Thomas L. Friedman Quote
My time in the Middle East led me to realize that, with a few rare exceptions, the dominant political ideology there—whether you were talking about Sunnis or Shiites or Kurds, Israelis, Arabs, Persians, Turks, or Palestinians—was I am weak, how can I compromise? I am strong, why should I compromise? The notion of there being a common good and a middle ground that we all compromise for and upon—not to mention a higher community calling we work to sustain—was simply not in the lexicon.
Thomas L. Friedman
My time in the Middle East led me to realize that, with a few rare exceptions, the dominant political ideology there—whether you were talking about Sunnis or Shiites or Kurds, Israelis, Arabs, Persians, Turks, or Palestinians—was I am weak, how can I compromise? I am strong, why should I compromise? The notion of there being a common good and a middle ground that we all compromise for and upon—not to mention a higher community calling we work to sustain—was simply not in the lexicon.
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About Thomas L. Friedman
Friedman began his career as a reporter and won two Pulitzer Prizes in the 1980s for his coverage on conflict in Lebanon and politics in Israel, followed by a further prize in 2002 for commentary on the war on terror.
His later work as a political columnist has been criticised for both weak writing style and a gravitation towards voguish positions.