🚀 go-pugleaf

In ba.general Hal Burton <hal@burton.spam> wrote:
> On 2006-12-28 10:08:19 -0600, Merlin Dorfman <dorfman@green.rahul.net> said:

>> In ba.general Hal Burton <hal@burton.spam> wrote:
>>> On 2006-12-27 00:37:41 -0500, Merlin Dorfman <dorfman@green.rahul.net> said:
>> 
>>>> most, but (1) it's not in their DNA to respond to a real or
>>>> perceived offense with anything but violence, and (2) many/most
>> 
>>> Finally, the truth slips out. You are racist. It was apparent enough 
>>> from your credulous acceptance of anything Israeli and rejection of 
>>> everything Arab, but one can't accuse another of being racist without 
>>> direct evidence. The funny thing about racists is, they always admit it 
>>> if given enough time to speak their minds.
>> 
>>      "In the DNA" is colloquial for "very deep in the culture."  If
>> this is to be a scientific discussion, I will avoid such 
>> colloquialisms.  Thank you for catching this.
>>      It is very deep in the Arab culture to respond to any real or
>> perceived offense with violence.  Thus it is unlikely that they will 
>> implement a sustained campaign of civil disobedience or
>> passive resistance in the occupied territories of Palestine.  This
>> is unfortunate, because such a campaign would lead to an independent
>> Palestinian state, on terms that many if not most of them would find
>> acceptable, within a couple of years.
>>      Again my thanks for calling me out on the inappropriate use
>> of this colloquialism.


> Apparently you've morphed from a racist to a bigot. One could say some 
> very unflattering things about Jewish culture or DNA, with about the 
> same degree of accuracy as your own statements. To be perfectly clear 
> what I mean: only bigots believe such statements to be accurate. And as 
> for your accusation that I'm racist in the opposite direction, you 
> should know that I have adopted a policy of not commenting on 
> Israeli/Palestinian affairs about two years ago, having finally come to 
> the conclusion that both sides are appalling. This is the closest I've 
> come to commenting about the situation since then, and my comments are 
> restricted to addressing you as a person.

      Then you are a double racist if you believe "both sides are
appalling," if you believe it is in their nature rather than due to
the circumstances.  (BTW, what is the difference between a racist
and a bigot?)  And adopting a policy of not commenting says 
absolutely nothing about your mindset, which is what determines
whether or not you are a racist (or bigot).
     If you want to understand how the Arab world came to its
present predicament, to a depth far beyond the simple statement that
something is in their DNA or their culture, read Bernard Lewis or
Karen Armstrong.  1000 years ago the Arabs led the world in science,
medicine, literature, navigation, commerce--you name it.  Europe was
the slow learners of the world.  Well aware of that history, Arabs
are very defensive about how they reached today's state of poverty
(in the midst of great wealth), autocracy, tyranny, etc.  They of
course blame the West but in fact they did it to themselves.  But in
any case there is nothing in their heredity that condemns them to
today's misery.