Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Here's some fun!
Yesterday, I sent a letter to the editor about this column from Mehammed Mack. They're not going to publish it, though, so I may as well put it up here, because I'm even boreder than usual.
Monday's columnist, Mehammed Mack, writes a scathing yet groundless accusation of xenophobia of a particular person, and decides to extend it to all Americans in an even more groundless accusation.
The woman in question is mocked for using the term, as Mack puts it, "Ay-rabs." While I welcome Mack to prove that he, unlike this woman, pronounces every English word, including those derived from foreign words, in the "proper" manner, it would be impossible, because no American pronounces words the same way, and different pronounciations by people raised under different conditions are nothing to be belittled for. It's even more shocking that a son of immigrant parents would engage in such mockery.
Worse, he seems to think that because an emotionally distraught woman decided not to list every Arab country in the Middle East, and instead assume that her listener would be able to figure out that "you're not from there, are you?" meant "you're not from the region inhabited by Arabs, are you?" she is therefore ignorant.
Finally, because she says "Oh, good," Mack declares her xenophobic. "Oh, good," in this context, pretty obviously means "Oh, good, I didn't offend you, because despite your best efforts to stereotype me and all Americans as ignorant xenophobes, one of the biggest concerns on my mind is making sure I don't hurt other people's feelings, regardless of their nationality."
I could find xenophobia around every corner and in every sentence if I wanted to, too. I don't. Mack should take down his peace sign and try looking at a glass as half-full.
Now that I think about it, it wasn't a very good letter. I was just pissed that they gave space to such a dolt. Hell, I could even write better than that.
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