danielmiessler.com - Latest Comments in What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Nabila — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:29:30 -0000

This is a GREAT post and every American should read it! Those in the Middle East are often seen as one of two things:

1) Oppressed, burqa-wearing Muslim woman
2) Oppressive fundamentalist Muslim man who may or may not be a terrorist

I actually started a blog about trying to understand the Arab world more, from a young American perspective.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

stacky512a — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:12:16 -0000

"and people saying that all muslims/ arabs/whatever are terrorist,"

While all muslims are not terrorists, it does seem all terrorists are muslim. Understand this difference and one can understand the programming that many Americans derive their statements from.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Yours Truly — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:32:42 -0000

This was informative and easy to understand, until I reached the end. After enjoying the brief article I was surprised by the elitist insult at the end.

Should Americans know more about global culture (let alone our own)? Absolutely.

Should we condemn the citizens that don't know basic information about the middle east, that are working, paying United States taxes, and concerned more for their own country? No, we should not.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

2984 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:12:04 -0000

what does it matter will all going to die 2012 anyway

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

amal — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:15:25 -0000

its simple.
we believe god doesn't have sons.
we believe in jesus.
women are not oppressed(i am a muslim woman i should know).
we eat shellfish!?!( hehehehe)
the people that give islam a bad rap, are those that dont practice it correctly.
and people saying that all muslims/ arabs/whatever are terrorist,
thats like saying all priests are pedaphiles.
you cant generalize.
check your facts. dont make opinions, without getting all the correct facts.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

murat_vincent — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:18:38 -0000

really good post

btw

TURKEY is Sunni Muslim and not arab, turkish :).

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

article spinner — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:19:49 -0000

great article here, if you want to learn how to spin an article check me out

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Stina of the beautiful Illinio — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:47:49 -0000

This is all good and well thought out. Mind you, from one person who knows and respects not just the muslim culture but all cultures, it is nearly impossible to educate an entire American society when most of them dont even know that they are HATED across the world statistically. Why not promote a campaign explaining to the world that most americans simply accept others way of life and PERHAPS just MAYBE they should try it on for size. Everyone is so wrapped up in their own realities, its pathetic. We humans fighting each other when given another scenario (like donating blood for example) actually have the ability to save eachothers lives. Its sad. I know the point of this but it does not get across the point we American must all promote. Acceptance and willingness to help when asked. Just love. We still love in America. People outside of America dont know this.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

ratsarsed — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:58:12 -0000

Excellent Work. Every American should should have a

map showing the geographical distribution of, and the
distinction between, Towelheads and Sandniggers.

Cheers:

ratsarsed

Use a rotary telephone and never need to Press # 1 to Speak English
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Danny — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:28:30 -0000

Interesting post, but incredibly over-simplified. People have already pointed out that Syria may have a Sunni majority, but it is dominated by Alawites, which, while they split off from Shi'a, might not even be considered Muslim--similar to Druze who do not consider themselves Muslim. I am also somewhat cynical of the comparison between Sunni and Protestant, which implies that Sunni is more "reform-minded" and "moderate" than clerical Shi'a. In fact, Wahhabi Islam in Saudi Arabia is far more extreme than Shi'a in Iran. Finally, Semite is a language grouping--there is no "racial" background to it, so saying that all Semites are related is nonsense. In fact, Hebrew and Arabic are closely related to Amharic and various other African languages as well, but they are not considered "Semites."

You are right though. People in America should learn more about the Muslim and the Arab world, especially with its prominence today. Ibn Warraq is a good place to start.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Zanj — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:39:18 -0000

"funny, in the orig. post you made a blunder…

6 - “Arabs are Semites. … That includes both Jews and Arabs. ” then, 7 - “According to the Bible, Jews and Arabs are related [Genesis 25]. Jews descended from Abraham?s son Isaac, and Arabs descended from Abraham?s son Ishmael. So not only are both groups Semitic, but they?re also family.”

you just used Arabs to describe Muslims!!!…duh!"

The Old Testament was written before there where any Muslims or Christians, for that matter!!! duh!

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

John Smith — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:44:06 -0000

All of the countries you talk about are dictatorships that oppress their people in one way or another and blame America and the west's influence for all their hardships. The Arab nations have all the oil, the greatest natural resource in the history of mankind and are squandering it to build golden palaces for their kings. As far as I can see, they create nothing. However they pump plenty of oil and extremism into the world.

When was the last time you saw two democracies go to war? NEVER. It doesnt happen. Before everyone jumps on me about how these Arab nations are democratic, do you know how you can easily tell if a country is truly democratic? Simply count the number of ex-leaders. In the USA we have quite a few ex-presidents living their lives. Name a single Arab nation that has even one ex-leader (ruler, king, "supreme-whatever", etc) living their life in peace. There aren't any because they either die naturally (while in power) or are overthrown by the next group of "revolutionists" and are killed.

Seriously, please show me a single Arab country that can claim they have past presidents or prime ministers living in the land. Combine these facts with the entire culture's romance with violence and it highlights the differences in Arab culture and western culture. The US sends bombing fighter jets to kill innocents and the US liberal population throws anti-war rallies. When innocent American's are killed, you dont see Arabs upset and challenging their leaders, quite the contrary, you see Arabs cheering in the streets. Call it Sunni or Shia or Persian or whatever you want, I know of no other people that embrace the cult of violence and death the way that part of the world does. Public stonings? Honor killings? Beheadings? Barbaric.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Matthew South — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:29:18 -0000

I stumbled across this right after reading "What every Muslim should know about the American infidels..." Now that I have my "Facts" straight, my fellow Americans and I can surely blog our way out of this 2000 year old arguement....really...really?

