There is a massive medieval tribe of 1.3 billion humans living among the rest of us on our planet.
I am speaking of those folks who follow the religion of Islam.
More particularly, I am speaking of a smaller section of Muslims, the Arabs, who number 280 million—5% of the human race.
While the rest of the planet follows a politics of modernity, they live in a pre-Enlightenment era.
How medieval are they?
Some stats: only 0.6% of Arabs use the Internet. Only 1.2% have personal computers.
Scientific expenditure is less than 0.5% of Arab GDP, compared to 1.9% for poor Cuba, and 2.9% for Japan. Investment in R & D is less than a seventh of the world average.
The productivity of Arab industrial labor in 1960 was 32% of the US. In 1990, it had gone down to 19%.
There is no true equality of women among Arabs. One in two Arab women can neither read nor write. Compare that with 100% literacy in the West.
There is little democracy, freedom of speech or free press among Arabs. Arab countries have the lowest “freedom score.” Measured by civil liberties, political rights and media independence, the region has the lowest value in the world for “voice” and “accountability.”
There is no appreciation of other cultures. Fewer books in English have ever been translated into Arabic than into Portuguese in one year.
Instead of any modernity, the Arabs have an adherence to one religion, Islam. This is a faith that decrees outright intolerance in its holy book, the Koran, as follows: "Proclaim a grievous penalty to those who reject Faith." And: "Slay the idolaters wherever ye find them.”
Sure, the same vile things can be found in Christianity—but our societies are secular. We don’t live by religious laws, or under a Christian version of Sharia.
One must ask why the Arab region of the world lags so far behind all other regions, even Africa. Here are some reasons:
1) Arabs are oppressed by their elites, who are without a doubt the most selfish bastards on earth. They even beat our CEOs in America, and that’s saying something.
2) Arabs are oppressed by their religion, which, together with the Hindu religion, is the most intolerant on earth. Christianity can be intolerant, too, but Christians don’t riot to express their feelings of intolerance.
3) Arabs are oppressed by their lack of knowledge or reason. They never experienced an Enlightenment.
Article comments
1 - Ja-Ja Binks
I concur 99%. Really good article!!! I certainly learned something about Turkey....
The 1 percent I would disagree with is "Sure, the same vile things can be found in Christianity".
You may find the "same vile things" amoung people who claim to be "Christian" but where in the New Testament would yo find anything like "Proclaim a grievous penalty to those who reject Faith." And: "Slay the idolaters wherever ye find them."?
2 - Chris Beaumont
Very interesting read.
3 - Dave Nalle
JJB, Christianity acknowledges both the new testament AND the old testament where you will find plenty of bizarre and vile instructions like the ones you describe.
BTW Adam, congratulations on coming over to the side of reason here. Based on your prior articles I had expected to see you defending the rioters, but this piece is full of good sense - in other words it agrees with my take on the situation.
More later. I've got to go pick up the kiddies.
Dave
4 - Ja-Ja Binks
Sorry but the Old Testament is for the Jewish Faith,
Christians are to live by the New Testment...
Christians are not bound by any laws of the old Testament.
Mind you folowing the ten Commandments doesnt hurt....;)
5 - Ja-Ja Binks
I should proof read my stuff BEFORE I press Publish...
Sorry for the typos...
6 - Dawn
Adam, I couldn't agree more, and I for one, am becoming less agreeable with just tolerating their medival existance. I'd just as soon remove those who don't want to get with the program permanently.
The new world can't move forward with these troglodites fucking everything up.
7 - adam
Nalle, explain yourself: what have I written that you'd possibly think I'd be defending the rioters?!
From what I've written it should be abundantly clear that I can't stand Bush, for example, because he acts, like the rioters do, from fundamentalist beliefs -- except he adds the further odiousness of acting from privilege, on top of his radical right-wing Christian fundamentalism.
(On a personal note, I think you should guard against a tone of semi-absurd patronising in congratulating me. A bit laughable, and not very engaging. You're more gracious in your attacks.)
8 - simon hb
Hmm. I usually take the point of view with articles like this of reading until I come across something that is so clearly wrong, it makes it clear that even the writer hasn't read his own piece.
