# Sesame Street the Egyptian way **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 13, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500 "2005-12-13T22:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/21 "2005-12-14T13:22:19Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > I’ll attest to that one. > > And it works the other way, too. I recall in one of my hebrew school classes we were being taught the tale of Noah and the ark and in the pictures the people left behind to drown all had afros, flat noses and big lips. > > Feh, and people ask me why I don’t dig religion. Yup, and I’ve gone to a “liberal” Hebrew school that wasn’t exactly tolerant toward Arabs or the Soviet Union. No overt racism, just the message that Arabs and Soviets are out to get us. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/22 "2005-12-14T15:05:05Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Yup, and I’ve gone to a “liberal” Hebrew school that wasn’t exactly tolerant toward Arabs or the Soviet Union. No overt racism, just the message that Arabs and Soviets are out to get us. Well, the Soviets were out to get us, and the Arabs still are. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/23 "2005-12-14T17:00:40Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Well, the Soviets were out to get us, and the Arabs still are. Really? The Arabs? _All_ of them? A majority of them? A plurality? A sizable minority? Just how many of The Arabs are out to get you? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/24 "2005-12-14T17:14:34Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > MsRobyn: Some of us Christians have been on the receiving end of the “you’re going to hell” party line professed by some other Christians. It’s very sad to see a 3 year old girl parrotting that trash. Damn right. I get so pissed when some clown accosts me in a store or anywhere, and asks me “have you acepted Jeebus as your lord and savior”, and then tries to “instruct” me. Because Catholics are among those going to hell. Look muthafucka, I already know the Bible better than most of these people, so don’t try to bullshit me. There are also plenty of “christians” who I personally know, who would be cheering and doing backflips in the office, if we were to start nuking every Muslim country in the world - and they realy mean it. Besides, there are more important things. “They” have declared war on Christmas. Something about Osama’s homo-abortion-pot-and-commie-jizzpurim. For every “memri” we have a Falwell, Robertson, O’Reilly, Hannity, and plenty of other scumbags. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/25 "2005-12-14T17:17:21Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Honestly, though, how is this different from Christian Sunday schools teaching young kids that the Jews are going to hell because they don’t believe in Jesus? Are you seeing **no** difference between –“people who don’t believe as we do won’t go to heaven and therefore you should pray for them and try to change their hearts” and –“they’re apes and pigs and the Prophet was right to kill them” Or are you just saying asinine things because you feel peckish? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/26 "2005-12-14T17:20:08Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > Really? The Arabs? _All_ of them? A majority of them? A plurality? A sizable minority? Just how many of The Arabs are out to get you? Well, the ones who make TV shows like the attached clip, and the ones who attacked Israel 3 times in the past 55 years? The ones whose state-run tv stations produce teleplays of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? The ones who won’t let you into their country if you’re Jewish or have an Israeli passport? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/27 "2005-12-14T17:38:46Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Are you seeing **no** difference between > > –“people who don’t believe as we do won’t go to heaven and therefore you should pray for them and try to change their hearts” > > and > > –“they’re apes and pigs and the Prophet was right to kill them” > > Or are you just saying asinine things because you feel peckish? Let’s try option #3: People who don’t believe as we do won’t go to heaven and so let’s take their property and kill them. (SEE: Inquisition, Spanish; Holocaust) Happy now? Robin ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/28 "2005-12-14T17:54:37Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > dud… You are an idiot. I’ve got a bug up my bonnet about most things in this world - including Islam. But I’m sorry to say that less than 5% of my posts are about Islam. But those that are apparently must have shocked you so much they left you deeply impressed. From a quick look it appears ~20% of the threads you have started are about Muslims and Islam though. ---
**Author:** ![George\_Kaplin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/29 "2005-12-14T18:14:14Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Let’s try option #3: People who don’t believe as we do won’t go to heaven and so let’s take their property and kill them. (SEE: Inquisition, Spanish; Holocaust) 1. Christian beliefs (both mainstream and fundamentalist) have advanced a lot more since the Spanish inquisition. 2. I don’t think Nazis were motivated by religion. More importantly, neither does [DavidB of the SD Staff advisory board](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhitlerchristian.html) (I assume Cecil gives their articles the quick once over before they hit the net 🙂 ) The simple fact of the matter is that Islam is experiencing problems with its nutbag fundamentalists which far eclipse those suffered by any other religion. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/30 "2005-12-14T18:27:25Z")
> [@George Kaplin](#): > > The simple fact of the matter is that Islam is experiencing problems with its nutbag fundamentalists which far eclipse those suffered by any other religion. But the OP isn’t talking about murder in the name of Islam, he’s talking about a video clip showing indoctrination of a very young child. In that respect, it’s no different from, oh say, Christian supremacists indoctrinating their kids that Jews or abortionists are subhuman and should die for their beliefs. Lord knows there have been a few of those. And, FWIW, while Hitler may not have been motivated by religion, he wasn’t above using it as a rallying point. That said, the vast majority of Muslims worldwide aren’t fundamentalist nutbags; they’re law-abiding citizens like you and me who deplore the violence that is tainting them by association. Robin ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/31 "2005-12-14T18:29:48Z")
