The Arab Mind by Raphael Patai

Arts & Culture Culture, Arts, Literature & Linguistics
1

The following extracts are taken from a book titled The Arab Mind by the cultural anthropologist Raphael Patai,

“Why are most Arabs, unless forced by dire necessity to earn their livelihood with ‘the sweat of their brow’, so loath to undertake any work that dirties the hands?”

“The all-encompassing preoccupation with sex in the Arab mind emerges clearly in two manifestations …”

“In the Arab view of human nature, no person is supposed to be able to maintain incessant, uninterrupted control over himself. Any event that is outside routine everyday occurrence can trigger such a loss of control … Once aroused, Arab hostility will vent itself indiscriminately on all outsiders.”

If one were to replace the word Arab with African then this book would immediately be attributed to the kind of medieval racism that was the centre piece of western anthropology during the 1800. However, this book was written in the 20th century, and rather than being dumped in the gutter where it belongs, it has found a most powerful champion in the American neoconservative movement.

The American journalist who exposed the prisoner abuse in Iraq has said that this book has become the Bible of the neoconservatives on Arab behaviour’. Indeed, it is not limited to just these fanatical politicians, but it has become basic reading for the American military!

One academic was quoted as saying,

The Arab Mind is “probably the single most popular and widely read book on the Arabs in the US military”. It is even used as a textbook for officers at the JFK special warfare school in Fort Bragg.

At one stage, the training department gave free copies to officials when they were posted to US embassies in the Middle East.

In contrast, serious academics throughout the world have nothing but contempt for the mindless, generic and purely racist content of the book. They have even questioned whether it merits being acknowledged as a scholarly work.

Therefore, the fact that such a book was able to gain such widespread appeal in American political and military circles speaks volumes on the intent and direction of American thinking and policy.** It answers exactly why Muslims are being abused and tortured in the most repulsive manner whilst in American captivity.**

Whilst the western world continues to urge the Muslim world not to believe that they are waging a war on Islam and Muslims, their actions clearly show otherwise. Muslims cannot possibly accept that their future is aligned to the western world, and the western systems, which hold nothing but contempt for them.

US Government and Military read book depicting Muslims as Sub Human!

Clearly, there is nothing but humiliation, death and destruction if that path is pursued. Rather the future for Muslims lies in the Islamic thoughts, and the political systems based upon the Islamic belief.

George Bush made speech recently to Israeli lobby group saying he got rid of all hateful propoganda in iraqi schoolsBush speech to AIPAC

Looks like he should start at home where he and his Government along with its military are reading racist garbage like this america really is amerikkka!

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First of all my apparently illiterate friend, the book is about Arab culture -- there is not a single mention of "muslims" in the article as far as I can see. Secondly, I'd like you to show me where it says "all" of the US Gov't and Military study this book? My reading comprehension skills may not be the best around, but to me it appears that one unnamed "academic" points out that this particular piece of literary work is used as a textbook in one class at one military base.

Looks like someone needs a reading refresher course at propoganda school.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Stu: *
propoganda .
[/QUOTE]

?

Despicable if truly read with any serious intentions by our forces.

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Stu bhai,

If we are reading the same article, (albiet quickly) nowhere does it refer to Muslims or Arabs as "sub-human". That is certainly not the title of the article, so the title of this thread is a bit hysterical and misleading. Now why am I not suprised.

I wonder if somewhere in the Arab world there is a book written about the "American Mind"? Do you think? Or do you think that they simply presume to know everything they need to know about us? Somehow I believe that all over the world there are armies who are trying to understand potential enemies, seems like common sense.

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so this is fine in your book then ?

"The all-encompassing preoccupation with sex in the Arab mind emerges clearly in two manifestations ..."

"In the Arab view of human nature, no person is supposed to be able to maintain incessant, uninterrupted control over himself. Any event that is outside routine everyday occurrence can trigger such a loss of control ... Once aroused, Arab hostility will vent itself indiscriminately on all outsiders."

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From a purely anthropological stand-point what is 'sub human' about having an 'all-encompassing preoccupation with sex'?

ps. (Whether arabs have such a sex drive or not is irrelevant for this)

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Ravage,

You read a book, and it is one man's opinion on the foibles and weaknesses of the "enemy". You may not like the book, because it does not mention hospitality and generosity, but that is not very important on a battlefield.

