Posted on 09/21/2004 11:13:34 AM PDT by tlrugit
I would like to highlight a comment posted by Bahraini Terp which is well worth highlighting. Thank you Bahraini Terp for this very eloquent response and clarifications on where you (and I as well as most of us regulars here) think Arabs SHOULD stand today:
I'd like to slap some myths upside the head here, close the book on things a bit.
Isolationist America did a fantastic job of taking in immigrants. No other society has been as open to diverse populations for as long as the United States. That said, American society was able to do this mostly by remaining as uninvolved in regional politics and other minor scrapes as possible. Send me your poor, tired and disenchanted, leave your issues at home. The advatages of that, in my opinion far outweigh the risks. yet, those risks have to be accounted for. In my opinion, one of the risks was a general ignorance within American society about international affairs, and that bleeds into the State Department and sundry governmet and corporate entities who have a lot of catching up to do to ther nations that have had centuries of history, both glorious and inglorious, under their belt. US diplomacy within the superpower community is a marvel in and of itself, but its work among smaller entities leaves much to be desired. That again, is nothing to be ashamed of. As far as I am concerned, America is a young nation and slowly achieving the proficiency it needs to deal with the rest of the world. I am not concerned, because my experience with the American people is that they will learn this (or outsource the business) in due time.
Reading is not a lost art in the Middle East. Before George "Left my kids Behind" Bush filled the streets of Baghdad with GIs, those same streets were flocking with vendors of books. Not all of them were socialist propoganda either. But just to verify, I suggest checking with Raed, or with Salaam Pax (I'm usually confused about whether or not they are one and the same). Iraq's high literacy and level of education (comparatively) gave its citizens a voracious apetite for knowledge and wit. When stability returns to that country, Insha'allah they will pick up where they left off. Granted this argument has various nuances but I am loath to address them here. Suffice to say that a literary culture among the masses needs to develop in the Arab Nation, but it is not as absent as people on the outside think, nor will we flaunt it just to satisfy their consciences. Evidence of a literary culture doesn't make the nightly news, but those who have been in the Middle East all know of its effects.
The Protocols of Zion are another hoax. What started out as a satire of Napoleon and his desire to conquer the world, soon was parodied and Jews were substituted in the appropriate arenas. Independant research determined that the book was fictional at best. However the political advantages to be gained by propogating its claims to the masses were too good to resist. The Soviets, Nazis all made it readily available, as did Nasser, Sadat, King Faisal. The Protocols really are paranoia literature that seek to frighten people into opposing Freemasons and other secret societies. Well, with all that's being written about them, they're really not all that secret anymore. These are "spook" stories designed to take advantage of your ignorance and gullibility. It helps our esteemed political and religious leaders keep the focus off themselves as they rob the Arab people blind. How likely are you to devote your time and effort to making sure they are on the straight and narrow if your time and energy is devoted to finding fresh yehudi conspiracies (that always sound exactly like the old ones).
Everyone has spies, in everyone else's agencies. And not all of them are dodging masked gunmen, sleeping with hot women and stealing nuclear secrets. Most are just gathering or corroborating information for policy makers and strategists. Cloak and Dagger is an accepted component of international diplomacy, get over it. I'm not as worried about your government reading my governments email as much as I am about my government reading MY EMAIL!
Arab Americans have our own lobby is Washington (with or without Bandar Bush), and our own senators and congressmen, many of them prominent and appealing even to those who don't share their heritage. There are a variety of lobbyists and non-profit organizations that cater to a plethora of interests of Arab-Americans and International Arabs. They are in Washington because they realize that it is a lot of hard work to bring the US government to draft policies that have our interests in mind. Just as those policies do not accurately reflect our needs and desires, neither does American policy accurately reflect Jewish interests and desires. You can make the argument that it better reflects Jewish interests than Arab interests, but don't tell me that you best option to be heard in Washington is by hijacking planes.
