Yes, I Am an Arab

[Debater Slayer]

There actually was context to this. Though I now know why it was deleted. Oh well.

The funny part is that the person who said that all Jews should go back to where they came from had nothing deleted. But suddenly its bad to answer that Arabs should do the same. Go figure.

Shalom, Flankerl,

If you would like to discuss the context of any deleted posts, feel free to start a thread in Site Feedback. I respect you (despite some disagreements), so I would be very open to discussing it with you either in Site Feedback or via PM.

By the way, if someone makes a racist generalization about Jews, it is advisable to report them so that we can review and deal with the post(s) according to the forum rules.

 

[Debater Slayer]

That's historically not accurate. 90% of the Indians/Native Americans died long before a single soul from England set foot on the Continent.
There is a reason why the settlers only encountered small tribes in North America. (inb4 Huron Confederacy)
They all died of the various plagues the Spanish in particular imported. This eventually swapped from Central America to the South and even the North due to the local trade network.

Hmm. I'll have to read more on that. I do recall reading that the English killed a lot of Native Americans. Maybe they killed less than I thought, though.

 

[Smart_Guy]

Well I still don't get it. Can just anybody be Arab by saying that they are?

I consider Arabs are those who speak Arabic as a full fledged language. If a non Arab learns Arabic and speaks it well, they are considered Arabs to me.

 

[RocketJSquirell]

Marcello - There are no non-Muslim Arabs. Some of us learned that in 1948 when Jews were ethnically cleansed from most of the Arab world. What is taking you so long to figure it out?

 

[metis]

The name "Arab" has changed meanings over the centuries as the vast majority of "Arabs" today are not from the original Arab bands that occupied only a fraction of the southern Arabian peninsula. The name spread after the expansion of Islam due to the fact that the ideal is to read the Qu'ran in Arabic, so as the language spread, so did the name "Arab".

 

[George-ananda]

Well I still don't get it. Can just anybody be Arab by saying that they are?

No, there is a genetic ancestral link that is not a choice. You can't choose to say you 'are' or 'are not' Arab.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Hmm. I'll have to read more on that. I do recall reading that the English killed a lot of Native Americans. Maybe they killed less than I thought, though.

The English, the French (less so) and the Spanish (more so) all contributed at different times. The Spanish were first in, and when you consider the Americas as a whole, they were remarkably...err...'efficient'.
But English/American efforts, whilst generally more localised, were genocidal in intent at times. A lot of the deaths, though, we caused by mismanagement, neglect, and greed, rather than direct killing, with some notable exceptions.

 

[George-ananda]

The English, the French (less so) and the Spanish (more so) all contributed at different times. The Spanish were first in, and when you consider the Americas as a whole, they were remarkably...err...'efficient'.
But English/American efforts, whilst generally more localised, were genocidal in intent at times. A lot of the deaths, though, we caused by mismanagement, neglect, and greed, rather than direct killing, with some notable exceptions.

Lack of immunity to old world diseases was the largest reason for the high death rates I believe. Their societies disintegrated a lot as a result.

 

[Aquitaine]

Recently, I've seen some posts here that implied that Arabs are "camel herders," "terrorist sympathizers," and "bloodthirsty people." Apparently some people are confusing all Arabs for ISIS supporters and camel herders (never mind how cliche and blatantly racist that latter stereotype is).

Well, to state the abundantly obvious, not all Arabs are terrorist sympathizers or "bloodthirsty" people. Furthermore, most Arabs rarely see a camel. I find it sad that I have to state these facts; I didn't even think I would need to if it hadn't been for certain people here. It seems quite biased to focus on Arabs and accuse them of being pro-violence when nearly every current global superpower has participated in or supported violence of one sort or another overseas. Yet most of us agree that it would be beyond foolish to accuse the citizens of those countries of supporting violence because of what a minority (including the government) of them are doing.

Even among the religious conservatives I know, very few support violence terrorism or sympathize with ISIS. Personally, I support gender equality, religious pluralism, and LGBT rights, and I'm against violence of any kind except in self-defense. I'm also planning to be a women's rights and possibly an LGBT rights activist someday. The implication that I'm a "camel herder" or "terrorist sympathizer" just because of my ethnicity and/or nationality is beyond ignorant and offensive. The only reason I'm not that offended by it is that I know how obviously false it is.

