Reply #52: Frankly, this is the same disparaging argument

[Ben Ceremos]

which "Westerners" have been indicting other cultures with for centuries. Saudi society is DIFFERENT than American society. (I am NOT suggesting that they aren't as human as we are or such tripe.) Saudi, and Arabic cultures in general, place a higher value on family life, social cohesion and group dynamics than Americans and Europeans. I am not arrogant enough to destroy their way of life just to impose my ideas on them. Difference is the essence of the human experience, so why are we demanding homogeneity? Furthermore, has anyone in this forum considered that destabilizing another culture is the first essential in waging war on them? United we stand, divided we fall; as such, the Saudis are right to reject these fabricated critiques in order to save themselves from the same fate that has befallen all the other vaguely Westernized countries in the region, namely, internecine strife, civil war and dissolution at the hands of the Western political powers. All of these claims about women in SA being afraid to speak, etc. are hollow when compared to the fact that in the West, women are in deeper shit than in Arabic and Islamic countries. Lower wages, lack of health care (essential for the female anatomy)and domestic violence are the common lot of nearly all but the wealthiest American women. I must also say that American society ladies are just as "kept" as their Saudi counterparts, this I have experienced first hand. If husbands don't want them to do something, a stern look is all that is needed to telescope the subtle violence of male dominance.
If America is to ever climb out of the delusions that have ruined it in 5 short years, then Americans must begin to RESPECT DIFFERENCE while working cooperatively to advance the progressive causes in foreign lands. Anything less than this will lead us back to the hatred and suffering that are visiting the relationships we have with so many Arabic countries.