Why does Israel prosper while the Arab world does not? (70's, Europeans)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Although admittedly this an older list, and Moslem winners now total a dozen or so - such as Mohammad Younnus, founder of the micro-loans Grameen Bank.
Last edited by slowlane3; 07-18-2011 at 05:57 PM..
It's amazing that a mere 0.2% (1/500) component of the world's population can achieve this: http://www.jinfo.org/Nobel Prizes.html (broken link)
Isn't it funny how not a single Brazilian has ever played Major League Baseball. I guess they're just lousy athletes down there. Oh, wait, no American has ever played on a World Cup winner, either
Maybe different nationalities place their priorities on different accomplishments, not all of which are recognized by the Nobel Committee.
Has it escaped your notice that the Nobel Prize Committee is very heavily Eurocentric, and virtually every prize ever awarded was for effort furthering the Western culture, and almost every recipient working within the Western circle of cultural, scientific and economic endeavor? In recent years, they have made a trransparently phony effort to spread the Literature prize around the world, but otherwise, it is very heavily concentrated on work done in western universities to further the western world's develpment of the western idea of progress. And only a tiny number of those Jewish prize winners were actually citizens or residents of a predominatly Jewish nation, and were furthing the development of Judaeo-Christian global hegemony.
Since very few Chinese have ever won a Nobel Prize, can we conclude from that the Chinese are a backward bunch of underachievers with no respect for learning or cultural development, content to founder in an uncivilized backwater?
Isn't it funny how not a single Brazilian has ever played Major League Baseball. I guess they're just lousy athletes down there. Oh, wait, no American has ever played on a World Cup winner, either
Maybe different nationalities place their priorities on different accomplishments, not all of which are recognized by the Nobel Committee.
Yeah, how come there is no Nobel Prize for Achievement in Soccer?
I would question the claim that Israel has a quality of life better than most of the world.
In Israel the threat of violence walks next to you every day. Any package innocently left behind becomes an immediate bomb threat. The civilian population (at least those of the correct religion) are authorized to carry fully automatic assault weapons for personal defense.
Hostility between the descendents of Isaac and of Ishmael seethes beneath the surface - walls have been erected to keep them separate. The nation has an underclass that lives under a type of law seen now in modern day Israel and previously during the now gone days of South African apartheid.
Based simply upon these facts, I'd rank Israel rather low in quality of life.
I disagree.
I believe the Israelis do enjoy a very high quality of life ... and the things they enjoy are relatively safe and clean towns and cities, a good educational system, a good health care system, and a fantastic cultural life.
In my view - having lived in both places - I felt safer in Israel than I do in Philadelphia (and I'm a Philadelphian and love Philadelphia) ... in Israel "violence walks with you every day" .... SHEESH! Give me a break!
How many times have you been to Israel to make such a ridiculous assertion????
Longevity and life expectancy are higher in Israel than in the US.
After college I lived with a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem whilst I was engaged in an archeological excavation sponsored by Hebrew University under the direction of Dr. Yigal Shiloh. I understand both sides of the story. Yes, I am often critical of Israeli government policy. On the other hand I must concede that Israel has created one of the highest standards of living amongst the world's countries ... light years ahead of many of her Arab neighbors.
Has it escaped your notice that the Nobel Prize Committee is very heavily Eurocentric, and virtually every prize ever awarded was for effort furthering the Western culture, and almost every recipient working within the Western circle of cultural, scientific and economic endeavor?
Since very few Chinese have ever won a Nobel Prize, can we conclude from that the Chinese are a backward bunch of underachievers with no respect for learning or cultural development, content to founder in an uncivilized backwater?
Leaving aside the prizes for literature and peace (which are completely subjective), I think it's fair to say that the remaining categories (chemistry, physics, medicine and economics) are Eurocentric because that's where the development has been for the last several hundred years.
And Jews have been at the forefront of those fields for a lot of years. Muslims, by and large, haven't been (nor have the Chinese for that matter). Or are you suggesting that there's a large hadron collider hidden somewhere in the Saudi desert?
So, setting aside cultural measures (which are not really quantifiable) the Nobel prize argument holds a fair amount of water.
Lebanon was a successful country for about 30 years, and for many of those years was a better place to live than Israel. It was the only Arab country that worked as well as some European countries. Some more conspiratorially minded think that Israel attacked Lebanon in the 1970s in order to wipe out Lebanon's tourist industry (a theory I don't believe in).
Since the end of the Lebanese civil war there have been periods of peace in which Lebanon has done well.
Jews are God's chosen people. Thus God favors them and it is why they are so successful despite being in the Middle East - And surrounded by hostile neighbors who would like to see them eliminated.
Non Jews in the grand scheme of things, matter not as much as the Jewish state does. That includes Arab nations.
Israel vs. Arab countries: Describing Israel as a total success and Arabs as 100% failure is inaccurate as any generalization. Dubai and Qatar are also Arabs.
The middle east is going through a transitional period. Nobody knows where these countries will be 20 years from today.
I don't think anyone has said Israel is a total success and Arabs as failures...
I do think that had not been any European invasion, Lebanon and Palestina would be very affluent and democratic countries. Palestineans were very business-oriented and liberal people before loosing their land and being confined to concentration camps.
By the way, being against the state of Israel in Palestina does not mean you are anti-semitic.
The former Israeli Embassador in Spain declared yesterday in his farewell speech that "sections of the Spanish society are anti-semitic". No section of the Spanish society is anti-semitic, not even Franco and Falange were anti-semitic. It just happens that many people are against a Jewish State in Palestina.
Many perceive that European and Arab Jews have no right to occupy Palestina, and that Palestina belongs to Palestineans.
I think that Israel should be in Germany. The invading armies should have removed all Germans from some Lander and donated that territory to a Jewish Nation.
It would have been not a donation, but a reparation considering not only the Holocaust, but confiscations suffered by Jews all around occupied Nazi territory.
Without Israel, Lebanon would be a paradise now. All their wars were provoked by the Arab-Israeli conflict.
I do think that had not been any European invasion, Lebanon and Palestina would be very affluent and democratic countries. Palestineans were very business-oriented and liberal people before loosing their land and being confined to concentration camps.
By the way, being against the state of Israel in Palestina does not mean you are anti-semitic.
The former Israeli Embassador in Spain declared yesterday in his farewell speech that "sections of the Spanish society are anti-semitic". No section of the Spanish society is anti-semitic, not even Franco and Falange were anti-semitic. It just happens that many people are against a Jewish State in Palestina.
Many perceive that European and Arab Jews have no right to occupy Palestina, and that Palestina belongs to Palestineans.
I think that Israel should be in Germany. The invading armies should have removed all Germans from some Lander and donated that territory to a Jewish Nation.
It would have been not a donation, but a reparation considering not only the Holocaust, but confiscations suffered by Jews all around occupied Nazi territory.
Excellent proposal. The Germans perpetrated the holocaust and their posterity should have paid the price in terms of a territory in their midst.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
