Speaking from inside the culture, Omar Sharif may have a perspective that escapes most “reformers” that want to impose democracy on the Islamic states.
Islam, as it is now constituted, is one of the most anti-democratic, authoritarian cultural constructs on the planet, rivaling that of a pride of lions. At the center is the alpha male, surrounded and supported by a coterie of females, to whom the chores of procuring food and raising the young is delegated. The male has the singular duty of keeping the other males of his species away from his females, and for the most part, the young. Young males are much more aggressive than would be the case, and take great risks, partly to display their potential fitness to take over an existing harem, should one of the older alpha males fail to maintain his authority over the pride, and partly because they have an excess of testosterone and no place to discharge it otherwise. Think strapping on a bomb vest and walking into a herd of water buffalo.
The preachings of The Prophet are the ravings of a totally self-absorbed madman. There is no empathy, and no directive remotely like the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule.
Those are the things that make the consideration of something like “democracy” possible. Without empathy and a code of law that recognizes the rights of other, there is no dialogue.
( standing applause) HERE HERE!
Here we Americans are, our culture, our success, our mirculous relative harmony, and our parents and most of our values -- all of it the product of 4000 or so generations of societites living, at least striving toward abiding by Judeo-Christian foundations. Christianity exists for a reason. Ultimately it's got to come down to declaring a Judeo-Christian right to reject others who would impose their ethic against it. The cool thing about it is that you don't get your head chopped off if you don't believe in Christ, if you consider all religion a bunch of hokum. Fine if you want -- just abide by the ethic is all that's asked. Respect others as you would like to be respected yourself. We must be overtly Christian warriors to succeed. Yet American liberalism has villainized Judeo-Christian identity.
The old actor has gone from marking the tress with his urine to marking the tops of his shoes with the same. The alpha male by the name of Omar Sharif is nothing more than a distant memory saved on celluloid.