Islamists are taking the Egyptian elections by storm. Frankly, after dredging up this sobering poll, that’s as much of a surprise as hearing that Jeremy Clarkson has annoyed the left-wing…
When you make Pakistan’s society appear relatively liberal you’ve got big problems…
With those numbers, in a country that’s 90% Muslim, the fact that Islamists are winning is only a little more surprising than the fact that Egyptians are winning. It’s incredibly depressing but if we’re honest it was depressingly predictable.
D0es my failure to support the popular will mean I have some kind of imperialist desire to impose my vision of a society on their’s? God, no. Aside from the charity we may extend to victims of their system there’s nothing we should do. There’s nothing that we can do. Critics of “interventionism” have rightly insisted that you can’t impose liberal democracy. Nor, in cultures distinct from yours, can you expect it. There’s no creed we’re naturally inclined towards and there’s no system our societies are naturally progressing to. That’s why universalism is a futile dogma and internationalism is so limited.
“Our” only course of action is to leave them to it. The same poll I’ve drawn from found that they’re relatively peaceful in their view of other nations. I think secularism and individual choice make for a functional and, er – fun society but if they disagree that’s their problem.
December 13, 2011 at 12:25 am
[...] say, isn’t somehow ingrained within us – we’ve just dreamed it up. This, again, is why universalism, as desireable as it may be, is futile: recent events should drive this home [...]
March 18, 2012 at 11:20 pm
[...] are points I’ve explored before. Of course, Woody and Vlad were limited to pontificating at the Russkies and Germans from a [...]
April 1, 2012 at 11:47 pm
[...] women won’t be able to achieve the freedom they desire – and, indeed, times when people won’t desire freedom at all – but occasions such as this should lead us to remember that it isn’t our [...]
January 31, 2013 at 12:52 pm
[...] we consider illegitimate may not have laudable ambitions themselves. We could take note of their actual opinions rather than projecting ours onto [...]