Originally posted here by Evil Moo
I wish the Middle East would just incur a dramatic technological modernization overnight. Spirituality there is so much different than in the west. Here we have countless types of more leisure, access to information/opinions, diverse cultures, etc. Over in the middle east, alot of them have nothing but religon--so that becomes their entire life. Put one and one together and you have a fanatic/zealot spawning ground.
this is exactly where the problem lies. Modernization of the muslim nation will bring about the corruption of the masses in the eyes of the devout muslim. And it will. What your talking about, allowing the muslim population to see exactly how the west lives, showing them the pleasures they are denied. Tempting them to adopt new and radically more liberal ways of thought and lifestyle. this is exactly what they are trying to stop. To them we are the great satan…the great corruptor.

who's to say that a nation cannot have a government based on religion if they so choose. As I see it the only reason this is bad for us is that these nations are willing to go to war with us to keep us from corrupting the devout. The more extreme even think that the only way to prevent this corruption is world domination, much like the USSR had in mind.

We have the entire western world telling these nations that the way their religion tells them to treat woman is wrong and must be stopped. From my way of thinking it is wrong. But do we have the right to enforce our way of thinking on them? Probably not.

For them it is a religious war. For us it’s an economic necessity to change the muslim mind set, institute a democratic government and allow for free trade. I really doubt that both ways can co-exist in such a small world. Somebody has got to go.