Isn't keeping people ignorant/ illiterate the best way to control them???

Yes, keepin'm ignorant is a strategy for keeping people down. This is why once upon a time it was against the law to teach a slave to read here in the USA! I'm sure not being educated has a lot to do with why radical Muslims don't understand better how Islam exploits them , makes their lot in life worse, and incites them to violence not in their own best interest.

Hello ladyluna, This is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent reasoning as to why Muslim world, in general, and Arab world, in Particular, is in what it is and clearly explains the partial responsibility of Muslims, themselves, for the atrocities brought upon them. It is also beyond doubt that this rate of illiteracy has its fair share in Muslims getting fooled by opportunists, ignorant religious leaders and political jugglers as well as the world powers. They have done disservice to themselves, not only materially, politically and economically but also religiously and spiritually because it’s obligatory duty, of a Muslim to get him/herself educated, and a Muslim leader to arrange for public education for all. Prophet Muhammad had put great emphasis on education and it was in all dimensions (not just religious) as the wordings of one of his hadiths are, “To seek knowledge is mandatory upon Muslim men and women, even if he/she has to go to Chine”. He mentioned China because it was considered a far off land and a very difficult land to reach, requiring great hardship. So He asked Muslims to get themselves educated even if it meant great hardship. Of course China wasn’t offering courses in Islamic theology, nor were those educated (non-Muslim) prisoners of war who were promised freedom if they taught Muslim children. For centuries, Muslims excelled in fields of knowledge. They translated works from Greek and expanded on them and thus became pioneers of not only many of the sciences but also of instruments which are still being used and called with those same names. Thus you will find many of Muslim scientists names as fathers of many scientific fields, not to mention the modern scientific method itself (introduced by ibn e Haitham (I don’t know how one writes his name in English, this is most close pronunciation that I could make). This was the time when Europeans used to come to Muslim Universities of Cordova, Granada, Constantinople (istanbol), Balkh, Bukhara, Baghdad, central Asia. Arabic works were translated into latin and then English. But then, the meaning of Caliphate totally changed from one of service to a position of power, Scholars were humiliated and books were discouraged. When a nation humiliates its scholars, it deserves downfall and so it happened. The Dark age of Europe came to Muslim world and Muslim world’s progressiveness went to Europe. Islamic extremism is related to many things, some of what I have already written on in some of your discussions. And, indisputably, low literacy rate is one of the considerable causes. Some of the leaders are thriving just because of it and they would certainly like to maintain the status quo because educating the common folks will be an explicit threat to their thrones. But, I doubt that illiteracy is the main or or most significant reason because many of alleged Al-Qaida recruits come from more educated Muslim countries than from less educated. However, I know that my doubt is not a direct logical conclusion of the statistics because it’s possible that illiterate part of more educated Muslim countries contribute more towards Al-Qaida than illiterate part of lesser educated Muslim countries! “… I will never again be hesitant about referring to the Arab World as ignorant!... thanks for letting me get that off of my chest.” Truth is relieving, isn’t it? There shouldn’t be any hesitation in calling something as is. And, you are right in your claim here without any argument, even though mainstream Arab countries have much more literacy rate than, say, India. Yet, they still deserve this title. Not only Arab but there are also non-Arab Muslim nations who deserve this same title as well as the fate, until they turn the tables through education, intellect, Science and Technology.

True, keeping people ignorant is the best way to control or manipulate them. However, what I believe most people forget or misunderstand is that, education need not be formal. As a matter of fact, some of our revered world inventors and educators were self-taught. Literacy simply refers to one's ability to be able to read and write. While most of the women or people in Asia or Africa may not be able to read and write in the official languages or native languages of their various nations, it does not necessarily mean that these people are ignorant. In fact, while they may be behind in modern technology, the people of Asia and Africa are the true sustainers of world economy. Without these people, a good number of the foods and resources you and I enjoy and crave on a daily basis in our "developed nations" will be not. I consider illiteracy to be the process of misinforming people about life and world events. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson once said, "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspaper. (For) it is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong"?

