Science & Tech Quote by Al-Waleed bin Talal

A billionaire Saudi prince saying this isn’t making a neutral observation; it’s drawing a map of power and labeling the people left outside it. Al-Waleed bin Talal built his influence by betting on global media, tech, and finance, and his line compresses that worldview into a blunt social verdict: English plus Internet access has become the entry ticket to modern life. The sting is in the passive voice of “is regarded.” He’s not simply describing prejudice; he’s laundering it as common sense, as if the world’s hierarchy is an objective measurement rather than a system designed by those already fluent in it.

The intent reads as both warning and justification. Warning, because he’s pointing to a real gatekeeping mechanism: job markets, education, and even basic services increasingly assume English interfaces and digital literacy. Justification, because framing “backwardness” as a personal deficiency conveniently downplays structural barriers - unequal schooling, censorship regimes, rural infrastructure gaps, and the fact that linguistic dominance follows empire and capital, not merit.

The quote also reveals an elite anxiety about relevance. For a business figure operating at the intersection of Arab identity and Western capital, English and the Internet function as proxies for participation in a global conversation that often sets the terms for everyone else. The subtext is: adapt, connect, and monetize - or be categorized, dismissed, and governed by those who can. It’s a sharp snapshot of how “progress” gets defined less by human flourishing than by compatibility with the networks that run the world.