And for that matter, here's all I need to know about 9-11. Arabs and muslims conducted a coordinated hijacking to attack economic and military targets in the United States. They used civillian resources, civillian hostages and destroyed one pretty big civillian target. That's pretty sick, because it defined the battle as being between the common Arab man and the big bad American government and its big bad corporate cronies. Now that's a nice metaphor, but what are you going to do now that the big bad American government has marched into your street, kicked down your door and searched your car? Thanks for making such a bold statement!
I don't know what your local turban is feeding you these days, but if you think that Arab geopolitics is chummy tea parties on the White House lawn, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell that you might be interested in!
It is not inconceivable that a handful of young boys in the Gaza Strip have been rewarded, or even been given incentive to manifest defiance and resistance. However, it is inconceivable that if the everyday Saudi instead spent his money on caviar and Rolls-Royces like every newly minted millionaire ought to, then every Palestinian would go quietly back to their refugee camps and make tea. What parent has not given his toddler candy to go potty, his adolescent an allowance raise to take out the garbage, his teenager the car keys so he can have a couple of hours of peace and quiet or his about-to-graduate child advice about career paths? Yet, even if a child were raised by wolves, he would inevitably master control of his bladder and bowel movements, learn that waste products need to be removed from living quarters, come to appreciate privacy and serenity and realize the fruits of labor and effort. Again, the intifadah may not have existed as we know it without financial compensation and support, but the nationalist aspirations of displaced peoples to self-determination will never go away. This is true of Jew, Arab, Armenian, Kurd, Shiite, Slav, Kashmiri or anyone else. If anything, it is the God given prerogative to protect ones own community and dignity that manifests itself in resistance. Considering that popular opinion in the Middle East contends that the state of Israel is supported by the United States with money, fighter jets, tanks and high-tech weapons, complaining about little boys with rocks and sticks is rather petty, don't you think?
On the other hand, Islamic fundamentalist militancy has crossed the line. Suicide bombings and financing of terror-training camps, not to mention the hostage taking, rape and slaughter of schoolchildren, are atrocious events and warrant a full-scale re-examination of where Islamic geopolitics is going. If this keeps up, then the extermination of the Arabs will have come at our own hands.
The American media is rather one-sided and doesn't like the maverick style of Al-Jazeera, but that doesn't make them Zionist puppets. The American media is a cartel of corporate ventures that are sustained purely by profit. Hence they address such issues that will gather the ratings. The American viewing public isn't obsessed with promoting the Zionist agenda as you think they are, so stuff it. At the same time, if the American public were more discerning and held the media cartels more accountable, the situation could improve. That said, there's something fishy about an Arab who gets all of his information from the town gossip, calling out the American who gets his information from the "Zionist controlled" media. Can you say, the pot calling the kettle black?
The Holocaust is a dark blemish on human history, as are the purges of Stalinist Russia, the massacres of Halabja, Hama and even Sabra and Shattila. Not to mention the Ottoman massacres of the Armenians, or any other episode of ethnic cleansing. Nonetheless, on whatever side you take on the issue, to utilize these disgusting episodes as some sort of political capital, whether you are Jewish or anti-Jewish, is beyond pathetic, it is disgusting. In America, criticism has already begun about leaders who use 9-11 for political gain, because it cheapens the solemnity of what happened. Have some respect for the dead, and for their descendants and/or relatives who live with a pain and fear that you and I couldn't dream of in our worst nightmares.
A few months ago, I was at a community meeting of Armenian-Americans, and one gentleman stood up and challenged his people, "When will we stop blaming the Turks for everything?". Even as they were scattered to the four winds, and left without a homeland, they have managed to put their talents together to sustain their race, their heritage and their people. They picked themselves up, when everyone counted them out, ready to put them on the list with the Dodo bird. When will we as Arabs, stop blaming Zionists and America for the fate we have brought on our own heads? When will we stop pouting like children that Daddy Britain and Mommy France didn't give us the sweets they promised?
Lets give ourselves credit by living upright lives, by being fully contributing members to society, and if you don't think that's possible, look at this list of Arabs who got to where they are in life by being concerned about more than the next mealtime.
It is relevant here that the Napoleon being satirized was Napoleon II, who is almost forgotten now.
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