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Originally Posted by Nirvana
i don't know. i know arabs who were born and raied here and still say hezbollah is entirely legitimate and the rockets that they launched into israel were, in their words, "no big deal." they continued to say israel is the agressor and that they have no right to go into lebanon. so basically, arab factions that actually do have a strong representaiton in the country can do what they want but israel can't respond because it was "no big deal." if this is a person born and raise din the US, i can only imagine what i would here from an arab living in the middle east.
I dont know how many people also get this, but ive talked to so many muslims about 9/11 and i've always gotten this "ye it was terrible BUT..."
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It's the old "look at this from their perspective" thing. There are a lot of people in the US that treat arabs like garbage out of some misplaced sence of vengence or fear for 9/11. Even in a liberal place like the San Francisco Bay Area, known for being ultra liberal and ultra open minded, I do notice a difference in word and deed by people. It is similar to the way some people act around black people, but it seems more specific. Public transportation, malls, the HP Pavilion, planes, etc. all seem to be different since 9/11.
Arabs in the US are not unaware of how the people in their home countries are treated. Most are able to look at the situatuion objectively, but they have the benifit of having vested interest in both groups, the Israeli-US-western side and the Hezbollah-Lebanese or Palestinian-etc. side. That's something that a lot of Americans don't have.
Of course, I, a white as snow son of a Lutheran pastor born and raised in the US, also think that Israel was the aggressor. This conflict is longer than a few months, it goes back to before I was born. Israel invaded Lebanon because they chased all the Palestinians out and they started to cause trouble from Lebanon. The Lebanese got pissed when Israel invaded and fought back (and lost). Israel pulled out most of it's troops about 5 or 6 years back, but not all of them. Israel still occupied a small part of Lebanon and still does so today. Why? Because Israel doesn't recognize the land as being Lebanese, despite the fact that Lebanon claims it and the country that Israel claims the land belongs to say it ain't theirs. You know, that old chestnut.