In her book, "Islam and Democracy" Fatima Mernissi wrote: When I visit a Muslim country, whether
Pakistan or Egypt or Algeria, what strikes me as a sociologist is first of all the strong feeling of bitterness
in the people - the intellectuals, the young, the peasants.  I see bitterness over blocked ambition, over
frustrated desires for consumption - of clothes, commodities, and gadgets, but also of cultural products
like books and quality films and performances which give meaning to life and reconcile the individual
with his environment and his century. In no Western country have I ever seen such intense bitterness
over wasted talent, spoiled chances, inequality of opportunity, or absurd career blockage.  What
always surprises me in the United States, for e.g. is that even people with the most mediocre talent
seem to find a way to use the few gifts that nature has given them.  In our country (Muslim country)
what is unbearable, especially when you listen to the young men and women of the poor class,
is the awful waste of talent.  "Ana daya" ("my life is a mess") is a leitmotif that one hears constantly.
I don't find this sense of failure which people drag around with them in any European city.  For me
the absence of meaning and groaning is a sign that I am on foreign territory, where talent follows
a "relatively" normal course to emerge, struggle, expand and flower.
This is one reason, I believe, why Muslims lashed out at other people, blaming them for their
miserable state of affairs. Sad, very sad, this.