Tuesday, April 22, 2003



From Dave Francis who apparently has a radio show in Russia:
I will spell it out for you.  Apparently some of the people in the Arab
world don't quite get it.

The US supports Israel.  It does not want to see Israel destroyed.  It will
not, under any circumstances, allow that to happen.

That may be wrong, it may be unfair, but in case you haven't noticed, the
world is unfair.  Get over it.  It is the world you were born into.  Make
the best of it.....


Israel says that it just wants its physical integrity protected, and that it
is only protecting itself.... We believe them because the face we see of the Arab in the
Arab world is an ugly, screaming mob, burning flags, cheering bin Ladin,
supporting Saddam, and killing Americans. ....


If you want to see Israel's support in the US cut back, take my advice.

1-Come out against terrorist acts.  Killing civilians, guerilla fighting,
all of it.  Come out against violence.  Don't allow it, don't spread it, and
don't do it!

2-Show that you are thoughtful, instead of just some disgusting, bad
smelling, nasty mob screaming in unison.  Be a group of individuals, come
together for a single purpose, and make that purpose the establishment of a
peaceful existence for Jews and Arabs alike.

3-Denounce the hate mongers among you.  Cut them loose like they are your
ex-wifes relatives.  Get them far away from you.  Do not let them be on TV.
Or radio.  Or magazines.  You get the idea.

4-Take responsibility for yourselves. ...

5-Apologize for the past....


The west in general, and America in particular, are very kind, forgiving
places.  After you do these five things, you will find that your lives will
get better, America will begin to pay true respect to you and your
societies, and your social structure will finally be worthy of some respect.
Dave Francis
"When I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun." -Hermann Goering



Well, Dave, it was pretty long so I cut out some of the extra stuff and just included your main points. You're right. I don't agree with all of it. Some of it you may be surprised to hear that I do agree with. Sure, the US is going to support Israel and no kidding....the world is unfair. There are problems in the Arab world and I don't think you'd find many here who would disagree. But do I think that the reason the US sees the ugly face of Arabs is because that's all there is? No...that's only all there is on television, and, as anyone with a brain can calculate, a 30 second news clip is just that...30 seconds. So what is the Arab world like for the other 23 hours, 59.5 minutes? My kids went to an American international school here where about 40% of the students were from the US. Many of them bitched and moaned about the dust and the lack of shopping malls and no Oreos when they first came....and most of them didn't want to leave when their parents' contract period ended. They must have liked the "disgusting, bad smelling, nasty mob screaming in unison".....or maybe for the first time in their lives, they actually got to know some Arabs and found Cairo to be an exciting, safe, fascinating city, something that it's been for over a thousand years. Hmm. Interesting thought. As for the hate-mongers among us....well, who do you think is propogating the charming view you expressed above? We watch Larry King too, you know. Give me a break.

Finally, about America being so kind and forgiving....not too damn likely. America forgives and forgets according to its pockets. Was Iraq a threat to the US or just to Chevron, Shell and Exxon? And what better way to revive a sagging economy than to rebuild a wrecked country with your own companies and their money? If that is forgiveness, may I never see it. What kind of kindness and forgiveness has eroded your own constitutional liberties until the Americans are no better off than people in the "underdeveloped countries"? What is worse is the fact that this has to be pointed out to them by Canadians like Margaret Atwood because they are walking around clueless as to what has happened to their own country.

No, Dave, we aren't all that worried about being loved by the US, especially after watching its performance over the last couple of years. The US has gotten by with Uncle Sam and being the good guy for so long that it forgot to watch that the mask didn't slip. And it slipped...oh boy, did it ever slip. Americans only watch American news, so they don't realise that the rest of the world has watched the American news and other people's news and sat there appalled at the level of national self-deception. With a friend like the US, who needs an enemy?
It's okay, Hermann, you can put away the gun. There's no culture there.

3 comments:

Wael in Panama said...

I don't get why some posts allow comments and some don't. But I really enjoyed the mulberry story. I am Egyptian-American but never lived in Egypt and you are sharing aspects of Egyptian life that I have never known about. And your account of your ride with Dory, for the first time in two years, was amazing. You are a fantastic writer. If you have not written a book you really should.

Wael in Panama said...

He gave himself away with the "bad smelling" comment. That is a classic racist accusation made by almost all bigots against the "inferior" races they despise. The Nazis said it of the Jews, Zionists say it of the Palestinians, certain Asian cultures commonly say that about European visitors... It's a giveaway, a tell in which the ugly racist reveals himself.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani said...

You've started at the early days before I really figured out how things worked. Later on, I even figured out how to post photos!