# What do the Arab countries produce?



## poppy (Feb 21, 2008)

"
At least since the early part of the 20th century, aside from oil, the Arab world has produced and exported two products.
It has produced essentially no technology, medicine or anything else in the world of science. It has almost no contributions to world literature, art or to intellectual development.
According to the most recent United Nations Arab Human Development Reports (2003-2005), written by Arab intellectuals, Greece, with a population of 11 million, annually translates five times more books from English than the entire Arab world, population 370 million. Nor is this a new development. The total number of books translated into Arabic during the last 1,000 years is less than Spain translates into Spanish in one year. 
ArabianBusiness.com reports that about 100 million people in the Arab world are illiterate; and three quarters of them are between the ages of 15 and 45. 
As for Arab women, the situation is even worse. Nearly half of the Arab  world's women are illiterate, and sexual attacks on women have actually increased since the Arab Spring, as have forced marriages and trafficking. And the exact number of women murdered by family members in "honor killings" is not knowable. It is only known to be large.
In Egypt, the largest Arab country, 91 percent of women and girls are subjected to female genital mutilation, according to UNICEF. Not to mention the number of women in the Arab world who must wear veils or even full-face and full-body coverings known as burkas. And, of course, Saudi Arabia is infamous for not allowing women to drive a car. 
Another unhappy feature of the Arab world is the prevalence of lies. To this day, Egypt denies that it was the Egyptian pilot, Ahmed El-Habashi, who allegedly crashed an EgyptAir jet into the ocean deliberately. Vast numbers of Arabs believe that Jews knew of the 9-11 plot and avoided going to work at the World Trade Center that day.
So, then, is there anything at which the Arab world has excelled for the past two generations? Has there been a major Arab export?
As it happens, there are two.
Hatred and violence.


More at


http://townhall.com/columnists/denn...at-the-arab-world-produces-n1898443/page/full


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

Egypt does have _some_ industry. I used to buy the majority of my machine made area rugs from there. Interestingly, they had a policy that if a razor blade cut in the backing was found, they'd replace it no charge, including freight. Seems it wasn't an uncommon occurrence.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

I'd say they are on top of the game for exporting terrorists! And at some point they may be at the top of the list for a nuclear testing ground!


Wade


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

IIRC, they are also very good at exporting opium and its derivatives.


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## Trainwrek (Aug 23, 2014)

Wow, you guys really are down on the Arabs, huh? It occurs to me that Arabs had a civilization when England and northern Europe was composed of primitive tribes who ate with their hands and had no written language. Alot of what we have and know today is thanks to Arab civilization while our people were naught more than savages.


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## Janis R (Jun 27, 2013)

Yes, Trainwrek' but they haven't advanced since then
Not "down" on them just noting that we don't receive anything from them but oil and we have enough here in the USA


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Trainwrek said:


> Wow, you guys really are down on the Arabs, huh? It occurs to me that Arabs had a civilization when England and northern Europe was composed of primitive tribes who ate with their hands and had no written language. Alot of what we have and know today is thanks to Arab civilization while our people were naught more than savages.


Arabs or Egyptians?


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

Trainwrek said:


> Wow, you guys really are down on the Arabs, huh? It occurs to me that Arabs had a civilization when England and northern Europe was composed of primitive tribes who ate with their hands and had no written language. Alot of what we have and know today is thanks to Arab civilization while our people were naught more than savages.


And then came mohammed, stopping any innovation and thirst for science, or improvement of most any kind. Their schools are comprised of 8 hours of religious teachings. I read today, might have been here, that the ME has translated less books in the past 1000 years into arabic than Spain does into Spanish in a year.

Not just a lot of rocket surgeons over there.


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

Ozarks Tom said:


> And then came mohammed, stopping any innovation and thirst for science, or improvement of most any kind. Their schools are comprised of 8 hours of religious teachings. I read today, might have been here, that the ME has translated less books in the past 1000 years into arabic than Spain does into Spanish in a year.
> 
> Not just a lot of rocket surgeons over there.


No they come here to learn medicine and most of them work at a VA.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Every culture has its highs and lows. The middle east was way more advanced in science, medicine, commerce, everything, in the past than Europe, they lived like savages by comparison. But now the Western culture has caught up and passed them. They seem to have regressed. Nobody stays on top of the heap forever, we might be there now but our days are numbered. Our big advantage is how quickly we change and adapt compared to many other cultures. Some places, they have traditions that go back centuries. We don't seem to keep the same customs for 50 years.


