You mean you would speak the same way to him if he were seated before you?
Sam said:Not really, if this is how you treat foreign students, God help you, I guess.
Not really, if this is how you treat foreign students, God help you, I guess.
It's funny how you think trying to adhere to some kind of polite, neutral language is condescending. My foreign students don't have any problem with me at all.
Then there's the casual dismissal at being caught out. "Well, I can't make anything of this, so I'll just throw out an insult and run away." Off you go then.
You have to remember most of these people [Europeans and Westerners]have not traveled to Muslim countries. Or met many Muslims from different cultures. You have to also remember that they are not brought up to be polite or civil to guests and strangers
Can't be bothered really, four years of scratching the surface and looking for any meaningful conversation is long enough to realise that this is all there is.
He's Tunisian, the concept that insulting people's beliefs is a progressive ideology is alien to him. Besides, its true, Michael you and (Q) live in some kind of alternate universe in which all the Muslims from all the countries and from all time are one person. For a Tunisian who lives among many different types of people [he speaks several languages and speaks like a person used to many ideologies], coming into contact with the frogs in the well [kupmanduk, as we say in India] would be an unpleasant experience. He's probably never met such a closed minded intolerant bunch of people where he's from.
Just read what you debated with a Tunisian and tell me which part of it applies to him or his society.
His opinion was that the Quran cannot teach hatred, and that the oppression of non-Muslims in Islamic nations was a complete impossibility; failing that, that it never occurred in North Africa. Specifically, we discussed church burnings. I demonstrated to him that it was not an impossibility, and that it did indeed occur; in short that he was mistaken.
I don't think I applied any of it to him in particular; are you then saying that he is somehow to blame? I know you favour group responsibility, but I don't think I agree in this case, if that's indeed your opinion.
I trust I haven't been unkind to your fledgling, momma? In point of fact, I'm doing him a service by educating him about some of the actions of the borders of his society. Your affront is like a redneck complaining about a white Southerner being schooled on slavery.
Tunis is in North Africa. It used to be known as Carthage.
He's Tunisian, the concept that insulting people's beliefs is a progressive ideology is alien to him. Besides, its true, Michael you and (Q) live in some kind of alternate universe in which all the Muslims from all the countries and from all time are one person. For a Tunisian who lives among many different types of people [he speaks several languages and speaks like a person used to many ideologies], coming into contact with the frogs in the well [kupmanduk, as we say in India] would be an unpleasant experience. He's probably never met such a closed minded intolerant bunch of people where he's from.
I felt sorry for him as I did for sandy and the others. I knew he would not understand why everyone was beating him up over something that was not his fault
So instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt, instead of trusting his intelligence (as you said yourself, "he speaks several languages and speaks like a person used to many ideologies", one would assume he is very intelligent) you demand that people do not engage or challenge him because being Tunisian somehow makes him unable to cope?
I am not excusing what they have said or done, but your argument in his defense is equally small minded. Just because he is Tunisian does not mean that he is somehow not intelligent or broad minded enough to cope with their style of argument.
No one is intelligent enough to debate with people who cannot read or comprehend.
No one is intelligent enough to debate with people who cannot read or comprehend.
I personally find your constant reminders of his ethnicity to be demeaning.Do you think a Tunisian is so backwards that they are unable to debate? Do you think that because he is Tunisian, he is somehow ignorant of the ways of the world?
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Do you think there is a reason he was so upset he opened three threads on the same topic within a short period of time?