I have always been fascinated with Science...all kinds of Science.
My fascination with that subject stemmed from curiosity first, and later on from marvel and awe...
Science brought me closer to God.
And while growing up, I was told much about Western scientific achievements and I was also told that these achievements were tied to a particular style of governance. This is how the West excelled. The ones who rammed this down my mind were self loathing Arabs, in particular Lebanese Christians. They felt ashamed for being Arabs and Christians.
Many years passed since, and I must have dutifully incorporated that message - how the West is better than us...
Then I grew up and was able to form my own opinion...
I read much...and finally discovered that scientific progress/achievement is not tied to rules of governance. One does not need to be a "democrat" or live in a Western "democracy" to scientifically excel.
From my readings I realized that the most important scientific discoveries were totally unrelated to Western style of governance...in fact scientific discoveries, inventions, developments, have nothing to do with the political type of rule/system one lives under.
This for me is a very important observation.
Having been called "backward" for so many centuries, and when prompting the caller, I was ultimately referred to the realm of science, as some proof of my backwardness, of some proof that the culture I belonged to was never able to produce and compete with.
And somehow on some unconscious level, that "truism" was ingrained....
But how untrue it is...
Western democracies have nothing to do with scientific advancement.
Science and scientific discovery, inventions, existed before the advent of the West , and regardless of political style of governance.
Hence...the whole scientific argument that ties Western "development" to Science is fallacious.
Hence the whole argument that a particular style of society/ system is conducive to development is also fallacious.
If Western societies are not determined by their "technological outreach" and "scientific achievements" so what are they determined by ?
And what does it mean to be a "advanced" democracy ?