Like it or not, the idea in every army in the world is to "exploit" the weaknesses of the enemy. I would wager that the Pakistani army has very detailed psychological profiles of the Indian army which fail to mention a few good things about Hindus! Why is this so suprising?

What is not readily apparent is that these same officers also read tons of books on post conflict resolution, civil affairs, relations with local leaders and all sorts of other information. To take one text book out of context is a fallacy. Many of the officers have also served in Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar, and other Arab spots. They have first hand experience in dealings with people in the region.

Sometimes you guys are so hyper-sensitive about how you are perceived, that you ought to chill a little. Respect for a culture has a lot more to do with real world experience than a text book. 9/11 did a lot more to shape our perceptions of Muslims than any book.

PS, I have an all encompassing preoccupation with sex, as do 95% of the males in the world. You have my permission to write about this!

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Faisal, from an anthropological perspective, most men have an all encompassing preoccupation with sex. and there are no studies that reflect a greater sex drive in arabs than in for instance Koreans. the statement is clearly belittling your enemy aimed at characterising the group in a certain way..

and OG, for all your proclamations of who the WOT is directed at, you still say that this is your characterisation of the 'enemy'?

as for the same officers reading other books, thats a moot point. so long as they read this one, where 'the arab' is thought of as some foreign creature raving about sex all the time, im guessing that people would try to "exploit" their weakness by forcing them to masturbate, sodomising them with foreign objects, etc. Not to say that Pvt. England had read this book, but there has to be something that is motivating these actions in your armed forces that belittles these people beneath human dignity. I guess this book might be contributing towards that. And a fraction of your armed forces serves in the countries you listed.

And no, I am not aware of any book that characterises the features of the Hindu as curriculum for the armed forces. That would honestly be really stupid.

And hyper sensitivity is very relative. You are the same person who is always bemoaning the images on al jazeera. The same who seems to find "mild" anti semetism every possible place. The same who seems to selectively pick out stupid threads who otherwise people wouldnt even respond to, beyond their own clique, and generalise your comments to "Muslims".

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ravage: *
Faisal, from an anthropological perspective, most men have an all encompassing preoccupation with sex.
[/QUOTE]
Well, that brings me to my question again, what is sub-human about it?

Whats in the book that makes Arabs "sub-human"? Or conversaly, why is the thread titled like this?

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^^ the fact that this is portrayed as a feature of arab men as opposed to men in general.

since kinkiness in general isnt a socially accepted standard, the fact that the whole group tends to engross itself in sex is merely indicative that they're 'different', in a negative way.

sub human is not a word that i would use for it, but the statement, unless backed with specific facts that the arab sex drive is higher than other people, and is 'all-encompassing', whatever that means, is really, really, stupid.

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Well, it may be stupid, ofcourse, cz it takes an all-encompassing fact and pointed towards a sub-section. Much like saying 'all white men eat bread'. Well, d'uh! Almost everyone eats bread, so why point out towards white men. Then again, hightened sex drive is a highly subjective opinion. The general stereotype I have heard in the States is that Black men have more sex drive than white men. True or not, we don't know. Never realized it is meant to be degrading to black men.

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we go into linguistics then. there is a difference between saying that someone has a heightened sex drive, and saying that one has an all-encompassing pre-occupation with sex. the former, the scientific version would be acceptable because its stating fact, but not assuming anything about the mental control one has over one's sex drive. the latter statement clearly precludes one's control over himself, and portrays all mental energy directed towards the arab unmentionables.

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Is this all to explain the pyramid orgy in Abu Gharib, so it was all their own doing?

hmmmmmm

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Ravage,

Private England did not read this book. She was the lowest level reservist. Did this book read like a guide for the abuses at Abu Graib? Perhaps. Before the Marines were sent to Fallujah they were growing mustaches to be respected by the people there. They were learning which hand signs are offensive, and how an Arab man views the difference between the right and left hand. They were learning the cultural meaning of showing the sole of your foot to an Arab man. For years US female airmen have had to wear scarves in Saudi Arabia.

So to think that there is not some attempt to distinguish the American culture from the Arab cuture is a mistake. You simply do not agree with the characterizations in the book. I would hope that the US Army has not yet decided that Politically Correct should replace fact. You simply find the authors conclusions objectionable. Fine.

