Democracy for the Middle East
May 15, 2003Operation Humble Democracy
Perusing the translated excerpts from the new web site of Saudi Arabia's thought police - The Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - we can't help but feel a sense of familiarity with the problems highlighted there, many of which seem to revolve around the overly hormonal Saudi teenagers.
Without for a moment condoning religious totalitarianism, excusing unnecessary acts of cruelty, engaging in moral relativism, or diminishing the pressing need for regime change in the Arab world, it remains only truthful to admit that we don't have all of the answers to the question of how societies should work. Not that our right to self defense depends on our being a perfect society. But to the extent that regional reconstruction is now the objective - as it should be - it isn't beside the point to confess that our own revolution is still in progress.
With soft porn now standard fare in our children's bedrooms, what American hasn't sought a way to better balance our desire for expressive freedom with our need for virtue? We attach a dangerously low value to caring for children, instructing them, and nursing the sick. And how long will we continue to rationalize our overt moral failures, like the way we warehouse our elderly ?
We may not be ready to flog our teenagers for approaching a member of the opposite sex yet, or arrest members of religious minorities for "engaging in witchcraft" - but stay tuned. These are the lands written about in the Bible. In rescuing the people there, we may yet rescue ourselves.
Home . Posted by Editor at May 15, 2003 09:57 AM . DFME's new internet address is www.dfme.org