Sellers' Markets in Information and Solutions

Zen & Understanding the Middle East

There is an insatiable demand for information about other subjects such as how to get rich in the stock market, how to cure cancer, how to be slim, how to attract women etc. The buyers are much more numerous than the sellers. Often they do not have the time, capability or inclination to afford the price of learning needed to acquire the information. The demand exceeds the supply. This attracts charlatans who manufacture counterfeits. The counterfeits, like the watches sold on the Internet, are inexpensive to acquire. Why pay $5000 for a watch that you can buy for $200? Why spend four years earning a university diploma, when you can get one through the e-mail in two weeks? Why spend time reading lots of boring books about the Middle East, when you can acquire the knowledge from a single article or easy to read book that identifies the villains and the good guys without a lot of boring facts? As one "historian" (Ilan Pappe) put it:

Facts are boring. Facts are for pedants. The important thing is to create a myth that people believe.

The sellers market for information and solutions is particularly acute when there is no solution in sight, and the demand is very great. People who claimed they could turn lead into gold were in great demand in the Middle Ages, and people who claim they can create controlled nuclear fusion to produce power are in great demand today. Medicines that promise to keep you young are also in great demand. None of these solutions really work, but people hungry for good news will "buy" them. Solutions for the problems of the Middle East, like philosopher's stones that will turn lead to gold, are in great demand and each has its enthusiasts.

It is difficult or impossible to get an unbiased jury about the Middle East or any other political subject. An analyst or researcher who is writing about quantum physics or molecular biology generally wants to understand or explain these subjects. A historian or analyst writing about Israelis and Palestinians or Iraq, is often writing in order to advance a particular view point and to assemble "facts" that will convince you that one side or the other is right, rather than to enhance your understanding or their own understanding. Ever since Thucydides and the Old Testament, histories are supposed to be "edifying." If history does not have a "moral of the story" then it is a "tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." The facts must be arranged to show the triumph or righteousness of the Jews, the Arabs, the Muslims, God, the Christians, the Athenians or the working class or good over evil. Facts and figures are for pedants. The important thing is to create myths and to weave intriguing tales. In every tale, there must be a villain and a hero, and every tale must have a happy end.

The Middle East is a far away region that is not well known in Europe, East Asia and the Americas. Most of the time, it has the same relation to the lives of most people in those countries as the boiler room of the Titanic had to the passengers of the ship. It is another place in the ship of the world, where people do things, such as extracting oil from the earth (or transporting spices in bygone days), which are necessary, but no concern or interest of yours.

However, when the iceberg hit the engines, the engine room of the Titanic became a place that attracted interest. When Middle East politics make tall buildings fall in New York or there are spectacular wars or terror attacks, there is a sudden demand for information about this Middle East place. Middle East web sites that are generally neglected in favor of sites that specialize in sex, commerce and sex commerce, are suddenly hosts to tens of thousands of visitors a day. Books that "explain" the events, which would otherwise gather dust in libraries, become best sellers. Too often, the Web sites and books convey a point of view rather than information. They sow disinformation and bias rather than increasing understanding.