As if we don’t have cases of the same thing happening here anyway - google up on Prussian Blue some time. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/32 "2005-12-14T19:53:24Z")
The Guardian has picked up the story, so I guess the reason the clip has resurfaced is because it has been re-aired in Saudi Arabia. > [@](#): > > So I saw the vox pop on Saudi TV asking people on the street whether they would ever shake hands with a Jew - unanimous answer: no - and guessed that perhaps this was an exceptional item, hardly indicative. I read the transcript of an interview with Basmallah, a three-year-old girl, again aired on Saudi TV, who was introduced as a “Muslim girl, a true Muslim”. > **[Jonathan Freedland: The sickness bequeathed by the west to the Muslim world](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/14/iran.comment)** > > Jonathan Freedland: The Iranian president's support for Holocaust denial is a measure of how far the infection of Jew-hatred has spread. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/33 "2005-12-14T20:00:16Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > As if we don’t have cases of the same thing happening here anyway - google up on Prussian Blue some time. What’s so special about Prussian Blue? They’re no worse than what’s going on with certain Muslims. Why are you singling them out? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/34 "2005-12-14T20:15:37Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > What’s so special about Prussian Blue? They’re no worse than what’s going on with certain Muslims. Why are you singling them out? They popped into my head first. So what? ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/35 "2005-12-14T20:24:04Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > As if we don’t have cases of the same thing happening here anyway - google up on Prussian Blue some time. Never heard of them, and again (as with MsRobyn) what is your point. Yes ugly shit happen all over - also in the US (& Denmark), but it’s like you’re saying it’s not worth making a big fuss about unless it’s happening in the USA. I know there’s a heavy overrepresentation of dopers from the USA, but isn’t this being just a tad US-centric? ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/36 "2005-12-14T20:51:54Z")
To be fair there is a very serious problem here. It’s not just shit like in that clip. I’d advise anyone interested to try and source a Emmy award winning documentary called [Death in Gaza](http://www.channel4.com/news/2004/special_reports/death_in_gaza.html). It covers the time James Miller spent with three Palestinian kids and the people around them. The hatred that was forced into all the children was horrifying. You see whole communities spurned on to hate during post suicide bombing rallies. > [@](#): > > In one scene, masked extremists give Ahmed weapons to play with and call him ‘our little brother’. But when Saira asks about the morality of using such a young boy as a messenger and lookout, the militant’s leader replies: ‘Don’t worry about responsibility, sister. When we say goodbye to Ahmed, there are a thousand more like him.’ > > Mohammed is Ahmed’s timid but devoted best friend. His mother begs him not to go near the front line, but such is his loyalty to Ahmed that he joins him in making primitive bombs to throw at the Israeli tanks. Really was an eye-opener for me. The film is made all the more depressing by the death of Miller during an attempt to pass an Israeli APC. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/37 "2005-12-14T20:52:17Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Never heard of them, and again (as with MsRobyn) what is your point. Yes ugly shit happen all over - also in the US (& Denmark), but it’s like you’re saying it’s not worth making a big fuss about unless it’s happening in the USA. I know there’s a heavy overrepresentation of dopers from the USA, but isn’t this being just a tad US-centric? Nope, it was more like “those in glass houses…” ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/38 "2005-12-14T23:42:04Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Never heard of them, and again (as with MsRobyn) what is your point. Yes ugly shit happen all over - also in the US (& Denmark), but it’s like you’re saying it’s not worth making a big fuss about unless it’s happening in the USA. I know there’s a heavy overrepresentation of dopers from the USA, but isn’t this being just a tad US-centric? It is worth making a fuss over. My son is almost 3 and a half, and he barely knows what Christmas is. The girl in the clip has been indoctrinated into a hateful worldview, nothing more. This is no different from any other attempt at indoctrinating any child into a particular dogma, be it Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Buddhist. The reason SteveG1 and I used examples from the US is because that’s where we live, so we’re familiar with that. I don’t doubt this kind of indoctrination happens elsewhere – the clip you linked to in the OP proves that. My point is that it does happen elsewhere, including among Christians. I wasn’t trying for a comparison of which is worse. They’re both equally bad. Robin ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/39 "2005-12-14T23:53:00Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Let’s try option #3: People who don’t believe as we do won’t go to heaven and so let’s take their property and kill them. (SEE: Inquisition, Spanish; Holocaust) I don’t know what the holocaust has to do with the price of tea in China, but yes, I _do_ think the Spanish Inquisition is religious evil on a par with fundamentalist Islam. I also do think its relevant to point out that the Spanish Inquisition has been out of business for several centuries. > [@](#): > > Happy now? Giddy; ecstatic; euphoric. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500/40 "2005-12-15T00:05:03Z")
> [@furt](#): > > I also do think its relevant to point out that the Spanish Inquisition has been out of business for several centuries. Pffft. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-the-egyptian-way/335500.md?page=3)