i'm not the one that's confused, here -- having lived in both eastern and western countries, i know the difference. "subjugating an entire segment of your nations population by not allowing them to vote" -- like the us pre1968, the point i was trying to make. that doesn't mean the us wasn't civilized or modern -- it was both, yet this inequity was allowed to continue.
"compare each nation to its peers" that's exactly what you aren't doing. you're viewing the world through the crystalline lens that living in a free, western democracy allows you to, making the world simple, black and white. Good for you, and the world would be a better place if it was all about rights and equality. but it isn't -- it's about power and leverage and keeping what you've grabbed for yourself. Arab countries are, politically, hundreds of years behind their western counterparts -- any arab with a modicum of sense will freely admit it. that doesn't excuse extrapolating that political difference to justify a claim that islam as a religion is backwards or uncivilized.
and your shining lights the greeks and romans didn't exactly have equal rights for all. yet again, people are using a fragment of history, out of context, to justify their hyperbole.
|