SODOM & GOMORRAH: Should we fault Business Week for its over-emphasis on economics, or its readers?
Citing clashes between Coptic Christians and security forces in Cairo, Business Week informs us that the Egyptian finance minister resigned from his post. Approximately twenty five people were killed in the protests, signaling the era of peace promised the world by those who toppled Hosni Mubarak’s “repressive and violent” government earlier this year.
The so-called Arab Spring has spelled bad news for Christians in the area. Previously reigned in factions now have room to move about and breathe. Any democracy in the region will be dominated by Muslims who form the majority. The rights of minority Christian groups in the country will be curbed sharply.
Business Week and, perhaps, the Egyptians worry about the economic impact of the unrest. To them, the flow of goods, not the flow of blood is paramount. So long as people are free to trade without being hindered, the occasional murder of a few Christians is unimportant.
We are faced with two stark facts.
First, the Western sponsored Arab Spring will fail. Western politicians and theorists continually get confused about the paradox that is liberal democracy. In a democracy, the majority rules. In a liberal government, all sides are free to participate in perpetual discussion that forms the policy-making process. These two ideas ultimately clash; it is impossible to allow all sides to participate in the discussion if one or more sides are fundamentally anti-liberal or anti-democratic. To give such factions free reign allows them to potentially overthrow the democracy. Thus, in order to survive, the democracy is forced to take illiberal measures to protect against internal and external threats. The West sponsored and hoped for a liberal democratic wave to sweep across the Middle East. They will likely get democracy, but their democracy will be a true democracy – one based on numbers and that isn’t afraid to take action against the smaller groups.
Second, the mental and spiritual disorder of materialism has already gripped the Egyptians and has certainly gripped most in the West. The Finance Minister resigns because security forces killed Christian protesters – as if the fighting between Christians and Muslims in Egypt is about economics.