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(Continued from here)

So yeah. Arab tribalism, inherited conservatism, geopolitical manipulation and religious intolerance. Me in the 'burbs of Montreal, sitting here on the couch with my Powerbook, trying to act like I know what I'm talking about, a glass of V8 slowly whittling away at the stomach flu I seem to have inherited from a binge drinking session friday night.

Where do I get the nerve?

Maybe there's something seriously wrong with me, but I've developed a terrible intolerance for intolerance. Most of us don't take the time to learn things that may or may not "come in useful" in the future. Trouble is, "come in useful" is often mistaken for "good to know, but...". Many of us here in the west can't garden, cook, sing, play music, or do any of the myriad of things that we should ostensibly learn to do. Instead, we rely on the belief that there are others out there who specialize in these areas, and who will do them for us, better than we ourselves ever could. All we have to do is pay them.

What does this have to do with the Arab condition?

Hold your stallions, I'm getting there.

So these "specialists" - our artists, entertainers, craftsmen, writers, etc. - are paid enormous amounts of money to do what they do best. Meanwhile, we work 80 hour workweeks, come home and shovel the snow, then curl up in front of the television, expecting them to entertain us. Or we go about our mundane business until we don't feel so good anymore, then take half a day off and head to the disgruntled doctor's office, to learn that we've got a terminal case of [insert favorite disease here]. Only then do fun things like "perspective" and "common-fucking-sense" actually begin to reveal themselves in earnest. Capitalism - and, more specifically, the credit-based economy - does a wonderful job of keeping us firmly in place, never permitting us to become a threat to the system that strangles the many, and feeds the fortunate few. Hockey players live economically better lives than doctors; and in this sense, we're no more than a [much colder] projection of a questionable economic system like Cuba's, where entertainers and tourism employees also make more than most doctors.

However, one lukewarm effect that this has had on our world has been the appreciation and achievement of these very same artists. Whether most or any of them deserve the recognition they receive is irrelevant. As long as a cult of worship is created around them (sports industry, music industry, etc.), they achieve greatness, and earn more resources to perpetuate this cycle. Some of these artists expand beyond our borders, and spread what is known as "culture".

Now as much as I love to derail our socioeconomic choices, I'm also the first to admit that many of the greatest artists of our times wouldn't have come into being without being able to feed off this very same parasitic system. (think deer hosting tick hosting an even smaller tick). Since cultural achievement is the result of creativity, intelligence and curiosity - qualities shared equally by all human beings - I'm led to wonder if the disproportionately large representation (and penetration) of western culture is due not to superior skill or anything like that, but rather to the economic and social pre-dispositions that seem to nurture the cultural spirit here, while seemingly stunting elsewhere... say, the Middle East.

Most Arabs I know today (both here and in the Middle East) prefer to watch American television. "Sex in the City" comes up as a favorite among the ladies, and it's a prime example because of how sharply it conflicts with traditional Arab values on topics such as sexual equality, promiscuousness, etc. (Note that I'm talking about cultural, not religious, differences here. We have our own religious fundamentalists - the Christian Right - to contend with here). A show like that would never exist on an Arab network, and if it did, it would be severely toned down. Without the resources to develop proper technical and artistic content, most Arab sitcoms' production values compare unfavorably with something we might have watched here in, say, 1982. I watch Arab sitcoms, and trust me, it's quite painful.

Take the news networks as another example; Al - Jazeera is one of the best-known Arab news outlets. Yet their website still wants to spew an ASPX file for me to download every time I visit a page with Firefox. When I try watching the broadcasts, I can't help but wonder why I spend half of it staring at a cross between Mr T and Krusty the Clown hunt and peck at his 1999 laptop and mumble to himself, while his tranced-out, opium-filled guest scopes out babes in the studio.

Culture is a weapon, and one that the west employs with great skill. The Arab world doesn't seem to understand this. You can walk into any store in any Arab country and pick up a Coke and some Lays, or stop by McDonald's. How many Americans do you know eat Arab brand names? Yes, asides from yuppies and trendoids.

The worst part is, the very system responsible for the nature of things today has also produced some of the best talents we've ever known. Where are the Arab superstars? Where's our Michael Jackson? Ok... errrrr, bad example.

Where's our Hellen Keller? How about our 2pac? Our Che Guevara?* They are there, living in an Arab country, never to be discovered.

Sigh. I sort of went off on a tangent from the original mood of this blog post. I guess it's "to be continued" once again.

*(Disclaimer to elitist pseudo-intellectual rightists: When I mention Che on this blog, I'm referring to the "Give up everything and pursue a cause you believe in Che", not the "Marxist-Stalinist executioner Che". Yes, after the Cuban revolution he made mistakes, lost his direction and faltered, and became responsible for a large amount of suffering. So did Winston Churchill, Gen. Patton, and on a much larger scale, every single American administration since him - yet they are remembered as heroes. I admire Che for the man that he was, for his self-sacrifice, and his integrity, not for his beliefs. In that sense, we need more Che's today.)