Heavens Luna, we can't be having burned buttocks. I can see your point and can't argue against it. But keeping people in the dark happens in all kinds of situations. That is we so can be taken advantage of. It happens in the medical, insurance, investing, retailing and many other industries. I have to wonder about the Arab world and why there is not more revolt against their leaders? As in the case of extremism, be it Islamic or liberal based, the only way they can keep control of the people is to keep them in the dark. If the Arab world were to become literate, I am sure things would be quite different. The way they treat their women is appalling. You can go back to the days of Hitler for comparison. Keeping people from the truth is their specialty. And it is hard to discover the truth if you can't read it. I say there is a definite connection with any kind of extremism and illiteracy rates.

In a word... yes. The best way to control anyone is to keep them illiterate, for when people learn to read then a whole world of possibilities and information is revealed. The concept of freedom and slavery is revealed when the knowledge is freely available... when someone knows no other life then what they have, and when they do not know of any other possibilities, then they are easily controlled and manipulated. This is true even if people can read, but the information and news that they receive is sanitized to the point where the whole truth is concealed. To control the media is to control the people, and the way that they think and believe. This is true even in free societies such as our own. As far as they rest of your post, I do believe that the problem of Islamic extremism has everything to do with illiteracy, because if the people were more knowledgeable then they would be less apt to join these groups and would recognize them and the lies they told for what they really are. These groups depend on the ignorant and the disenfranchised to fill their ranks. That is why you see so much recruiting going on in our prison system under the guise of religion.... they are targeting those individuals that have no place in our society.

Hi ladyluna, I know this is an old discussion but it popped up at the bottom of my discussion list so I thought I would pipe in and get your thoughts on something. At the risk of sounding like a complete conspiracy theorist and 'wack-job' after giving you that link to the lizard people, I am going to throw another wild thought at you. I had heard a few years ago, that Osama bin Laden's real motivation was world domination. If he could mobilize the middle east again the US and/or Israel, he could theoretically create a unified Arab state and control most of the world's oil. Once he accomplished that, he could pretty much dictate terms to the rest of the world. Having said that, what better way to stoke the fires of hatred than to keep people illiterate and ignorant. I would disagree with a previous poster that said that illiteracy did not cause ignorance. It may not create it but it does perpetuate it. And once the illiterate have children, they are creating more illiterate people. Illiterate people can not find answers for themselves. They have to accept what they are told. they may not necessarily believe it but they can not disprove it. So with no way to disprove the rhetoric of hate, it is fairly easy to accomplish the goals I mentioned. What do you think about this theory?

reading is empowering. we learn, we grow in so many ways. we become aware of our oppressors through reading. we are enlightened. that is why in 19th century and previously during the slave era, the slaves were forced to remain illiterate, just so they wouldn't rebel. this is sad, but true.

When I read the title of your post my first reaction was "That's outrageous!" My heart really goes with those women in that country. I quite disagree with the way they are treated. I guess it's just that we belong to a free society where men and women have equal rights. That's why we can't seem to imagine how those women feel.

Look i cant argue with you either, i think what you are saying has alot of depth to it and is justified for discussion. I do think how you are approaching this topic is destined for controversy. I think that it is true, it is very easy to control someone who will believe everything you say rather than question it. I wonder, because of the way westerners see this war, And most people feelings towards it, how these lesser educated people would feel towards the situationn if they had more insight. I still think regardless of this article, Americans do not rule the world and should learn to step back into their own borders, and consider their own problems and situations rather than worry about the rest of the world as their own.

No. Illiteracy and ignorance are two very different conceptions and neither apply to a culture in general. Political and anykind of fanatism are somehow natural to human society. Take Germany and the Nazis, or Serbia and their brutalism. Arabs are mostly literate...that"s how the read the coran...it is just a distorted form of fanatism. If you study carefully the worst kind of religious faatism is rooted in their affluent societys like Saudi Arabia where not sunnies or Chiites..but Wahabits are runing the terror show and it"s financing