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To: webber
Just out of pure curiosity, are you of Islamic or Arab descent?

Nope, just a boring whiteboy (mainly Irish/German) that's nominally Christian. My love of beer and bbq ribs forever prevents me from converting to Islam, along with the fact I don't think I'd like to stone anybody, for whatever reason.

If you aren't, what made you want to study Arabic?

I'm a religion nut. Got my bachelor's in Comparative Religions, with a focus on Buddhism. My favorites to study are Buddhism and Islam. I have no idea why, as I would never convert to either. Maybe its because I find the mysticism of both religions fascinating. My Chinese gets me pretty far in terms of studying Buddhism, so I've taught myself a bit of classical Arabic, mainly through books designed to teach Muslims to read the Qu'ran. Pimsleur's Eastern Arabic course has also been a big help in learning a but of the spoken language.

Are you sympathetic toward the Islamist Terrorist, or are you a Gung Ho American?

I'm very unsympathetic to people that would kill me on sight, be they Islamists or whatever. I think the War on Terror is going in the right direction. But I tend not to get gung ho about anything, more for reasons of personal temperament than a lack of principles. But get enough beer in me and I'll argue passionately for just about anything.

Or are you just plain confused?

I'm definately confused, about a great many things.

33 posted on 12/09/2003 9:51:21 PM PST by Kaiwen
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To: Kaiwen
So basically, you're someone who likes to be well-informed about something BEFORE spouting their mouth off. : )

*slides that poster a beer*

J
35 posted on 12/10/2003 10:10:21 PM PST by jedwardtremlett ((Dubai, UAE))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies ]

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