The Arabic-Speaking Peoples and their Love for Right Wing Western Politicians
It has always baffled me why so many of my fellow Arabic speaking peoples love radical right wing Western leaders, from Adolf Hitler to Richard Nixon and now Donald J Trump. I have never found a satisfactory explanation except to concede that we apparently respect aggressive, uncompromising, deeply conservative, absolutist, even-a-little-corrupt leaders and see in them a reflection of ourselves or our alter egos, or maybe we see in them the ideal patriarchal figurehead, a bit angry, a bit loud, a bit old fashioned but well meaning and dependable, a person able to get results.
My former boss, a fellow Arab and a man I greatly respect, considered Nixon a close personal friend. Having substantial resources, back in the 80s he even produced a 20-hour television interview series with Nixon, it was intended as an eloquent retort to what many on the right back then considered the skewed image of Nixon that came out in the historic Frost interview. I believe all 20-hours can be viewed at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum at Yorba Linda, CA, or so I was told by my former boss.
Many in my own family in fact are so right leaning, so conservative, so mired in outdated tradition and hyper religiosity that some of their views truly disturb me. Many of my kith and kin who have chosen to migrate aboard and settle in the States even voted for Donald Trump! Horror of horrors!
I always believed most conservatives to be a little dull witted and slow, simple, meat and potatoes folk who do not want to stray too far from tradition and long held and indeed deeply cherished prejudices, that they gravitate to the most extreme position and the person propounding that position. The issue of legalizing Cannabis is a particular hot button topic and favorite of the extreme right, they somehow manage to include all known narcotics under the banner of Mary-Jane and blame hippie potheads as being behind the declining moral standards of our time and the corruption of the youth.
This is an especially significant subject to the average conservative middle class Lebanese, for whom any talk of legalization conjures up images of war-time warlords planting opium poppy in the many empty stretches of field that were once the no mans lands separating combatants during our 1975-90 civil war. In fact, the continued regime of near-global prohibition aimed at all drugs, including Cannabis, is what is contributing to greater drug-trade-driven violence. As the so-called 'War on Drugs' continues and intestines in the US, as it usually does under Republican Presidents, the cost of transporting product rises which means the street value of drugs goes up, making the trade even more lucrative and competitive. What strict prohibition does, in fact we know this from prohibition on alcohol in the US in the last century, is it creates a new and powerful class of drug billionaires with the resources to control governments in countries producing illegal narcotics. It is a vicious cycle, but its also a very old fashioned, traditional response to a long standing criminal problem that has created a dire social problem,. Conservatives like old fashioned and traditional, even if their approach is clearly not working.
Another thing that my Arabic speaking compatriots like about right leaning conservative politicians in the West is their position on race and homosexuality, the later being of great importance. Arabs are generally speaking, Muslims and Christians, still in the dark ages when it comes to recognizing and accepting homosexuals as valuable members of society instead of deviant criminals. In fact, I am prepared to bet that in the actual dark ages views on homosexuality were more enlightened than those of present day Arab politicians and leaders. Of course, Africa is a lot worse, confessed homosexuals are actually arrested and sentenced to life in prison in Uganda, for example. I bet the British (former colonial masters in Uganda) are really congratulating one another on the Ugandan accomplishment, first Idi Amin now this!
Conservatives are nearly always closet racists. The roots of conservatism in the West are tainted, in the 1930s for example, the British Conservative government funneled funds and weapons to Franco's fascists in Spain. Evidence of this deep love for Spanish fascists is the fact they were allowed by the victorious allies to remain in power in Spain after the war ended while both German and Italian fascist leaders and their collaborators were dealt with very harshly.
I've always suspected that Spain's willingness to tolerate fascist rule for so long was their proximity to the Arab-Muslim model of rule in the Iberian peninsula, in addition, Spanish Catholics are extremely conservative, which makes them more likely to vote for right. leaning politicians
In our world, there is an unholy trinity, an alliance between political conservatives, the religious right and individuals with intolerant even fascist leanings, this lethal concoction has produced several nightmare scenario possibilities, some of which are actually beginning to play out right now is slow motion. In the US, the Trump White House has proven itself so deeply divided from within, so corrupt and inept that it is unlikely Trump would last much longer before criminal charges are laid at his door and the possibility of impeachment looms large.
I'm not too worried about Trump's long term impact on America though, Americans are smart and are waking up to the nightmare they have elected for a leader. America is resilient and in the next elections, if Trump is not impeached before then, he will be voted out of office. But what worries me more are elections in our own Middle East/Levant and specifically in my native Lebanon. Most political parties that won seats in our parliament can be correctly described as right leaning or deeply conservative, regardless whether they are lining up behind Iran or Saudi Arabia. The few liberal parties around, like the Hezeb Sab3a or the Civil Society alliance Kulluna Watan, had a poor turn out, people simply didn't vote for them as much as these parties thought they would. In fact there are few sitting MPs in parliament today that can be described as liberal or left leaning, in fact the vast majority are deeply conservative and some are even radical right in my view.
