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Not our problem. We support the french government. Does that mean the French owe their freedom to us or do they reserve such credit to their own culture? Why then are people so quick to allow cultures, that default to oppression, a way to escape their responsibilities?
No culture "defaults to oppression," because culture itself is not an immutable fact of nature. Arab culture (and its tendency toward oppression) has been shaped by many things, including American demands for stability, Dutch Disease due to oil reserves in some countries, the Arab-Persian rivalry, and the chronic Israeli-Palestinian conflict and subsequent victimization complex.
The US has the ability to affect Arab culture itself, for better or worse. The American role in Egypt for the past 30 years has not been one of our finest decisions, and I don't blame the protesters at all for being angry with us.
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