How Do You Write Idiot In Arabic?

There are just so many things about this "project" that are stupid, contemptuous, arrogant and just plain wrong. It sounds like a college prank of some sort but no, some uptight religious types got together and plastered signs in Arabic all over the GRTC buses and on a couple of campuses in the Richmond area. They supposedly translate into silly, innocuous words.


(translation: paper scissors rock )
(what they really wanted to say: stupid infidels ride buses)

From an article at DailyPress.com titled New Virginia Program Aims To Dispel Fears Of Muslim Community.

"As people see Arabic, they immediately make an association with terrorism," said the Rev. C. Douglas Smith, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center. "That's probably because since Nine-Eleven, not only is fear overwhelming us, but that's how we're being trained to think."

Hellooooo... I may be mad as hell about what terrorists did to my country on 911, but overwhelmed by fear? No, sir. And I don't know who trained Rev. Smith to think, but my coaches were a good Christian momma, Bishop Fulton Sheen and William Wallace. I win.

"The transit company has already fielded several calls from concerned riders, said Gretchen Schoel, executive director of A More Perfect Union. One woman Schoel described as a well-educated university employee placed a frantic call to the bus company's manager, suggesting the FBI be called in to investigate. Even after the signs' English translations were explained to her, she remained concerned that they might contain secret messages, Schoel said."

Ms. Schoel, are you mocking this woman? Frankly, since the reporter doesn't include any direct information from Greater Richmond Transit, I find no reason to believe the incident happened, much less in the manner described.

In fact, there doesn't seem to be any follow up with passengers or students.

In fact, this reads suspiciously like a *gasp* press release modified to look like journalism! Oh no, that can't be true.

Let's just blame it on the way I was trained to think.

"After World War II, when people saw Japanese script it was scary," she said. "But now we see it and it's fun, it's hip, it signifies a cool culture."
"That's a huge turnaround."

Good grief. That has got to be a misquote. AFTER World War II, when we had DEFEATED the Japanese up one side and down the other, they were anything but scary to Americans. Our GI's in the rehab years came home with Japanese brides and tons of ceramic geegaws. Nowhere is there a recorded incident of an American freaking out after hanging a bamboo calendar in their kitchen.

Bias toward the Muslim community is a continuing problem across the country and in Virginia, said Imad Damaj, president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs. "There's so many lazy, unexamined assumptions about all of us and how we react to people," Damaj said. "We need to challenge ourselves."

You lost me on lazy, Damaj. Hint: if you want to change the way people perceive you, do not insult them. You go right ahead and challenge yourself all you want, though. It's still a free country.

Hat tip to FreeRepublic.com