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

*What do the Arab countries produce?


*DATES!!!!* and LOTS OF THEM.
*


Date is a very delicious and much liked food in most of the countries in the world. It is used as food in some parts of world 
and it has much importance in some nations . It contains many vitamins in it. i,e Vitamin A,B, C,E , K , Iron, Calcium, Magnesium,
Sodium and Zinc are its main ingredients. It is produced and used as major diet in several countries.


The top five countries producing dates &#8211; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, 
UAE and Pakistan &#8211; contribute over 60 per cent to the global production.

There are multiple types of dates which are grown in the world,out of which some type are as follows :


Anbarah
Afandi
Berhi
Ajwah
Helya
Gharr
Baidh
Helwah
Barny
Jebaily
Menaify
Mushkouh
Zaewy
Wananah
Maktoomi
 - See more at: http://www.whichcountry.co/top-10-date-producing-countries-in-the-world/#sthash.TCdtwZBc.dpuf

http://www.pubhort.org/datepalm/datepalm2/datepalm2_121.pdf

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/feb2011-weekly/busrev-28-02-2011/p4.htm

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-date-producing-countries-map.html

WORLD TOP 10: DATE FRUIT PRODUCING COUNTRIES 2011 
RANKCOUNTRY(1000 metric tonnes) 
1Egypt1,373.57 2Saudi Arabia1,122.82 3Iran1,016.61 4United Arab Emirates900 5Algeria690 6Iraq619.18 7Pakistan557.28 8Oman268.01 9Tunisia180 10Libya165.95
*SOURCE : *UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
*Last Updated On : September 24, 2014*


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Trainwrek said:


> Wow, you guys really are down on the Arabs, huh? It occurs to me that Arabs had a civilization when England and northern Europe was composed of primitive tribes who ate with their hands and had no written language. Alot of what we have and know today is thanks to Arab civilization while our people were naught more than savages.


And that has what to do with today? It seems they went backwards into savagery rather than forward into civility. 

Answer this: What social or technological advancement have came out of the Arab culture in the past: 10 years? 50 year? 100 years? 

But I'm not only going to pick on their culture. Asia was miles ahead of "the west" centuries ago. Africa is considered by many to have been where humanity started.

I'm willing to bet there are few "modern" (say since 1900) advances which you can come up with which are not from or based almost entirely on "western" advancements.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

MO_cows said:


> Every culture has its highs and lows. The middle east was way more advanced in science, medicine, commerce, everything, in the past than Europe, they lived like savages by comparison. But now the Western culture has caught up and passed them. They seem to have regressed. Nobody stays on top of the heap forever, we might be there now but our days are numbered. Our big advantage is how quickly we change and adapt compared to many other cultures. Some places, they have traditions that go back centuries. We don't seem to keep the same customs for 50 years.


If you are a student of history you will find that for the most part 'customs' hold cultures back much more than allow them to move forward.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Old Vet said:


> No they come here to learn medicine and most of them work at a VA.


Actually those tend to be a different bunch of Asians. Yes, Virginia, the nation of India and most of the Arabic nations *are *in Asia. Only the 'Arabic' nations in Africa are not. Well some say that the part of Turkey west of Istanbul should be considered Europe but that's splitting hairs.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

* The Arabian Horse*


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## reneedarley (Jun 11, 2014)

