An Expat's View

Other than the occasional parenthetical aside or short comment, I have not written much about events here and elsewhere in the world associated with Islam. There are certainly plenty to choose from: banning of burqas in France, proposed Islamic "cultural center" near Ground Zero in NY, even events closer to home here in KSA such as nine-year-old girls dying in childbirth.

For one, I don't want my blog to become a platform for my political views, although my political views do color the other things I choose to write about.

One of the larger impediments to my writing about these things has been the fact that I am not sure that I am a good enough writer to adequately convey what I see and hear around me and why I have come to some of the conclusions that I have. And it's not that you folks are stupid, but there are some things that have to be seen and heard to be believed.

To survive here, infidel expats need a strong sense of humor--most of the insanity has to be laughed off. There are horrors that have no excuse but not everything that goes on here can be treated like that. An expat that thinks that ends up heading home pretty quickly. It is one thing to recognize and abhor the abuse, corruption, superstition, ignorance, fear, and cruelty that are deeply embedded in Saudi culture. It is another to think that you can do fuck-all about it as an expat in this country. No social crusaders wanted (or allowed), thank you very much.

And that in fact is where I'm going with this. The political correctness and constant compromise that some (liberal) elements of western democracies continue to hand out to Islam--as if its mere existence entitled it to special consideration--is beyond my understanding. The essence of western democracies is personal freedom (which is not same thing as cultural exception). Personal freedom is the antithesis of Islamic culture (broadly speaking). To pretend otherwise, even if you pretend otherwise using elegant prose, is ignorant and ill-informed.

I have no personal freedoms in this country. I have the illusion of some as long as I remain on camp. I have willingly accepted these facts in exchange for this job. Unlike Saudi women and married female expats, as a single female expat I do retain one important freedom--I can leave anytime that I want to.

I don't want to actually discuss banning of burqas in France or fatwas issued over cartoons of Mohammed (although if the French make a law using their democratic legal system banning full body cloaks and facial veils, whoever doesn't like it can leave; "when in Rome" as an argument is a sword that cuts all ways). I do want to make it clear that what we expats experience in a country like Saudi Arabia highlights the complexities, indeed, the deliberate duplicities, in reports and comments on such events. What you read is rarely the whole story and often not even the truth.