This blog posting is a fantastic introduction into the cultural differences that make any eventual accommodation between our two societies highly unlikely. Being part Palestinian, I can vouch for a good bit of it (Inshallah, boy is he not kidding). Treating Arabs as Americans "in funny costumes" is the basis of so many of our problems in the Middle East. Hell, a lot of our problems around the world are based on the fact that our outlook on the human condition is so fundamentally different than most other societies. Not very encouraging, but, it is informative.

And their views on Western culture aren't fundamentally incorrect? It goes both ways.

Wow! Great article. I haven't read the comments, yet. Will do that tonight. Should learn even more by reading them.

Amazing how different we think. We are fortunate to have alot more freedoms, but there are costs for lack of responsibility with freedom. We pay that price over and over in this country. But, I would always chose our ways over the Middle Eastern Way. I'd of had my tongue cut out by now!!

Thanks for a good read!

Makes me remember studying the 6 day war years ago & trying to 'understand' the issues...finally just got to the point where I said I don't get it --the professor said to the class then, of course not, you are Americans(he was from over there). Alot of their reactions to issues we think are no big deal have a long history and other issues intertwined, making it impossible to just 'stop fighting'...I guess kinda like asking your children to "just stop it" and they both look at you like you are from Mars and then proceed to attack each other again...

True, Sman, it does go both ways, but, the consequences for misunderstanding are a lot more costly to us than to them.

How so?

There's about a trillion ways.

Other than their control of oil, which is a big one, what else? I'm probably being dense, but I'd like to discuss these consequences and judge for myself.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this thread, but it seems to me that the tone is we should be shouldering all the blame for cultural misunderstandings and giving the Arabs a pass.

I did not mean we should give "the arabs" a pass. I mean that our fundamental misconceptions of that culture end up costing us when we deal with that part of the world. Our assumptions, based on a westernized, and especially americanized, point of view about basic human interactions, lead to unproductive and counter-intuitive mistakes time and again.

That's the way I read it, too, Metz. It seems like we are spending alot of lives, money and effort to bring "peace" and "stability" through democracy when that part of the country does not even want that form of government.

It's not like, Germany, when there were democratic minded people who were overrun by a sick dicatator. These Middle East cultures don't think like we do as far as freedoms goes. Too deeply ingrained otherwise.

did anyone ask these people if they wanted to live the way we do? change there way of life, or did we just think its whats best for them?

What exactly are we talking about here? The war in Iraq? Trying to install a democratic govt. there? All this talk is general. How about some specifics so we an address these misconceptions that are costing us on a case by case basis?

Every set of peoples have their different cultures, but it seems we should bend to understand their culture, yet they make no effort to relax their fundamentalist culture to move slightly towards what's the accepted norm in the rest of the world. Getting along and understanding each other is a two way street.

Whether they understand our culture or not , isn't it still to our advantage to understand their's?

Never said it wasn't.

Still waiting for your list of trillions.

Picture an army of George Washingtons.

I'm assuming you mean cash, so we're talking oil then? If that's the case, bring on peak oil and alternative fuel sources, so we have less need to meddle in that region.