Dear Sir.(Original Poster)
Got up this morning , read the original post and was horrified. Went out to milk the cow but couldn't get it out of my mind.
Normally I don't comment on such "touchy " topics but I have broad shoulders and in our civilised countries we only get whipped by the pen.
Pull up a chair and brew yourself a coffee. We have even kept the Arabic word for the excellent beverage. Or is it evening, take a sip of your relaxing wine, (from California maybe?) Like almonds? Sesame seeds? The list is long. True we no longer import so many. We are lucky we (Here I will say we the British) systematized the slave industry. Which meant we could minimize our dependance on import form the Arabic lands by growing our own.
Oh but we needed their oil. Luckily for the U.S.A you have shale and YUPPEE maybe global warming which means more oil fields are being revealed.:facepalm: But my friend, pray, as I do that the drought plagued American farmers soon get rain.
Arabia was once a land of milk and honey. Now there are so many deserts. I have seen the fossilized trees in Jordan
Voltaire, after many years of philosophic essays wrote in Candide "Il faut cultiver son jardin" One must cultivate one's own garden. 
Whilst milking my cow I thank God or Allah or Yahveh . (there is only one God but I think he is fine with any name as long as one follows his teachings. And so many from so many religions get his teachings wrong.
Some, in our technical world, dispute HIS existence.
Now where would our technical computerized world be if the Arabs, with their Algebra, invented the "0" Why, I wouldn't be writing this stupid reply to the original poster. I would be making my cheese instead.
I thank him because I was born in the right place, a place which, though it only exports electricity, reaps the social benefits of being part of the E.U.
I pray for the milliards of people who do not have my good fortune.
I live in a township of 200 inhabitants. Today we will be allocated 70 refugees from Syria . That is too many -it is out of proportion but this afternoon I will, with the other villagers, go down and welcome them and do our best- as the township did with the Huguenots, The Finns, the Vietnamese, and Hungarians. Who knows, if the Earth survives it might be Martians next. We are ready to do our best.
Oh yes, the Arabic countries are also exporting refugees.
I am profusely sorry if I have offended anyone but I needed to get it out.
Yours sincerely Renee
edit:spelling


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## reneedarley (Jun 11, 2014)

arabian knight said:


> * The Arabian Horse*


The Darley Arab. I forgot about him:ashamed:


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

watcher said:


> If you are a student of history you will find that for the most part 'customs' hold cultures back much more than allow them to move forward.


Customs provides a culture with the stability that allows it to move forward.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

watcher said:


> And that has what to do with today? It seems they went backwards into savagery rather than forward into civility.
> 
> Answer this: What social or technological advancement have came out of the Arab culture in the past: 10 years? 50 year? 100 years?
> 
> ...


Check the number of Nobel prizes (excluding Peace) won by citizens of Arab countries.


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

MoonRiver said:


> Check the number of Nobel prizes (excluding Peace) won by citizens of Arab countries.



:rotfl:
:rotfl:

That is about the same as The Cottonelle prize or the Scott prize or the Angel Soft prize or the Charmin prize..

:facepalm:


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## Trainwrek (Aug 23, 2014)

Janis R said:


> Yes, Trainwrek' but they haven't advanced since then
> Not "down" on them just noting that we don't receive anything from them but oil and we have enough here in the USA


Well, they didnt receive anything from us for a couple thousand years while we caught up. So maybe now it's time for us to not be so arrogant and put things into perspective.

I took a trip to Europe last year and was very surprised at what we took from the Arabs as far as architecture, food, design, art, and etc. Alot of what brought us from primitive savagery into what we consider "civilization" came from Arabic culture. Even BATHING, and eating with utensiles were not known to northern European people. Later, it was their trade that spurred our exploration and advancements in ship building.

I understand this herd type, tribal need to criticize and diminish people that our government tells us are 'the bad guy' now, but we mustn't descend into total ignorance here. There aren't many cultures that can claim to have had a bigger influence on civilization as the Arab culture.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Obama is more Arab than Black, does that count.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

MoonRiver said:


> Customs provides a culture with the stability that allows it to move forward.


Only if the customs and culture allow for it. As I have pointed out customs can often hold back a culture. 

Ever study any oriental history? China, Japan, Korea and others were held back by their customs. Mainly their custom of isolationism. 

India was held back because of its custom of the caste system.

Some say nations in Central and South American are being held back due to their custom of, for lack of a better term, relaxness. Not laziness but the fact they tend to not have what we used to call "a sense of urgency" to get things done. Sort of a "What's the rush" custom.

When you think about the American custom of not having any real customs has been a large benefit for us. We don't care if an idea originated outside our culture, we'll jump on it and try to improve it. We don't care if your parents were sharecroppers, if you have the ability you get the job.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

MoonRiver said:


> Check the number of Nobel prizes (excluding Peace) won by citizens of Arab countries.


I tried. I couldn't find a list of Nobel laureates broken down by nationality but I did find a list of them. Scanning the list of the big three (chemistry, physics, medicine) I don't seen many names which look Arabic.

