On Sunday 18 May 2008 1:26:50 am Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote: > On Sat, 2008-05-17 at 15:14 -0400, Perry E. Metzger wrote: > > > 4. The future markets based in US & Europe (controlled > > > by Rich Jews) is deliberately playing the markets to > > > > I was unaware that bigotry was considered "reasonable discourse" on > > this mailing list. > > the post was citing the saudi press. "controlled by Rich Jews" is > perhaps a common phrase there.
Hah! I missed that sentence - but no excuses - I didn't read it properly <slaps self on wrist> Perry's question IMO is not unreasonable, but it shows up bigotry that we live with in international relations pretending that "normal discourse" is occurring, ignoring the bigotry that is mocking us and hitting us in our faces. This quotation about rich Jews is only a whiff of that. I am referring of course to the state of Saudi Arabia and guidelines that are written in black and white in the Koran. In "reasonable discourse" the words I have written above are usually called Islamophobia. But the Koran itself specifically singles out Jews for punishment - basically for being Jewish. To ask a rhetorical question, does bigotry become bigotry only if it does not have sanction in some holy book or other? To be perfectly honest - I discussed the views I have posted above with my brother, who is currently visiting because of a bereavement in the family. He pointed out to me that some things have a cultural connotation that is "more serious" in some countries. A specific example he made was the word "Gollywog" - which to many Indians only connotes a black doll in a series of children's books by Enid Blyton and does not carry the same meaning that it would carry in the West. However - anyone who understands that Gollywog is offensive will be able to stop using it without claiming that it is in his sacred text, so there's a difference. IMVHO of course. shiv
