I do have the worst sarcasm detector in the world.

That’s a credit to you – sarcasm is the lowest form of humour. Thanks a lot for your reply – I’m v. sympathetic to what you’re saying here.

Sorry, my question was kind of facetious

I do have the worst sarcasm detector in the world.

democratisation in the Middle East

Honestly, in any “democracy,” minorities get screwed. Tyranny of the majority, some like to call it. I advocate certain democratic values, such as freedom of speech for example, limited government, etc, but certainly not “democracy” as a whole within the region. Suppose we do have democracy – the majority say they want severe punishments for homosexuals (and this is totally possible, homosexuals throughout the whole region get abused first and foremost by their societies, not necessarily the government) – or that expat and migrant workers should continue to be treated like slaves (also possible; no one gives a shit and racism in the country is rampant and treated casually, not many bother raising an eyebrow at this abuse) – where’s the human rights in that? If people have a voice in the country, and they vote to actively oppress minorities (ethnic, religious, sexual, whatever) then what?

Makes me realize..

Our problems are societal, not necessarily related to the government (not in these cases anyways.) If we want it to change, I believe we really can, but no one bothers changing it because people do approve.

Sorry, my question was kind of facetious, but I did want to raise a serious point: the relationship between democracy and human rights. One of the problems with discussion about democratisation in the Middle East is that there doesn’t seem to be an acknowledgement on the part of democracy advocates that more democracy won’t necessarily promote human or minority rights. I’m not saying that Bahrain’s a democracy, only that the lower house of parliament’s a lot more democratic than either the executive or the liberal elite whose laissez faire attitude obviously so angers Mohammed Khaled and his many sympathisers. Yet this truth seems to be swept under the carpet by those who are the most enthusiastic supporters of democracy.

Surely these MPs have been misquoted?

Not at all. And who said Bahrain was democratic? We are hardly a democracy – we only seem as such in comparison to neighboring countries, yes, but we’re quite far from a serious, functioning “democracy.”

As for being “misquoted” – you wanna meet our MPs? Check this one out:

Mohammed Khalid derided the annual Spring of Culture arts festival jointly sponsored by Batelco and the Culture and National Heritage Department, in 2006 as the ‘Spring of Sakhafa’ (Silliness), and in 2007 as the ‘Spring of Sex’; in 2004 he described young people competing in the Arab version of Star Academy as ‘scum’ and alleged that Satanists in Bahrain are organizing rock concerts as cover for devil worship.

Ah yes! Human rights. Insult and punish those who take part in singing, celebrating, listening to rock music, and ew, all those homos too! This is our democracy. Screw serious matters such as education, migrant rights, sex trafficking, health care, affordable housing, et al. They don’t matter. OUR YOUTH ON THE INTERNET THOUGH? The world is over. Let’s launch a campaign to ban every harmless hobby/passion in existence. Much easier than achieving real change in society and helping the unemployed/poor/homeless/sick or work on things such as family law.

The only thing that’s left is for them to create a national call-line for reporting homosexuals … 800 – KILLGAYS (54554287)