Democracy bad for the Middle East

A front page article in today's Wall Street Journal has picked up on a theme that bloggers like Steve Sailer and ParaPundit have been writing about frequently.

The violence in Lebanon also highlighted what critics say are contradictions in the Bush democracy quest. For one, the administration now has to rely on autocratic leaders as it pursues its goal of ridding the region of autocratic leaders. Moreover, the region's worst unrest is in the three places Washington has pushed hardest for democratic change: Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories.

The article focuses on Egypt, where Hosni Mubarak is President for life. The United States is much better off with secular and moderate Mubarak than what we'd get in Egypt if the people had a real choice. Mubarak's powers to have anyone he wants imprisoned without a trial and tortured allows him to control the terrorist proclivities of the religious elements of the population. Too bad the U.S. can't use powers like that In Iraq. No wonder why we can't control the place.

I predict that democracy will never work in the Middle East until the population can be secularized and educated in the importance of liberterian government (instead of being educated in the importance of killing Jews). It's also possible that the genetic intelligence of the average Arab just isn't high enough to support a stable libertarian democracy. (As I demonstrated using the GSS, libertarianism and secularism are correlated with higher intelligence.)

Comments

[bbartlog]

The US likely has proxies in Iraq who can do awful things to prisoners, should it seem useful. But the thing is, even that probably doesn't help matters - people who are willing to be brutal dictators seem to need some element of legitimacy in the eyes of the populace in order make the dictatorship work.
I can imagine what democracy in Saudi Arabia would do, too. Nothing pleasant. Not that I agree with our propping up of the current repressive monarchy, but democracy isn't going to do much to make people there free.

[Peter]

Dictatorships don't last forever. Mubarak may be effective at holding down Islamic fundamentalism, but he's an old man. When he dies, we cannot be certain that his successor(s) will be as effective.

[spungen]

Any data to suggest lower IQ in Arabs? (Not emotional stability, *IQ.*) Somewhere I got the idea that all middle-Eastern ethnicities were intellectually similar to Jews.

I remember reading somewhere, some years ago, that Palestinian kids actually outperformed their Jewish counterparts in school. I think this was in the occupied territories but not sure.

[Peter]

Any data to suggest lower IQ in Arabs? (Not emotional stability, *IQ.*) Somewhere I got the idea that all middle-Eastern ethnicities were intellectually similar to Jews.

Many Arab countries have a very high rate of inbreeding, mainly through marriages among cousins. Steve Sailer in particular has written about this. I don't know if inbreeding of this sort could have a negative effect on national I.Q.

[The Superfluous Man]

According to the IQ and Wealth of nations page:
Egypt - 83
Qatar - 78
Lebanon - 86
Iran (not Arab) - 84
Iraq - 87
I've seen an estimate of 86 for the average Arab IQ somewhere. As for IQ, the average is not all important - Mexico, Brazil, the Phillipines, Puerto Rico, and India (81) have similar or worse averages. I ascribe some of the difference due to a 'smart fraction,' a smart competent subgroup, and the mentality. If the Arabs ever were to have a democracy, it would probably have Marcos scale corruption. Read Edward Gibbon's thoughts on the Arabs here: http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/002239.html

"I remember reading somewhere, some years ago, that Palestinian kids actually outperformed their Jewish counterparts in school." Possible explanations: The media reports an anomaly, selection effects, with the Jews selected relatively low SES, and most likely, the Jews are Mizrachi, from North Africa/Middle East, and thus much duller on average than Ashkenazis. Richard Lynn estimates their IQ at 93 I believe, and the Arabs at 86.

[Hani]

America's war against Iraq is a barbarous war of aggression contrary to international law. The idea that the subjects of the cruel and nefarious violence of the west are intellectually inferior is the height of hubris and stupidity. You are so brain dead that you cannot fathom that America and its clients are acting antithetically to the values of democracy and due process that you parrot. As a matter of law America's war has given any nation with enough power the comparative moral basis for invading the U.S. and taking over the government while killing tens of thousands of innocent people in the process. Lets take Iran as an example, Iran's invasion of the U.S. would make a much stronger case then our invasion of Iraq. The U.S. HAS weapons of mass destruction, It HAS actually threatened Iran with the use of force and its threats are credible because of the U.S.s history of invading other countries AND the U.S. is the #2 violator of security council resolutions in the world, the U.S. is not held accountable for its weapons development and its flouting of international law is far more serious than any other nations. Your football game mentallity of world politics possits that we are good and they are bad and so we can do as we like. It's an imbecilic understanding of simple moral questions and an outrageous hubris and chauvinism. Do Americans have low IQs or are you bred to be raving mad killers with the moral obfuscation of Nazis.