Why does life in the Middle East remain rooted in the Middle Ages?

Why does life in the Middle East remain rooted in the Middle Ages?

www.independent.co.uk

Why is the Arab world – let us speak with terrible sharpness – so backward? Why so many dictators, so few human rights, so much state security and torture, so terrible a literacy rate?

Why does this wretched place, so rich in oil, have to produce, even in the age of the computer, a population so poorly educated, so undernourished, so corrupt? Yes, I know the history of Western colonialism, the dark conspiracies of the West, the Arab argument that you cannot upset the sheikhs and the kings and

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But I also think that, militarily, we have got to abandon the Middle East. By all means, send the Arabs our teachers, our economists, our agronomists. But bring our soldiers home. They do not defend us. They spread the same chaos that breeds the injustice upon which the al-Qa'idas of this world feed. No, the Arabs – or, outside the Arab world, the Iranians or the Afghans – will not produce the eco-loving, gender-equal, happy-clappy democracies that we would like to see. But freed from "our" tutelage, they might develop their societies to the advantage of the people who live in them. Maybe the Arabs would even come to believe that they owned their own countries.

www.independent.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 28-7-2009 by john124]

probably because it breeds violent people more preoccipied with their past than their future.

Originally posted by STFUPPERCUTTER
probably because it breeds violent people more preoccipied with their past than their future.

And they often don't have much of a future to look forward to....

I don't need to read the article or even research the topic to know the answer. Life in the Middle East remains rooted in the Middle Ages for one reason: Religion.

Religion is used as a tool of control more so in the Middle East than in any other region of the world. A look at what countries recognize a form of any religion as the state religion tells the story:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/821f2ab1f1bf.png[/atsimg]

No one religion is any better than the next, but Islam is used by Middle Eastern and North African countries as a form of control over the population more than any other religion in any other corner of the world.

The press - being mostly state-owned - is restrained more in the Middle East and North Africa than most parts of the world:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d327704a6b89.png[/atsimg]

The Islamic religion - through the stated-owned media - is perverted by the propagandizing of history, world events, and daily politics to build the governmental leadership up as servants of the God the entire population is forced to bow down to daily, thus ensuring obedience.

When government has any form of control over the people, whether it be through military rule, financial slavery, tyranny, or religious fanaticism, progress in society and the benefit of the people not only suffers, but ultimately becomes nothing more than a fantasy so long as the status quo remains the status quo.

As with religion, no one form of government is any better than the next. But until the people of these countries decide to stand up and challenge the established system - such as the people of Iran are - their lack of relevance in the 21st century will continue to hold true.

When the people of the west were going through the dark ages and religion was in control, The middle east was the most advanced culture on Earth. They were building libraries while we were burning books. They were creating mathematics while we were burning people. They were creating ungodly beautiful art while we were destroying our own icons.

They kept the light of knowledge and wisdom alive while we were busy destroying it at every chance.

Now religion is in charge of the middle east any tyranny and darkness prevail. They are going through their own dark ages.

They kept the light burning while we went through our dark times, I think thats the least we can do for them.

Hell, I believe it's actually a debt we owe them.

Well to be honest, most of the knowledge attained by the muslims in our dark ages, was only translated Roman and Greek documents, so we can't give them to much credit.
and to the reason that the middle east is in such a backward position right now and stuck in the middle ages.
Im going to be honest, its because Islam did not leave the middle ages, where-as christianity changed and reformed over time, islam stayed as backward as it was back then.

reply to post by NovusOrdoMundi


that is probably the most rational answer, the islamic clerics are trying desperately to maintain control, if the average Mohammad on the street was actually educated you would probably find there would be a break out of atheism or conversions to other religions. therefore its not in the clerics best interests for their people to advance technologically or intellectually.

yes i know Islamic apologists will point out that there are many educated members of the Islamic religion however i tend to point out that these same people are also clerics and are trying to protect their own interests by perpetuating the Islamic faith.

Religious Fundamentalism is a danger to the entire planet. It needs to be constantly kept in check. When Faith Overrules Common Sense, Reason and Science the end result is always going to be a Dark Age for Humanity.

Why does life in the Middle East remain rooted in the Middle Ages?

The population resembles the 'societal system' they live in, just as the system resembles them. Islam is not a religion, it is a complete system of society, based on beduin society structure. An authoritarian, top down, rigid and unforgiving society, which creates authoritarian, rigid and unforgiving people.

In a top-down society, the function of the state is to oppress people, whereas in a bottom-up society, the function is to service the people.

A bottom-up society is more individualistic and empathic, and focus is on the individual being law-abiding by choice(prevention), rather than by fear, and on empathy and giving people a second chance, whereas in a top-down society, focus is on punishment as a deterrence, making people law-abiding out of fear of the state, while not having any place for empathy or forgiveness at all.

It is not just as simple as saying that it's rulers ruling people who are essentially like people in the west. People have different frames of reference. For many in that part of the world, the oppressive authoritarian society they live in, has mainly one thing wrong with it, that it is not oppressive enough!

Example.
You question is premissed on the 'middle ages' being a backward, barbaric, uneducated and uncivilized period in european history, but most muslims see the time of the prophet as an ideal, even though it was an autocratic, barbaric and repressive society. There is actually a 'return to the time of the prophet' movement in islam today.

[edit on 28-7-2009 by aaa2500]