But i see similar trends of hatred in North American with the ethnic issues. Only difference is that by law, in an artificial sense, the discrimination is discouraged, but it’s always inside people to a certain degree.. It’s a very tough line to draw between our culture and Middle Eastern culture.

This side of the world has obviously developed technology, and made lots of advancements in that avenue, and we have the largest stock exchange system, as well as a well-greased corporate environment, and the thing is, although we think this is a great advancement, many others around the world do not see it that way. In a different perspective, people are happier with simpler desires in life and simpler things to wish for in their lives, without the superficiality of North America. I want a nice car, I want a nice apartment with water views to Vancouver’s rivers mountains. But to those who have never developed that sense of desire - to those Chileans, for example, who are content being farmers who own goats, and value family and their land, all the stuff we have is not desirable. From our perspective we think that they would be so miserable living in a hut all their lives farming and milking their goats, but the truth is, because their lives are simpler and they have less things to want and desire, they are happier.

Have you ever heard of a psychological research that 100% of human beings who live in this “civilized” world have some sort of mental disability, whether it be mild or severe? It’s probably true. I have my issues with money, women etc. and you do too. And it’s not even our fault - it’s just that we live here.

Do the people who worship anacondas and alligators look at us and go “wow how come we can’t live like them?” No they don’t. I guess this also could be explained by the phrase “ignorance is bliss”.

On a closing note - a constructive counter-opinion is MUCH welcomed here. A lack of opinion is the worst thing in our side of the world. Thank you VERY VERY much for thsi great debate, I really appreciate it a lot!

The greatest thing, LeRoy, about intelligent people is that we admire the intellectual traits in others, not the opinions. I have several friends that I clash with ideologically, yet I am still very good friends with them because we appreciate the constructiveness and philosophy embedded in our chats, and that is a gift for us all. A person gets to a level where they admire the personality traits rather than the biases and the opinions, and that is a step above for sure!!!!

Cheers mate!

Jeff, re:
In a philosophical sense, there is no “advancement” in civilization. A civilization with more money and more technology may seem flashy and people greedily want it, but it is no better or worse than another civilization that has no medicinal knowledge and still worships alligators.
Depending on one’s point of view, maybe. In my eyes, we absolutely have a better civilization that the alligator worshippers, and certainly better than that of the Middle East. We value human life on a level that those people do not, and we always strive to be better, and improve ourselves. Whether we do or not, that’s subjective of course. But the desire is there, and it’s apparent.
With cultures like those in the Middle East, all that’s apparent is that they hate everyone who is not *exactly* like they are. They hate Americans, Jews, even people of the other Muslim sub-religion ( no idea what to call it - Shi’a vs Sunni ).

They regularly take out their aggression and anger by killing those they don’t like. Innocent bystanders be damned, they’re going to kill who they want. And they have shown no little signs of progressing past this archaic mentality, and it’s doubtful that they ever will.

Do my opinions contradict each other? Maybe. I think the Middle East culture is backwards and convoluted. But I don’t think we have any business forcing change on them, except as it pertains to them hurting us directly. In the case of Iraq, they have not.

We often seem to think that the Middle Easterners are “less advanced” or “less civilized” but that’s never the case. Nobody can truly say that about any other culture. Even Cannibals in Africa - that’s how they live, and what they are used to. I don’t see it any superior or inferior to North American culture.

The North American democracy, in essence, is a different economical format basically that opens competition to everyone (more or less) and if you flip this around and think about it, the people from Africa and the Middle East could laugh at how materialistic we are, how complicated we’ve made life, and how we’re destroying our own climate.

In a philosophical sense, there is no “advancement” in civilization. A civilization with more money and more technology may seem flashy and people greedily want it, but it is no better or worse than another civilization that has no medicinal knowledge and still worships alligators.

I’m used to this world so I couldn’t live anywhere else but the same applies to those people. They cannot be forced into a different form of society that others feel is better.

It’s a change that each country or region has to make on their own. The line between domestic influence and foreign influence can be shady, however. Iran and Syria influencing Iraq would be justified, but USA influencing Iraq is NOT justified though. That should be a standard.

That being said, I have to disagree with your theory. Democracy is the best type of government in the world. That is why the most successful nations in the world have a democratic government, and why the problem-riddled nations employ some lesser form of government. Just take a look at the Middle East as a whole. Democracy is a foreign concept there, and just look at them. They’ve done a great job of killing each other and making no progress in the world for thousands of years. Couldn’t hurt to go down a different road and see what happens, eh?