
How the rise of individualism is upending the Middle East - vo2maxer
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-the-rise-of-individualism-is-upending-the-middle-east/2019/12/20/e007ef10-21ba-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html
======
ksaj
I worked for a while in Riyadh, which is a very conservative city. The manager
tried to have a "bonding" chat, and confided to me that he felt a little
western because he often caught himself looking at pictures of women.

In my mind, I was thinking "Dude, if being straight is the worst of your
troubles, you'll be just fine."

However, I did meet a _lot_ of people who were definitely individualistic.
Most of them thought the regular hand or head chopping was barbaric, and felt
the city culture should be more modern, like it was once.

As the "token westerner," they confided this stuff easily with me, but it was
clear they worried about the repercussions if other people knew they thought
this way. It was a very interesting perspective I was immersed in.

