Ask Me Anything 2.0!

[Debater Slayer]

Your answer was great, and no need to go further. But just to clarify what I meant...

Direct exposure would be first hand. Living in the country would count, but direct relationships with people from those countries count too.
I'd rate RL relationships as 'direct', and not online ones, more just because of the amount of filtering present.

Indirect is more Western music, movies, forums like this, etc, or local sources discussing the US, UK, etc.

So you pretty much guessed my intent anyway.

I have closely known multiple people from Western countries in person, yeah. I would say that a lot of online relationships do count, though, based on my experience of knowing people online and then later extending our friendship offline. I have noticed little difference between their online personality/presentation and its offline counterpart in most cases, both with other Arabs and with people from elsewhere. It usually feels like we've both known each other for a while when we meet in person for the first time.

Then again, maybe I've just been lucky.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I have closely known multiple people from Western countries in person, yeah. I would say that a lot of online relationships do count, though, based on my experience of knowing people online and then later extending our friendship offline. I have noticed little difference between their online personality/presentation and its offline counterpart in most cases, both with other Arabs and with people from elsewhere. It usually feels like we've both known each other for a while when we meet in person for the first time.

Then again, maybe I've just been lucky.

You've been lucky. Me too, though. People I've met IRL have all pretty much matched their online persona.

Are there Western countries you have more or less exposure to?

For me, I've more knowledge of New Zealand, Sweden, US and UK than others. Ive had RL friends from Norway, Denmark, Finland, Canada, Scotland...and I've been to a couple of those countries myself...but it's a small sample compared to the first countries mentioned. I still tend to think of Norway as 'far west Sweden, with oil money'. It's not true of course, but I assume some think of New Zealand and Australia as 'similar'...and in some ways we are. But when discussing foreign policy, we are suuuuuuper different.

Meh...I'm rambling now...lol

 

[Harel13]

Do you trace yourself back only to ancestors who have lived in Egypt or do you have some non-Egyptian ancestors as well?

 

[Debater Slayer]

You've been lucky. Me too, though. People I've met IRL have all pretty much matched their online persona.

Are there Western countries you have more or less exposure to?

For me, I've more knowledge of New Zealand, Sweden, US and UK than others. Ive had RL friends from Norway, Denmark, Finland, Canada, Scotland...and I've been to a couple of those countries myself...but it's a small sample compared to the first countries mentioned. I still tend to think of Norway as 'far west Sweden, with oil money'. It's not true of course, but I assume some think of New Zealand and Australia as 'similar'...and in some ways we are. But when discussing foreign policy, we are suuuuuuper different.

Meh...I'm rambling now...lol

Out of all Western countries, I would say I had the most exposure to the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK, in no particular order.

The least exposure would be to Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and a few others. I know at least a few things about New Zealand's government, for example, and a fair bit about French history (kinda because they have extensively colonized Africa, including my own country at one point) and Italian culture (a fellow Mediterranean country, after all). But the others? I barely know anything besides the names of the countries.

When it comes to politics, though, the US is by far the Western country I'm most exposed to—sometimes completely unintentionally.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Do you trace yourself back only to ancestors who have lived in Egypt or do you have some non-Egyptian ancestors as well?

I haven't done anything like a DNA test or family-tree tracing to know, although the idea has always greatly interested me. I highly suspect I have some non-Egyptian ancestors, though, as is the case with many Egyptians due to the fact that so many ethnic groups have lived in Egypt at different points in its history.