When Western countries keep bombing you back to the stone age every few decades… then you seem primitive.
Some countries have been pulled back to a theocracy from a more secular society (Iran, for example) but even that can be seen as a backlash to excessive Western influence (or straight up occupation).
Plus have you seen Dubai? Or Abu Dhabi? Very modern cities. Muslim countries are much more than the representation you see on TV.
Same with Africa, the image we see doesn’t reflect the positives of that massive continent.
**Please read this entire message**
—
Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):
* Loaded questions, **or** ones based on a false premise, are not allowed on ELI5 (Rule 6).
—
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. If you still feel the removal should be reviewed, please [message the moderators.](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Can%20you%20review%20my%20thread?)
The European countries colonised most of the world excluding China / Japan etc. which is why those countries are so much more capable of keeping up with the west. Countries that were colonised by Europeans who became the dominant race (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand – they suppressed Native Americans, Aboriginals etc.) flourished because the people from those countries experiences a lot of freedom and therefore were able to focus on other interests. Other countries (mostly located in the middle east, Africa and South America) lived through years of oppression from the people who ruled them meaning that when they got free from colonial rule they were left with huge societal problems and trauma that caused distrust in institutions that hold power. Most of those countries are still dealing with those humanistic societal problems because the people don’t trust their governments (because their generational subconscious experience still remembers being oppressed by colonial governments) so they’re just too busy dealing with those problems to spend resources on things like science or culture.
However in reality there is actually a lot of classical art / crafts, and a lot of music and other types of local culture produced in a lot of those countries, it just doesn’t really reach a wide audience because its not well funded, and in order for something to become popular outside a country it needs to gain a large audience and make a lot of money within the local country first, which it can’t do if most of the people in those countries are more interested in survival than entertainment, which is the opposite of what happens the west.
Latest Answers