"When they see an attack against Blacks, they call it racism. When they see an attack against Jews, they call it anti-Semitism. When they see an attack against women, they call it male domination. When they see an attack against homosexuality, they call it intolerance. When they see an attack against a religious sect they call it hate. But when they attack "Arabs or Muslims" they call it freedom of speech!!!!!''
The subject grasped my attention, and I asked myself is this because we are really bad, or we are really weak, or we are a threat or the west just cant stand us?
Mohaly
The reason is obvious in the caricature ya Mohaly, they beleive that we hate them in the 1st place!!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that we are really weak!
tayeb talking practically, what should we (Educated Egyptian who are exposed to the world) can do to make this gap narrower?
ReplyDeletei am sick of conferences.
Do you see yourself an objective person Michael? You are no different than the cartoon posted.
ReplyDeleteArabs are just scattered, silent and off course needless to say that they are weak.
ReplyDeleteThe new generation is different, but still the powerful part is the old one which is still keeping this old image and the new generation is limited to certain things.
The way out for us is to just SPEAK OUT and SHOW to them the true and RIGHT image of the Arabs and Muslims.
Noly ya Noly
ReplyDeleteAywa. You are right. But we [Arabs & Muslims] should not speak until we are sure we have something to say; and know just what it is. This will give us a sense of strength. and a feeling of power.
Action seems to follow feeling. But really action and feeling should go together ba2ah le2eno it is not always easy to find an excuse for being weak - a baby does not cling to chairs after it once learns to walk.
It's a combination of everything.
ReplyDeleteWeakness to face our accusers with what we have to say. We are bad with all the sins we make and the way we represent Islam in a harsh way that has nothing to do with Islam aslan. We are a threat because our religion is the religion of mercy if people comprehended it in a right way. and actually we are strong but we are ignoring the fact. We are wise and smart but playing the dump card. We have history lessons, and we have things that can draw attention to how good, la2 scratch that, how better we are but we tend to expose the bad MESH FAHMA LEAH!
Michael:
ReplyDeleteDo you think by your words you will make the Arab smile?
Arabs have many problems in their attitude but they have lots of good traits too Just Like You.
I'd appreciate to be more rationale in addressing such subjects.
yes Noly, Rawanies, & Ze2red.
ReplyDeleteZe2red: Laziness?
Oh yeah, big time.
ReplyDeleteWe are lazy to do anything. We are lazy to learn new things. We are lazy to pass on our knowledge. We are lazy to watch the news, read the papers, read in general. We are lazy to learn more about our religion and all religions. We are lazy to know more about politics and how things are run behind the scene. We are lazy to do some history digging. We are even lazy in having rational conversations, it's either we are defending or attacking. We are even lazy to smile, shoftesh kheba aktar men keda :(
strange .. someone sent me a similar post (not exact) followed by the command: "make it ur status" as I liked it; I did, minutes later I found that the very words of my status were already posted on Phillip Kotler's page on facebook (to who doesn't know who Philip Kotler is; he's the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago. He is hailed by Management Centre Europe as "the world's foremost expert on the strategic practice of marketing.", and he was selected in 2001 as the #4 major management guru by the Financial Times.
ReplyDeletePhilip's words were as follows:
When u attack black people, they call it RACISM. When u attack Jewish people, they call it ANTI-SEMITISM. When u attack women, they call it SEXISM. When u attack homosexuality, they call it INTOLERANCE. When u attack your country, they call it TREASON. When u attack a religious sect, they call it HATE. But when they attack Prophet Mohammad...they call it FREEDOM OF SPEECH
I was really happy to find such an opinion expressed by a non muslim inspite of the torn out image delivered to the west.
While reading the comments on his wall I found supporters and opponents and i didn't mind till i was hit by the following comment:
"I realise that Prof Kotler is more interested about the Arabic/Islamic context, as he a) is preparing a Middle East version of his famous book; Marketing Management and b) he is now one of the reviewers of Journal of Islamic Marketing.
However, I want to tell Prof Kotler that the answering to this question, from my point of view, is so simple. All the mentioned groups (black people, Jewish, women and homosexual communities) conduct well planned and organized efforts that made by professional people to protect their presence and interests. Also, such these groups have clearly defined their aims and mission (e.g., homosexual; social acceptance for gays, Jewish; the dominion on the holy Jewish land). Conversely, unfortunately, Muslims, Sunna groups and the Arab Nation are just emotion oriented. So, as Peter Drucker said …. "plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.", clearly good intentions, feeling and enthusiasm can not protect any thing and can not convince any one."
Although this is really tough to say; we have to admit that we are stuck in this frame because we have chosen to .. and it's all our fault, so it doesn't make sense that we blame others for our own mistakes.
"إن الله لا يغير ما بقوم حتى يغيروا ما بأنفسهم"
This does not mean that Muslims are bad people .. it only implies that we are too weak to follow the righteous path...
Apologies for the too long comment .. I'm stuffed with thoughts and emotions regarding this topic, and found a way out here :D
ze2red: yes lel2asaf.
ReplyDeleteButterfly: Thanks a lot for sharing, it is good to know its origin.
Rawani ya Rawani :)
ReplyDeleteYou are right to a certain point bas concerning ba2a ( we should not speak until we are sure we have something to say; and know just what it is).
We already know and have a lot and a lot to say ya Rawani ya3ny masln we are not terrorists, big pockets, cheaters, and even if we have such category fa dah tabe3y fy ay 7eta w ay religion.
Concerning actions it's easy to prove you are not what I have mentioned before with your good manners with them if you have the chance to deal with them. Rawani our image to the foreigners is really bad and we have to work it out coz it's not us anyway!