This time:
"Compare that with 100% literacy in the West"
You could, only it's not true:
According to the OECD, barely half of the US and UK adult population is moderately literate; in Portugal, four out of every five aduts doesn't reach the level of moderate literacy.
Likewise, your claim that 0.6% of Arabs use the internet is interestingly unsourced - it might not be a made-up figure, but without a source, it might as well be.
According to Internet World Stats updated on 31/12/05 there was one country where the rate of internet users as a percentage of total population was actually lower than your claim - 0.1%, in fact. That was in Iraq. Elsewhere, the penetration rate throughout the Middle East is either higher, or much, much higher than your claim - 10.8% of Iranians, for example, or 35.8% in the UAE. Figures for the Middle East as a whole suggests an internet-using portion as being 9.6% of the population. That figure does, however, include Israel.
9 - adam
Sorry, Simon HB.
My source: Arab Human Development Report 2002. It was done under auspices of UN.
Things may have improved since then.
Thank you for info on Western literacy. Though I'd say there's a chasmic difference between not being able to read and write and a bar of "moderate literacy." I imagine the total illiterates can't write their own names.
10 - oscar
A bit naive...bnut you appear as if you are having fun with the limited perspective
For example, leadingf the global list against free speech is none other than Turkey. They arrest journalists by the caravan. But, they aree a startegic ally so its ok.
As for Jordan, do you think we really want a democracy there. Why do you think the king their, or in Arabia, or Mubaraek, jump on the bandwagon everytime there is a religious cause to follow?
I don't know what's more disturbing: Your amazingly naive conclusions, or the peanut gallery cramming the room to add on. I guess I wouldn't have cared as much if you didn't actually almost approach a point or two of interest. But then, you know what they say about a little bit of knoledge....
11 - adam
Not having said what you find naive, I find it impossible to rebut the charge.
But "As for Jordan, do you really think we want democracy there."
Now who are you, Oscar -- you'd rather have dictatorships than democracies? Are you crazy? Or worse -- a defender of dictatorship? Of Saddam? Of Stalin?
12 - Oscar
The alternative to dictatorships in the middle east, is effectively 'religious' democracies like Iran.
Dictators like Hussein ()jordan , Iraq), Mubbarek, Fahd, etc.) do not survive the long term without Western support. They tend to be extremely effective at supressing all free speech save for that that eminates from mosques. That is the achilles heel. That is why these dictators cowtow to religious fanaticism. And, guess what, when the dictator goes, guess who is best positioned to win a democratic election?
Just look at Iraq, it is being modeled like an Iran-modeled theocracy. And, I belive its naive not to see this circle of moronic puppet suppporting by the west that has created this cycle of fanatacism. Granted the west is not the only cause, but it sure as hell is driving the cycle.
13 - Shark
Lots of minor quibbles, but will only mention this one:
replace
"Enlightenment, Age of Reason, No Voltaire, No French Revolution..."
with
"Reformation".
Islam needs their own bright, charismatic version of Martin Luther.
PS: I wonder how many bored, unemployed, uneducated, testosterone-laden MEN will wanna set their wimmin' free to compete with them?
Jees, what are the *odds...
*PS: The End is Near.
14 - Scott Butki
Your stats seem a bit sloppy and using data from 2002 doesn't help much.
What really pushes my buttons, though, is the over generalizing.
To read this there isn't a decnt Muslim around.
It looks like Africa has even less Internet usage than the Middle East. Are you going to write off that whole region too?
Look at the stats here.
As to 100 percent literacy, I wish!
40 million people - or 1 in 7 - Americans can't read a bill, according to Wikipedia.
15 - Dave Nalle
Your stats seem a bit sloppy and using data from 2002 doesn't help much.
His general point is still valid.
I remember the comment my father made after returning from a trip to Yemen a few years ago. He said "Yemen is a country that's leaping headlong into the 14th century". I think that says it all.
Dave
16 - Dave Nalle
That said, I do have to take issue with the article. I think the general point is strong - an awful lot of muslim nations are intentionally embracing a luddite and anti-western philosophy and looking back to the days of the caliphate in a very negative way, forgetting that the caliphate was often very liberal, secular and open-minded.
