“I don’t believe that rape is any more common in Africa that it is anywhere else. “
Tribalism and shamanism in Africa is rampant, many think they gain the attributes of an animal by eating it. They think they can cure AIDS by molesting young virgins.
This is how primitive the place is.
If you think all cultures are equal, they are not.
Did I say that I did?
But, what do I know? We just LIVED and WORKED in Saudi Arabia for five years. We BOTH worked with Saudis in the Eastern Province, not 100 yards from the Arabia Gulf.
BETCHA you DIDN'T know that the folks over there call it the ARABIAN GULF, not the PERSIAN GULF.
As for tribalism, I KNOW all about their tribal ties, MAYBE even more than you do. Where we lived had a rather large contingent of SHI'ITE Muslims, EVEN THOUGH it was Saudi Arabia...SUNNI Muslim. You probably didn't know that either.
Buuuuut, we were over there LIVING and WORKING with the Saudis for five years...what on earth do I know? YOU obviously know FAR more about them, never having lived or worked there, never having been acquainted with them, seeing how they lived, shopped, worked. You never saw them interact with their families, children, relatives, etc., but you know all about their culture.
I certainly did meet a few jerks...but then jerks are all over the world. NO country has a corner on jerks, fools, aholes, fools or morons. We all have our share.
MOSTLY I met nice people BECAUSE the Saudis were VERY WELL acquainted with Americans...having them live in their kingdom since the 1930's.
One old Saudi spoke some Italian, from the days when there were some Italians there. I was talking about water and he popped up with "acqua minerale." Lol, that floored me.
God made the Bedu the poorest people on earth, living in that spider-infested desert, scraping a living from herding the black, triangle-tailed goats, but ... after petroleum discoveries, 200 MORE years worth, the Bedu are now God's wealthiest people.
NOW they have universal, unlimited health/dental care, universal education up to and including medical school, cars, cars and more cars, and HUGE Mercedes trucks that patrol the camps with full blown, undiluted DDT that spray and spray and spray and spray and spray and spray and spray and spray and spray. Doesn't kill ALL the camel spiders, mosquitoes or bugs but it helps.
The Saudis DID finally kill their SICK mosquitoes, the ones that gave malaria. HOWEVER, sick Kenyans, with malaria still in their system, came to work in the KSA and reinfected the "healthy" Saudi mosquitoes.
Now they have to spray some more and be more careful with their immigrant workers from east Africa.
It's a pit hole to work in, but they pay SO much money, that it doesn't take long to make a BUNDLE.
ALSO, those Americans who work for Saudi ARAMCO pay NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX on their income from Saudi ARAMCO.
We were out of our state for more than a year so we weren't residences there any more and therefore paid no STATE INCOME TAX. Five years there was enough to set us up for good.