That is sobering stuff to think on, Fishingpox. I am hopefully not going
back in some way on my pledge to be non-political here, but just have to
add : During my short trip overseas in the military, I was always eager to
befriend and interact with the local people, wherever I was, to learn about
their culture. I had some good long talks with a few folks who were Iranian,
Syrian, Turkish, and Kurdish, living in Turkey. Pretty much without exception,
we were at a loss to explain to each other why we wanted the things in life
that we did. Although they spoke perfect English, it was just like we couldn't
communicate. In particular, my Iranian friend, who ran the rod and gun club
on Incirlik Air Base, was just baffled by the American tendancy to lust after
cars, money, big houses, and such. Of course, his main exposure was to
18-twentysomething American males, which explains some of that. I never
did really figure out what was important to him, seemed like he didn't want
much of anything. I grew to admire that about him. But to my point, is that
there seems to be a cultural gulf between us, and we will probably never
figure out how each other think, what drives us to do the things we do.
I did pick up though, that there is bad blood between the groups there that
goes way beyond what I ever thought possible, compared to the old North/
South thing here, or racial relations in the States. I guess it has just been
going on so much longer...