Have you ever met Muslim...

[GeoffP]

I don't even mind that sort of thing if their culture is fairly innocuous - Orthodox Judaism, the Amish types (possibly?) and I think some Sihks as well. It's when that culture is happy to kill me to prove its superiority that I get a little worked up.

I actually did have a woman that I think was muslim (NoI, probably) refuse to give my son (4 yrs old) a seat on the bus. She was sitting there with her coffee and some other crap on the seat beside her. I didn't want to be rude and actually say something (you know how it is...although that basic avoidance impulse has been stripped away since) so I kind of gestured with my head and cleared my throat. She looked right at me, and I gestured towards the seat - she didn't move a muscle. I frowned, gestured again, no response. She could merely have been an asshole of course; it doesn't need to be religious, and I don't know that it was any kind of "contamination" issue.

 

[damazka]

So syria is hostile to Jews? That's news to me. You seem to think it is acceptable old world mentality to think badly of Jews. But I did not come across this attitude in Saudis, although I noted that moroccans and tunisians were suspicious of jews (on top of which we had an unfortunate incident when a Jewish storekeeper called the cops on us, giving rise to a rant on the perfidy of Jews).

Actually Marocco is the most tolerant arabian country regarding the jews. They have the highest percentage in Jews, the jews have their own community there are allowed to build synagoges (how do you spell that in english ) Anyway the only morrocans who i find are not tolerant to jewss are the ones who do not live in morocco but in the western countries.

anyway this was of course completely beside the point of this thread but i still wanted to say this

 

[Orleander]

...Actually Marocco is the most tolerant arabian country regarding the jews. They have the highest percentage in Jews, the jews have their own community there are allowed to build synagoges (how do you spell that in english ) Anyway the only morrocans who i find are not tolerant to jewss are the ones who do not live in morocco but in the western countries....

I never realized that. My friend is married to a guy from Morrocco. He says they have more in common with eachother than they do Christians, so why not get along.

 

[disease]

Of course, part of the problem is different cultural norms, different things or actions that some find offensive, but are "normal" to others.

For instance, signifying "nothing" or "OK" with a circled finger and thumb, is perfectly acceptable in many Western cultures. In others, it means "you are an arsehole". That's what the sign means too.

Here in a country that is becoming more multicultural all the time, especially since the '90s, there are Muslims from around the world, and we accept refugees too. We have Somalis, Pakistanis, Northern Indians of Muslim and Hindu persuasion, Muslims from probably anywhere in the world they normally reside.

We had racial problems, I've read, in the early days of "non-white" immigration. Chinese and Hindu people were subjected to oppressive taxes and living conditions, paid low wages, etc. Now we have Hindu and Muslim MPs, and Asian, and Polynesian. we have to learn to "get along".

New arrivals are probably a little tense or unsure at first. An example here, would be the takeaway place (or "takis") as we call them here, these guys make stuff that is probably as authentic as you could find anywhere, and quite cheap. I noticed they were (still are) somewhat apprehensive when I, a white boy, go and order something. They obviously have different ideas about "service". They will answer a ringing phone and rabbit away in Hindi or maybe it's Urdu, in the middle of you asking them for this or that. It pays too, to ask for one thing at a time, or they appear to assume you've changed your mind, and give you the last thing you asked for.

But, hey, the food is to die for, so who cares?