http://pnews.org/ Progressive News & Views (since 1982)
Hank, you are too pessimistic. Our Brooklyn experience is more the wave of the future -- our American Muslims are much in touch with their relatives back there, so if we treat of Muslin citizens properly here we have a direct link there. Let me give you an anecdote. I was heading home one night which means a two block walk to the subway when I heard the chatter of young women's happy voices (in English) overtaking me. I assumed that they were typical students. When they passed me by (I am tired and slowed at the end of a long teaching day), I saw an epiphany of the Muslim transition in America. One or two were wearing traditional Muslim women's garb -- long dresses and scarves. Several had the scarves but no long dresses. And several were in T-shirts and shorts with no scarves. I know from conversations with my Muslim students that their parents press them to maintain the old traditions -- this is true of most of our newer immigrants (e.g. Greeks) and I could tell tales of the modern equivalent of Abbie's Irish Rose in which both must keep secret from their families that they have fallen in love with someone outside their group, alas. Let's look to the future. From all reports a number of the younger ones over there (e.g. in Iran where the average age is quite young) are most drawn to our youth culture -- if Bush would stop threatening military invasion and/or rockets from on high. I don't think you have the advantage that I have of such direct contact with our newest generation -- too silent, but not killers either. Israel and Palestine need to build upon their youth as well -- don't cite the case of the young Arab woman who had killed a young Israeli attracted to her on the net. There are excellent programs working in this direction. See links on the Israel/Palestine list. I was as a teen involved with such a peace-making effort when a student in Britain with British and German teens -- I had to change side midway when we played football (soccer) to maintain neutrality -- but it loosened us up from our parents' hatreds. And don't forget those Arab coffee houses where the kids can access the net. Best, Ed Hank Roth wrote: > http://pnews.org/ > Progressive News & Views (since 1982) > > > In spite of the Muslim students you have taught, MOST Muslims are not > ready for college nor modernity. Most are illiterate. > >>From Spanger: > > Excluding Indonesia, the Muslims world literacy rate stands at only 53%, > against 81% for China; Arab literacy is only 50%. Only 1% of the > population owns a personal computer. It is delusional to believe that the > Arab world, which now exports (net of oil) as much as Finland, might come > to compete with China, India and the rest of Asia in the global market for > goods and services. > > Just as the Muslim population peaks, the one bounty that nature has > bestowed upon the Arabs, namely oil, will begin to diminish. According to > the US Department of Energy, conventional oil production will peak just > before 2050 at the present 2% rate of production growth. > > In short, the Muslim world half a century from now can expect the short > end of the stick from the modern world. It has generated only two great > surpluses, namely people and oil. By the middle of the century both of > these will have begun to dwindle. But at the moment it has 25 million idle > young men. No leader can remain in power who does not give them a > destination to march to. > > By no means does that imply that all of these 25 million will become > suicide bombers, but a great many of them are likely to emigrate to > Europe, including Eastern Europe, where populations are stagnant and about > to decline. A Muslim takeover of Western Europe surely is a possible > outcome. > > Notes > [1] Suha Taji-Farouki and Basheer M. Nafi, Islamic Thought in the > Twentieth Century (Tauris: London 2004), p 9 > [2] Ibid, p 2 > [3] Op cit, p 14 > [4] Economist, July 4, 2002 > > http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GH23Aa01.html -- "A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli) -- Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/ http://www.bloggernews.net |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| pnews-news - (NEWS) - Send "subscribe" or "unsub" in subject to pnews-news-request(at)inyourface.info pnews-views - (VIEWS) - Send "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" as subject to pnews-views-request(at)inyourface.info |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Everything begins at The Worm Hole: http://pnews.org/ ----- Something Really Nice for your Honey - http://blackhillsg0ld.com/ Something Really Sexy for Her for Holloween: http://tinyurl.com/q878y --------------------------------------------- NEVER pay for a podcast again: Check it out - http://tinyurl.com/mnr7r -----
