This thread is getting off topic.
But you are right - I am only a high school junior, so I don't have the insight to make opinions on the Middle East. I agree. However, I have taken several courses on the Middle East, some of them Post-Grad (college level, we have loads of college athletes who come to my school for a prep year). I have written a 15 page thesis on Tariq Ramadan, an Islamic Reformer who is one of the most controversial Muslims in the world. One of my instructors was a PhD specializing in the Middle East. The other was a Arab Muslim. Both were fluent in Arabic and had been to all Middle Eastern countries, minus Iran and Bahrain. I got most of my information about the Middle East from them, and the journals we read.
But you are right- I haven't got the personal experience with the Middle East. As I travel to the Middle East today, I hope to learn more about the region..