Salim Mansur opines:
Only the politically correct, and they are the majority in the contemporary West, remain surprised of how quickly the so-called “Arab spring” has turned into an “Arab frenzy” and is headed into an “Arab inferno.”…
…The problem is culture. Arab culture, despite tremendous changes that have occurred elsewhere in the world, remains resilient in adhering to traditional values of patriarchy and the tribal order of father (leader) knows what is best for his tribe or nation…
… For democracy to work, the prerequisite is a culture in which the people recognizes the “other” — irrespective of how the “other” is defined in terms of ethnicity or religion or gender — as equal, and their interests and aspirations as legitimate…
There is a lot of truth in that but I think it misses a large point: over the ages a series of lies have been deeply implanted it to Arab society. The misogyny, anti-Semitism, etc of the Arab/Moslem world didn’t just happen…it was fostered by people who stood to gain, personally, if the lies were believed. When lies comes to be accepted then it becomes routine for decisions to be made in accordance with those lies. Such decisions will invariably turn out badly because they are based upon falsehood. But until such lies are demonstrated as false to the society in question, they will never go away. The Arab world acts irrationally, as it were, because it is trying to make reality bend to a series of lies.
Leaving aside the theological lies (though these are what ultimately permits the easy implanting of other lies), the lies are many – that Islam has a glorious past built up by Islamic people (the truth is they took over a very wealthy and technologically advanced society and lived off it for a few centuries, until their misrule enervated the whole place and used up all the stored wealth); that Islam as practiced by Mohammed requires the seclusion of women (this is actually a pagan, Persian import in to Islam); that outside influences created the poverty and oppression of the Arab world (they did it entirely to themselves); etc, etc, etc. The biggest lie, of course, is that Israel is an alien entity set up by “Crusader” imperialists who want to destroy Islam…this lie works as an umbrella lie. It justifies war, oppression and terrorism all at once. With such a vile stew of untruth it becomes very difficult to set up a rational, free society…even those who are fairly decent and want to do the right thing routinely get hung up defending one or more of the lies because they feel they have to in order to gain popular support.
Unless and until truth starts to outweigh lies in the Arab/Moslem world, it will prove itself an intractable problem. Iraq has shown that movement can be made in the right direction…but as that case showed it took a large, sustained and very bloody military effort, it is hardly likely to commend itself…to anyone, but especially to the Arabs, themselves. Outsiders, unless they want to engage in an Iraq-style campaign, can only work around the edges – but we can have a large influence, none the less. Primarily if we will refuse to lend credence to even the slightest lie used to sustain the current system, secondly if we generously support (morally, monetarily and, at times, militarily) those people of the Arab world who are striving for something decent. It is a matter of just telling, for instance, the Palestinians that they’ll never “return” to Israel while at the same time finding someone, anyone among them who will be willing to make peace on these terms…and then backing them up to and including killing the current leadership which refuses to make peace.
To be sure, a long and very difficult process it will be to fix this. And no surprise – it took centuries for this to develope and it won’t be undone in a day. But we can’t even get started until we both recognize the lies which sustain the Arab/Moslem system and our duty to oppose those lies at every turn, no matter who gets offended. The truth does set you free – and once we’ve managed to allow truth to surface in the Arab/Moslem world, that is when democracy will start to flourish.
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