[LCM Articles] We love you Robert Fisk!

Mon Jul 24 16:58:28 EDT 2006

 Randa,

 Thank you for the precious words... Finally someone spoke up defending Robert Fisk.
 I am really disappointed how sometimes we stab the person who defends us and speaks
 for our right in the back.... 

 Best wishes,

 Rania.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Rania Mekary, Ph.D.
 Harvard School of Public Health
 Nutrition Department
 655 Huntington Avenue, Building 2
 Boston, Ma 02115
 Voice mail: 617-432-6343 
 Fax: 617-432-2435
 http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/researchers/rmekary.html
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
 -----Original Message-----
 From: rhartm1 at yahoo.com
 To: philippesaad at gmail.com
 Cc: lebanon-articles at mit.edu
 Sent: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 1:16 AM
 Subject: [LCM Articles] We love you Robert Fisk!

 I believe that you've misinterpreted Robert Fisk's sarcasm in the way he phrased his comments. 
 I can be almost certain of that, because I've attended 
 2 talks he'd given at MIT and one in New York City, 
 and I can see that his writing and verbal styles aren't much different. But when he talks, his body language and variations in his voice make the message unequivocal.

 For one thing, he is NOT a racist; this is a man who publicly talked about his father (who was with the British Army all his adult life) as being --disgracefully-- racist. 
 And in general, his opinions (as expressed in his new book) on how the British Empire handled affairs in its colonies would leave you without a doubt that he's not 
 a racist.

 So this is what I think he meant to convey: He talked as if he was one typical racist westerner who thinks that the Arabs are primitive, stupid illiterate, with ugly and spooky physiques... so different from his superior self..., 
 and who now sees that lebanese people don't fit this stereotype, 
 so he wonders how come so little is being done to help them, although they aren't any different from the superiors of the world. 
 In other words, that the Lebanese shouldn't trigger racism in the westerners (as they're not "different" from them), yet that they're being treated by the westerners in a racist-like way. Which he finds nonsensical and unacceptable of course!
 --Randa

 Philippe Charles Saad <philippesaad at gmail.com> wrote: This a shame!
 What does this "they don't look like the Arab world" mean? Are Arabs Animals? 2nd degree human being? 
 what is this racizm?
 What's wrong with the Arab world?
 If we are sophisticated, educated, cosmopolitan... how does this tie to the fact that "we don't look like the Arab world"
 Aren't we tired of those cliches?
 Ohh yeah Lebanese are not Arabs... what is all is nonsense! I won't even mention the whole stupid discourse of phoenicians!!
 Who cares who we are Arabs, Phoenicians, meditteraneans, Greeks, maybe we have Romans, crusaders, kurdish or Indian blood! 
 Guys who cares, trade was all over the place and people were mixing all through teh ages

 If Robert Fiske did a good job reporting about the situation all a long the years of war, this does not mean that all what he says is sacred!! come on guys a little critical sense, a little pride.
 Stop escaping what you are and mirror yourself to what you are not because Europeans or Americans have engrained in you the fact that they are a better race than Arabs, than chinese, than indians. No one is better than any other one.

 And now instead of all standing together and seeing our differences as a richness to stop Israel from bombing, we are abiding by the argument that Lebanese are not like the Arabs.
 What a shame, 
 I am disgusted....

 On 7/20/06, Rabih Zbib <rabih at mit.edu> wrote: We are infinitely greatful for our dearest friend Robert Fisk for the privilige of elevating us to the rank of full human beings, much different than those other Arabs!

 It amazes me -- I mean, living here in Beirut, as I have for 30 years. Here are the Lebanese people, sophisticated, educated, cosmopolitan, people who don't look like the Arab world, they look like us; I mean, people who could be quite at home on the streets of Paris or New York and London, and some of them are; people who read, who are very well educated; people who speak English fluently, French beautifully, and fluent Arabic, as well, of course; and who, when they die in such large numbers, the best we can produce is a call for restraint by the State Department and a claim by the British, our own dear Tony Blair, that the Israelis are using disproportionate force. 
  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/19/1345257

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