But on the other hand, the Arab world is hardly representative of the Muslim world. It's a tiny fraction of the population, and while they do control Mecca, other muslim societies are much more developed. The example of the Turks is an obvious one and is mentioned in the article as a counterexample, but it's not the only one. Egypt certainly has more viable secular institutions than many Arab nations, and the same was true of Lebanon before Syria took it over. Then there's Pakistan which has a large muslim population, but a high level of technology and education. Yet they still produce a large number of terrorists for Al Qaeda. And what of the muslim nations in Europe? Various Balkan nations have large muslim populations with pretty much the full range of modern education, technology and culture - and they also still produce terrorists. And the same is true for the muslim populations living within western European nations.
The point of all this is that there's a hell of a lot of diversity in the muslim world, and not all muslim terrorists are Arabs or from backwards societies. In fact numerically there are probably more muslim terrorists in India, the Philippines and Indonesia than anywhere else. It just happens that we're interracting more with Arabs because they are sitting on the oil. Al Qaeda is a good example of the diversity in Islam. The footsoldiers are from incredibly primitive countries like Sudan and Yemen, while the leaders are mostly well educated and either from the more advanced countries in the region or from the educated and wealthy classes of the countries they come from. This is a pattern which has been repeated over and over again in revolutionary societies. Ho Chi Minh lived in the west and got an education before coming back to start his revolution by leading the poor and uneducated masses in Vietnam. Castro went to the US for a first-class education before coming back to lead Cuban peasants in a revolution. Lennin spent a great deal of time outside of Russia learning from more successful western societies before coming back to Russia to lead his revolution.
It's not the ignorant and backwards Arabs we need to worry about. It's the educated and sophisticated leadership class which orchestrates the actions of the ignorant mob who are the real problem, as well as Islam which gives them a cultural context for fomenting extremism.
Dave
17 - Purple Tigress
I agree with Dave. This essay is built upon a faulty premise because it seems to assume that the majority of Muslims are Arab.
Only one out of every five Muslims is Arab. Some of the Muslims in the regions discussed are Persian (Iran). Some Persians and Arabs are Christian or Jewish. The majority of Muslims are Asian.
If we are to concede that it is Islam that keeps the Arab world from moving forward into modernization (as opposed to past problems of colonization and imperialism that resonate in today's culture) then could we not also form the same hypothesis for Latin America and Christianity?
18 - Shark
I think one problem is that Arabs are jealous that we invented numerals.
...oh... wait... nevermind...
===================
Nalle: "[the real problem is] ...the educated and sophisticated leadership class which orchestrates the actions of the ignorant mob..."
Sorta sums up the history of Humankind, don't it.
===================
Adam's closer: "...once upon a time, the entire human race was intolerant, illiterate, isolated and intellectually barren..."
And don't make the mistake of thinking human "progress" in ever-increasing and inevitable.
One important 'thing' that hasn't kept pace with "our" exponentially growing technologies + our exponentially growing population is our static lack of morals.
Add up that equation and I'd say we're fucked as a species.
19 - nothappyadam
ah if only blogcritics didnt have comment policy.
i find your article interesting in that it is completely uninformed, ignorant and written in a way which certainly lead me to believe you dont really know what your talking about.
medival tribe? im quite sure articles such as these that typecast muslims as bearded terroists help instigate the changes you seem to think are neccasary
20 - nothappyadam
and continuing on from that heres a little infomation that may help to alivate the cloud of arrogance hanging above your head.
the veils muslim woman wear arnt islamic they have no affliation with the religion aside from tradition.
they were introduced to prevent MEN from opposing villages noticing the beauty of a woman and therefore leading him to attempt to steal her
and this is all prior to the 'begining' of islam at all
21 - nothappyadam
The Qur'an warns men who treat women badly: "O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should you treat them with harshness and goes on to say On the contrary, live with them on a footing of kindness and equity."
funny that you should indicate your view that islam encourages the restriction of womans rights
22 - nothappyadam
go shark!!!!!
23 - Bliffle
Islam cannot reform itself: that's the result of the inflexibility of the quran and the intransigence of muslims. They embrace inflexibility and think it is a strength that guarantees they will survive and prosper. They cannot change. They will not change, so sometime some external force will destroy them.