So, yes, I'm an Arab, and I'm not ashamed to say that. Deal with it.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been a victim of ignorant stereotyping like that, sadly though, it seems to happen to so many people from various backgrounds/ethnicities/sexualities etc.
It's almost as if ignorance can only process large quantities of people by broadly labelling and stereotyping.

 

[Flankerl]

Shalom, Flankerl,

If you would like to discuss the context of any deleted posts, feel free to start a thread in Site Feedback. I respect you (despite some disagreements), so I would be very open to discussing it with you either in Site Feedback or via PM.

By the way, if someone makes a racist generalization about Jews, it is advisable to report them so that we can review and deal with the post(s) according to the forum rules.

Oh please it was in the exact Thread. Quite honestly I don't even care anymore.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Lack of immunity to old world diseases was the largest reason for the high death rates I believe. Their societies disintegrated a lot as a result.

Yep, that was the largest reason, but I'm not going to lay that at the feet of the settlers, as it was completely unintentional.
Some of the deliberate things that were done are...well...terrible, actually.

 

[George-ananda]

Yep, that was the largest reason, but I'm not going to lay that at the feet of the settlers, as it was completely unintentional.
Some of the deliberate things that were done are...well...terrible, actually.

I agree with that and was saying the largest killer was not something intentional.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I agree with that and was saying the largest killer was not something intentional.

No. There wasn't really a chance to deliberately kill the ones that had already died though, so I always get confused when people hold this up as some sort of 'So, it wasn't THAT bad, since it was disease that killed most'.

Anyways...not suggesting that's your position, just trying to state mine.

 

[Smart_Guy]

Um, guys, Arabic is a language

 

[Augustus]

Most people here consider themselves Arabs, which is correct: since the Arab conquest of Egypt (or, as I personally call it, the Arab invasion of Egypt), most of us have become Arabs. Not that I mind being an Arab, but it's a historical fact that Egypt wasn't the Arabs' in the first place, just like how the U.S. didn't belong to the English at first.

I know this isn't really on topic, but it's not worth a new thread as there aren't really many who can answer it and I've always wanted to ask this to someone. This seems as good a thread as any.

As a non-Muslim Arab, how do you find the Quran from an aesthetic perspective (as a poetic/literary text, not from a religious/content perspective)?

Many people say it is very beautiful, but imo the aesthetics don't really translate very well to other languages. Many religious texts have an aesthetic appeal beyond their content, what do you think about the Arabic Quran?

 

[Papoon]

I live in Australia. When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, and into the 70s, the term 'mad Arab' was used to refer to any crazy person, or any person perceived as eccentric or strange. Noone ever questioned the racism of the term, because it was the time of the 'White Australia Policy',begun in the early 1900s when limiting immigration to white Europeans was law.

As for camel herders, Australia has the largest number of wild camels in the world, and exports both live camels and camel meat to the middle east.

Right now, there is strong anti-arab (anti middle eastern) sentiment in Australia, despite what many will say. Fear of terrorism is whipped up in our media. and by many politicians. It seems to me that some media corporations and politicians milk an existing racist tendency for various opportunistic reasons
One thing I have had brought to my attention by two of my neighbors lately - one Saudi and one Iranian, both young males - they want nothing to do with religion. The young Saudi, who sneaks into my flat to smoke dokha out of sight of his family, tells me that he and his friends think Islam is only for the older relatives. The Iranian told me that most people in Iran only appear Muslim to avoid punishment by the forces of theocracy.
So the stereotypes are very inaccurate.

​

 

[Smart_Guy]

Right now, there is strong anti-arab (anti middle eastern) sentiment in Australia, despite what many will say.

There goes my plans to visit Queensland for mud crabbing

 

[Papoon]

There goes my plans to visit Queensland for mud crabbing

It could be worse. You could be an aborigine.

 

[Smart_Guy]

It could be worse. You could be an aborigine.

Here in Saudi Arabia I kinda am. I'm glad when this place got unified into a new country we were treated well. Being an aubergine was not received well in the past alright.

 

[RocketJSquirell]

Smart Guy

You are the victim of auto correct. "Being an aubergine was not received well in the past alright". I guess it is hard being an eggplant!