"- joking about polygamy - justification of unequal rights for women - horrible treatment and comments toward Shiites in the company - joking (but serious in a way) about taking child brides too young to menstruate - discussion about swine flu being God's punishment for eating pork"

All of these things have analogues that are everpresent in America.

"joking about polygamy - justification of unequal rights for women" The acceptance of wife-beating; the lower pay for women doing the same work as men; the serial-polygamy that many americans indulge in, leaving past wives (sometimes) powerless & penniless.

"horrible treatment and comments toward Shiites in the company" Comments such as "beaner" and "wetback" along with frequent requisition of certain people to do the most menial jobs, though certain other people have those jobs firmly within their own job descriptions as well. ("Scrub the gut tank? Hell no, let's get the "beaner" to do it!")

"joking (but serious in a way) about taking child brides too young to menstruate" Child abduction and child rape crimes whose numbers only seem to grow.

"discussion about swine flu being God's punishment for eating pork" Thoughts such as: AIDS is god's punishment for being gay; the current economic crisis is our punishment for allowing gays; 9-11 is/was our punishment for allowing abortion and gays, etc etc etc.

Moronic thinking crosses all cultural boundaries. It looks like you got a big dose of it where you went, but I do hope that doesn't color your thinking more than need be.

Put simply, idjits be idjits.

Herring405