Why all this self-flagellation? Reading what is being written in the press and watching the kind of discussions aired on television these days about the state of affairs in the Kingdom, the first thing that comes to the mind is that things have gone so bad as to justify this endless self-punishment.
Some have gone too far accusing most of the Saudi population as being either extremists or terrorists, Saudi youth of having deviant thoughts and Saudi schools of producing mentally sick students who have learned nothing from the long years they spent at educational institutions.
That is not the case, and if this kind of generalization about our young and the country’s education system continues, it could entail very harmful consequences. Those who follow such an approach need to review it.
Ours is not a perfect or ideal society, but at the same time the situation is not as bad as some try to portray. Saudi youngsters are not that bad as to be labeled useless; many among them are very bright and promising.
Even if the situation is what those theorists and self-proclaimed experts and analysts claim to be, who is responsible for bringing us to such state? The answer is those very critics who continue to portray our young people as irresponsible and inconsiderate. We are the product of our environment.
Before judging our youth — echoing such expressions as the “culture of hate,” “ideology of blood,” “rejection of the other” and the long list of expressions favored by some who may not even be aware of their meaning — we musk ask ourselves what have we offered our youth, have we done enough for them and responded to their aspirations and ambitions?
Those who criticize should first listen to what the young say at the National Dialogue Forums and other discussion panels. They would discover that their contributions are richer and more useful that what they, the experts, can offer.
The writers and speakers exercising this self-punishment should stop accusing Saudi society of being backward and ignorant and say of their people they need to be taught the fundamentals of modern life. Praising the behavior of advanced societies should not be an excuse for labeling society uncivilized. It is indeed unfortunate seeing some of those critics looking down at their society in this manner and addressing their country’s problems with such sense of arrogance.
