Would an editor PLEASE change the title of this post? The article is not about being stifled in marriage.

women have incredible power over the emotional welfare of men. they should be rounded up onto breeding farms in luxurious locations and reduced to their basic breeding function. poor guy.

The Christian fundamentalists in this country should realize how much alike they are with the Islamics of Egypt. Instead of painting them as "evil doers" they should embrace them kindred spirits.

Seems like this article portrays everyone as a victim.

Poor job, no job, no spouse, correct fashion, incorrect fashion, etc. Grow up, life does mean you get what you want, if you work hard and stop making excuses and stop acting like the victim, just maybe you will get what you desire.

To truly be enlightened about this region, you MUST read a book called "Three Cups of Tea". It's about an American building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Here's how fundamentalism foments... no education, no opportunity, abject poverty, despair... then to the brightest of the bright, offers of free education (in fundamentalist madrassas) access to goods, wives, etc...

A lesson to be taken both in the Mideast and here at home... You take away opportunity and hope for a future, you are not going to like the results.

Get this book! "Three Cups of Tea" Greg Mortenson.

I love that phrase, "globalism sinks all jobs". Worldwide. Good. Only the elites and the servants left. That's the way they want it? They probably rationalize it, but yes, that's the way they want it.

So people turn to religion. And you'd take that away too? Then what? Total chaos, riots, bloodshed in the street because not even God loves them?

The supression of women under veils, the limitations of their freedoms, and the promise of virgins after death is all because these guys can't get laid.

"The concrete steps leading from Ahmed Muhammad Sayyid's first-floor apartment sag in the middle, worn down over time, like Mr. Sayyid himself. Once, Mr. Sayyid had a decent job and a chance to marry. But his fiancée's family canceled the engagement because after two years, he could not raise enough money to buy an apartment and furniture."

KIND OF REMIND'S ME OF MY FIRST WIFE'S FAMILY...

They didn't want her to marry me because I didn't have a job. How petty!...

Note to Egyptian youth - you're feeling trapped in dead-end marriages because of the suffocating influence of fundamentalism, so, like, don't turn around and, like, embrace it, mm-kay???

Yeah, right. One more application of propaganda about the muslim youth. Give them education and jobs already (same here for ALL youths in the U.S., too!)

Islam is not very science friendly so this in turn will make the economy less innovative and perpetuate the bad times. You can almost see the Dark Ages closing in on them.

klizard - I don't know, I've reading stories like this increasingly over the last few years about young Egyptian adults.

It's funny - it perfectly reflects what's happening here in America. The rise in fundamentalism along with the fall in in the economy.

I don't really trust the NYT's reporting on the Muslim world. I lived in Egypt for a while, 6 years ago, and at that time the economy sucked. However, during the past ~5 years, the Egyptian economy has actually been growing pretty fast. So the economy does not explain any increased popularity for the Muslim Brotherhood, or "fundamentalization", if that's even really happening (this is where I don't trust the NYT's reporting). I think what is happening is that, with a growing economy, people are starting to get restless about the repressive, corrupt government that is keeping them down. They will probably take any opposition party over the MB, but the government represses other opposition parties more effectively (or more enthusiastically? the possibility of an MB takeover is their trump card vs the US).

The big turning point for Egyptians' attitudes was the Iraq War. Headscarves exploded in popularity sometime after I left. When I was there, many (most?) women didn't wear them.

As a US citizen living in Cairo the last 5 years, this article hits home. The people here love their families, have a great sense of humor, are warm and friendly. However, there is no way to get ahead here, inflation is growing day by day, and you can sense the fundamentalism growing rapidly. Under Bush's policies, the Middle East is floundering, the anti-Americanism growing,and it is going to be one gigantic mess before too long.

twentysomethings are "stuck in limbo between youth and adulthood" -- oh, I see they really have been "Americanized"