Thinking Like an Arab

Canada Free Press ^ | Monday, March 6, 2006 | Alan Caruba

[Anne_Conn]

If it hasn’t occurred to most Americans by now, Arabs don’t think like us. They see the world in very different terms. Rationality, logic, and common sense do not rate high among their priorities.

[Echo Talon]

I had a couple of Arab Christian friends and they thought pretty clear.

[Rummyfan]

If it hasn’t occurred to most Americans by now, Arabs don’t think like us.

Perhaps Muslims should be substituted for Arabs....

[isrul]

"Perhaps Muslims should be substituted for Arabs...."

That works for me.

[JamesP81]

I had a couple of Arab Christian friends and they thought pretty clear.

Operative word bolded.

[Echo Talon]

The article later goes on to explain that he's talking about Arab Muslims. The headline and opening paragraph are horrendously misleading.

Yep! At first I was like WTF!

[Alouette]

This is your brain on Islam

[Echo Talon]

"If it hasn’t occurred to most Americans by now, Arabs don’t think like us. They see the world in very different terms. Rationality, logic, and common sense do not rate high among their priorities."

No mention of Muslims in the opening.

[mrsmith]

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2004/articles/0503arabs.html

Unlike this silly stupid article, Badolato's essay is quite useful.

[ApplegateRanch]

Rationality, logic, and common sense do not rate high among their priorities...Arab Muslims are not like us. They do not want to be like us.

No s***, Little Beaver!

Am I to assume that ABCCBSNBCCNNMSNBC will pick this up tonight on their "news" programs? Bwaaahahahahaha! I slay me! (But not if a Muzzie slays me first.)

[stuartcr]

Did they live in the states, or over there?

[Echo Talon]

one was born and raised here the other moved here when he was like 10 or 12 actually he as from Iraq.

[garyhope]

Good. Thanks.

[stuartcr]

OK. They probably don't think the same, as those that have never been exposed to westerners.

[Malesherbes]

Yes, "Muslims" should be substituted for "Arabs." I lived in Turkey for a year. Turks are not Arabs but they are Muslims, and I knew a Turkish professor of medicine in Izmir who though a man of science despised "the West" for having "lost its sense of the transcendental." Islam produces a rather fatalistic mindset and one that is quite at variance with what one finds in the "post-Christian" west.

[D.P.Roberts]

"For the West that leaves us with the same demand we made of Japan and Germany in the last century, unconditional surrender."

The meme of Islam must be totally eradicated.

[Echo Talon]

they are also Christians.

To say "Arabs", "Blacks", "Chinese", "Germans", "Indians", "Irish" don't think like us, smacks a little but of racism. The author should probably fix the first part of the article.

[Echo Talon]

bit*

[Go Gordon]

Muslim Arab Teenager: "Hmmm, my religion allows men to have up to four wives. The population is generally 50% men and 50% women. Therefore, 3 out of every 4 arab muslim men are gonna be shiite out of luck in finding a date/bride. I have three choices: 1) acquire a sheep or goat; 2) treat Ahmed nicer than I have been; or 3) Blow myself up to become a martyr because every arab man with 4 wives has told me that I will get 72 virgins in heaven.

[txhurl]

I have an Algerian Muslim friend who owns a gas station and listens to Rush. I rib him a lot about the Suras, and he's yet to behead me.

Oddly, he has a masters' in petrochemical engineering.

[Convert from ECUSA]

"This is your brain on Islam"

ROFL! Ain't it the truth!

[Galveston Grl]

He was being politially correct by not say "Muslims" in that sentence. And...I guess it is true that the mentality he is talking about is the dominate Arab mind - Muslims.

[Echo Talon]

oh man I worked with a couple of Muslim guys brothers(they were from iraq moved here at young age via Germany) totally cool, when I worked with them they were about the same age as me like 23(they were like 20-21) both were really good guys and they even drank beer! LOL their names were Samer and your not gonna believe this, Osama! Osama was the younger brother and he was like a comedian, the guy was hilarious, his brother Samer was a big time jock and workout dude, man you should have seen that guy EAT! OMG! I have never seem someone eat that much! LOL

[stuartcr]

Most people are racists to some degree.

[sheik yerbouty]

Yes. Arab Muslims in particular.

[sheik yerbouty]

Arabs are a people not a race.

[sheik yerbouty]

Keep knives away from him..

[dennisw]

outstanding!!!!!

[Mack the knife]

Leon Uris wrote a book entitled "The Haj". As I remember it, a central thesis was that every Arab boy grows up with a goal of killing his father.

It gives a personal perspective to the academic descriptions of the recommended paper. I recommend it.

[Cruz]

ping for later

[bayouranger]

Reminds me of what my uncle told me the other day:

BR, it's a pretty sh1tty group of people that have to call everyone else inferior to make themselves feel good.

He knows them well too, having worked in the ME during the 70's for Shell.

