I can't believe I am posting to this thread again.
Thats just not true. Iran was FAR more liberal in the 70s before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Which was 30 years ago. Which is what I said. Unless you want to argue that Iran was more liberal in 1980 than today. Which would make you wrong.
There is a mosconception that IRanians want to Westernised.
This is collectivism. There are millions of people in Iran. They have different political parties. They have different ages, sexes, and professions. Some aren't even muslim. Just because they live in an arbitrary geographic area, that doesn't mean they are a collective consciousness.
Until you/we see them as individuals, there is no hope of achieving any kind of peace. The people have never been synonymous with the government or religious elites. To think that Ahmadinejad speaks for every Iranian, or Bin Laden for every muslim, or some nutter cleric who says radical stuff speaks for every mosque, is the same as saying that every one of your politicians speaks for you. That whatever they say, you agree with unconditionally.
C'mon.
I can keep going. The assertion that Muslims in Islamic countries are growing more liberal and pro-Western is just flat out false.
You haven't proven that. And I will tell you why you are wrong. There are more women in universities in these countries, there are more women in politics, there are more women working outside the home. There are generally smaller families, and there is much more freedom of information, and contact with the outside world.
I said it before. If you only see things in a post 9/11 context, you are missing the massive advances in the 3rd world on all sorts of fronts. Sure, things are far from ideal, and there will be steps backward. But to not appreciate how relatively toothless Islam has become as the world has become less tribal, well that misses the whole point.
Everyday, people get their panties in a knot about something. Years ago, it was ending nuclear proliferation. The old nukes are out there, some unaccounted for, no one cares. Because now everyone is obsessed with terrorism, or islamism or the environment. Prior to that, it was communism. 25 or 30 years from now, it will be something else. As a species, we run around like chickens with our heads cut off over every potential negative outcome, and our politicians and religious leaders play us like a banjo by toying with our lizard brain instincts.
50 years ago, communism was seen as unassailable. Academics all over the west insisted that it was only a matter of time until communism took over the entire world, freedom would be lost, and we would all be under tyranny (progressive academics of course think it is a good idea to lose liberty, that's why they are shot in the back of the head at the end of every revolution, communists regard such true believers as "useful idiots").
The austrian economists, of whom I am an adherent basically said, "let's look at this rationally. economically, communism cannot work. it has inherent fundamental contradictions. there is no need to fight in vietnam. there is no need to direct private wealth into building a massive war machine. that final battle doesn't have to come. these guys will collapse on their own."
Sure enough, one day the Soviet Union was here, and people were terrified of it, the next day, the Soviet Union was dissolved. Gone, into the pages of history.
The red menace was defeated without a single bullet being fired.
That's the same way I look at the environment. That's the way I look at Islamism.
This is not the first time people have been obsessed with being overrun by a fanatical opposing force that is violent and tyrannical. And yet, the world, despite the enormously anti-liberty focus of debt-ridden western democratic governments, is freer and more prosperous than any other time before.
That doesn't mean we should ignore threats to our well being, but if we want to get to the next level of social organization, we'll have to stop being scared of every shadow and every bump in the night, turn the lights on, and get back to improving our conditions. Focus on what is real, and what matters and what is consistent with our goals.
As mentioned previous, make money. It's like when you leave your house. You lock the door. Whether it is night or day, sun, wind, rain or snow, it is always a good idea to lock your door.
And since I doubt any genuine insight into threat level mohammed will be shared in a WF STS thread, it's a good practice to get back to work, make society at large wealthier and more peaceful, because that is something each of us can do in the face of these monstrous problems, real or imagined.
I'll read your response, but I am out. Too much money to be made today. Peace.
