We, in the United States, or at least our government has been accused by the world of being arrogant and trying to impose our "values" on other nations.

We are the proponents of free speech, of freedom for both men AND women, without oppression. We do not attempt to impose Judeo-Christian beliefs on anyone, but we do believe that it is wrong to oppress one's fellow man, and to kill randomly with insufficient reason save a different thought process or because one happens to be of the female gender.

I have been to the parts of the world which believe, because of religious or cultural tenets, that women have no rights; That freedom of speech is heretical for both men AND women; That to go outside the box (the party line) is wrong. But is it? -

I am probably a dichotomy of values. I believe that each man and woman should be able to have his or her own spiritual values, but I also believe one should not be punished for them (except as hereafter enumerated). I believe in education, in civil disobedience when something is wrong, and in change which results for the better in the whole population.

I have visited the madrases which teach NOTHING but the extremist view of the God of Mohammed based on some narrow-viewed Islamic leader's take on the Qu'ran. What makes me wrong that I want every child to know at least SOME literature, SOME broader view of history and current events, to be able to read a map, listen to a composition by a renaissance composer, or to have a choice to make up his or her own mind?

You see, when a culture is threatened by another ONLY because the "other" broadens their view, it should immediately send up a red flag with EVERYONE. Knowledge of anything is never a threat. It is a blessing which may, or may not, show us that the one to which we are exposed is wrong or flawed. That is wholly incorrect. Only a person exposed to ALL points of view, to ALL literature, to ALL historical accounts, to ALL art, and to ALL everything, can make a considered judgment. Anything less is hampered by man, and an attempt to secrete.