After short term turmoil, it will turn for the better

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Aug 27, 2011 at 23:30

Dear Dr Pipes:

Looking back, the middle eastern dictators all the way from the Shah of Iran and past Kings of Afghanistan to Asads, ben Alis, Saddam Hussains, and Mubaraks were a lot better than their replacements. This is because the hotchpotch of socialism, islamism and fascism that these guys followed is way better than any conceivable Islamic theocracy. So it is natural if the non-Islamic world is apprehensive about the latest changes in middle east. It is quite possible that the entire region from Morocco to Islamabad degenerates into Afghanistan and Iran style anarchies and islamist dictatorships.

But I am more hopeful than that. There are two root causes of the Arab spring. The first is about human nature. All people, even Islamists, like freedom. The reason so much of the Arab world stood up against the dictators so quickly is that they realized that they were not getting as much freedom of thought and economic progress as they deserved. This realization provided a motivation for the uprising. The second is about technology. In this age of Facebook and YouTube people's horizons about what is possible expanded and so did their ability to communicate, organize, and enjoy freedom. The same technology that allowed people to stand up against the Arab dictators, will enable them to stand up against the Mullahs because Mullahs are just another variety of dictators. For no fault of their own, the people in the Islamic societies currently see Islamism as a panacea for their problems. They see no other options. Very soon the people in Islamic societies willl realize that Islamic fundamentalism is the problem and not the solution. The collapse of fundamentalism will occur sooner than we think. For every child who ends up in the Madrassa there will be many more who will end up on the Internet. And some of those who end up on the Internet, will encounter creative music, creative art, mathematics, science and philosophy. No one has to do any thing to enable this process. It will happen by itself. We can do things to accelerate this process but it is an unstoppable force that the Ayatollahs, Emirs and Mullahs will not be able to stop.

One way bad regimes die is that they get starved economically (like communism and socialism). The demise of fundamentalist Islam must have already occurred if the oil wealth had not been there in that part of the world. Anyway the non-Islamic world can move away from OPEC controlled oil is a way to accelerate the demise of fundamentalism. Anyway the non-Islamic world can spread the word about freedom is a way to accelerate the demise of fundamentalism. Let us continue to do so.

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