The family suddenly notices the cameras, and immediately, the expression on their faces changes. "We have no food," they say in Arabic, as one of the youngsters suggests we interview him in English about their plight. Givati troops are extremely concerned about being portrayed as abusing innocent civilians. Perry points to a stack of canned goods, water bottles and other provisions. "We provided some of that and they cook and eat quite well," said Perry. The Palestinians seem to understand him and one of them smiles. It's a war – they had to try...." -- from this article
Anyone who has bargained with someone in an Arab souk knows the way in which the owner of, say, a carpet store will smile, and tell you to come in and please have tea, and perhaps take a look at his marvellous carpets. But don't misunderstand, he has absolutely no intention of trying to sell you something, it's just his family's store, and he wants you to meet his father and his brothers, and they are all so proud of their interesting rugs, and hope you will have tea with them. And you, innocent that you are, enter, and have the tea, and then the soft sell starts, and quickly becomes a hard sell, and then you stupidly ask the price of a rug, and you are told that "for you effendi, a special price, because effendi, I love you more than I love my father, I love you more than I love my mother, effendi," so for you the price is -- and then a figure is given that is absurdly high, twenty times what the rug should be selling for. And you demur.
And suddenly, right away, the price is cut so that now it is down to only ten times what it should be, and then you demur again, and the price is now swiftly cut again, to only five times what it should be. And this is accompanied by protestations of "this is only for you" and "only because I regard you as my friend" and "I have never given such a price to anyone in my life" and "my brother is telling me he can't believe I am doing this, he thinks I have gone crazy, he is begging me to stop, he says we will die of starvation if we sell rugs at this price." And you demur again, and so he cuts again, and sells you the rug for only three times what it should sell for, which is about ten times its actual worth, and you leave the store with your rug, and feel proud of yourself, for having made such a bargain.
Yes, these Arabs sweetly try to blacken the name of Israel by claiming that they are starving -- but in this case, oops, they'd forgotten to hide the canned goods, and the bottled water, and the other provisions provided by the Israelis, and pointed out by Perry. Well, so they smiled. They did their best. They lied as best they could. Come back tomorrow, cameramen, and this time they'll have the same lies ready, but with the canned goods, and the bottles of water, and the other provisions all carefully hidden.
Yes, do come back, won't you, please?
Taqiyya and kitman are religiously sanctioned doctrines of dissimulation about Islam, and about one's owns beliefs. One is encouraged to lie to protect the faith and the position of Muslims.
Muslims have shown what non-Muslims would find to be a remarkable ability to speak and behave one way. And then, when they believe they are among their own, or when they think that the temporary danger from Infidels reacting to an outrage has died down, or proven not to be so dangerous, they reveal their true beliefs.
There have been many examples of imams and Muslim spokesmen showing up after 9/11 for assorted "interfaith" vigils, who made all the right noises, and who later on were picked up for their demonstrated support for, or other connection to, terrorism. There have been those celebrated clerics in the Middle East, Australia, and elsewhere who have, for Infidel audiences, stoutly denounced "suicide-bombers" -- and then, for audiences of fellow Muslims, insisted on defending suicide bombers.
There have been those who expressed astonishment, horror, at various bombings and then, when they thought the coast was clear (i.e., the Infidels were not going to do anything) revealed their support for such attacks. One thinks here of the outwardly pleasing uncle of one of the London bombers, who at first (fearing Infidel reaction) expressed shock, amazement, absolute horror -- and then, when it was clear that the Infidels were not going to behave as Muslims would naturally have behaved had positions been reversed (with mass killings of Infidels that would not stop), decided to announce his true feelings: his sympathetic understanding of the London bombings that, not two weeks before, he had had such apparent difficulty even in comprehending.
Muslims have a fantastic ability to turn on and off their "deeply sincere" beliefs when it comes to fooling non-Muslims, whether selling in a souk (that metalwork zarf-and-finjan set in Morocco, the hubble-bubble pipe in Egypt, the carpet in Damascus), or outside the souk, selling Infidels a bill of goods. Not everyone gets with the program, of course -- some hotheads always insist on telling the truth. And we can learn the truth from those "hotheads."
