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What happened?
Why is the Middle East stuck in the Middle Ages?

 

August 14, 2007
iranian.com

Sometimes comparing Iranians, Arabs, Turks and other Middle-Easterners to Westerners I thought there may be something wrong with Middle-Eastern genes or something that makes people be so much more aggressive, so much less honest, and altogether far more impulsive. Just an innocent thought! Never reached any conclusion to prove the hypothesis. However it is a fact that peoples of the Middle East are not usually trustworthy, get angry very quickly and usually act emotionally. This is all beside other defects such as arrogance combined with gullibility and so on.

To study the realities I needed some comparison, and nothing simpler than that. Comparing the Middle East to the West (Europe and North America) makes sense, because both groups are of Caucasian race and they have both interacted intensely with each other historically. We cannot blame some construction/structural/genetic defects for Middle-Eastern aggressivity and lack of honesty because these things do not change so easily in human beings, and processes that lead to serious structural modifications of humans usually take tens or even hundreds of thousands of years.

However looking at our recent history we can obviously see the same aggressive and other negative traits, that are present among Middle-Easterners today, were widely available and considered normal among all Western societies no longer than about a century ago or even sooner. Gatherings, and general amusements, for public executions, hangings, recurrent wars and disputes among nations or individuals, dishonesty, lack of trust and cooperation etc that are everyday norms in the Middle East (public executions are outlawed in some Middle Eastern countries by authoritarian regimes) were nothing strange in the West, whether in the US or even the most civilised of Europe.

So, what happened that the West moved on while the Middle East stuck where it was, at least from the points of view mentioned above? Many Middle-Eastern nations, including Iran, are no longer illiterate. Most of Iran's population are actually highly educated and come very close to Western standards in this regard. And this opens a legitimate case for wondering why are Middle-Easterners, Iranians and others, still so different? Many Iranians will surely disagree with me, even call me names (they may have even tried much more tangible methods of releasing their anger if they could get their hands on me) and therefore prove me right, I guess! And here I have a hypothesis, which is nothing new. Western scientists have long talked about this.

It may all be related to sexual frustration. This is not about the sexual frustration of the rulers, but rather about the sexual frustrations of the masses, especially the young. Sexual frustration does not necessarily limit to the act of sex as such. It can go far beyond that and involve interaction, entertainment and many other public or private ways of contacting potential or actual sexual partners. It is rather with the game than the factual final process of intercourse. The more widespread and easily accessible these possibilities are the less frustrated the masses. And vice-versa, the less widespread the more frustrated.

The two opposite sexes seem to keep the social balance of each other and provide what seems the conflicting political parties provide in a democracy. But when a society limits the liberties of interaction between these balancing forces there appear imbalances that cause frustrations, resulting in intolerance and aggression. Opposing political parties are not exactly like opposing sexes, but the phrase that "you cannot live with them, you cannot live without them either" applies for both cases properly.

Men and women are also in a continuous dispute, whether on an individual or on a social level. Men and women never seem to fully understand each other and when they are forced to accept each other's rights and liberties and live with each other without imposition or limitations of liberties there also comes the first step toward tolerance and kindness, that currently is scarce in the Middle East.

However opening up the issue or letting women be free and do what they want is not something easy yet. Iranian men for instance have no serious problem with their men, boys or sons, messing around with other girls, but they still do have very serious problems with their own girls in the family or daughters doing the same with other men, boys, or sons. And the thinking being a common one among all it creates a virtual sexual market in which men are aplenty while women are almost absent.

It is not a bad idea to start to love each other without prejudices in a more physical and common sense of the word before starting loving each other (the reaming) for simply being human beings. Self interest needs immediate satisfaction in order to benefit the greater community for the common good. Comment

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