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http://www.instablogs.com/entry/why-...-so-backwards/
While Arabs are, of course, innately no different than other people, their region has fallen behind the rest of the world and is incredibly backwards. Arabs have prospered outside of the region, Arab-Americans and Arab-Brazilians, for instance, are incredibly successfully. But why can't Arabs duplicate this success in the Arab world? Why is Arab achievement - as often the case - only possible in the Americas and the West?
A recent UN development report on the region makes for sobering and very depressing reading:
- If one takes out the export of oil, over 20 Arab countries with over 360 million people between them export less products to the world than tiny Belgium with only 10 million people.
- Spain's GDP is larger than the entire Arab world combined.
- 360 million Arabs have a smaller manufacturing capacity than 5-million-people Finland.
- Greece with just 11 million people translates more books than the entire Arab world. The Arabs have fallen behind in the attainment of knowledge. More books are translated into Spanish in one year than have been translated into Arabic over the past few centuries.
- No a single Arab nation is a established democracy.
- Arabs have the highest rate of government revenue as percentage of GDP and highest rates of youth unemployment.
- Not a single Arab university ranks in the top 500 compared to several in tiny Israel.
These are incredibly dismal statistics. The sad fate of the Arabs will only get worse in years to come if radical reform is not enacted. By 2020, the region needs to create 51 million jobs just to offer its youth opportunity for a better future. How the Arabs will create so many jobs in a decade given the current state of their economies is beyond any responsible estimation.
The region is backwards and horribly so? But why? A fashionable theory is that Islam - after ushering in the golden age of scientific and litrary achievements - then stifled innovation and critical thinking. But this is false since Turkey is 99% Muslim and under a midly Islamist government while its economy is booming.
The Arab world has fallen behind due to two key factors: tyranny and oil.
1) Tyranny: Arab dictatorship has rendered critical thinking a thing of the past. Arab education is little more than memory thinking. Schools rarely encourage thoughtful debates or innovation as dictatorships care more about keeping their population dumb and timid than about fostering an creative society. The tyranny in the Arab world also often ensures that the best minds feel to a free place and the Arab world offers no such free place.
2) Oil: A mixed blessing. It has lead to renter-economies whereby the regimes paying their citizens money, and then the citizen stays quite and, furthermore, often does not pursue a productive life. Why should he went the welfare cheques are so big? 70% of Saudi students graduate with degrees in Islamic theology. The region that not need that many Islamic jurists. It needs scientists, engineers, and so on. But the former degree is easy to get and the welfare cheques provided by oil-rich Gulf countries have made their people lazy and poorly skilled that they have to import labor from relatively skilled nations like Tunisia and Lebanon.
There are many other factors, but I believe these two are the biggest causes for the backwardness of the region. The Arab world needs to wake up and accept responsibility for its plight. Stop blaming the West and stop blaming Israel, and look and think about the world they want their children to inherit.
The condition right now is just sad. But it is not too late for an Arab renaissance.
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An educated Berber told me something similar several years ago. 'People keep saying we're in the Middle Ages because of religion, but that's merely a smoke curtain. The sad real truth is that our regimes are full with dictators who hate the spread of independent knowledge.'
< La Catalogne peut se passer de l'univers entier, et ses voisins ne peuvent se passer d'elle. > Voltaire
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There are many reasons why it's backwards. Though I must say that there was one nation in the Arab world, that was relatively advanced in techonology, medicine, and literacy. In fact both it's males and females were encouraged to seek education. Not only that it gave it's people scholarship to study aboard and often reciving Ph.D. This nation was moving at a fast rate of economic and industrial production, however it was seen as threat and it was taken down, this was Iraq. In fact many people from various different areas of the Arab world would come and study in Iraq or to be treated in it.
As for the question of backwardness, tribal mentality, rather a sense of national hood. I care about my tribal lineage power and control, rather than the nation.
Sectariaism, issues of Sunni vs Shias, including tribal feuds within them. Muslim Arab vs Christian Arab. Christian Arab vs Christian Arab belonging to different sects.
Religious fundmentalist movement such Wahabism often encourging tribalist and sectarian thinking. Various Christian Arab fundmentalist sects as well appearing.
Dictators often care about keeping the masses ignorant, as a way for control, and what happens they promote their family, clan, or tribal members rather than do something of the nation or base it on merit. They also steal from the nation resources since wealth is power.
The region often has had many wars, and often leaving the people being apathetic and having distorted vision.
Lack of Self-criticism often blaming others for their problems rather than trying to fix it.
All these traits are not found in Arab Brazilians or Arab Americans and hence they often tend to bind together and become successful, as well they are not kept away from information that might enhance their success.
My genetic results
1 50% Azeri_Dagestan +50% BedouinA @ 2.879975
One nation and one destiny
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Wow, now that is pathetic.
Here's another interesting fact to humble some third worlders - The UK has a larger GDP than the entire African continent or Oceania (but then again Oceania only really has Australia and NZ and the rest aren't even comparable).
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I don't know why really, but is real. No other community is so backwards.
I met this nice Tunisian woman on facebook after the "arab spring" she teach me a lot of things I couldn't understand about the arab world from what really happens in Mecca to her aspirations as a woman and her profound disgust on the way most men see women there.
But there was this unbearable thing about her: the fact that she was always bringing religion to everything, she even used to send me prays and so on. For me, that I'm a fucking heretic, it was... well, a new world. If you know what I mean?!
[YOUTUBE]0WcNsJupWQ4[/YOUTUBE]
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I don't think Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are so backwards, or Oman and Saudi Arabia in terms of GDP per capita at least. Qatar usually tops GDP per capita rankings in fact.
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