Saudi textbooks still teaching hate: report

[eljay]

From this article:

Despite a promise to remove attacks on other faiths from the public school curriculum, Saudi Arabia's state-produced textbooks still refer to Jews and Christians as apes and swine, insist that Jews conspire to take over the world and on Judgment Day "the rocks or the trees" will call out to Muslims to kill the Jews, says the Washington-based Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

The textbooks, used by five million students in the kingdom every year, as well as in many Saudi-funded institutions outside the country, also attack homosexuals and Muslims who do not practice a fundamentalist form of Islam.

If this were a story about Iran, people / the media would be flapping their gums about the need to bomb them back to the stone age ASAP. Given that it's about "our friend" Saudi Arabia, however, it will likely get little to no coverage and generate little to no reaction despite the proven Saudi track record of creating and exporting terrrrists...

[barter]

Sad but it's true.

[Larry]

I don't really think this is "news". This has been the case in the Palestinian schools and likely in Iran, Syria, etc. The Arab world continues to promote hatred using the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (which was a best seller in Iran) and the blood libel in their schools.

[powerstream]

Still is a best seller throughout the Arab world, that and Hitler's Mein Kampf. And most of this is state-sanctioned. But of course don't expect world leaders, especially those of oil consuming nations who rely heavily on the Arabs for their oil, to say or do anything productive. Many just accept it as a fact of life.

[hugh]

Oh please! Mein Kampf sold about 25,000 copies in Turkey and made it to #4 on the bestseller list when it was first published in 2005. That hardly makes it a best seller throughout the Arab World.

BTW, Most analysts attributed the sales to low price and sheer curiousity and nothing to do with virulent anti-semitism.

[james99]

Mein Kampf is a historical document. Owning it or reading it doesn't make you a Nazi.

IMHO it's no different than reading the bible.

[powerstream]

Originally Posted by hugh

Oh please! Mein Kampf sold about 25,000 copies in Turkey and made it to #4 on the bestseller list when it was first published in 2005. That hardly makes it a best seller throughout the Arab World.

BTW, Most analysts attributed the sales to low price and sheer curiousity and nothing to do with virulent anti-semitism.

Turkey is not part of the Arab world, Hugh, and Turkey is a strongly secular democratic state. There's obviously a difference between private sales of Hitler's book in Turkey in book stores and state-sanctioned education in Saudi Arabia, who's a despotic theocracy practicing one of Islam's most extreme and volatile sects. In Turkey I would see how a book like this may be for the so-called intelligentsia but in Saudi Arabia a book like that as part of a mandatory curriculum for kids is meant for one thing: fostering hate and the nurturing of yet another generation of Muslim terrorists.

[powerstream]

Originally Posted by james99

Mein Kampf is a historical document. Owning it or reading it doesn't make you a Nazi.

IMHO it's no different than reading the bible.

Obviously it doesn't make one a Nazi. But a person who's already constantly exposed to virulent prejudice against other religions and ideologies by their government are more prone to trust that authority and treat a book like that as a bible if you know what I mean.

[I_Want_My_HDTV]

There are a number of Muslim schools in Canada, at least one locally that I am aware of. I wonder if these schools also teach such things which, BTW, are contrary to Canadians law. But wait... that might violate their religious freedom. It it Ok for minorities to teach hate against Canadians but illegal for Canadians to do the same against minorities? An interesting scenario indeed.

[Jake]

I wonder if these schools also teach such things

I highly doubt it. You are comparing some Saudi schools to Canadian schools and saying the rules in Saudi Arabia might apply here. Next compare Northern Ireland Catholic schools with Canadian Catholic schools.

[polaris]

Originally Posted by powerstream

Obviously it doesn't make one a Nazi. But a person who's already constantly exposed to virulent prejudice against other religions and ideologies by their government are more prone to trust that authority and treat a book like that as a bible if you know what I mean.

IMO ignoring hate is a problem also. Its hard to identify if you dont know what it is. A KKK costume might not look so bad if you didnt know ahead of time what it stood for by reading history. Its up to educators to put such history in its context though.

[hugh]

Turkey is not part of the Arab world, Hugh

I know that but search and you will find that Mein Kampf getting to #4 on the Turkish Bestseller list was the impetus for a bunch of right wing blowhards to claim that Mein Kampf is "Still is a best seller throughout the Arab world"

Since you're deflecting the conversation Powerstream, can you please provide some stats showin that Mein Kampf was and "Still is a best seller throughout the Arab world?" I'd like to see those figures

[Larry]

Whether some particular book is on a "best seller" list is not really the point. The point is that the Arab countries promote hatred against others (Jews and others) to advance their own agenda. This is precisely what the Germans did leading to the Holocaust - to make people believe that the Jews were not "human" (de-humanization) and did not deserve to live. This is taught in Arab schools and continues to promote hatred towards Israel and Jews around the world.

[hugh]

Sorry Larry but I believe the point is the truth. Saying things like "Mein Kampf is still a best seller throughout the Arab world" is, to my knowledge, inaccurate, inflammatory and part of the reason that the world is in such poor straits. Hyperbole, over the top rhetoric and falsehoods often prevent issues from being resolved because fact is so far from the fiction.

The OP was about hate being taught in schools in Saudi Arabia. You and Powerstream are now saying that "This is taught in Arab schools" not just in Saudi Arabia.

By exaggerating the scope of the problem and extrapolating one countries actions to 15 or 20 countries you have undermined your argument and lost credibility. Next it will get extrapolated to every Muslim country and so on.

I certainly don't believe that every school in every Arab country is teaching hatred against Jews and Christians any more than I believe the teachings of various Christian Fundamentalists (and militant Jews) are representative of what is being taught in the entire Western World.

IS there problems? Certainly, but lets discuss it a rationale manner that doesn't resort to hyperbole.

[stampeder]

Originally Posted by powerstream

a person who's already constantly exposed to virulent prejudice against other religions and ideologies by their government

Here's a very on-topic article from Israel's newspaper of record, Ha’aretz, with the title: "Citizenship law makes Israel an apartheid state":

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/996697.html

Israel. Apartheid. You see, prejudice and offences against human rights cut both ways. Israel has no moral high ground on these issues, and it is refreshing to read knowledgeable, circumspect Israelis objectively discussing this truth.