Quote Originally Posted by Papewaio View Post
Not just the schools or the funding but the leverage fundamentalist areas have because they don't need to learn just pump out oil.

I bet that the most Christian fundamentalists areas in the U.S. on average have more oil fields and minerals then the less fundamentalist ones. Even within a state that's probably true too.
The exact opposite is true. Oilmen in the US are known for being the antithesis of any sort of zealotry. Next time it would be easier just to insult Texas rather than have a paragraph to nowhere.

Oil allows fundamentalism to grow because their is no need for STEM to create an open idea knowledge based economy that runs counter to close minded fundamentalists of whatever flavour is local.
I don't really know what to say to this other than you are making science a religion in itself. By your own admission these men are quite apt at gaining STEM degrees. I would argue that STEM rewards the rigid thinking that most fundamentalists follow. Although, I don't ascribe any special qualities to STEM as a whole.

The box is open, it's burning, time to think our ways out of the problems.
Crush the myth of multiculturalism. Follow an assimilation model or severely limit the number of immigrants taken in.

So we could make like the Romans and crush them, we could remove their financial clout, we could better integrate those that come to our societies, we could stop allying with the ones funding the majority of the terrorists. I'm sure there is more we can do that won't just target the enemies of the nation foremost in funding this problem.
The whabbis have spoken and the madrasas have been built. We can't put the genie back in the bottle. Its also rather myopic to think the whabbis have more influence than any other kind Islamist.