born in saudi arabia, parents from india, moved to california when i was 10 months old, and lived in houston from grades 3-9th and in 10th i moved to VA, so now im in richmond virginia
just one of my sources:::: US, UK try to silence Al Jazeera http://www.metimes.com/2K3/issue2003-13/reg/us_uk.htm
adeel... Looking at videos BEFORE they were shown does not constitute controling the media. At least they are SHOWN !!!!!! In Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc..etc...they would not even make it on the state run television. You are correct in saying it is my opinion....it just so happens to be right as well !!! If you live in Virginia...how the HADES do you know what it is like to live under Islamic law? Simply put...you don't !!! DD
the daniel pearl video was never released and i just said AL JAZEERA, a QATAR government backed news station has the right to show anything they want to, no government interference except for the money
Al Jazeera is a horrible station that spews hatred for the Western cultures.... But....it has a right to show whatever it wants....as counter programming to Fox. But I think the USA should get some counterprograming into Iraq...and BLAST it all over the middle east... Help them out of their ignorant state !!! DD
Just FYI, people in the middle east have satellites and watch western media on their TVs, and western newspapers are readily availible. In the largest muslim countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia, 100s of different daily newspapers are printed. The english ones almost exclusively use Reuters, AFP, UPI, AP, etc for their international news just like the Houston Chronicle does. If you don't believe me, I can give you links to several english dailies from these countries. Here's an editorial from a couple of days back from one of the more respected english dailies in Pakistan criticizing something the government did: http://www.dawn.com/2003/10/13/ed.htm#1 Here's an editorial from a day before that criticizes the military government: http://www.dawn.com/2003/10/12/ed.htm
I dont think Mr. Clutch was saying Islam condones terroristic acts. Most people can agree that Islam in and of itself is a peaceful religion. In practice however, it seems that Muslim societies don't seem to be doing so well (at least by our standards lest Macbeth jump all over me for that) as outlined by Mr. Clutch. This is similar to the fact that Communism may sound like a good idea, but in practice, it hasn't worked very well. As for your examples of beautiful beaches and resorts, I believe there are parts of Mexico that would be comparable, but you won't find many people saying Mexico is in great shape as a whole.
i have relatives in saudi arabia who are regular subscribers to time magazine and they read USA today, and NYtimes on the internet. thx for backing that up
poverty isnt a problem in countries who have oil wells in their backyards, and whose people drive bently's as a regular thing, and when you see ferrari's racing lambourghini's on the street its not really called a poor country... i agree there are also many poor islamic countries, but islam is not suffering due to poverty, look at bangladesh, very peaceful country, very poor, Indonesia....
Wait a second, tell me which country has its people driving Bentleys as a regular thing because I want to move there. So you paint the picture that Islamic societies are littered with beautiful resorts, beaches, palaces, and whose people drive exotic and expensive cars, but at the same time you can agree that there are many poor Islamic countries? Also, if you don't think poverty causes suffering, well then I guess you just have a different definition for the word (suffering). From a Western perspective, poverty often suggests suffering.
myco, Give up...Adeel has no clue what he is talking about...he is mentioning the few at the top of the food chain ignoring the 90% or so that are living in poverty. Don't waste your time.....he is a guy in Virginia, not in the Middle East. DD
As for people having access to all sorts of TV, not just Al Jazeera. How many pro Western TV stations are broadcasting in Arabic? Because that is what the majority of the people on the street watch......... DD
since you asked.... i'll name THREE: Brunei, Qatar, Bahrain Would you like more? Bruneians pay no taxes and enjoy free cradle to grave health care and education, subsidies on housing and food, and state-guaranteed employment. Can America do this? ahem. maybe if we stop fighting all those wars and stop paying for other people's crimes.
America can't do that because we are heterogenous...we don't all agree on a shared value surrounding a faith. how do you impose "islamic charity" on a culture that doesn't value it? apples and oranges
Simply Put, There are no nations in the world that compare to the USA on an economic level, especially in the 'muslim' world. A few countries in the Arab world have huge oil incomes that allow a lavish lifestyle for a few people that are the citizens, while everyone else is an imported worker from India, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Phillipines. What that does is manipulate the statistics for standards of living and pushes it up based on what the 'citizens' living conditions are, which is not indicative of the common man there. Dadakota, One difference I have with you is that I am happy that there is a media group like Al-Jazeera. The reason being that it is the first global, non-government media in the Arab/Muslim world. Though I may not agree with all that they have to stay, I would never take away that freedom of expression. I believe diversity in ideas and an open media forum will help to educate people. I would never have a media group closed down because I don't agree with them. The irony with Al-Jazeera is that the US detests them at times and Iraq had many of them thrown out before and during the war because they didn't like their reporting. SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENTS: Ultimately, no system of government has lasted an indefinite period of time. Capitalism was seen as inefficient and a system that allowed the exploitation of the people, therefore socialism was formed. The main reason people left capitalism was because they were expecting quick results from the society and did not realize until the economy became more mature and there was a middle class to reinvest into society, capitalism would not show its splendor. In the same respect we have not seen a true "muslim" government in over a thousand years. A 'true' muslim government is not headed by a monarch, therefore I wouldn't call any government today an Islamic government, and truthfully we haven't seen one properly implemented to say whether it would be feasible or not. To assume that it wouldn't be is ignorance without proper examples of the sort. Iran is based on 'shiite' Islam which is a deviation from the norm, but it is in some respect a democracy (or the closest to it in the muslim world). There is an elected president and the people's views are portrayed through a representative democracy. This has created a state with the highest literacy rate in the Middle East and one of the better economies even though they have had an economic embargo on them for almost 20 years. Ultimately most democracies, such as Rome for example, fail because the people will ultimately learn to vote themselves excess benefits and there will be people that will allow it for their own personal gain. This usually ends up bankrupting the country over a period of time. I'm not stating that an "Islamic" government is the correct way to go, but to say with such overzealousness that it would fail without proper examples of it, is ignorance.
Am I the only one that has a problem with this statement ? How in the hell is the beating of a women justified ? So are you saying it's ok to beat a women if she is a prostitute ? I'm sorry, but until the majority of the Muslim world starts to speak out publicly about the atrocities committed by the misguided extremist in their group, they are doomed to be left behind in 20Th century.
Khan, I don't mind Al Jazeera, I just think we need to put up a counter programming channel that is in native Arabic. Lil, Nice try.....but the USA is much better than all of those countries you listed. DD