We saw the same situation is some Eastern European countries where right wing parties swept to power in the polls. It seems there is a trend in lesser developed countries that aspire to greater stability to vote for the old fashioned, loud, angry, brash and conservative firebrand over the liberal intellectual who wishes to throw issues open for debate and propose long term visions for a country through rational, balanced and sustainable policies. We are indeed living in dangerous unpredictable times.
My former boss, a fellow Arab and a man I greatly respect, considered Nixon a close personal friend. Having substantial resources, back in the 80s he even produced a 20-hour television interview series with Nixon, it was intended as an eloquent retort to what many on the right back then considered the skewed image of Nixon that came out in the historic Frost interview. I believe all 20-hours can be viewed at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum at Yorba Linda, CA, or so I was told by my former boss.
Many in my own family in fact are so right leaning, so conservative, so mired in outdated tradition and hyper religiosity that some of their views truly disturb me. Many of my kith and kin who have chosen to migrate aboard and settle in the States even voted for Donald Trump! Horror of horrors!
I always believed most conservatives to be a little dull witted and slow, simple, meat and potatoes folk who do not want to stray too far from tradition and long held and indeed deeply cherished prejudices, that they gravitate to the most extreme position and the person propounding that position. The issue of legalizing Cannabis is a particular hot button topic and favorite of the extreme right, they somehow manage to include all known narcotics under the banner of Mary-Jane and blame hippie potheads as being behind the declining moral standards of our time and the corruption of the youth.
This is an especially significant subject to the average conservative middle class Lebanese, for whom any talk of legalization conjures up images of war-time warlords planting opium poppy in the many empty stretches of field that were once the no mans lands separating combatants during our 1975-90 civil war. In fact, the continued regime of near-global prohibition aimed at all drugs, including Cannabis, is what is contributing to greater drug-trade-driven violence. As the so-called 'War on Drugs' continues and intestines in the US, as it usually does under Republican Presidents, the cost of transporting product rises which means the street value of drugs goes up, making the trade even more lucrative and competitive. What strict prohibition does, in fact we know this from prohibition on alcohol in the US in the last century, is it creates a new and powerful class of drug billionaires with the resources to control governments in countries producing illegal narcotics. It is a vicious cycle, but its also a very old fashioned, traditional response to a long standing criminal problem that has created a dire social problem,. Conservatives like old fashioned and traditional, even if their approach is clearly not working.
Another thing that my Arabic speaking compatriots like about right leaning conservative politicians in the West is their position on race and homosexuality, the later being of great importance. Arabs are generally speaking, Muslims and Christians, still in the dark ages when it comes to recognizing and accepting homosexuals as valuable members of society instead of deviant criminals. In fact, I am prepared to bet that in the actual dark ages views on homosexuality were more enlightened than those of present day Arab politicians and leaders. Of course, Africa is a lot worse, confessed homosexuals are actually arrested and sentenced to life in prison in Uganda, for example. I bet the British (former colonial masters in Uganda) are really congratulating one another on the Ugandan accomplishment, first Idi Amin now this!
Conservatives are nearly always closet racists. The roots of conservatism in the West are tainted, in the 1930s for example, the British Conservative government funneled funds and weapons to Franco's fascists in Spain. Evidence of this deep love for Spanish fascists is the fact they were allowed by the victorious allies to remain in power in Spain after the war ended while both German and Italian fascist leaders and their collaborators were dealt with very harshly.
I've always suspected that Spain's willingness to tolerate fascist rule for so long was their proximity to the Arab-Muslim model of rule in the Iberian peninsula, in addition, Spanish Catholics are extremely conservative, which makes them more likely to vote for right. leaning politicians
In our world, there is an unholy trinity, an alliance between political conservatives, the religious right and individuals with intolerant even fascist leanings, this lethal concoction has produced several nightmare scenario possibilities, some of which are actually beginning to play out right now is slow motion. In the US, the Trump White House has proven itself so deeply divided from within, so corrupt and inept that it is unlikely Trump would last much longer before criminal charges are laid at his door and the possibility of impeachment looms large.
I'm not too worried about Trump's long term impact on America though, Americans are smart and are waking up to the nightmare they have elected for a leader. America is resilient and in the next elections, if Trump is not impeached before then, he will be voted out of office. But what worries me more are elections in our own Middle East/Levant and specifically in my native Lebanon. Most political parties that won seats in our parliament can be correctly described as right leaning or deeply conservative, regardless whether they are lining up behind Iran or Saudi Arabia. The few liberal parties around, like the Hezeb Sab3a or the Civil Society alliance Kulluna Watan, had a poor turn out, people simply didn't vote for them as much as these parties thought they would. In fact there are few sitting MPs in parliament today that can be described as liberal or left leaning, in fact the vast majority are deeply conservative and some are even radical right in my view.
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| Mom and I after voting... civil society remains the last hope and most viable option for this country. Better luck next election |
We saw the same situation is some Eastern European countries where right wing parties swept to power in the polls. It seems there is a trend in lesser developed countries that aspire to greater stability to vote for the old fashioned, loud, angry, brash and conservative firebrand over the liberal intellectual who wishes to throw issues open for debate and propose long term visions for a country through rational, balanced and sustainable policies. We are indeed living in dangerous unpredictable times.
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