Are tribal cultures suited to democracy?
Good question.
Some thoughts I've had on this very subject:
There are 3rd world countries, 4th world, 5th world and some that hardly rate the title of "civilized". It’s difficult to grasp something as complex a concept of freedom when, during their entire world history, these tribes or nations have never once experienced freedom.
Many nations/tribes do not collectively possess the intellectual capacity of a 9v battery. IMO they are still evolving and many westerners fail to view them in this manner. We'd rather instill our cultural views of fair-play upon them, feed them and force upon them concepts they are not ready to understand.
Democracy is not only a physical and individual concept, but a freedom to think and to imagine. To think one must have the aptitude and ability, to imagine one must have the latitude and the freedom to do so.
One must remember western cultures were still burning witches until just a few hundred years ago. Why did we stop the persecution of these witches? We got smarter. We stopped believing everything the church leaders said. We became more intelligent individually and collectively. Our tribe evolved. We would no longer stand to be fooled or blinded. We gave our tribal members the freedom to think and the latitude to imagine without fear of religious retaliation.
Enter islam.
islam very effectively removes this freedom of thought and replaces it with fear. Now mix in a few despots and BAM you’ve got the perfect mix for ideological slavery.
IMO islam is not a religion but a population control measure cloaked as a religion (don’t know what a population control measure is? Do some reading on communism.):
" All four imams (the founders of the four schools of Islamic law) -- may Allah have mercy upon them -- agree that the apostate whose fall from Islam is beyond doubt -- may Allah forbid it -- must be killed, and his blood must be spilled without reservation. The hypocrite and heretic (zindiq) who poses as a Muslim but has secretly remained an unbeliever must also be killed." (The Penalties for Apostasy in Islam by 'Abdurrahmani'l-Djaziri)
islam leaves no room for freedom of thought or imagination.
Without freedom of thought there is no likelihood of democracy.
This is also why this war in Iraq is so important. If we are able to break their fear of islamic retribution, if we can show them they can be free both physically and intellectually, if we can give them a taste of democracy it will light a fire that will set in motion a chain of events that will lead to the downfall of every despot tribal leader in the middle east, Africa etc.
But these despots know what democracy brings with it will not go without a fight. They will continue to exploit the islamic religion and it's laws as a means of instilling terror in their tribes thus maintaining their grip on power. They will continue to sponsor international terrorism as a means of deception and will only fight the islamic terrorists when they threaten their seat of power.
Their days are numbered. The information age is upon us. (The house of fahd is actually embracing the idea of allowing women to drive.
) I'd give them about 200 more years before their tribes evolve and accept the concept of democracy. Until then good luck on keeping nuclear weapons out of their ideologically "challenged" hands………
TS