Alcohol is strictly forbidden in Saudi Arabia, but its there, there are Saudis who drink, as well as Saudis who break every other rule you can think of. It just takes more planning there, than elsewhere...
I was once invited over for drinks by a Saudi. Thanks, I don't drink, I said... but you're a Christian, he said, you're allowed to... I replied, yes, but its not obligatory...
I've been told by arab christians, and I've observed it myself (I think) that muslims view Christians as more-or-less exotic creatures who get to do all the things that are forbidden to them. And whats more, we do them with no apparent sense of guilt. When muslims convert, they are thought by other muslims to have done so not out of conviction but so they can drink and dance with women.
This has to do with the fact that, to them, the West is Christian, and therefor everything Westerners do is generically "christian". Thus they associate freedom in general, including freedom in moral issues, with Christianity.
This does extend to all the filth that comes out of Hollywood, which is eagerly consumed by these folks. They are drawn to it, and repulsed by it at the same time. Again, they associate all of that with Christianity.
It should be pointed out that moral depravity is certainly a part of muslim culture, it is obviously not a western invention. But most people consider their own depravity to be tolerable, and the other guy's depravity to be disgusting, and that is certainly the case with these folks. What is different in the West is the basic assumption that people have the right to make private judgments on matters of faith and morality, that people have the right to make mistakes, and a general reticence to pass judgment on others. In general terms this reduces the need for public hypocrisy.
In a place like Saudi Arabia, public hypocrisy is a survival skill.
To push this thought a little further, during my time in Saudi Arabia, once I had settled in, I found it rather peaceful and low stress. Saudi news is pretty limited, with most of the bad stuff left out. CNN would come on for an hour or so after I went to bed, so I seldom watched it.
But when I did, I found it hair-raising, extremely disturbing. It was wall to wall serial killings, child molestations, congressional scandals, awful stuff. When you watch that stuff in the US, it just rolls off, you see it in perspective, you are just seeing the man-bites-dog stories, you know the normal run of the country isn't like that. Your normal everyday life is not like that.
But seen from outside the US, with nothing to give balance, with nothing to place it in perspective, CNN news comes across like the ravings of a lunatic raving about a lunatic nation. You can't imagine how the US looks when seen through such a tiny lens as CNN, from a distance. And when the only other lens you have, for perspective, is Hollywood, you have to know that the US looks like a very scary place.
How many movies have they made over the years in which Vietnam Vets are psycho killers? Just for example. We know thats just Hollywood. Foreigners assume thats who we are.
Islam is a matter of appearances (and only then inside Dar al-Islam)...whereas Christianity (real Christianity) is about a complete change of heart.
Christianity is about purging oneself of sin and islam is about the mechanical adherence to rules (and those rules are incredibly circuitous...but finally permitting the most unimaginable sexual perversion).
Islam is seductive because it offers a false path to righteousness. Islam says you can have your cake and eat it too.
Excellent point. I hadn't thought of that before, or of the fact that what they see of their own country is, in a sense, very limited and only what the government wants them to see.
They don't see the daily bad things in their local news, and the daily bad stuff is certainly not used as a basis for movies or television. For example, I have read that Iran has the highest AIDS rate in the ME, because of prostitution and drug use in its poorer provinces - but I bet this does not appear on their TV; while if you looked at American television, you would think that about 95% of us were druggies and thugs, except for the other 5%, which is composed of celebrity sluts. Not exactly an accurate view, and we know this - but they don't, and furthermore, they don't know the bad stuff about their own countries.
Very interesting, and something I imagine you can only know by having spent time in their countries (or by reading great posts on FR!).
You make a good point. In war, it is customary to employ propaganda to demonize your enemy. That is happening in this war too, except our enemy's propaganda is being supplied by Hollywood and the networks.