I have a quick question, I may be stating my ignorance, so anyone who can clear things up is welcomed.
But is Biny really so fanatical and self absorbed that he and other peoples of the region are not worried about, or thinking about, science and human discovery. Do I have a completely western view here. Is Science and new medical and technological discoveries not a concern or even a thought for ‘them’. I mean I really enjoy learning about knew discoveries and new strides in medical science.
Do ‘they’ not care about those notions?
Are they living in their own archaic times that they are just bent on war and the killing of the symbolic satan? How many innocents will die before they are satisfied?
It seems that there is a rhetoric war going on here as well. Some of the fanatic factions take a lot of their knowledge from the tv and movies, and the internet. **some people in those factions could be looking at the STRAIGHT DOPE…hello!!! we’re coming **
But back on a serious note, why do you not see huge jumps and technological break throughs coming out of the middle east. It seems all I ever see going on there is religious fighting. And people saying that if they die in battle it is a great thing. I may be submitting to a completely western view here, but come on…
I do not see how rational human beings could possibly see how killing huge numbers of innocent people will accomplish anything but infusing hatred on the part of the victims. I am having a hard time seeing past the mass amounts of innocents who have parished. I know they think we here in the USA are the great satan but they are taking the classic ignorant standpoint by thinking that. Yes there are some American who are disgustingly putrid ex. rapists, necropheliacs, wal-mart execs etc…etc… but Americans on the whole I do not think are bad. Quite the contrary I think we are quite a loving down to earth bunch with generally good values.
I got a little off the subject, back to science and technology, is it their lack of want, or a lack of funds. What?
Back when western europe was wallowing through what is lovingly refered to as “the dark ages”, the Arab world was chugging along. At that time, they were more advanced in terms of medicine, math (other sciences, I don’t know) and architecture.
Well, remember, for most of the 20th (and going into the 21st) century, there’s been a lot of instability, war, colonial powers who didn’t want to make the place developed, etc. It’s kind of difficult for scientific advancement to take place in a situation like that, because without peace to do research, and without institutions of higher learning to support their efforts, scientists have a hard time. There has been some technological development in the middle east. The Uzi, which was designed in Israel, is the first thing that comes to mind, but, for example, the Israelis have made advances in desalinization technology.
There are many ways to look at this. Try instead of being a little fish in a little pond you can be a big fish in a little pond.
The people of Afghanistan are very substanance level. They do not have much. One army guy put it “so we bomb the rocks we get pebbles”
See OBL gets to be big fish where as in Saudi Arabia he is just another millionaire.
People who have nothing aren’t concerned whether the moon goes round the earth. They want food and water.
Every day between 50-70 thousand people die from starvation. Yet look at most lunch areas you will see people complaining about having TOO MUCH too eat. I’m not sure people can appreciate the irony.
It is hard to put your self in the other guys shoes. At work we were cut to a 4 day work weeks. All hourly employees. Yet I received an email asking us to donate all our unused sick and vacation time to the NYC victims. You cut our hours give us less and ask us to give up what little we got to people we don’t even know, when most of us live paycheck to paycheck?
But it sounded like a good idea. But you can twist what ever you want to sound good or bad.
Ask the diabetic what good is insulin to him when he can’t afford it. Or when his klan is blocked from getting it by another klan. Since he won’t get it, it may as well NOT be invented.
Couple this low level of hope and what have you got. Fanaticism. I got a college degree!!! I can fly a plane!!! An American goes and gets a job. An Afghani goes home and takes those skills and sits in a pile of dirt.
One gets self worth by a job another by taking that skill and killing for his god. Men will die for gods much easier than congressman. That is why religious wars tend to be bloody.
If his view is he must defend Islam than he will do that. Hitler justified killing the Jews. The Jews the Palastinans, the Palastinians the Jordanians. The Japanese justified killing the Chinese. Whites enslaving the blacks. Blacks enslaving their own.
If you try you can justify anything and after all history is written by the victors.