Can you tell me what percentage of laureates in the big 3 came from Arabic nations and what percentage of them did their work *IN* an Arabic nation? I'd really be interested in these numbers. Oh and please provide their names so I can read about them.

Edited to add.

I did almost find one. He was born in Egypt, which can be considered an Arabic nation, but it seems he got most of his education in the US (PhD at UofPenn, post doc at UofCal) and did his award winning research in the US as well (UofCal). 

Edited to add. 

I did find a list of Nobel winners by nation. I found three Arabic nations listed; Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey. The Turkish was in lit, not one of the big three. As I noted above the Egyptian was mostly educated and did his work in the US which means his accomplishments were not really Egyptian. The Pakistani is the ONLY one I have found which seems to have been born, raised, educated and did his award winning work in an Arabic nation. 

Further research shows 166 people have won the prize in chemistry, 196 physics and 204 medicine for a total of 566. So in the 112 year history of the Nobel prize 0.18% (1/566*100) of the winners have been given for pure Arabic work. If you only want to count where they were born the number almost doubles to 0.35% (rounding difference). Does that make you think the Arabic nations are really pushing the sciences forward?


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Trainwrek said:


> I understand this herd type, tribal need to criticize and diminish people that our government tells us are 'the bad guy' now, but we mustn't descend into total ignorance here. There aren't many cultures that can claim to have had a bigger influence on civilization as the Arab culture.


Are you talking about the Arab culture that raped and plundered it's way across the Middle East, Northern Africa, and southern Europe?

Do you know that Arab culture claims all the great accomplishments of the countries they conquered?


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I've heard they make some nice rugs.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

watcher said:


> I couldn't find a list of Nobel laureates broken down by nationality but I did find a list of them. Scanning the list of the big three (chemistry, physics, medicine) I don't seen many names which look Arabic.
> 
> Can you tell me what percentage of laureates in the big 3 came from Arabic nations and what percentage of them did their work *IN* an Arabic nation? I'd really be interested in these numbers. Oh and please provide their names so I can read about them.


I think the total is 2 (excluding Peace), 1 for literature, and 1 for chemistry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_Nobel_laureates
http://www.kabobfest.com/2011/10/nobel-prize-winning-arabs.html


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> I've heard they make some nice rugs.


Isn't that the Persians?


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

MoonRiver said:


> I think the total is 2 (excluding Peace), 1 for literature, and 1 for chemistry.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_Nobel_laureates
> http://www.kabobfest.com/2011/10/nobel-prize-winning-arabs.html


Your first link shows 4, not counting the six peace prize winners.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

MoonRiver said:


> Isn't that the Persians?


them too


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

MoonRiver said:


> I think the total is 2 (excluding Peace), 1 for literature, and 1 for chemistry.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_Nobel_laureates
> http://www.kabobfest.com/2011/10/nobel-prize-winning-arabs.html


Read my edited post. But note I don't count lit because it, like the peace prize, is nothing more than a political prize.

Here's part of my edited post:

Edited to add. 

I did find a list of Nobel winners by nation. I found three Arabic nations listed; Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey. The Turkish was in lit, not one of the big three. As I noted above the Egyptian was mostly educated and did his work in the US which means his accomplishments were not really Egyptian. The Pakistani is the ONLY one I have found which seems to have been born, raised, educated and did his award winning work in an Arabic nation. 

Further research shows 166 people have won the prize in chemistry, 196 physics and 204 medicine for a total of 566. So in the 112 year history of the Nobel prize 0.18% (1/566*100) of the winners have been given for pure Arabic work. If you only want to count where they were born the number almost doubles to 0.35% (rounding difference). Does that make you think the Arabic nations are really pushing the sciences forward?


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

Let's *NOT* forget the 'Kenyan' who won the peace prize a few years ago.....

The *ONE* who's going to war with the non-Islamic ISIL right now.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> Your first link shows 4, not counting the six peace prize winners.


That link is for Muslims. One is from Turkey and 1 Pakistan, neither of which is an Arab country, leaving 2 from Egypt.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

watcher said:


> Read my edited post. But note I don't count lit because it, like the peace prize, is nothing more than a political prize.
> 
> Here's part of my edited post:
> 
> ...


