. Apparently people were fainting in the aisles during the previews. But sometimes that's what life comes down to, and the Muslims are pushing us in the direction of having to "lop off an arm" to save the rest of our lives. Otherwise we too will die in the desert -- theirs.
The alternative is a slow, painful death for the West. If it comes down to that, then there's no choice, really. It's life or death.
RRA,
You are a very good writer. Do you realize that?
Yes, but which Muslims? The term "Muslim culture" is somewhat of an oxymoron. Deluded by Huntington's interesting (and perhaps praiseworthy by virtue of the work that seems to have went into it), yet misguided thesis, you all seem to think that there is one grand, unified homogenous Islamic civilization. (And one equally united and homogenous Western civilization.) That can not be further from the truth! You can speak of a Hindu civilization or a Sinitic civilization but "Western" and Islamic are too broad as labels.
Unless by Islamic civilization you refer to a core culture, in which case, I'll bite. Arabs and Pakis are part of the "core" while African, Turkish, Albanian, Slavic, Central Asian, Indian (i.e. NOT Paki), and Malay Muslims are "peripheral" cultures.
Having studied these matters, I honestly believe that the problem is primarily racial, not religious in nature. The religion is only a veil (pun unintended). We have reason to believe that Arabs and Pakis have highly detrimental genetics. Just take a look at this map. Cousin marriage is very popular in both the Arab world and Pakistan. If you look at Arab literacy stats (and those of Pakis and Bengalis), they are embarassingly low! (Ditto Afghanistan, but they have the misfortune of being shit-poor.) Islam DOES NOT make people bad. It makes bad people worse. After all, whenever there is a Muslim terrorist reported, he is almost always Arab or Paki. There are exceptions, the occasional Nigerian, Persian, or Indonesian, but terrorist cells in non-Arab Muslim areas (i.e. in Kosovo, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iran, Indonesia, Africa, etc.) are generally propped up or supported by wealthy Arabian Islamic fundamentalists.
Just my 2 cents...
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