Everything Black and White?

[dogukan]

Seriously this is starting to make me sick...whether it's because of politicians or media, people started to divide people by religion/race a lot.
Today there is a stereotype for Middle Easterns as if there aren't various cultures in there....as if all in ME speaks Arabic, wear turban, have a beard, are brown skinned, lives in Tatooine like sand people and there are no modern laws...etc
A lot of our forummites here talk of Muslims as "they" and as "enemy" as if all of them are the same.
A lot of negative things comes to their mind when they see a "Middle Eastern".

Us, them(inspired from a cracked article)...west, east...defenders of advanced civilazation vs alien invaders....as if both sides are not humans. As people on every side is identical. As if those who do not support west are automatically are allies of "them" and vice versa...
This is the best way to create an "enemy" to make people support war...and I hate it.

There is one more thing I realized. People tend to say BS to "conspiratory stuff" because they themselves are extremely "logical people". Note that this is a good way to make people turn their backs on things that MIGHT be truth. This applies to every case and is a pretty strong political tool.
An example case:
X:Israel is killing innocent civillians!!!
Y:LOL thats the biggest BS ever. Israel is doing the right thing because they were attacked first and they kill mostly terrorists. There can be some collateral damage though, this is war.
Now both sides have never been there and never seen what happened yet they take what they heard from "there and there" as if it's the most logical answer. The guy who makes fun of the other view strenghthens his point and become more influential beacuse what he says is "logical"(a cracked article influenced me in this one, though I was aware of it)

Think about how people are fooled....why did USA went to ME in the beginning? Why are they there now? Ask an average guy what are they fighting for and see if they'll tell you the the primary reasons the war started. That does not matter now though, because they are kicking *** of evil ME. "Them"


I hope you see my point.

[Treize]

Like the idea that muslims are Black...

[bomberboy]

Like the idea that muslims are Black...

I think he means good vs evil.

[Treize]

I know...

[Xantrip]

Today there is a stereotype for Middle Easterns as if there aren't various cultures in there....as if all in ME speaks Arabic, wear turban, have a beard, are brown skinned, lives in Tatooine like sand people and there are no modern laws...

Lives in Tatooine...that's a good one. But there's nothing really harmful about the turban and beard and brown-skinned stuff, because it's quite a bit true. The only stuff that's inimical is the insinuation of barbarity.

Also, many Muslim places don't have things close to modern law. Not just Saudi Arabia. In Jordan, there is a presumption of guilt rather than the western presumption of innocence. Tunisia is good in that women don't really go around in hijabs and stuff, but it is full of government corruption and is almost a police state otherwise.

I'm just saying that we gotta stay in reality and acknowledge that there is some truth to any stereotype.

[Barry Goldwater]

I do not view the world as black & white, I see it as many shades of gray with strips of white and black here and there...you have almost one-of-a-kind people like Mother Teresa, and then you have rat-bastards like Mugabe & Hitler.

And yes, Muslim stereotypes are ridiculous.

[dogukan]

Lives in Tatooine...that's a good one. But there's nothing really harmful about the turban and beard and brown-skinned stuff, because it's quite a bit true. The only stuff that's inimical is the insinuation of barbarity.

It's only true in rural regions....in cities it's not like that. That again depends where you are. Afghanistan wouldn't be a supportive example to this. Iran would be though, despite being labelled as a radical place.
Brown skin is pretty common.....thats not an issue for me at all. My father is totally white whereas my mother is pretty brown skinned. So I'm right in the middle myself. Either way, it's the characteristic of many semitic people...and for those who see that as a problem(racists), there are loads of white looking people in ME too.

Also, many Muslim places don't have things close to modern law. Not just Saudi Arabia. In Jordan, there is a presumption of guilt rather than the western presumption of innocence. Tunisia is good in that women don't really go around in hijabs and stuff, but it is full of government corruption and is almost a police state otherwise.

That again depends where you are as I said.....by that I was trying to say that not all are the same. I'm not going to say governments are better than western ones. West had these stuff established and fixed long ago.

I'm just saying that we gotta stay in reality and acknowledge that there is some truth to any stereotype.

well you can say that....the problem is when people start to take it as a way of measuring others. And a lot do that...either by their will or from their subconciousness.

[Zhangir]

Oh My god, this is so so so true. Everybody sees it in two lights. Two ways.