Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Democrazy Myth

Yeah Yeah -- We know.

Of all the people to ever walk the face of the earth -- only one particular group (all conveniently located in Arab League) -- are immune to the civilizing enhancing magical life more bettering delish delight of democracy.

"...The rise of radical Islamism has been no less obstructive when it comes to Arab democracy. Decades of unholy alliance between Arab autocrats and the West have seen radical Islam emerge as a "salvation" force. If free and fair elections were to be held in any Arab country, Islamists would come to power.

"...That was the case in Algeria in 1991-92, in Iraq in 2005, and in the West Bank and Gaza in 2006. Other countries, such as Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, Yemen and Bahrain, have created more limited space for democracy. There, too, Islamists have immediately filled it.

Well, maybe. So far -- there is no proof whatsoever that rowdy m'hammedists want to govern if and when they bust out the ballot box boogie.

Maintaining roads, schools, infrastructure, dispensing justice and the rule of law or even making sure the trash is picked up, may be far beyond skill sets like persecuting people enroute to creating a Preachers Paradise. Let alone alleviating all the corruption that the Arab autocrats have engineered for eons.

Instead, perhaps we should carefully reconsider...

"...Everywhere in the Middle E and North Africa the Islamists are the alluring, mythical alternative to the wretched reality under which people live.

"...In Iran, fundamentalism is the wretched reality under which people live.

Millions of people suffering under corrupt royalty in Ray Bans and Presidents for Life may very well look to the idea of voting in a m'hammedist gov as 'saw that on Al Jazeera in the Strip' and/or consider the wretched reality of life under the Supreme Leader.

"...There is a myth that though we love freedom, others don't; that our attachment to freedom is a product of our culture; that freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law are American values or Western values.

"...Ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit, and anywhere--anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

Pic "Exporting Democracy"

0 comments: