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Can two seemingly opposite cultural stances coexist?

07:47 / 21.11.06

Sorry for the clunky title;

I'm currently in Qatar, which has been oft referred to as one of the more liberal arabic countries since my arrival here. Now during my more bleaker, lonely, depressed moments here, I find myself thinking that the whole clash of Islamic traditions and very Western consumerism is something that I find totally unsavory. In these darker times I find myself thinking that the place is culturally devoid of identity, and that it is peopled in part by over wealthy soul-less folk who seem more interested in eating junk food, spending money and trying to copy the worst of US global exportism. And then I check myself, look around and see some amazingly beautiful sights, see some fascinating people experience something that I never would elsewhere in the world. So, do my darker thoughts come about because to two cultures seem to clash so violently? Am I seeing the worst in a people because I am seeing them championing the what I percieve to be the worst aspects of another people, or is there something wrong in trying to get the two cultural stances to coexist?

Disco is My Class War

09:30 / 21.11.06

Benny, I don't know if this will help, but maybe you could think of the social practices you're seeing as stemming from more than two distinct 'cultures'. There is no such thing as 'US culture'. There is no such thing as 'Islamic culture'. They aren't opposite. Modernity and capitalism exist in the Middle East, like they exist everywhere on the planet. At this point, maybe the burger chains started in the USA, but they're global. So is Islam. What about the people who aren't doing either of the examples you pointed out in Qatar?

And why is capitalism/modernity in Qatar worse than in, say, Disneyland? Qatar and the oil states are an interesting example because there's so much money floating around, and everyone seems insanely rich. But it's money that comes directly from big 'Western' oil traders. Where's the contradiction?

All Acting Regiment

11:48 / 21.11.06

The thing is, religion isn't neccesary opposed to capitalism. Sometimes it is, obviously, and capitalism, or at least, the money capitalism brings to the rich, can allow the luckier members of the society to entertain themselves in ways that religion might dissaprove of. Isn't religion, broadly, one of the ISA's?

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14:56 / 21.11.06

Benny, how long have you been in Qatar? How familiar are you with the ways people in Qatar live their lives daily? Are you living with a host family? visiting friends? on business? Have you lived in other Islamic societies before? in other Arabic countries?

06:05 / 22.11.06

I guess it's more that I'm guilty of projecting - my experience of a Qatari culture is limited, and my encounters with nationals has been limited. Maybe it is more that I feel uncomfortable with what I perceive to be the clash of what I understand one culture to be and another to be. For example, I went to the cinema here to watch James Bond, and felt uncomfortable by the pre screening adverts which, to me seemed almost to be a caricature of western decadance - but no doubt wouldn't have batted an eyelid in the UK, and, was aware that neither were the Qatari people in the cinema that bothered by what was on screen. Perhaps it's more a question of how difficult is it to marry two ideas of what a culture are when placed outside the comfort of your own cultural identity?