It is our Judeo-Christian values and mores that distinguishes the West and Israel from the Arabs.
Posted on 05/22/2002 8:24:29 PM PDT by blam
Lying is cultural trait of Arabs, says Barak
Brian Whitaker in Jerusalem
Thursday May 23, 2002
The Guardian
Palestinians have no compunction about telling lies and see truth as irrelevant, the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak has claimed in an interview. "They are products of a culture in which to tell a lie... creates no dissonance," Mr Barak says. "They don't suffer from the problem of telling lies that exists in Judaeo-Christian culture."
"Truth is seen as an irrelevant category," he says."There is only that which serves your purpose and that which doesn't. They see themselves as emissaries of a national movement for whom everything is permissible. There is no such thing as 'the truth'."
Interviewed by the Jewish historian Benny Morris for an article in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books, Mr Barak not only relates his comments about lying to Yasser Arafat in particular, but to Arab society in general.
He says: "The deputy director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation once told me that there are societies in which lie detectors don't work, societies in which lies do not create cognitive dissonance [on which the tests are based]."
As an example of Mr Arafat's alleged mendacity, Mr Barak cites an incident in October 2000, shortly after the start of the intifada. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders, together with Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state at the time, were meeting in Paris to discuss a ceasefire.
Mr Arafat had agreed to call a number of his police commanders to implement a truce.
Mr Barak recalls protesting: "'But these are not the people organising the violence. If you are serious, then call Marwan Bargouti and Hussein al-Sheikh [two West Bank Fatah leaders].'
"Arafat looked at me, with an expression of blank innocence, as if I had mentioned the names of two polar bears, and said, 'Who? Who?'
"So I repeated the names, this time with a pronounced, clear Arabic inflection... and Arafat again said, 'Who? Who?'
"At this, some of his aides couldn't stop themselves and burst out laughing. And Arafat, forced to drop the pretence, agreed to call them later."
How it'll be reported in the Arab press, attributed to him and twisted around.
Yes it does. It isn't "racist", it isn't discrimination. It is a fact.
Amongst themselves, lies are expected. To a Westerner the duplicity of many cultures is hard to understand. To the ancient Eastern peoples, they are confused that we expect the truth. (sounds like democrats)
Odd you said that. My late father had not a lick of prejudice in his bones. I grew up not having any fear of any color or ethnic group. I am thankful for this, because I also don't favor any group, even my own, Shanty Irish. However my Dad hated Arabs. A-rabs he called them even when corrected. I never knew why, he didn't say as he died when I was 17. However I am now beginning to get his drift.
It is our Judeo-Christian values and mores that distinguishes the West and Israel from the Arabs.
"That child of the lie, the Arab.....
His accessment was made in 1915....and there are many similar utterances by those that had any dealings with Arabs back then. We are learning what our forefathers knew....all over again. However its taking us longer - they weren't hampered by Political Correctness!
I don't see it that way...Allah as God is a lie, and that is their MAIN belief!
I used to sell U.S. consumer goods to South America. Many of my clients were Syrian, Lebanese, and Iraqi migrants.
We kept what I called the "towel head" price list, twice list price , with the aim to settle on original list. It'd usually take two bottles of Johnny Black to get there (yes, my dear Muslim clients always had the best booze).
Now, the strategy wasn't contained to just them. For our Jewish clients, we had another list, called the... erh, well, we won't got there... anyway, it, too, started a bit higher from list. The difference was that it was presented as half-again as high, but with a 2-for-1 deal.
Our native's list price was always list. They we'd add 10, 20, 30 per cent on terms. They'd take anything at any price on credit.
And yes, I've heard plenty of stories about poor mothers and invalid sisters. This from mult-million dollar retailers. It was all so bloody silly.
The most difficult clients were the occasional Euros or Americans we encountered. They'd actually negotiate on reason and markets, not emotion. What a pain.
Oh, one other thing. My on-site partner was Syrian descent. He was the best salesmen I have ever known.
