Unguided Blog

Stephen J. Dubner of New York Times points to an article dubbed Muslim Land Joins Ranks of Tigers in The Wall Street Journal, and finds it fascinating in his short post You Don’t Have to Be Freewheeling to Love Free Markets. Since the Journal article required a paid subscription, I was short of finding it fascinating, but the first three free paragraphs gave me a good idea:

When an Islamist-leaning political party took charge of Turkey six years ago, this vibrant Mediterranean resort town [Antalya] feared a bumpy ride for a local economy driven in part by booze and bikinis.

Today, says Ahmet Barut, a hotel magnate here, the only real question is whether the town can sustain an unprecedented economic boom. He’s not keen on the teetotaling habits of the governing party’s leaders, nor the headscarves worn by their wives, but he applauds a key part of their record: “They are good at economics.”

From tourism and tomato growing to car making, Turkey has prospered far more under an Islam-tinged government than it did under some previous, ardently secular administrations more in tune with the often decidedly un-Islamic ways of many Turkish businesspeople.

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Fanaticism has two attack vectors: credibility and plausibility; in order for you to be its enemy, either of the two must be met. If it does not take you seriously (credibility), regardless of what you do or say, it will not be bothered. If your argument is preposterous or hard to believe, whether it is true or not, it will tolerate whatever you say. But, if you are credible and have a plausible argument, and by plausible I mean some might believe what you claim, you become the target.

I read way too many articles about why democracy does not prevail in the Middle East. On a scale of absurdity to illusion, most of them missed the mark, albeit they were written by bright analysts. My answer, however, is simple:
lack of targets.

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