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Jonathan Rauch tracks the effort to bring a bookshelf full of libertarian classics to the Arabic-speaking world.
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|3.6.06 @ 9:06AM|#
Yes, you could say I am libertarian," Kamil says....and I hate extremism in everything.
Wait, you mean it's possible to be a libertarian without adhering to the most extreme version of the ideology?
|3.6.06 @ 9:33AM|#
Wait, you mean it's possible to be a libertarian without adhering to the most extreme version of the ideology?
No, it is not. And if you were a real libertarian you would realize that.
I am so cancelling my subscription.
|3.6.06 @ 10:08AM|#
Freedom doesn't sell here. Why should we expect it to in the Middle East?
|3.6.06 @ 10:11AM|#
Duh. "Extremism" in the middle east means people who blow other people up when they disagree. The guy's not an American, so he uses the terms common where he lives. And he's not a native speaker of English, either. So go make fun of someone else who's not risking his life every day to promote freedom.
|3.6.06 @ 10:22AM|#
"Freedom doesn't sell here. Why should we expect it to in the Middle East?"
That was similar to my reaction -- it's a nice idea and he and his donors are to be congratulated for undertaking the task, but it's ultimately futile.
|3.6.06 @ 10:27AM|#
No wonder the Arab world and Western-style modernity have collided with a shock. They are virtually strangers, 300 years after the Enlightenment and 200 years after the Industrial Revolution.
Give 'em a couple of hundred years and maybe they'll be able to catch up; but by the time they do, they'll probably be out of oil and nobody else will care.
Wait, you mean it's possible to be a libertarian without adhering to the most extreme version of the ideology?
You're not a libertarian, so what difference does it make?
Freedom doesn't sell here. Why should we expect it to in the Middle East?
Good point. Barry Goldwater, the last major US politician worth voting for, got the "extremism" bit right.
"Extremism" in the middle east means people who blow other people up when they disagree.
It's the term westerners use to describe people who take the Islamic comic book seriously.
|3.6.06 @ 10:50AM|#
Tandra-
I wasn't making fun of the guy in the article. I'm sorry if it sounded that way.
|3.6.06 @ 11:24AM|#
It did, but I now think I see what you were getting at. IMHO, this guy is really admirable.
Windypundit|3.6.06 @ 12:39PM|#
Great idea, just please don't subject those poor people to translations of Ayn Rand's books. You could translate about half the libertarian canon for the same effort.
Wild Pegasus|3.6.06 @ 1:44PM|#
I hope they remember to precede each line with "Allah says..."
- Josh
|3.6.06 @ 1:55PM|#
Anyone have an easy link where these same texts can be found on-line in English?
Pekka Virtanen|3.6.06 @ 2:26PM|#
Rand's ideology seems to be just about giving the finger to the Soviet rule she managed to escape. It's not freedam versus opression but just a negation of a specific form of oppression. Had her native land been under the rule of a teocratic islamist society, she might have ended up with an ideology made out of negations such as: People of the Book are heretics, but hindus, sikhs, parsis etc are true believers.
Gene Berkman|3.6.06 @ 5:10PM|#
SR says "it's a nice idea and he and his donors are to be congratulated for undertaking the task, but it's ultimately futile,"
Actually, ultimately it might work. It is only futile in the forseeable future.
But I agree we should commend the donors, and commend Tom Palmer for the work he has done, and the Cato Institute for the resources they have put into this and similar effors in East Europe.
|3.6.06 @ 5:19PM|#
"There is no 'A' but 'A,' and John Galt is its prophet."
|3.6.06 @ 6:29PM|#
Actually, ultimately it might work. It is only futile in the forseeable future.
I don't even know about that. In a region where "a book that sells 5,000 copies qualifies as a best-seller" and in the absence of competing information this project may actually take roots quickly. The people who currently have money enough to access the internet are the same ones who will be starting new businesses and running for political office. I don't think this project could have been aimed any better.
|3.6.06 @ 8:02PM|#
"Great idea, just please don't subject those poor people to translations of Ayn Rand's books. You could translate about half the libertarian canon for the same effort."
I sure wouldn't want them to go from Islam to being Objectivist fanatics. The degree of zeal and insanity is similar, and don't forget that *The Fountainhead* puts in a good word for rape and for blowing up buildings.