This was a miniscule liberal elite

Submitted by Asok (United Arab Emirates), Mar 7, 2012 at 12:19

Your mention of 1920-50s Egypt and Lebanon as secular societies is a very superficial view of the tiny liberal elite that was ruling the masses. The mass of population was very conservative and tribal society.

The difference was that media had not exposed the masses to the oppression being carried out across arab world by western governments in collusion with this elite. Thus there was no seething hostility towards the west. Now not only is there more awareness, but also accessibility to western targets.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".