Neither Turkey nor Pakistan are Arabic, Islamic but not Arabic.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

watcher said:


> Further research shows 166 people have won the prize in chemistry, 196 physics and 204 medicine for a total of 566.


566 Nobel prizes, and I wasn't even nominated. I'm truly hurt...


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Coffee, IIRC, was developed out of Ethiopia, not Arabia. Much, if not most of the great advanced civilization was not from the mainstream religion, but from Sufi (a mystic sect that has roots much older than Islam) innovation and revisiting of the literature of ancient Greece. I'd have to stop to look up the name, but most of that was stopped by a conservative leader within about a century. Therein lies the real story.

Religious conservatism is antithetical to creativity, science, most literature and even freedom of expression. It really doesn't make much difference what the religion is, it is the accompanying ATTITUDE that the mainstream knowledge was G*d given and everything else is tainted or heretical. When the sources of knowledge turn in upon themselves instead of expanding to embrace new knowledge, the intent of those sources becomes perverted.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

watcher said:


> Only if the customs and culture allow for it. As I have pointed out customs can often hold back a culture.
> 
> Ever study any oriental history? China, Japan, Korea and others were held back by their customs. Mainly their custom of isolationism.
> 
> ...


You can't pick a single custom in a culture and then make a blanket claim.

Culture follows a normal curve, like just about everything does. The purpose of culture (customs, mores, and laws) is to try to control the extremes, even though the extremes are where change takes place. 

Since change isn't necessarily good, customs help to prevent bad ideas from being readily adopted by a culture. Unfortunately, it can also prevent good ideas from being accepted. Customs are actually a preventive measure that seeks to keep a culture from self destructing.


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

Harry Chickpea said:


> *Coffee, IIRC, was developed out of Ethiopia, not Arabia. .*


++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=68


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Nevada said:


> 566 Nobel prizes, and I wasn't even nominated. I'm truly hurt...


Dont feel too bad, you werent nominated for any Darwin awards either.... I consider not being nominated for either somewhat of a good thing.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

poppy said:


> As it happens, there are two.
> Hatred and violence.


I gather from various sources that they also produce some reasonably polite and well behaved women... but they arent exporting them.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Nevada said:


> 566 Nobel prizes, and I wasn't even nominated. I'm truly hurt...


Its worse than you think. I did not include the Nobel prizes for literature, peace nor economics.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

Are the Arabs that are there now the descendants of the people that were there at the times of the great innovations?
Think of the Jews for instance, While they did great things in that area thousands of years ago they had been missing in that area for many hundreds of years till halfway through the last century.
peoples and cultures move in and out of geographical areas.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

MoonRiver said:


> You can't pick a single custom in a culture and then make a blanket claim.


That's like saying I can't point to a single piece of equipment on a boat and say it is keeping the entire boat from moving even though its the anchor.

But the examples I used were not a single custom. A single custom would be the custom of bowing as a greeting. The custom of isolationism was a thread running thread running through Japan.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Rather than look at and judge the Arab countries from a Western point of view, look at them from their tribal culture that permeates all aspects of their life today.

If you are interested, Google "Arab tribal culture" and you'll find a wealth of information.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Wolf mom said:


> Rather than look at and judge the Arab countries from a Western point of view, look at them from their tribal culture that permeates all aspects of their life today.
> 
> If you are interested, Google "Arab tribal culture" and you'll find a wealth of information.


I don't think we are judging them by western standards. Its not a western standard to judge a culture based on what it has done to benefit the world at large lately. 

But your idea of judging them by their standards can be quite foolish. Using that I guess we should have overlooked the alleged war crimes committed by the Japanese because they were just following the standards of their culture. Shall we judge a gangs based on the culture standards of gang "tribal culture"? How about we judge just judge all criminals based on the culture standards of their "tribal culture"?


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

"But your idea of judging them by their standards can be quite foolish. Using that I guess we should have overlooked the alleged war crimes committed by the Japanese because they were just following the standards of their culture. Shall we judge a gangs based on the culture standards of gang "tribal culture"? How about we judge just judge all criminals based on the culture standards of their "tribal culture"?"

