Danes, Demonstrations, and Democracy

You've all seen the backlash in the Middle East against the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad: people dead, businesses destroyed, general mayhem. (If you're not up to speed on what's happening, you can get a quick overview from the link below.)

Supposedly, once we threw the Taliban out of Afghanistan and Hussein out of Iraq, Western-style democracy was going to bloom like a desert flower. Can we understand yet that 2006 Middle East is not 1776 America? This is not an anti-war or anti-democracy post; I'm simply saying that if we expect Iraq and Afghanistan culture to mirror ours any time in the next 100 (or 1,000?) years, we'd better think again.

A final thought: "democracy" in and of itself is not necessarily a good thing for all. The ancient Greeks were democratic, which was great if you were one of the free Athenian men who qualified to be a citizen. If you were female or a slave, it wasn't so hot. The last draft I knew of of an Iraqi constitution was not a step forward for women in that country. Given the situation for women in Iran (see post below), it's worth considering exactly who a given democracy will benefit.

http://my.earthlink.net/article/int?guid=20060206/43e6d7d0_3ca6_1552620060206-215848763