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Strange thing on al-Zawahri tape...

 
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On the other hand



Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:45 am    Post subject: Strange thing on al-Zawahri tape... Reply with quote

Well, strange to me anyway.

Quote:
��The insults against Prophet Muhammad are not the result of freedom of opinion but because what is sacred has changed in this culture,�� he said. ��The Prophet Mohammed, prayers be upon him, and Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, are not sacred anymore, while Semites and the Holocaust and homosexuality have become sacred.��



Are arabs in the habit of using the word "semite" as synonymous with "Jew"?
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On the other hand



Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11674281/
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igotthisguitar



Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:12 am    Post subject: Re: Strange thing on al-Zawahri tape... Reply with quote

On the other hand wrote:
Are arabs in the habit of using the word "semite" as synonymous with "Jew"?

Good point.

Assuming this is the optimal translation of what he said ( i'm assuming the dude didn't himself utter all this en Anglais ), this "useful" idiot is merely providing more semantic cannon fodder which in turn plays right into the hands of his Zionist "enemies".

Can you say "HOOD-WINKED"?

Semite ACTUALLY refers to a language grouping, and has nothing ( i.e. ZERO, NADA, ZILCH ) per se say to do with ethnic, racial or religious distinctions Idea

Anyone else smell a major fallacy at play?

While i'm no philosophy major, my money is on equivocation.
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On the other hand



Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 4:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the input, IGTG. My own guess is that either...

A. The CIA disinformation artist who wrote the script for this video doesn't know that "semite" is not the same thing as "Jew", or....

(perhaps more plausibly...)

B. al-Zawahri is making his pitch in language that he thinks will appeal to right-wing Christian anti-zionists. This would also explain his defense of Christ and attack on homosexuality and free speech.

(and, yes, I realize that Muslims don't like homosexuality or anti-Jesus blasphemy either. Just that the combination of issues being addressed in this video, plus the use of euro-specific terminology, leads me to speculate that al-Zawahri is sending out "dog whistle" signals to people he regards as being a potential constituency.)
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igotthisguitar



Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 4:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yah, well every time i hear this meaningless ( albeit emotionally charged ) catchphrase so blindly bandied about i can only shake my head.

All too Orwellian. Twisted Evil

I'd imagine it's especially offensive to all OTHER semites as well when the term is used in an exclusively ( it means us - it's ours ) Zionist sense.

If "anti" - Jewish is what is meant, fine: then SAY IT! Otherwise stop trying to bamboozle the non-critical public by uttering
such gobbledy-gook "double-speak" nonsense.

Sem��ite (sĕm'īt') n.
1. A member of a group of Semitic-speaking peoples of the Near East and northern Africa,
including the Arabs, Arameans, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians, Hebrews, and Phoenicians.

2. A Jew.

3. Bible. A descendant of Shem.
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canuckistan
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Joined: 17 Jun 2003
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

He was mooing on the same tape (I think) about there being little respect for Jesus and Mohammed in the west.
Remembering that the Taliban blew up those very old Bhuddas in Afghanistan, I have to wonder what his take is on that.
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On the other hand



Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
He was mooing on the same tape (I think) about there being little respect for Jesus and Mohammed in the west.
Remembering that the Taliban blew up those very old Bhuddas in Afghanistan, I have to wonder what his take is on that.


Well, Muslims regard Jesus as a prophet, but not Buddha.

Plus, he MIGHT be offended by Jesus statues as well, given Islam's taboo on iconography. But still, I doubt he would make a huge issue of anti-Jesus sentiment in the west unless he was trying to push some political agenda related to westerners.
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On the other hand



Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 8:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, I just did some research on wiki, and apparently SOME Muslims do think that Buddha was a prophet, but this point is contentious, since he isn't mentioned as such in the Koran. The article is somewhat unclear about just how widespread and respectable this view is.

Quote:
Additional numerous historical figures may have been prophets, but this is a source of debate and contention, among them: Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha and Krishna. However, Muslims will state that there is no way of knowing for sure since they are not mentioned by name in the Qur'an. An argument often used in support of the prophethood of such men is that they came with the word of Allah, but it was later corrupted, this accounting for the differences between Islam, and the respective religions with which each man is associated. The hadith and qur'an support such claims which say that a messenger was sent to every people.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_of_Islam
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Summer Wine



Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Next to a River

PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think the meaning behind that support of Buddha is the Sufi's and particular the sufi's who were supposed to behind the Assassins, forget the particulars at the moment.

Though the thugees were supposed to support a hindu Goddess and they were supposed to be predominantly muslim.

I guess it all ends up as being "I have no idea what someone may use as justification for their actions or beliefs and it seems that in our recorded history all reasons have been used".
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On the other hand



Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue

PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should say that I sent an inquiry about this topic to an academic who speiclaizes in the middle east. I recieved the following reply...

Quote:
yes, the Arabic neologism for "anti-Semitism" is used in the press all the time, while you never see Arabs refer to themselves that way.


As far as I can gather from reading this, contrary to what I originally thought, there would be nothing strange about an arab using the word "semite" to mean "Jew".
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