The seemingly rhetorical question you pose is actually subject to debate. As a gloss of the many issues involved, your disdain comes from the point of valuing individuals and their rights above the values of the culture/gang/country/tribe. To the defense of the Japanese military, gangs, ethnic groups, and various other groups including our own military and police, the value of the GROUP is held to be higher than the value of the individual. Identity is placed within the group allowing the individual identity to remain undeveloped (or if developed to remain deeply hidden). The same is true in many cults and rigorous programmed lifestyles.

We rail against the idea of a group identity taking precedence when couched in the terms of communism, socialism, ethnic extremism, and other foreign concepts, while at the same time lauding those in service, such as military or police or firefighters, who give their lives so that others of their group may survive. Cognitive dichotomies like this are more common than you might want to admit, and we ALL fall prey to them.

From the point of view of an alien outside observer with no particular interest in humans, the war crimes of the Japanese ARE simply an expression of dominance and an indication of how they felt their culture was superior. The war crimes of the U.S. military against the native Americans is almost exactly the same, even though we dress it in the cloak of "manifest destiny" to convince ourselves it wasn't really that bad.

Group values and culture vs. individual values and desires will always have an element of conflict. The conflict grows both of them and over time can shave off some extremism. When one or the other completely subjugates the other, that is when the real problems begin.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I dont think the Arab world contributes all that much to modern society in other areas. But then I dont think the African world does either... or all those countries in south america. What great new discoveries have originated in countries near, or south of the equator recently? I think climate has a lot to do with it. When a society doesnt have to struggle with the elements as much for survival, their overall innovation tends to drop off. Arabs dont "need" Nobel prize winners... they have the world by the short hairs and make their living off their oil. They are a bit like Henry Ford... "I dont have to be smart... I can buy all the brains I need for 5 bucks a day." or something to that affect. The Arabs are the same way, they have enough oil money to buy all the technology they want or need. Before oil, they had the worlds major shipping trade locked down for centuries. Necessity being the mother of invention, Arabs havent needed to invent much.


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## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

I'm no history expert, but it seems to me that I remember when Rome fell, Constantinople didn't, and in the east culture continued to develop. It also seems that there was a strong eastern Christian culture, at least until Muslim became dominant. Many have talked on this thread of how the Arabs were a great culture years ago, but it seems that the majority of that happened during that era. Of course we must mention when the Holy Roman Empire ruled, we were in the dark ages so it might depend on the brand of religion and politics practiced.


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Seems to me that if you took the Arabs of 1500-2000 years ago and dropped a few in the Middle East today, they wouldn't be that impressed


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## unregistered353870 (Jan 16, 2013)

watcher said:


> I did find a list of Nobel winners by nation. I found three Arabic nations listed; Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey. The Turkish was in lit, not one of the big three. As I noted above the Egyptian was mostly educated and did his work in the US which means his accomplishments were not really Egyptian. The Pakistani is the ONLY one I have found which seems to have been born, raised, educated and did his award winning work in an Arabic nation.


Pakistan isn't technically an Arab nation, so you can reduce your count to zero. Turkey isn't either, so the one who already didn't count really doesn't.

ETA: Sorry, I see it's already been mentioned. Should have read the whole thread.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

reneedarley said:


> I live in a township of 200 inhabitants. Today we will be allocated 70 refugees from Syria . That is too many -it is out of proportion but this afternoon I will, with the other villagers, go down and welcome them and do our best


In a couple years, let us know how you like living under Sharia law.


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## Sawmill Jim (Dec 5, 2008)

Originally Posted by reneedarley View Post
I live in a township of 200 inhabitants. Today we will be allocated 70 refugees from Syria . That is too many -it is out of proportion but this afternoon I will, with the other villagers, go down and welcome them and do our best

Sounds more like surrender to me :sing:

mnn2501 You think it will take a couple years ? :hammer:


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

jtbrandt said:


> Pakistan isn't technically an Arab nation, so you can reduce your count to zero. Turkey isn't either, so the one who already didn't count really doesn't.
> 
> ETA: Sorry, I see it's already been mentioned. Should have read the whole thread.


Yep, my error. I was thinking muslim not Arabic.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

After oil, Saudi Arabia's next largest industry is religious pilgrimages to Mecca & Medina.


