| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Fifth Column | ||
| Newsweek lies | ||
| 2004-08-16 | ||
| Hat tip LGF. Aug. 23 issue - Foreigners are not strangers to the old spice shop on Genoa's Via del Campo. The narrow little street near the port was first built up during the Crusades. In legend and song, it's glorified as a place where people on the edges of society find their way, and for several decades many of those people have been North African. But when a couple of middle-aged men walked into the shop the other day and asked for some dried fruits in Arabic instead of Italian, the old woman behind the counter blew up. "If they talk their language, then we talk our language!" she shouted—in a Genoese dialect which even many Italians wouldn't understand.
| ||
| Posted by:Korora |
| #11 Much of this anger and fear, across southern Europe, is a hangover from the careless complacency of the recent past. These countries, which sent economic and political emigrants across the world for a century or more, began attracting net immigration only in the last three decades: Italy in 1972, Spain and Greece in 1975 and Portugal in 1981, according to a study from Sussex University. And few people expected the immigrants to stay. But many did. Unlike America which embraced its immigrant populations (albeit with some notable exceptions) to a much greater extent. Exactly how am I supposed to feel sorry for Europe after it has sheltered some of the most vicious radicals, left disaffected populations completely unmonitored and essentialy ghettoized much of their own foreign nationals? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-08-16 5:11:05 PM |
| #10 I spent a wonderful week in Rome several years ago. I did my best to speak Italian, with the help of four years of Latin. I ate in the regular shops with regular people. I bought and wore a scarf like the natives that January, at which point the gypsies stopped hasseling me. I was treated wonderfully and I was happy and humble and glad to be a guest. |
| Posted by: Sgt. D.T. 2004-08-16 4:35:26 PM |
| #9 I go by I am a guest in your country attitude. I attempt to communicate in that countries language and quietly enjoy myself. Nothing worse than loud tourists and surly imigrants (illegal mexican imigrants.) What I don't get is often these people will boldly tell you it's better where they cam from. If that is so WTF are they here for? I imagine the italian BS detector goes off around lots of imigrant types. |
| Posted by: Flamebait93268 2004-08-16 3:26:30 PM |
| #8 B-a-R, I was in Tuscany a couple years back (hmmmm, Tuscany in August, beautiful!). I don't speak a word of Italian, but fortunately many Italians speak English. I was there two weeks, and even as a tourist, I made a concerted effort with my pidgin Italian. And I was humble. It's their country. In return, every single Italian I met was polite, generous and helpful. I'm just betting that the shop lady in this story would have been equally kind and courteous to me had I walked into her store. And I bet that a Muslim immigrant with MY attitude -- humility, willingness to work on the language, courtesy -- also wouldn't have a problem with Shop Lady. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-08-16 2:37:10 PM |
| #7 But when a couple of middle-aged men walked into the shop the other day and asked for some dried fruits in Arabic instead of Italian, the old woman behind the counter blew up. "If they talk their language, then we talk our language!" she shouted—in a Genoese dialect which even many Italians wouldn’t understand. Such outbursts aren’t unique to exasperated shopkeepers. Resentment of immigrants, along with fear of Muslim terrorists, is fueling intolerance almost everywhere in Europe. WTF is this idiot talking about? It isn't unreasonable to expect that someone living in Italy be expected to speak Italian to the local shopkeepers. A tourist might be forgiven for being unable to speak the language, but not residents (assuming that the individuals in question are indeed residents). I go through that same crap here with Mexican immigrants; on the street someone will say something to me or ask a question in Spanish and I will more often than not shoot them a dirty look followed by "what?", at which point they will either speak accented/broken English. Relatively speaking, I'd have a lot more respect for them if an effort was made to communicate in English at the outset but that never happens. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-08-16 1:59:34 PM |
| #6 Moslem radicals who wanted to drag the West into a war against Moslem fanaticism imagined that Western casualties would compel the West to fear and respect Moslems. Wretchard has the answer to that: The concept of assymetric warfare was supposed to exploit the "fact" that transnational terrorist organizations operating in areas of chaos could strike at a civilization hamstrung by constraints. They could attack orphanages and then seek shelter in the Church of the Nativity; they could fly wide bodied aircraft into Manhattan, then seek shelter in "sovereign" Afghanistan; they could call for the death of millions from the pulpits of Qom; they could fire mortars from the Imam Ali Shrine and never expect the favor to be returned. But the logical flaw in this conception was that civilization could put aside these constraints in a moment. Hiroshima and Dresden are reminders that it could. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-08-16 10:24:17 AM |
| #5 I agree with Mike's post 100%. |
| Posted by: yank 2004-08-16 9:59:38 AM |
| #4 Moslem radicals who wanted to drag the West into a war against Moslem fanaticism imagined that Western casualties would compel the West to fear and respect Moslems. They did not foresee the Western tidal waves of contempt, mockery, revulsion, suspicion and criticism that would flood over Moslems everywhere, but especially over Moslems living in the West. . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-08-16 8:22:07 AM |
| #3 Isn't this that EurodickproPaleo idotrarian Christopher Dickey? I believe this is his article that attacks Oriana Fallaci for writing the truth about radical islam (even before the 911 commission came to the same conclusion). Go Oriana and Go Shoplady! |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2004-08-16 3:35:40 AM |
| #2 Newsweek? I always thought it was Newsweak! Perhaps Newsleak or NewsSheik could work. |
| Posted by: B 2004-08-16 12:35:47 AM |
| #1 I find it kind of interesting that Newsweek condones colonization as long as Third Worlders are colonizing European countries. Will Newsweek stand up for the right of Europeans to swarm into Third World countries without limitations on their right to hold property or to abide by local customs and religions? Does Newsweek know that foreigners are not allowed to own property in many Third World countries? |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-08-16 12:27:30 AM |