Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2002 12:11:37 -0800 (PST)
From: Wolf Factory <wolf_factory-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Arab press?


> I don't see your logic here. are you saying that the
> Qoran is invented by the prophet bec. it talks about
> his deeds, I thought it deals with other issues????
> 
> I think it is true to say that an historical
examination of the Quran and Al-hadith (the saying and
reported deeds of Mohammed) from a non-religious
perspective is difficult under the current religious
atmosphere of Arabic countries. Any Arabic scholar,
working in an Arabic university, wishing to interpret
the Quran as the words of Mohammed, or any other human
being will run into a wall of hostility. This is most
unfortunate in my opinion. 

> 
> what about the Palestinian Christians and atheist
> are
> they motivated to fight the Israeli after they read
> the Qoran?
> were the Algerains, Indians, Morrocans, Lebanese,
> all
> Africans ,et. racists and biased bec. they fought
> the
> colonizers?
> 
I implied no such thing. When I talked about the
tendency to write in a racist way against the Jews, I
was thinking of the Arabic media. This was in strict
response to an earlier message. I don’t think racist
attitudes towards Jews in the Arabic media are as
widespread as the original e-mail implied. I was
offering an explanation of what leads to them and how
in the future they might be eliminated all-together.
The fight of the Algerians, Indians, Palestinians ,
etc for their freedom is a very human and
understandable endeavor. The feeling of hatred towards
an enemy that seeks to regulate every aspect of your
life, that controls your land, that tries to submerge
you culture and language is a legitimate feeling.
However, one must be cautious not to allow such
feelings to mutate into irrational, racist hatred.

For example if a Palestinian said I hate the Israelis
because they are oppressing me daily, have destroyed
my home, killed my children, etc then we can
sympathize with his feeling. However, if he or she
said I hate all Jews because they have always been and
forever shall be a loathsome, conniving, evil race, 
then we must withhold our sympathy and attempt to make
that Palestinian see the absurdity of such hatred
which is neither based on fact nor history. The same
is true for Israelis who currently describe Arabs as
vermin.

The obliteration of any racial hatred (i.e irrational,
baseless) will be a difficult endeavor under the
current circumstances because of the massive
oppression experienced by Palestinians. Such a
project, to make both sides let go of racist hatred,
can only take place after the creation of a
Palestinian state.  

W.F.

===="All the wolves in the wolf factory paused at noon, 
for a moment of silence."
........from laughing Gravy by John Ashbery.
---------------------------------------------------------
Looking for something good and original to read?
Check out: http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~simmers/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage
http://sports.yahoo.com/


     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---