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Did they then proceed to hang around the mens toilets? :hehe:

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ohioguy: *
Ravage,

Private England did not read this book. She was the lowest level reservist. Did this book read like a guide for the abuses at Abu Graib? Perhaps. Before the Marines were sent to Fallujah they were growing mustaches to be respected by the people there. They were learning which hand signs are offensive, and how an Arab man views the difference between the right and left hand. They were learning the cultural meaning of showing the sole of your foot to an Arab man. For years US female airmen have had to wear scarves in Saudi Arabia.

So to think that there is not some attempt to distinguish the American culture from the Arab cuture is a mistake. You simply do not agree with the characterizations in the book. I would hope that the US Army has not yet decided that Politically Correct should replace fact. You simply find the authors conclusions objectionable. Fine.
[/QUOTE]

You change your stance. Previously you were saying that such characterisations are useful to "exploit" the enemy. There is only so much exploitation one can weild with mustaches and offensive hand signs.

There is a very major difference between the culpability of saying that jews say shalom to greet you and saying that jews have an all encompassing preoccupation with money and would sell their souls for a dime.

Once again, you imply that the statement I object to may not be politically correct, but it is fact. Truth is that it is definitely not fact, but these days, with all the arab/islam-bashing, it is politically correct.

17

Ravage,

My point is that you are taking the effects of "Cultural Education" down a very narrow path if you only focus on one book. If you read up on the Marines for example, they teach that you can have peacekeeping on one block, reconstruction on another, and full combat operations on a third block of a city. Certainly different levels of cultural awareness would be needed in each situation.

There is certainly nothing unusual about learning about your enemy. I would imagine that we were studying every nook and cranny of the Russians whne the cold war was white hot. figuring out whether the Russians would really unleash thousands of missles would certainly require a lot of psychological analysis.

I get back to my main point. You are simply offended with the conclusions of the author, because some of the conclusions are unattractive. I have no idea whether the book is accurate or not. I am certainly glad that the US military does not rely on CAIR for it's sole knowledge of the Arab/Muslim world.

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Its always dicey to criticize or comment on a book without reading it, so pardon me for using some internet resources to back-fill.

On Amazon, the description of the book goes like this:

This penetrating analysis unlocks the mysteries of Arab society to help us better understand a complex, proud and ancient culture. The Arab Mind discusses the upbringing of a typical Arab boy or girl, the intense concern with honor and courage, the Arabs' tendency toward extremes of behavior, and their ambivalent attitudes toward the West. Chapters are devoted to the influence of Islam, sexual mores, Arab language and Arab art, Bedouin values, Arab nationalism, and the pervasive influence of Westernization. With a new foreword by Norvell B. DeAtkine, Director of Middle East Studies at the JFK Special Warfare Center and School, Fort Bragg, N.C., this book unravels the complexities of Arab traditions and provides authentic revelations of Arab mind and character.
Amazon has the whole table of contents as well as selected pages available for reading. The book covers a lot of topics (one full chapter is devoted to 'The Realm of Sex' btw) and it will be grossly unfair to focus solely on a couple of sentences to judge a 496-page book.

The author is Raphael Patai. He was the author of over 600 articles and more than twenty books. A native of Hungary, he taught at Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. A prolific cultural anthropologist, Dr. Patai died in 1996. Interestingly he has also written a book called 'The Jewish Mind'. That book is described as follows:
Examines the Jewish mind and personality through three millennia, looking at the ways six historical encounters between the Jews and other cultures have left their mark on Jewish consciousness. Explores Jewish intelligence and the phenomenology of special Jewish talents, factors affecting mental health, and Jewish values and the roots of Jewish self-hate.

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I suppose it's always the problem when a piece of writing sets out to generalise about millions of people.

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faisal,

i tend to judge books on a sentence level basis. sentence wrong delete. move on. fact remains that the statement is highly unscientific and belittling, for thru the power of the web engine, i am aware that there are no studies that indicate that 'the arab mind is all encompassedly preoccupied with sex'. nor that arabs from morrocco to iraq are all uniformedly engaged in similar sexual mores.

OG, my main point is in objection to the statements in the book. i understand that a great deal of training goes into the marines, but that still doesnt mean that some of that training isnt ridiculous.