Urination and Arabophobia.......

Two faces of the same coin.....

In Bangladesh, to prevent people from peeing against random walls, authorities came up with an ingenious solution. They started inscribing Arabic phrases on walls. These usually were requests not to urinate. Muslims in sub-continent neither speak nor understand Arabic, yet they treat Arabic scripture with deep respect, as they automatically assume these were verses from the Quran. The peeing stopped duly, even if temporarily.  If anything it shows the ridiculousness of ascribing arbitrary respect to words and letters from a language you don't even understand.

Here in America we are seeing the opposite.
In poconos (PA) someone forgot a small box of mid-eastern cookies in a gas station with Arabic letters (brand name and description) on it. This caused such panic that a bomb disposal squad had to be called in!  From Scranton, which is 50 miles away.

A few weeks ago, sister of a terrified receptionist at a hotel in Ohio called the cops on a businessman from UAE because he was "pledging allegiance to ISIS on the phone".  Cops rushed in to take down the wealthy businessman, who was merely talking on the phone. He later suffered a heart attack from the physical and emotional trauma. How could a receptionist who doesn't even understand Arabic be able to tell if someone is pleading allegiance to ISIS?  And even if she did speak the language, what are the exact phrases for pleading allegiance?  What is the number to call?  And is a hotel lobby in Cleveland the designated place for it?

You can't make this stuff up.....