27 December 2006

Whatever happened to just being an Arab?

Ah, rants. Life just wouldn't be the same without them. Today's subject of choice shall be "whatever happened to being an Arab?"

It seems to me these days that everyone in the Arab World seems to be Sunni, Shi'a, Kurdish, Maronite, (other) Christian, Assyrian, Phoenician...basically belonging to any religious or ethnic group other than Arabs. OK, fair enough for the Assyrians, and the Kurds, but where does everybody else fit in?

For those who wish to say that the Arab World was never totally ethnically Arab, you're absolutely right. A lot of people tell me I look foreign. That might well be due to my slightly European features and light skin. Yet I don't really look European/white/Caucasian. I look Arab, as far as I'm concerned. The only place I've found people who look like me is in the Arab World, particularly the Levant.

But I guess that's the point. It never was the "Arab" world. Not in the strict sense of ethnicity, I guess. Arabs have probably been the majority in the past few thousand years, but they're hardly the only race that inhabits the area. In fact, the "Arab" in Arab World is closer in meaning to the term "European".

So what does this mean? it means that I believe in the term Pan-Arabism still. I don't want to see the whole of the Middle East and North Africa torn to pieces because of stupid, petty racial and religious squabbles that have no place in our collective culture.

Let's just try to get over these little adolescent tantrums that led Europe through two world wars, and finally to union. We had that union. Though it was never that effective, let's see if we can make it better rather than going through that process again.

04 December 2006

Resolutions: People I should physically harm

I've decided to start a series of articles to publish my violent fantasies of retribution against those who trespass against me, my friends, or the bounds of public decency. Henceforth, when I feel the particular desire to let off steam, I can either hurt someone, or write about it.

So, just a quick entry today on the theme of people I should physically harm. Today's entry is about those three twats who wouldn't stop talking during Casino Royale last Wednesday.

Crime: Speaking and making little adolescent arsehole comments throughout the film.

Punishment: Yell out to my friends for back-up and kick each of their heads in, preferably during the performance and in full view of everyone.

Resolutions:
1-Remember that I'm much bigger and stronger than the average 7afartali arsehole
2-Forget about pacifist mindset and live by the rule of Nemo me impune lacessit (Let no man fuck with me)
3-Perpetuate the pre-existing cycle of violence in the world to make myself feel better about dispencing Karmic justice on all deservers.

Man, I feel better already.