I saw this documentary on saudi arabia on A and E

[V Nura]

I think it was called Saudi arabia: a bill kurtis special. I thought this was a pretty good documentary because it provided where a lot of the media stereotypes of saudi come from.


He also let his saudi guests speak as oppsed to bludgeoning them with questions after question. I learned a lot

And I liked it because one of the saudi officials he spoke to had even said something tot eh effect that saudi arabia is not innocent in the region either.



What's interesting to note is a lot of saudis get their advanced degrees in the US. And that this media slant that saudi children are taught out of anti semetic books and anti american boooks is overblown because a lot of texts used in saudi schools are printed in the US.

My parents lived in saudi arabia for a while among other places. It seems teh saudis are trying to open the minds of westerners by attracting tourists. It seems to be a nice country..I'd like to go when tensions in the area ease a bit.

Has anyone seen this documentary?

I was thinking that if the saudis want to change their image they may have to start some cultural exchange programs ..and ease up the restrictions on women.

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Something I've found interesting about Saudi Arabia recently is a quote by Paul Wolfowitz regarding the war on Iraq. He said something along the lines of it having been a "bureaucratic" decision to concentrate on WMD as a justification for war, when in fact one of the major reasons for the war was to enable to US to remove its troops from Saudi Arabia and so relieve the pressure on the Saudi regime. Interesting.

 

[verte76]

Interesting, indeed. I didn't know Saudi books were printed in the U.S. I did know that they want our troops out. If we can pull the troops out that will be a positive thing, I think.

 

[NYbrowneyedgirl]

I did see the last half hour of this documentary, I also thought it was very interesting. Listening to the 14 year old school boys talk about September 11th and other stuff was interesting.

 

[melon]

Saudi Arabia is still a repressive monarchy. They actually have a "morality police" and their particular brand of Islam, advocated by the monarchy, is a particularly vicious one at that.

Melon