Today I read a column by friedman on the new york times entitled "Empty pockets, Angry minds".
I would say this is one the most agressive articles written by him that i have read, he attributes the rage, against the cartoons which has warranted a higher degree of protests(more than required) by relegious fanatics around the world.He draws a clear line on the fact that the 2nd most popular religion in the world parted ways with science and modernity years back and the ever decreasing levels of productivity in the middle east is a proof of the same.(though their annual GDP may be on a growth track!), ofcourse the reason for the latter is obvious, the 3 most important alphabets in an economists dictionary!
I am not against any relegion per say, but what friedman is saying seems to be based on a certain logic driven system.
Facts like...
-8 patents for pakistan in 57 years!
-500000 people in the arab world unemployed year on year!
-Middleeast and north africa stand out with the highest unemployment percentage in the world with 13.2%!!!
...only strengthen my agreement on what friendman says.
Excerpts which are very interesting in this article is :
"India is the second-largest Muslim country in the world, but the cartoon protests here, unlike those in Pakistan, have been largely peaceful. One reason for the difference is surely that Indian Muslims are empowered and live in a flourishing democracy. India's richest man is a Muslim software entrepreneur. But so many young Arabs and Muslims live in nations that have deprived them of any chance to realize their full potential"
and
''[Today] you seldom encounter a Muslim name in scientific journals. Muslim contributions to pure and applied science -- measured in terms of discoveries, publications, patents and processes -- are marginal. The harsh truth is that science and Islam parted ways many centuries ago. In a nutshell, the Muslim experience consists of a golden age of science from the ninth to the 14th centuries, subsequent collapse, modest rebirth in the 19th century, and a profound reversal from science and modernity, beginning in the last decades of the 20th century. This reversal appears, if anything, to be gaining speed.''
No wonder so many young people in this part of the world are unprepared, and therefore easily enraged, as they encounter modernity. And no wonder backward religious leaders and dictators in places like Syria and Iran -- who have miserably failed their youth -- are so quick to turn their young people's anger against an insulting cartoon and away from themselves and the rot they have wrought. "
"Today's world has become so wired together, so flattened, that you can't avoid seeing just where you stand on the planet -- just where the caravan is and just how far ahead or behind you are. In this flat world you get your humiliation fiber-optically, at 56K or via broadband, whether you're in the Muslim suburbs of Paris or Kabul. Today, Muslim youth are enraged by cartoons in Denmark. Earlier, it was a Newsweek story about a desecrated Koran. Why? When you're already feeling left behind, even the tiniest insult from afar goes to the very core of your being -- because your skin is so thin"
I would say this is one the most agressive articles written by him that i have read, he attributes the rage, against the cartoons which has warranted a higher degree of protests(more than required) by relegious fanatics around the world.He draws a clear line on the fact that the 2nd most popular religion in the world parted ways with science and modernity years back and the ever decreasing levels of productivity in the middle east is a proof of the same.(though their annual GDP may be on a growth track!), ofcourse the reason for the latter is obvious, the 3 most important alphabets in an economists dictionary!
I am not against any relegion per say, but what friedman is saying seems to be based on a certain logic driven system.
Facts like...
-8 patents for pakistan in 57 years!
-500000 people in the arab world unemployed year on year!
-Middleeast and north africa stand out with the highest unemployment percentage in the world with 13.2%!!!
...only strengthen my agreement on what friendman says.
Excerpts which are very interesting in this article is :
"India is the second-largest Muslim country in the world, but the cartoon protests here, unlike those in Pakistan, have been largely peaceful. One reason for the difference is surely that Indian Muslims are empowered and live in a flourishing democracy. India's richest man is a Muslim software entrepreneur. But so many young Arabs and Muslims live in nations that have deprived them of any chance to realize their full potential"
and
''[Today] you seldom encounter a Muslim name in scientific journals. Muslim contributions to pure and applied science -- measured in terms of discoveries, publications, patents and processes -- are marginal. The harsh truth is that science and Islam parted ways many centuries ago. In a nutshell, the Muslim experience consists of a golden age of science from the ninth to the 14th centuries, subsequent collapse, modest rebirth in the 19th century, and a profound reversal from science and modernity, beginning in the last decades of the 20th century. This reversal appears, if anything, to be gaining speed.''
No wonder so many young people in this part of the world are unprepared, and therefore easily enraged, as they encounter modernity. And no wonder backward religious leaders and dictators in places like Syria and Iran -- who have miserably failed their youth -- are so quick to turn their young people's anger against an insulting cartoon and away from themselves and the rot they have wrought. "
"Today's world has become so wired together, so flattened, that you can't avoid seeing just where you stand on the planet -- just where the caravan is and just how far ahead or behind you are. In this flat world you get your humiliation fiber-optically, at 56K or via broadband, whether you're in the Muslim suburbs of Paris or Kabul. Today, Muslim youth are enraged by cartoons in Denmark. Earlier, it was a Newsweek story about a desecrated Koran. Why? When you're already feeling left behind, even the tiniest insult from afar goes to the very core of your being -- because your skin is so thin"
posted by kartyc at 4:43 AM
4 comments
