CrimLaw

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OFF POINT
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I must say that this strikes me more as culture shock than an actual analysis of the reality. It reads like he got there and was shocked that he got the tourist treatment during his week in Egypt and (I assume) short time in Mecca on a haj. What can you expect?

Did he learn to shop at the stores in the neighborhoods rather than the suq (where they charge Arabs 5 times more and jack the price for gullible Americans even higher) or even to have the mandatory argument over prices (something Americans seem genetically predisposed not to do)? Did he get to know any of the Egyptians well? Yes, they are living poor but they have an amazing "we're all in this together" sort of attitude. Many are amazingly well educated. They have a pride in their history and a dedication to their country.

Mind you, I would not want to live in Egypt permanently myself. It is a semi-democratic, semi-open country. While it is the only country in the Middle East where I saw an opposition party member making a televised speech against some presidential policy, I have no delusions that there is any chance that the President will ever be "voted" out of office. Likewise, while the London Arabic papers were available the vast majority of citizens probably only saw the local papers which were subject to heavy government influence (mind you, the large number of Egyptian papers/magazines is a testimony to the literacy rate).

And there is an ongoing conflict with various radical Muslim groups posing a continuous threat to the very existence of a modern Egypt.

However, I am enough of a realist to realize that the primary reason I, and other Americans, couldn't take living there is the lack of wealth. While the people and government seem capable of providing necessities and some simple luxuries it is a far more austere world than ours. There are no opulent, overstocked malls. Few families, much less individuals, can afford a car. No 200 channel cable or 36" TV. No grocery stores with so much food that spoilage is a problem. Yes, I know this is petty but in the real world these are things people miss the most - Americans absolutely go into culture shock when they enter a society where such things are not available.

It took me at least 3 months to start becoming significantly acclimated to a culture which is so radically different and I spoke the language.

Personally, I always thought that Egypt was the best hope for the Middle East. I guess I always held out hope it could go through a transformation much as Mexico has done allowing other political parties to actually rise to power. In my opinion, it was the horse to back in the region. Realpolitik has rendered that opinion moot now that we have Kuwait and Iraq as client states of the American Empire. I don't disagree with the steps that we have taken in Iraq; I merely view the option of making efforts to bring ourselves into a closer relationship with an Egypt as an alternate path not taken.