Cultural Illiteracy Exposed among Dems in Congress
Sadly, in today's Washington Post, Howard Dean showed himself to be culturally illiterate by referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki as an anti-semite: "Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean called Maliki an 'anti-Semite' for failing to denounce Hezbollah for its attacks against Israel. " (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072600230.html)
Unfortunately, other Democrats in Congress also exhibited this same level of ignorance. Here then is the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of the word, "Semite":
Main Entry: Sem·ite
Pronunciation: 'se-"mIt, especially British 'sE-"mIt
Function: noun
Etymology: French sémite, from Semitic Shem, from Late Latin, from Greek SEm, from Hebrew ShEm
1 a : a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs
b : a descendant of these peoples
2 : a member of a modern people speaking a Semitic language
(end of definition)
Thus it is just about impossible for an Iraqi Arab to be anti-semitic, unless of course he is declaring his hatred for himself, which I don't think Maliki was doing. For that matter it is similarly absurd to imagine Arabs from Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank/Gaza, or Syria as being anti-semitic since they themselves are almost all semitic.
Unfortunately, other Democrats in Congress also exhibited this same level of ignorance. Here then is the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of the word, "Semite":
Main Entry: Sem·ite
Pronunciation: 'se-"mIt, especially British 'sE-"mIt
Function: noun
Etymology: French sémite, from Semitic Shem, from Late Latin, from Greek SEm, from Hebrew ShEm
1 a : a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs
b : a descendant of these peoples
2 : a member of a modern people speaking a Semitic language
(end of definition)
Thus it is just about impossible for an Iraqi Arab to be anti-semitic, unless of course he is declaring his hatred for himself, which I don't think Maliki was doing. For that matter it is similarly absurd to imagine Arabs from Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank/Gaza, or Syria as being anti-semitic since they themselves are almost all semitic.
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