Here's the video
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b95_1231410418
CNN coverage of the London demonstration is so biased!
Lots of celebs and useful idiots on the side of the Palis. Violence broke out as the crowd reached the Israeli Embassy. Several policemen were injured and shop windows were smashed, accompanied by the obligatory US flag-burning. One of the muslim demonstrators attacked a police horse.
You can't rely on anything a Mahound has to say unless it's a threat.
Some people lie when they don't have to just to keep practiced up...Mahounds are kitman proficient, and always taqiyya ready.
Thanks Alex D.
I think that the smile on that kid in the picture above the blog post the other day were because they were waiting for cameras and attention. Muslimas don't wear headscarves when they're just hanging out at home. Even if she was afraid of being raped by a relative, she wasn't when she was in a room with the whole family. That house was bigger either of my parents' - who are retired lawyers - houses, including the house that my sister and myself grew up in. Neither of them has a two-story. I reiterate that I cannot afford bottled water.
Good piece.
I recall an incident at the time of the IRanian "revolution" about 30 years ago where the crowd was screaming invective and indignation, all being soaked up by a newscameraman. Then the cameraman had to stop to change cassettes or batteries or something and the crowd stopped and waited, and as soon as the camera was back in service, the "spontaneous" collective indignation resumed....
It was as if they were doing "Take 1" "Take 2"... or rather "Taqqyia 1" "Taqqyia 2"...
Nothing to do with the meat of the article, but I remember my parents once telling me how they tag-teamed a carpet seller in Morocco, taking him from $20,000 all the way down to something like $1500, with free, insured fed-ex shipping. They chased after dad three times as he left the store offering new, lower prices. In the meantime he witnessed an american tourist who was carpet-bagged into paying an exorbitant price for a similar rug. They didn't even bother haggling.
Dad said no in the end. It wasn't quite the right size and he didn't actually want it, he just wanted to see how far they were willing to go before giving up. Give the way they were following him down the street with new offers it's likely they would have taken $50 and a roast chicken...
Greetings:
Several years ago, when I first began to turn some of my attention to the problem of Islam and its Muslims, I read an article by Fouad Ajami. In it, he gave his assessment of two aspects of that culture and what Americans should draw from them in terms of understanding.
One was the "culture" of the "souk", which Mr. Fitzgerald has ably addressed, as usual, above. The other was the architecture of the Muslim lands. Mr. Ajami pointed out the difference between the walled and gated compounds of the Muslims and "front porch" America, the closed and hidden versus the open and welcoming. Mr. Ajami cited an Arab proverb as an example of the mental set of this part of our world. It went, "I tell my daughter-in-law so my neighbors will hear."
One of the aspects of this struggle we find ourselves in that I have been unable to resolve, is the what is of Islam and what is of the pre-existing Arab culture. I have read "Culture and Conflict in the Middle East" by Philip Carl Salzman and he asserts that the culture of the Middle East is deeply effected by its nomadic Arab culture. I find his arguments persuasive and am somewhat concerned that this web site, which does impressive and needed work, doesn't often address this aspect of our struggle.
Basically, my concern boils down to what if we fix the Islam and find out the problem is even deeper.
11B40 - This is how I see it:
Nomadic cultures in scarce environments are not too dissimilar and when a charismatic military leader emerges (Attila, Chingiss) they organize and kick cuty-dwellers') butt, but then settle with the city-dwellers and lose their military oomph in a generation or so. With Islam,
1) the region's peculiarities were that it a) was particularly harsh (as compared to say grasslands) so that qualities of hostility contributed to survival (Mongols grassland nomads cooperated for a hunt -- not much hunting in the desert) and b) lay along major trade routes so that robbery was a profitable industry, with corresponding mindsets, family an tribe structures etc. again being selected for survival.
, and 2) Mohamed's genius was in forging a cult that perpetuated this mindset for the duration.
So to ask at this point which behavior is from what (islam or "culture") may not be a well-posed question.
