After all, there are profits to be made and costumer base to be expanded.

In today’s World, there is no such thing as one culture – it is every household for itself and every individual for itself. In Pakistan, this reality is much more clearly defined. You see everywhere contrasting siblings and contrasting households – yet they all live in the same city.

One thing I am not fond of when it comes to the American media, is that stories tend to start with a reality but then gets wrapped by a twist to serve an agenda! An example of that, is when they use Arabic words to describe an event even though there is a corresponding English word for it!
- Person X made HAWALAT to a Palestinian group
Why not say: Person X made wire transfers to a Palestinian group
Or even better: Person X sent aid to a Palestinian group
- Barrack Obama attended a MADDRASSA when he was a kid
Why not say: Barrack Obama attended an Islamic school when he was a kid
Do not get me wrong, they are free to say whatever they want, but do not tell me such playing with words has no effect, on the contrary it injects an intended form of fear or reinforce a pre-painted image.

I just hope in some way or another this story could be a reality check for the slice of Saudi Youth who are similar to Nader & Enad!

The commenters who actually lived in the Kingdom were far more critical of the article than those whose prejudices against this “alien threat” were fed.

When, oh when will the NYT balance their reporting on the yahoos with, say, serious interviews with Saudi professional women? Have you written the Public Editor asking him? It might be effective.

Entropy – Sorry, but I don’t see your point. Quite the contrary, this seemed like a very open view of what it is to be a Saudi youth. From my POV, it very clearly shows the inner battles that Saudi youth go through. For me, the most telling moment was towards the end of the piece, when Nader remarked that “there is no romance,” and Enad proceeded to berate him, saying that there is indeed romance – with one’s wife. (As opposed to open romance with a woman who is not one’s wife, which is what Nader seemed to be striving to point out.)

If you are suggesting by your Mormon comment that the article is presenting a very narrow slice of Saudi life and applying it as a general take on all Saudi life, then please, cite places in the article where you believe this to be so.

So, Entropy, is there truth in what Nader says? Is there no romance in your nation? Is the restrictions on male/female relationships stifling romance? Can a man love a wife he has never met until his wedding day?

These ideas and practices are so very foreign to us here in the West, and the more I try to wrap my head around them, the more the concepts elude me.

I’ll ask a basic question: How much of these laws, regulations, etc. regarding relationships between men and women are the result of cultural/national custom, and how much is the result of religious custom? (Islam, specifically.)

But I noticed that the western media interesting in showing the prominent image of reckless for those poor young Saudi