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June 1, 2006
The language we use to talk about America, and Americans' use of language
After having our forum hacked, and watching the lively discussion that is taking place on the main site, we've decided to remove the forum for now. Keeping the discussion front and center seems like the right thing. There are quite a few regular contributors, but other people are weighing in, too.
What makes this frank conversation possible? I wonder if our choosing to use the word 'hate' on the website is the key. Most writing about what the world thinks of America wimps out when it comes to the possibility that reasonable people may have feelings of rage towards the United States, and that they may really hate some of the things we do, personally as well as on a global scale. I haven't seen anyone suggest violence--that's something else again--but there are strong emotions here.
Here's a pet peeve of my own: Americans' casual ignorance, and comfortable acceptance of their own lack of knowledge. I was at a conference recently and the moderator said, "Our Arab, or Muslim, or whatever you call it, brethren." Sure, someone may not know the difference between an Arab and a Muslim. But why should he feel comfortable airing that ignorance? And it's easy enough to look up the definitions.
The best one I found on a quick search was this: "An Arab is someone with ancestry from the nations of the Middle East or North Africa where Arabic is the primary language. Iran, where the predominant language is Farsi, is generally not considered an Arab nation." (from www.gsanetwork.org/justiceforall/definitions.htm)
Muslim is the equivalent of Christian: a believer in one of the branches of Islam. Many Arabs are Muslims, and many Muslims are Arabs, but they are not the same thing.
A related peeve is Americans' stilted speech and writing. At the same conference, I heard a senior publisher begin a speech with a sentence that included the phrase, "Esteemed assemblage." Good grief!
Posted by Karen Christensen at June 1, 2006 11:55 AM