Arab Exceptionalism: Not - Washington Post (Charles Krauthammer): "But we do know one thing: Those who claimed, with great certainty, that Arabs are an exception to the human tendency toward freedom, that they live in a stunted and distorted culture that makes them love their chains -- and that the notion the United States could help trigger a democratic revolution by militarily deposing their oppressors was a fantasy -- have been proved wrong."

It's one of Chilton's maxims, borrowed from John Stuart Mill. We're all the same; unexceptional. Only the institutions that surround us are exceptional; sometimes, exceptionally bad. And the chains of institutions that do not serve us well can be broken; not easily, but they can be broken.