[purpleland]

Excerpt, http://www.boston.com/news


Aide's role in mosque deal eyed
BRA official raised funds, priced land
By Charles A. Radin and Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff | March 4, 2006

"A top Boston Redevelopment Authority official who previously downplayed his role in the Roxbury mosque project of the Islamic Society of Boston assisted in the city's reduction of the price the mosque backers paid for the site from $2 million to $175,000, according to BRA documents that have surfaced in lawsuits over the controversial project."

[pbear8]

Verbal grandiosity is greatly applauded by Arabs. When facts are trumped by "ideas", however, you have entered Alice’s bizarre Wonderland.

Oh, they are liberals. Well that explains everything.

[purpleland]

Arabs are semitic people - as semitic as the Jews.

I believe the root/origin of Islam is Arabic. Who are the Muslims? A generic term?

[purpleland]

Arabs are semitic people - as semitic as the Jews.

I believe the root/origin of Islam is Arabic. Who are the Muslims? A generic term?

[sheik yerbouty]

Muslims are adherents of "The Religion of Peace"..

[purpleland]

Muslims are adherents of "The Religion of Peace"..

*With all due respect, what is "The Religion of Peace" to which Muslims adhere?

[PA Engineer]

Learning to Think like an Arab Muslim: a Short Guide to Understanding the Arab Mentality

[jpl]

Unlike this silly stupid article, Badolato's essay is quite useful.

That more than 25 year old article does contain some interesting facts for sure, but to me it looks pretty worthless in terms of information for how America and the rest of the civilized world is going to deal with the serious problem that we have.

[sheik yerbouty]

Islam..

[purpleland]

Asked what is "The Religion of Peace"? - sheik yerbouty answers, "Islam.."
Excerpts - Contradictions: Freedom and Independence vs *Peace Through Coerced Conformity*

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"...according to some scholars, if a Muslim consciously and without coercion declares their rejection of Islam and does not change mind after the time given to him/her by judge for research, then the penalty for male apostates is the death penalty, or life imprisonment for women.

"...some modern Muslim scholars (eg Hasan al-Turabi), who argue that the hadith in question should be taken to apply only to political betrayal of the Muslim community, rather than to apostasy in general[5]. These scholars argue for the freedom to convert to and from Islam without legal penalty, and consider the aforementioned Hadith quote as insufficient confirmation of harsh punishment; they regard apostasy as a serious crime, but undeserving of the death penalty. However, in Iran, apostasy is a capital crime according to Amnesty International."

---

apostasy
Apostasy (áðïóôáóéò, in classical Greek a defection or revolt from a military commander, from áðï, apo, "away, apart", óôáóéò, stasis, "standing") is a term generally employed to describe the formal renunciation of one's religion, especially if the motive is deemed unworthy. Many religious movements consider it a vice (sin), a corruption of the virtue of piety in the sense that when piety fails, apostasy is the result. However, most converts to a new religion can also be considered apostates from a previous belief...Several religious groups punish apostates. Apostates may be shunned by the members of their former religious group [1]. This may be the official policy of the religious group or may happen spontaneously, due in some sense to psycho-social factors as well. Some religions may respond to apostasy by excommunicating the apostate...
The reliability of the testimonies of apostates is an important and controversial issue in the study of apostasy in cults and new religious movements...The term is also used to refer to renunciation of belief in a cause other than religion, in particular in politics.

In International Law
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, considers the recanting of a person's religion a human right legally protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: "The Committee observes that the freedom to 'have or to adopt' a religion or belief necessarily entails the freedom to choose a religion or belief, including the right to replace one's current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views [...] Article 18.2 bars coercion that would impair the right to have or adopt a religion or belief, including the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers to adhere to their religious beliefs and congregations, to recant their religion or belief or to convert." (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4, General Comment No. 22., 1993).
[...]
In Islam
Main articles: Apostasy in Islam, and Takfir, and [[]], and [[]], and [[]]
In Islam, apostasy is called "ridda" ("turning back") and it is considered by Muslims to be a profound insult. A person born of Muslim parents that rejects Islam is called a "murtad fitri" (natural apostate), and a person that converted to Islam and later rejects the religion is called a "murtad milli" (apostate from the community).

The question of the penalties imposed in Islam for apostasy is a highly controversial topic that is passionately debated by various scholars. On this basis, according to some scholars, if a Muslim consciously and without coercion declares their rejection of Islam and does not change mind after the time given to him/her by judge for research, then the penalty for male apostates is the death penalty, or life imprisonment for women. However, this view has been rejected by some modern Muslim scholars (eg Hasan al-Turabi), who argue that the hadith in question should be taken to apply only to political betrayal of the Muslim community, rather than to apostasy in general[5]. These scholars argue for the freedom to convert to and from Islam without legal penalty, and consider the aforementioned Hadith quote as insufficient confirmation of harsh punishment; they regard apostasy as a serious crime, but undeserving of the death penalty. However, in Iran, apostasy is a capital crime according to Amnesty International.

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[sheik yerbouty]

A truly great book..

[Beckwith]

I had a couple of Arab Christian friends and they thought pretty clear.

Large Lebanese and Syrian Christian community in Boston and they think just like the rest of Americans.

It's that Islam crap that screws people up, because there is no room for THOUGHT. It's just obey Sharia.