Listen to what he says, and watch what he does. Listen to what the Arabs say and what they do. Yes, you can believe in your President.
I remember one of them sold an old fire engine once. The customer had given them his best offer, so the owner agreed, but insisted that he got to keep the siren and then had me go remove it. When I asked him why he wanted an old siren he told me that he didn't, but he just didn't want to sell the whole truck at that price. So far as I know that siren was tucked away on a shelf and never seen again. That was just the attitude they had towards the whole world. They weren't really happy unless they had given someone the shaft and the idea that someone might have ripped them off really burned them up inside.
There may be decent muslims in the world, after all not all of them have a mujahadin mentality that makes them seeth to destroy everything. HOWEVER it is a fact that Islam is a flawed religion. And that is the whole problem. And hence the whole premise of good muslims might be true, but Islam itself has a myriad of areas that just make someone go hmmm.... religion of peace humbug!
And why do i say this? The reasons are legion.
First of all no matter how you look at it Islam is a faith that tries to impose draconian ways of living on people. In islam you have to do this, and you have to say that, and woe betode you should you think in such and such a manner. Women are half-men (and if you doubt this then why do 2 women have to accuse one man of rape for the charge to be even taken seriously.... because, according to the Quran and parts of the Hadith, a woman is 'lesser' than a man). Also it is true that once a muslim always a muslim, and in the more Islamic regimes a person who converts to another faith risks his life. A female who becomes pregnant is to be 'burried to her head, and then the exposed parts are stoned.' And i know some ppl wil try to refute this, but it happens in most Islmaic countries under the Sharia Law, and there have been recent reports from Amnesty International reporting these activities (from rape victims being punished for 'seducing men to rape them,' to the stonings) all the way from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria.
Islam is not a religion of peace. It is a religion of submission. Actually that is what Islam means. Submission! You submit to your Imam, to your male relative, to the demagogue saying Israel needs to be destroyed. And that is why from Chechnya to the Balkans to Palestine to Pakistan there are hordes of people willing to take crazy suicidal action for their cause.... even when most are so ignorant and simple they cannot explain articulately what their 'cause' is.
It is simple brainwashing. And then they say it is a religion of peace.
And in all of history no faith has ever had such a seething mass of people willing to commit atrocities. Not even the Kali-Ma cults of India or the thugees.... and even christianity at its darkest (even when it was under control of the corrupt popes of the dark ages) never had most of its adherents baying for blood. Islam does.
Most of its adherents are either very acerbic, or confrontational at best. Discussion is hard without them taking it into some sort of fight, be it verbal or physical. And woe unto you if you question their faith. No discussion, no patience, no explanation.... simply trouble. I have tried to understand islam, and have asked some friends to explain it to me. And this was long before Sept 11. Yet you ask one 'but' and suddenly you are accused of being an infidel etc etc.
And so.... there may be lots of good muslims just looking to live out their lives in peace, but there are many more who for some reason seek to reak 'vengeance' on anyone and everyone. And islam is not a religion of peace.
Actually the final straw for me was when there was an Islamic rally in my native country of Kenya. If your history is well honed you will remember that is where UBL attacked in 1998 and killed 9 Americans, together with over 200 Kenyans! Yet there was a small group of Kenyan muslims demonstrating that UBL is their hero after the whole 9-11 thing! And yet UBL did not only kill innocents in NYC, he also killed hundreds of their fellow Kenyans. And by the way Kenya is 90% Christian, yet these small minority say the government should implement some Islamic principles! Islamic principles my foot! What principles does Islam have, unless you count deceit and having a facade that claims it is for peace when it just commits atrocities to those not of their faith, and violence toward their women!?!
I really hate sounding off like this because i view myself as being open to everyone and willing to lend an ear to all, however i am just tired about all these Islamic extremists. All I know sadly about Islam is marked with sadness, disbelief, and sheer unabated rage.
And it is darn hard to make me angry!
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