Why are we not surprised?

Submitted by Arvind Madhavan (India), Jun 17, 2005 at 14:51

It is said that one can remove a man out of his country, but not the country out of the man. This saying is at its truest when applied to the Saudi Arabians. The modern Saudi man (or woman) is a myth. Apart from a very few examples, Saudis throughout the world live with the mentality of their 7th century predecessors. Their modernity extends only upto their outerskin, they would wear the best clothes, drive the best cars, live in the best houses, yet their outlook of other people (and why? towards Moslems of lower stature too) is appalling, being filled with prejudices and bigotry. No doubt, this same mentality was responsible for the rise of Wahhabism. No doubt, this same mentality makes them treat the foreigners in their sandcursed 'country' with barbarious and oppressive laws. By the way, we need not expect any level of outrage from any liberal or secular media, they exist only to remind the West of its flaws.

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