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Russell — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:46:28 -0000

Re: Comment by jimmy james: Haven't you heard of the Persian Gulf? Interestingly, some predominently Arab Nations (and specifically the GCC states) refer to it as the Arabian Gulf. The Iranians (and the remainder of the world, it seems) vehemently stick to Persian Gulf. The distinction is academic, but interesting nonetheless...

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Ozhan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:28:19 -0000

Hello,
Nice list but I think #3 is a bit being a GrammerNazi :P

By the way, although Turkey is grouped with Europe in many situations (football leagues 1st comes to mind :), many western people not only Americans still thinks us (Turks) as Arabs... imagining us acting, talking, dressing like Arabs.

But Turks came from middle Asia!

Take care & cheers...

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

hussam — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:42:47 -0000

1.Great post.
2.To Redrhino: All civilizations extended their borders in the same way but had different reasons, although you're right about Islam (I know because its my religion) now you are scared of extremists because greedy western countries gave a lot of reasons to a lot of people to become terrorists.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Alex — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:34:51 -0000

great post, i did not read all 164 comments but i did notice the mention of womans rights/repression within the comments, i would like to say that women who cover their faces historically were the wives of the prophet and that is how they were distinguished from the rest of society, so in fact originally it was not a mode of oppression but rather of power and respect, that has been perverted by men to suit their own needs.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Redrhino — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:51:55 -0000

This is a great primer on the middle east, but there is far more to be learned about Islam and the Muslim faith that shouls scare the pants off of westeners. I refer anyone who is really interested in learning about this vile, sham of a religion to read the books by Robert Spencer...it will scare and enlighten you.

Know this...Islam can NEVER live in peace with other religions, not has it ever done so. It's Kuran and Hadith both define what can happen to 'unbelievers". Convert, become taxed slaves to Islam, or die! Pretty simple. Islam, which was founded by a Con man, pedophile, polymagy, murderer (Mohammed), was only spread by conflict, violence, and murder. It's message did not convert, only the threat of death did.

We as westeners and believers in Judism/Christianity, and those who folow the teachings of Isalam have a 21st century to decide what to do. Islam must refute it's basic teachings of the "prophet" and learn to live in peaceful co-existance with other (non-believers), and westerners must come to the realization that if Muslims do not change...the only path is one ot total anihilation for one or the other.

Scary, you bet. But those are the facts and the realizations that we of the west must face. There is nothing is the history of Islam that indicates that they "peacefully co-exist" with others. If they do it is only to buy time until they are strong enough to dominate through force. We have to stop giving in to them and demand that they change.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Brian — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:59:05 -0000

Remarkable, well-thought out article. Thank you so much for the service you are doing.

It is heartening to see that the comments are overwhelmingly positive and thoughtful. It gives me hope.

If I may suggest, you might like to test yourself at a humorous, yet mildly educational poll I’ve made about “What you Know (or don’t Know) about Middle East Geography.”
You can find it near the bottom of the home page of Math Mojo .

All the best to you. Keep up the good work!

Brian

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

dcbsdb — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:13:48 -0000

all terrorists...stay out of the US

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

dcbsdb — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:13:28 -0000

sadfgsdfgasdfg

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Emmanuel — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:01:59 -0000

Marianne says Islam does not worship the God of Jews and Christians!!! Wow, I didn't know that Christians and Jews share a God!!! Who is this God? Can you divulge His indentity?

There is only one Almighty God. The Jews do not recognize His Son. The Muslims on the other hand, recognize Jesus as a prophet who was conceived, by the Virgin Mary, of the Spirit of God. So the Muslims have more in common with the Christians than the Jews who consider the Virging Mary a harlot and Jesus her illegitimate child who is rotting in hell in a cauldron of semen. Wake up sheeple, know your facts before peddling, unwittingly, distorted information.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Anthony Lallo — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:56:52 -0000

Justin --good job. Stating basically and simply distinctions that are unknown to the vast majority of people.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Abbas — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:29:35 -0000

When in doubt, ask a Shia :). The Shias do not believe in the Imammate/Caliphate as being the property of the family of Muhammad, rather they believe that it should go to the right person for the job just like the Sunnis. The difference at that time was who the right person is. For Shias it happened to be Ali, the second cousin of Muhammad, for Sunnis it was Abu Bakr.

Saying that it was a political difference that some how morphed into a religious difference is again wrong. In Islam, politics is part of religion. It is a social religion and therefore who you choose to follow as your leader is a religious decision. Sunnis chose to follow Abu Bakr and ended up spreading Islam through aggression. Shias chose to follow Ali and ended up spreading Islam through personal examples of piety and good will. All the wars fought by Muhammad were defensive and aggressive wars fought by Muslims (mostly for land grabbing under the pretext of religion) were fought under Abu Bakr and his predecessor.

If the US can end up with a leader who lost the popular vote and who would lead us into an unpopular war that nobody wanted in this day and age, then so can the young nation of Islam over 14 hundred years ago.

Re: What Every American Should Know About the Middle East

Amazon Herbs — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:28:49 -0000

You are right. I thought that I knew a lot but it looks like I had a number of wrong ideas. I knew that Indonesians used to be Buddhists and then became Muslims.