Victory Soap v. 2.0

A short observation: what the current conflict boils down to is the fact that Arab culture, which dominates Muslim culture, is for the most part the opposite of Western culture. Until this is both recognized and dealt with we probably aren't going to get anywhere with these people.

Via Kathy Shaidle. Also, see this interesting article: "15 Rules For Understanding the Middle East." The whole Arab culture thing is one reason why Islam holds no attraction for me. More so than other religions it is dominated by a culture whose practices I am already inclined to abhor: oppression of women, prejudice against non-Arabs, slavery is still practiced, the whole "inshallah" thing, lazy men are revered and hard-working ones looked down on, family/tribe over country, a language that sounds like hacking and coughing. The writing is pretty, though.