Every city, every state, every nation has one or more pockets or areas where life for those living in that particular area is a lot less than the norm. People living in these areas, namely a ghetto or slum do not have the option of moving somewhere else and living a better life. They are glued in place for many different reasons and can not simply leave to a better life.
For most of the world governments or cultures, this is acceptable. In every large city I have been to, one or more areas exist where no one goes unless they have to because unemployment is high and violent crime is higher. Drugs and those things that follow drugs are rampant. The level of violence is extreme and the presence of any meaningful authority is lacking.
It is a human condition for people living outside of these areas to allow those conditions to exist. As long as they do not exist to close to where one is living. When the sprawl of run down neighborhoods, rampant drug use, and gangs get too close for comfort, those that can pack up and move to somewhere they consider safe.
For those people who can not pack up and leave, they are forced to adjust or adapt to the new reality of what their neighborhood has become and new conditions where survival takes on a new meaning.
No child is born anywhere in the world where the parents warmly announce their child is going to be the most powerful drug lord in the city. No parent dreams of the day when their child is the leader of the most vicious gang in town. No parent looks forward to the day when their child moves out to the street beaten down by life and hard drugs, or possibly maimed or murdered before adulthood arrives.
What about the other places in the world where some of these problems are not present in a form we recognize? For Iraq, Iran, anywhere in the Middle East, Africa, South America, and other places not mentioned? Most of these areas have something the rest of the world wants. Oil is the obvious want, but there are also diamonds, gold, cheap labor, or timber.
In these places in the world same as the bad neighborhoods there are people who want a better life. Perhaps, as in the case of the oil rich countries more people enjoy a lifestyle beyond that of their parents or grandparents. It does not take a lot of imagination or foresight to understand that in the case of an oil rich country that wealth and wealthy life style is finite.
What will these areas do when the worlds focus turns somewhere else because the oil is gone? Oil producing countries are making desperate choices now hoping those choices will ensure their future when the oil runs dry. It is easy to condemn selling drugs, belonging to gangs, or prostitution. For people desperate for money to have a life that in a skewed way meets the idea of the american dream violence is the only way for them to have a chance at a life not comprised of grinding poverty in a forgotten wasteland.
Despite our efforts we have not managed to raise all peoples lives to a level where drugs, and violence exist for any purpose than creating some amount of wealth for someone disadvantaged. Taking this thought and applying it to the Middle East is the same situation in the making. People know the oil supply is finite, oil wells will run dry. People living in oil rich countries know they have little else to offer the world. Opportunity does exist due to climatic conditions to create alternate sources of income. There is not a whole lot that can be done with sand or salt water in the Persian Gulf that can not be accomplished closer to home, no matter where home is.
These people right or wrong are exhibiting behavior comparable to behavior forgotten neighborhoods. Gang have guns and knives, countries have rockets and bombs. Gangs thrive or survive by preying on the vulnerable. Gangs take by force what they can not acquire by any other means. No matter what the outward facade is, there is one reality for oil rich countries.
Oil is going to dry up, and a world supplying economic infrastructure for whatever reason is not present to shift the creation of wealth to another venue. It does not take a lot of imagination to look at the worlds lading countries, see how they manage their wastelands, and know that one can expect even less from them when dealing with you and your country.
In my experience we tend to lie to our doctors. We modify our life story as we tell the doctor what we are doing or not doing. If we drink every day, we tell the Doctor we have a few drinks a week. If we live on coffee and doughnuts we modify that to two small cups of coffee and an occasional doughnut. Our fifty step daily walk from our car to the job, or store becomes a twenty minute stroll, or perhaps a daily mile jog.
As children grow into adults, it is at times almost impossible to have them clean themselves completely. When they take their shower, they skip the soap. When they actually use soap, shampoo never touches their scalp.
Victor was born without much hope in his life. His mother had him when she was fifteen. His Dad may be alive – somewhere, or maybe dead. He does not remember ever meeting his Dad. Victor had trouble in school because he started school not speaking english and it was hard to keep up. Some kids made fun of him. One day Victor said he knew that he wanted a better life than his friends and neighbors on his street have. Living a life of selling drugs, violence, and shooting is not a life to have as far as Victor is concerned.