[weenie]

Why are we not able to criticize ourselves and [why do] we view anyone who tries to do so as an enemy of the nation and of its principles, and other things of this kind that make some people afraid to think?

Excellent and honest question...rare in that part of the world.

The answer is most likely that your culture isn't self-examining because it is based on Islam and any critical examination of Islam is blasphemy.

If the thing at the center of one's heart cannot be examined, examination tends to extend only outward...ergo the paranoid projections so prevalent in the Islamic world and the reason Muslims always blame others for their problems.

[narby]

The answer is most likely that your culture isn't self-examining because it is based on Islam and any critical examination of Islam is blasphemy.

No different than a few of the "Christians" out there in the Creationism threads. They have their interpretation of the first two chapters in Genesis, and they let it set their entire view of the world. Won't listen even to another Christian that disagrees.

[hinckley buzzard]

Well said. I like the Churchill quote on your homepage: prescient!