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

Trainwrek said:


> Well, they didnt receive anything from us for a couple thousand years while we caught up. So maybe now it's time for us to not be so arrogant and put things into perspective.
> 
> I took a trip to Europe last year and was very surprised at what we took from the Arabs as far as architecture, food, design, art, and etc. Alot of what brought us from primitive savagery into what we consider "civilization" came from Arabic culture. Even BATHING, and eating with utensiles were not known to northern European people. Later, it was their trade that spurred our exploration and advancements in ship building.
> 
> I understand this herd type, tribal need to criticize and diminish people that our government tells us are 'the bad guy' now, but we mustn't descend into total ignorance here. There aren't many cultures that can claim to have had a bigger influence on civilization as the Arab culture.


Firstly, since they were so far ahead (and I know they were, I am a history geek), why did they fall behind? A repressive government?

Sceondly, Bathing and eating utensiles? Ship building? Umm, the Scandanavian countries from before the birth of Mohammed did these and led the way (clinker-built _drakkar_, the 'viking' longships) (again, I am a history geek)

Thirdly, the Islamic (and Arabic) model relies upon *tribal* relationships rather than personal freedoms. That is why democracies and representative republics (the USA is the latter) are so foriegn to Arabs and Islam.

Other than oil, their most prolific exports are terrorists, disfigured girls (who wanted to learn), and terrible propaganda.

Trainwrek, have you ever watched any of the _Hamas_ television shows?
Like the 1 that their 'equivalent' of Mickey Mouse calls for the "Death of all the Jews"?

Until they change, I will consider Islam a religion (in general) of hate. I do know several Muslims (mostly Sufi's) who pretty much feel the same way....


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

reneedarley said:


> I live in a township of 200 inhabitants. Today we will be allocated 70 refugees from Syria . That is too many -it is out of proportion but this afternoon I will, with the other villagers, go down and welcome them and do our best- as the township did with the Huguenots, The Finns, the Vietnamese, and Hungarians. Who knows, if the Earth survives it might be Martians next. We are ready to do our best.





mnn2501 said:


> In a couple years, let us know how you like living under Sharia law.


Renee, where about in Sweden?. Can non-citizen immigrants vote?

Is this "If we can't can't get them out, we'll breed them out" situation?


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

It would be interesting to see how American culture would be portrayed by an outsider, especially one taking a dim view of our doings. 

"One in 5 Americans can't even feed himself, and has to rely on the government for charity! The young people are given to inking strange designs on themselves. The women, particularly, are fond of placing these inked designs in the small of their back ..." ound:


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

willow_girl said:


> It would be interesting to see how American culture would be portrayed by an outsider, especially one taking a dim view of our doings.
> 
> "One in 5 Americans can't even feed himself, and has to rely on the government for charity! The young people are given to inking strange designs on themselves. The women, particularly, are fond of placing these inked designs in the small of their back ..." ound:


I think you're being too kind. Someone "taking a dim view of our doings" would report something like:

One in 5 Americans are beggars, and their young people permanently disfigure themselves, particularly their women who are noted for their "tramp stamps".


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

willow_girl said:


> It would be interesting to see how American culture would be portrayed by an outsider, especially one taking a dim view of our doings.
> 
> "One in 5 Americans can't even feed himself, and has to rely on the government for charity! The young people are given to inking strange designs on themselves. The women, particularly, are fond of placing these inked designs in the small of their back ..." ound:


Heck WG, I have a dim view of the urban gangsta thug culture, and I live in America! :sing:


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## reneedarley (Jun 11, 2014)

Riverdale said:


> Renee, where about in Sweden?. Can non-citizen immigrants vote?
> 
> I live in central Sweden -not far from the Norwegian border. There are 2 people pr. sq.mile. I can vote in local politics. I could, if I wanted, (after 5 years), take citizenship.


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## reneedarley (Jun 11, 2014)

Sawmill Jim said:


> Originally Posted by reneedarley View Post
> I live in a township of 200 inhabitants. Today we will be allocated 70 refugees from Syria . That is too many -it is out of proportion but this afternoon I will, with the other villagers, go down and welcome them and do our best
> 
> Sounds more like surrender to me :sing:
> ...


Don't think the Vikings aiming on surrender.:hijacked:


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## Sawmill Jim (Dec 5, 2008)

reneedarley said:


> Don't think the Vikings aiming on surrender.:hijacked:


Good :thumb:


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