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2004-04-26 Home Front: Culture Wars

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Posted by tipper 2004-04-26 2:25:27 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 "might be dysfunctional"?

I think there is a sizeable number of Arab cultured people who can pull off freedom. But as the article states...It's pretty apparent that the islam thing is broken vs the 21st century.

Posted by Lucky 2004-04-26 2:58:43 AM|| 2004-04-26 2:58:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Bernard Lewis has a number of excellent books on this subject, probably the best of which, "What Went Wrong? : The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East", just came out in paperback.

In 1938,Lewis earned a PhD in the history of Islam from the University of London and, with time out to fight in WWII, has been teaching ever since both at the University of London and, since 1974, at Princeton. Now a professor emeritus, he spends most of his time writing and consulting.

Posted by RWV 2004-04-26 9:30:50 AM|| 2004-04-26 9:30:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 We as a nation can lead the Arab World to the well of freedom but we cannot make them drink from it. Perhaps their societies are still too closely tied to the bonds of clan and tribe to allow a sysytem of civil governance to take root. If that be the case perhaps the best they can hope for is the proverbial benevolent dictator

Posted by cheaderhead 2004-04-26 10:02:54 AM|| 2004-04-26 10:02:54 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 More from the continuing series..."As America wakes up and smells the coffee".

I agree with this, " Itâs a matter of culture, not race".

People are people. But the difference between their culture and ours is Christianity...where mother's tell their children to look inward, to forgive and promote charity. While their mothers tell their children there is no need to look inward or to love your neighbor, just blame the Jews...and now the Americans.

Good Morning America. Welcome to the clash of civilization.

Posted by B 2004-04-26 10:06:15 AM|| 2004-04-26 10:06:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Richard Sandall has an excellent commentary, on this subject also, which was published in Quadrant in Dec 2001.
It deals with the place of T. E. Lawrence in the Arabist cult, and is possibly an insight into the minds of those elite in the West, who romantise Arab Barbarism.

Posted by tipper 2004-04-26 10:16:27 AM|| 2004-04-26 10:16:27 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 One of the big problems we are still facing is the semi-random nations created by the colonial powers.

A small nation can be dominated by one ethnic groups fairly easy. A large, multiethnic, nation is much harder to dominate. A nation composed of a single ethnic group doesn't have this problem

I see two solutions: (1) Erase a few of those lines and create larger powers (2) Promote the breakup of different nations along ethnic lines.

Which solution works best would depend upon the region, of course. I think creating larger nations in West Africa, for example, would be a benefit while creating larger nations in Mesipotamia could be more problematic. Blindly sticking to artificial lines that seperate ethnic groups/clans and that lump hostile groups together is madness.

I'm not suggesting the US should go about and rearrange the globe, but this should be an underlying policy to nations we find ourselves closely involved with.

Posted by ruprecht 2004-04-26 11:06:08 AM|| 2004-04-26 11:06:08 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 tipper, that's interesting and I got the gist of it, even though it was above me in terms of historical knowledge.

If I'm good at one thing, it's seeing trends and where they are headed.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leave bow down their heads,
the wind is passing through.

Few spaces on a ship have a window. Yet there is a good reason why there is always one located in the weather office. No matter what the data screams, every weatherman knows that the best way to predict the weather is to look outside and see for him/her/self.

No matter what the historical models predict, there is a wind blowing today that must be recognized for the direction it is taking. History, the NYT, the WAPO ...all the data are meaningless compared to the force of the wind.

The elite may still seek to find shelter in the romanticism of Voltaire, but his text is old and moldy now. It is of yesterday and not of today.

I maintain that America is waking up to slowly understand the nature of the threat that we face. It was inconceivable to us before 911 - yet it is becoming ever more clear to us now.

At the risk of overdramatization - the wind is blowing. Nothing can stop it.

Posted by B 2004-04-26 11:19:23 AM|| 2004-04-26 11:19:23 AM|| Front Page Top

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