Originally posted by GySgt:
Jesus Christ, by the standards of the ******* 21st century. Freedom and progress is the future and there is nothing they can do about it. The more liberal the Muslim populations get, the more violent our world is going to get, because the Islamic governments, eilte, and fanatics will not loosen their grip easily. They are absolutely terrified of the western ideal of freedom. They are terrified of their women being on equal ground, because it is the sole defining masculinity of Muslim men everywhere. (The Internet is probably the most dangerous thing to Arab and Persian men.) They are clinging to the past. Information is at once our core commodity and the most destabilizing factor of our time. Until now, history has been a quest to acquire information; today, the challenge lies in managing information. The Middle East is devistated by information that they cannot manage or effectively interpret and control. The general pace of change is overwhelming. Any civilization who cannot understand the new world, or who cannot profit from its uncertainties, or who cannot reconcile themselves to its dynamics, will become the violent enemies of their inadequate governments, of their more fortunate neighbors, and ultimately of the United States. It is especially bad for the Middle Eastern region, because of how their Radical element is withdrwing within their religion. The deeper they withdraw, the worse it will get.
These noncompetitive cultures, such as that of the Arabo-Persian Islam or the rejectionist segment of our own population, are enraged. Their cultures are under assault; their cherished passed down values have proven dysfunctional, and the successful move on without them.
I assure you that there is nothing "convenient" about what the problems are with what we are facing.