But if you want to indulge in a bit of fantasy (as "if we fix islam" makes me think, and nothing wrong with that) I see it as deprogramming victims of a cult. Once the deprogramming is done, it may take a generation or two, to move the culture along from child-abusing tribal ,but that's a lot easier once the mind is open from under the Submission Cult.
Hugh and 11B40 - LOL! Great comments about the souk (Arab market place). I learned about this the hard way on my first visit to Egypt, with perfume and rug sellers chasing after me in places as diverse as the base of the pyramids, the entrances to Karnak and Hatshepsut near Luxor, and outside (and even inside!) the Egyptian Museum. One sees the same tactics being employed by Arab politicians.
Greetings: especially "kuchuklambat"
Thank you for your response. I am currently reading "Comanches: The History of a People" by T.R. Fehrenbach (1974) and I am struck by the number of parallels between the Comanches and our Muslim brothers and sisters.
The author writes that the male-dominated culture of the tribal bands was organized around two primary activities, hunting and war-partying (if you will forgive a witticism). Before their access to horses, hunting (and gathering) consumed most of their time. Once they adapted "horse technology," not only could they range much farther but also hunting used up a lot less of their time. That time ended up being re-allocated to the raiding function which provided not only booty but also cultural prestige.
Your reference to "deprogramming," which in my opinion is a very apt analogy, reminds me of my father telling me that the reason Moses took the Jews into the desert for 40 years was so the slave generation would die off and that those who grew up in freedom would then enter into Israel.
"... (the reason) Moses took the Jews into the desert for 40 years was so the slave generation would die off and that those who grew up in freedom would then enter into Israel."
Posted by: 11B40
This is very insightful. If one supposes that exposure of the broad mass of Muslims to modern mass communications corresponds to the Jews' escape from Pharaoh, and wondering around for 40 years is a form of enforced isolation to allow for deprogramming, then what would be the equivalent action that could be taken today to isolate Islam until it can be deprogrammed?
Yes, 11B40, I also heard that's the reason Moses took the long way through (took Mary, Joseph and the baby a lot less time to make the journey back). Moses himself died in view but not in the promised land.
Deprogramming I am thinking about is more akin to deprogramming from "satanic" cults that the US law enforcement and psychologists have some experience with. I know little about it, except it is a one-at-a-time, intensive process, where unconscious embedded triggers for suicide come up and other nasty stuff. That's why I say it's fantasy based as applied to the Submission Cult because obviously no one has resources (even if will and clarity were present) for this. The only mass deprogramming from it I can think of was carried out by the Soviets in 1920's (anyone for http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066565/ ?), which did manage e.g. to liberate women, but of course was accompanied by indoctrination into the marxism-leninism religion. For whatever it was worth, it did leave young Chechens and Tadjiks open to Islam's revival a few generations later.
I think what Fr Zakaria Botros is doing, and what Ali Sina is doing, could reasonably be described as 'deprogramming' of Muslims. They both need a whole lot more support!
I think what Fr Zakaria Botros is doing, and what Ali Sina is doing, could reasonably be described as 'deprogramming' of Muslims. They both need a whole lot more support!
Posted by: dumbledoresarmy
Yes they do...and so do other ex mahoundians who maintain web sites or write articles for that purpose...'deprogramming'...
Mahoundians don't realize just how degrading, and insulting, their Islamic programming is.
Many apostates once free of the chains of Islamic programing, try and help others break free as well. It is of benefit to us to support them...
Melanie Phillips, has been nominated for "Best U.K. Blogger 2008". The left are mounting a campaign, to have people vote for the opposition. I hope Robert that you can put a link/story on this article, so that she can get increased visibility in Britian.
Keep up the good work.
http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-uk-blog/
I tend to believe in Waif when he asked for the photo of the food, he stated: "I would tend to believe this statement, but where is the photo of the food and water? Without that photographic evidence, this just looks like propaganda--whether it's true or not. Is it posted elsewhere? Posted by: waif"
Where is the photo of the food?