On Tuesday 18 September 2001 04:22, Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
| And if you go to Riyadh today, it is the worst of Western urban
| sprawl, fast food, junk strip malls and cars. Of course, it has
| been their decision to import this aspect of the West, but many a
| Saudi look with sorrow at what their country has become. When I
| fist went to the Kingdom, I expected more in the way of exotica:
| Arab influenced architecture, local food, local customs. I found a
| major street called 'Pepsi Road' because the bottling plant is
| there. And more fast food per square foot than I ever thought was
| possible. And MTV on the TV. And far too much poorly built and
| maintained '70s western-style concrete block buildings. This is
| what they think American culture is. It is, sadly, what we export
| so well. It is not us. We are much more. But to these countries,
| this is their experience. If I had a culture and it was replaced
| with this, I would be upset. Too bad they don't understand that the
| choice was theirs all along. But they don't want to take the blame
| for the situation. So, we are called 'cultural imperialists'. And
| the royal family our co-conspirators.
yeah. not so bad in kuwait city, but it was amazing in a truly
horrible sort of way that the in-flight movie i *always* drew was
tennage mutant ninja turtles 3 dubbed in arabic. and egyptian soap
operas. frankly, i would far rather have seen their equivalent of our
old fess parker as davy crockett. a little dunes-n-robes stuff.
--
dep
There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand;
Beware the
People weeping
When they bare the iron hand.
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