When Mitt Romney declared that Israeli culture was more apt
to produce prosperity than its Palestinian counterpart he was greeted with
howls of partisan derision.
Palestinians accused him of being a racist. Obama supporters
and sympathizers denounced him for everything else.
Unfortunately, the attacks on Romney ranged from mindless to
incoherent. Little light was shed on the topic by the overpraised Fareed
Zakaria. My thoughts here.
Happily, Richard Landes offers some solid analysis of the
topic in a Wall Street Journal op-ed this morning. A professor himself Landes
is the son of Richard Landes, an eminent scholar whose work was quoted by
Romney.
Basing his thought on the work of Max Weber, Landes provides
us with a description of two kinds of cultures.
The first culture contributes to prosperity:
Americans
tend to assume that everyone shares their cultural attitudes—that everyone
strives to get to "yes," to positive-sum, win-win, voluntary
relations; that everyone holds productive work in high respect and prizes the
principles of fairness embodied in the meritocratic principle of "equality
before the law"; that everyone encourages criticism, treasures
intellectual capital, promotes risk-taking, prizes transparency and fosters
innovation. With institutions built on such values—with a culture dedicated to
making, not taking, money—a society can make use of whatever primary products a
land offers.
A culture based on the principle of negotiation is more
productive than one based on the principles of conflict and class
struggle.
Landes then describes the alternative cultures that prevail
in the Middle East.
In his words:
But
there are cultures whose favored mode is not voluntary but coerced and zero-sum
relations, where the principle of "rule or be ruled" dominates
political and economic life. The elites in such cultures hold hard work in
contempt, and they distrust intellectual openness and uncontrolled innovation
as subversive. They emphasize rote learning and unquestioning respect for those
in authority. Protection rackets rather than law enforcement assure the public
order and bleed the economy. Public criticism brings sharp retaliation.
Powerful actors acquire wealth by taking, rather than making.
This kind of culture, Landes claims, exists throughout the
Middle East. It stifles economic growth and productivity, even in countries that have important natural resources.
Yet, Landes continues, Palestinian culture is somewhat
better than many other Middle Eastern Arab cultures. He gives credit to the
influence of Israel.
In Palestine and throughout the Middle East, Israel is the
solution, not the problem. Until Israel’s neighbors come to understand this,
the conflict between them will continue to be intractable.
Landes explains:
Strikingly,
Palestinian culture compares favorably with that of other Arabs. Palestinians
have higher education, a strong work ethic and successful entrepreneurs. Much
of that comes from their close association with the Zionists, who (unlike
Western imperialists) settled the land without conquest, by dint of making
everyone more prosperous.
From
the late 19th century, Arab populations grew and prospered where Jews settled
(Tel Aviv, Hebron, Jerusalem) and remained stagnant and poor where they didn't
(Gaza, Nablus, Nazareth). Many Arabs found the presence of Jews a great
advantage. Thus the Palestinian diaspora is among the best-educated and most
competent in the Arab world—and under Israeli rule (the notorious
"occupation") the West Bank was one of the 10 fastest-growing
economies in the world in the 1980s.
And yet, many Palestinians have resisted adopting Israeli
values. They have been unwilling to abandon their culture of false pride and
false honor.
Landes writes:
Other
Palestinians, however, found Jewish economic leadership an unbearable blow to
their pride. Said one to the British Peel Commission in 1936: "You say we
are better off: you say my house has been enriched by the strangers who have
entered it. But it is my house, and I did not invite the strangers in, or ask
them to enrich it, and I do not care how poor it is if I am only master of
it."
Israeli success does not merely give the lie to Jared
Diamond’s theories about the influence of geography. It has shamed Palestinians
and other Arabs. Seeing Israeli success they cannot rationally blame their
failures on geography.
To sustain their culture of false pride and to continue to
wallow in their own self-pride Palestinian politicians have chosen to help
their people to feel better about failure by dedicating themselves to the destruction of what the Israelis
have built.
Of course, Landes continues, many capable and talented
Palestinian businessmen would happily function and even thrive if they lived in
a different culture. He suggests that a cultural revolution could unleash their
entrepreneurial spirit, as it did in China in the 1970s and 1980s.
America can promote such culture change, but only if it
recognizes the truth in Mitt Romney’s statements. Attacking Romney’s statement
means pulling the rug out from under those Palestinians who would thrive in a
better culture.
In Landes’ words:
So when
Westerners denounce Mr. Romney for his "gaffe," they actually do a
great disservice to the Palestinians. Palestinian entrepreneurs and
administrators—the ones who wept when Yasser Arafat rejected Israel's peace
offer at Camp David in 2000—know well the costs to their people's well-being
engendered by their political leaders.
Had
Western observers criticized Mr. Erekat for his silly and dishonest response,
they might have strengthened those Palestinians who could lead their people to
the promised land of independence and prosperity. Instead, they threw the real
progressives, the ones who could put an end to the occupation by good faith
negotiations, under the bus.
2 comments:
The Palestinians are suffering from something remarkably similar to the self-esteem movement in America. While it is a relatively new phenomenon in American culture, the Palestinians have been handicapped by this deception for several centuries. They really have no excuse for their persistent state of denial. Unfortunately, there are individuals and cooperatives which are overjoyed to exploit a preexisting condition, and have vested interest to prolong it.
Richard Landes: Romney Is Right on Culture and the Wealth of Nations
Obfuscation of the issues, for example: political correctness, is a cause for failing to correct or compensate for deficits, and, more so, to prolong and exacerbate the defects they engender.
"They can't handle the truth" comes to mind; but, it is more complicated than that. The status quo is preserved by individuals, cooperatives, and governments who have a vested interest to preserve an order which artificially elevates their political, economic, and social standing. The Palestinians are not uniquely, but are the most prominent victims of progressive corruption.
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