by Saracen » Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:10 pm
Boris Johnson's (if that really is him) link is an interesting read. Most eye-catching were the last few lines.
"As was evident after Danish cartoons of Muhammad were published in 2006, politicians and religious leaders in the region use perceived insults to Islam to rally public support.
Protests began to spread from Egypt to other countries - spurred on perhaps by local media - because of a long-standing mistrust and anger at the West, something a number of groups have been able to capitalise upon.
Disillusionment, lack of opportunity and anger at the establishment can cause protests in any context."
Psychologically speaking, it makes sense: a people living in a developing nation who are by and large disenfranchised, have little say in or control over what goes on in their lives, and have been sitting under the shadow of corruption and greed will project their feelings of anger in any way possible, a volatile situation that involves a lot of misdirection. Given the state of affairs in the Arab world right now with the whole Arab Spring and the political upheavals that Libya and Egypt recently experienced, it's not difficult to see why such projection can come about.
Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. - Frank Herbert