“Its physics, lol, the more the guidelines and the hasher and more suppressing they are, the more they tend to shift away and do whats considered to be our cultural shocks.”

That is so true. Living in the Gulf region is seeing exactly that everyday. Don’t even get me started on the stories from Saudi.

I am actually really saddened by how backward and narrow-mind our brethren can be. We used to be the world’s most prolific region for philosophers, but now have the most appalling literacy rate of the entire planet.

Where does it come from, I wonder, this need to KNOW everything about those around you.. as if you are the one in an integral part of their lives and most important decisions…

I would love to continue this discussion, but for the sake of Mona’s Blog, I will say that you said it best.

Hmmm I can relate to that, I guess they have some form of phobia against anybody who’s different, for instance we lead a different lifestyle, live in the capital city, and my mother is Arab but not Jordanian but she’s still considered a foreigner , that’s why my siblings and I happen to be the black sheep of the family. Recently it became unbearable I haven’t seen them for over 3 years.

In JO and I believe many Arabic countries in the mashreq region as well , you mostly find such behavior among families, people usually complain about their families or their partners family, mother in law ..etc. Well, basically because in our society, they have the right to interfere in everything, they make it sound that its for protection reasons and the importance of having close family ties..balah blah, nonsense, it just for their curious annoying nature. Naturally when they emigrate, they tend to compensate the loss of this forced connection to ALL of their extended family to all Arabs living nearby. As far as I know , there is huge Arabic population in Toronto and Montreal, so its typical there – same behavior, different victims.

Yeah, definitely, all Arabs are walking secrets, there too many guidelines and boundaries, nobody is that open about whom they really are. Obviously in the Arab world it’s the survival for the culturists, i.e you just need to give the appearance that you do follow and respect the culture, but you sneakily do break it repeatedly. Its physics, lol, the more the guidelines and the hasher and more suppressing they are, the more they tend to shift away and do whats considered to be our cultural shocks.

You are so wrong. I live in Bahrain, and from my experience and the experiences of my friends (two of whom married foreign women), when you are living in an Arabic country.. every Arab makes your business his/her business!

Half the time (and this ain’t me, because I simply don’t give a shit) all my friends are worried and paranoid about who “might be watching”. It a never ending struggle to do what we would like to do, while avoiding the evil stares, questions, and ridicule of other Arabs (who, by the way, have plenty of secrets in their own closets)…

I hear nothing but complaints from everyone I know about the complete lack of privacy anywhere. Whether it is a bar, a mall, a cafe, or just someone’s backyard!!!

Mona can cross the street and dive into a crowd of white people when she needs to.. out here… everyone is out to get you.. to be better than you… to judge you.. to mock you.. or simply to glare at you.

Not a chance Mona. It is just as bad out here.. if not worse!