[Mr. Mulliner]

I think I'd have to find more support for some of the things that Glazov asserts here, but what he says does seem to make sense and is fascinating to point out the vast differences in worldview between the Arab world and the West.

[x]

A lot of what he says is doubtless true, but wartime amateur anthropology conforms to certain patterns. Just as the driver who goes too slow is always an idiot and the one who drives too fast is always a maniac, so the enemy is always stupid, shiftless, and lazy, or bloated and exploitative, or robotic and mechanical, or demonically clever and sadistic, or effete and degenerate. Cultural differences exist. What people do about them is another matter.

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

More interesting to me than the flood of analysisof the Arab Mindto which we have been treated lately, is the absolute LACK of analysis of the American Mind.

Is there a psyco-babble term appropriate to describe the shabby remnants of American culture? The refusal to admit to ourselves that cause and effect may have played even the tiniest role in the September 11th disaster? The continued shouting at the top of our lungs (similar to early forest dwellers who shouted and beat on their shields to drown out their terror at seeing the full moon) that they hate us because we are so free--even as that chimeral freedom is erased by a Congress that doesn't even bother to read the documents that make it official; preferring instead to give them horribly Orwellian names like "The Patriot Act of 2001".

Is it worse--or more dangerous--to live in a somnolent metaphoric reality, going nowhere and blaming others?

Or, to crash around the world bombing, destroying, calling it humanitarianism and freedom-building; setting up permanent military installations; engaging in massive "reconstruction" projects of countires and cultures of which we know little or nothing--even as our own culture withers and dies in fast motion right before our eyes--a death encouraged and supported by our Power Elite? An Elite in whom we obsessively invest more power and money in spite of their manifest loathing of everything we are and our ancestors were?

No. Let's talk about the mind of the Ayrab and all it's shortcomings. And can we look forward to an article by Mr Glazov called "The mind of the Jew" anytime soon? Anything to keep us from the contemplation of that terrifying abyss know as "the Mind of the American.....

[Nat Turner]

you mean they just need to grow up and get a clue >???

[KitJ]

Has this article been pulled? I tried the link, but I come up with "Page not available".....

Kit.

[tlrugit]

Sounds like my wife. All her problems are my fault.

[Interesting Times]

In The Arab Mind, scholar Raphael Patai demonstrates how the Arab language is much more based on its poetic and musical quality than on the valid use of past and present tenses – which are often mixed up. In the Arab culture, therefore, there is a great appreciation of gesture, but not necessarily an emphasis on logic, or on the relationship between cause and effect. When learning to speak, Arab children quickly adopt the specific and popular stylistic devices known as mubalagha (exaggeration) and tawkid (overassertion). There is often confusion in Arab society over the difference between words and action. Saying that you are going to do something can often become much more significant than actually doing it. Words serve as substitutes for acts.

An important observation.

One result is that warlords accustomed to posturing and exaggeration are likely to overlook the understated, deadly threats made by President Bush.

[denydenydeny]

Bump to Clash of Civilizations list.

[Nick Danger]

I keep seeing subtle evidence that the so-called "Arab oppression of women" is not what it seems.

...the Arab language is much more based on its poetic and musical quality than on the valid use of past and present tenses -- which are often mixed up.

...there is a great appreciation of gesture, but not necessarily an emphasis on logic, or on the relationship between cause and effect.

...specific and popular stylistic devices known as mubalagha (exaggeration) and tawkid (overassertion).

...confusion in Arab society over the difference between words and action. Saying that you are going to do something can often become much more significant than actually doing it. Words serve as substitutes for acts.

...many Arabs often do not end up feeling a sense of responsibility for their own failures. To admit that a problem is one?s own fault brings humiliation upon one's self and also shames the group's honor. Thus, the obsession with avoiding shame cancels out the possibility of truthful self-reflection and examination.

...When a problem is confronted in the Arab world, a hidden enemy is often imagined.

...Many Arabs simply grow up believing that success in their societies is simply just supposed to materialize

These are not the characteristics of a culture that is dominated by men.

Camille Paglia once said, "if civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts." Well, these people don't have much grass, so they make their huts out of mud.

Everything we see on the outside says that women are oppressed in those countries. I don't believe it. That culture is run by its women; the whole cultural milieu screams it.

Let the flames begin

[dennisw]

Great essay....

[GeronL]

The result is that many Arabs often do not end up feeling a sense of responsibility for their own failures. To admit that a problem is one’s own fault brings humiliation upon one's self and also shames the group's honor. Thus, the obsession with avoiding shame cancels out the possibility of truthful self-reflection and examination.

This explains Democrats too.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

In the Arab culture, therefore, there is a great appreciation of gesture, but not necessarily an emphasis on logic, or on the relationship between cause and effect.

Isn't this true of Demonrat culture, too?

[a history buff]

I've read Patai; some of it does resemble reality, but a lot of it is wishful thinking. Yes, many if not most Arabs do have paranoid tendencies, low expecations of life & of recently suicidal violent tendencies. But so do most people who grew up in other despotic dictatorships like East Germany, where 25% of the population was found to be "clinically paranoid" after the wall fell. Many have pathetic work habits, just as in the old Soviet Union.

In my opinion, some who focus on the problems of the Arabs do so to legitimize denying them the very antidotes to the very problems they correctly deplore such as the right to vote and freedom of the press. When people are denied our freedoms, they become nutty along the lines described above, be it in Germany, Spain, or Syria. And when given those freedoms, they prosper.

[Let's Roll]

PING!

[Caesar Soze]

If there is a solution to these problems, it lies in destroying those causing the problems (i.e. the evil Americans).

Fortunately, most Arabs are far too lazy to actually proceed with destroying their enemies. We Protestants, however, have no problem dirtying our hands with hard work. (Tongue in cheek ... or is it?)