After reading this book, I finally get it...
...the spectrum of Islamic society, the dynamics within it, the power that Saudi society is employing across the swath of islamic countries, and the absolutely different values these societies have from our Western norms. Read this and you will understand what George Bush means when he talks about people who hate freedom. Read this and you will understand why democracy is not appealing to those who are allowed to speak in these societies. I found the author's final thoughts particularly compelling: what if it were not the subjugation of women but the subjugation of a race we were talking about, would cultural relativism still be appropriate? What if it was boys and men rather than girls and women who were systematically kept out of public life and in extreme cases killed by their own families for falling in love with the 'wrong person', would cultural relativism still be appropriate?