I never be laid back as

Incoming: LONG ass rant.

So I have (yet again) been accused of being an elitist.  Haha…well I don’t disagree with being an elitist at times.  But I was accused of one for inaccurate reasons….here’s the back story:

A few nights ago I went out to a bar with a good friend.  We bumped into this girl from high school, and we had a long catching up convo with her.  My friend was filling her in on her life, such as possibly going to Korea to teach English.  The girl from our school started telling us about “juice girls” and prostitution in Korea and gave us this little nugget of opinion:

“I mean why are we fighting in I-RAQ when we should be there (Korea) helping”

so I let all the fucked-up-ness of that statement go at that moment…only glancing at my good friend.

A few days later, my friend and I were hanging out and chatting, and somehow we started talking about how some people are seemingly “liberal” but saw some pretty fucked up shit….such as our old school mate did….

And then I launched into “god can you believe ‘I-RAQ???’”

And my friend pointed out that I was being an elitist for proscribing a certain pronunciation of Iraq.

I always thought, that as Americans, we should always try to pronounce the name of a country the closest to the way people of that country say it.

I mean the real pronunciation is more of a glottal sound in the beginning and middle of the word.  But Americans are not typically able to make that sound.  The closest pronunciation would be “E-rock.”  Therefore, we (Arab Americans, Iraqi Americans) have let “E-rock” go.

Granted, my friend said when we both hear I-RACK, it conjures the image of some ignorant, conservative republican asshole, so I automatically get in hate mode.

I have heard educated professors refer to the country as “I-rack” and I gotta be honest, it does make me sad.  But my friend insists (linguist students….ugh) that in American dialect and accent that is how Iraq is pronounced….and to command someone to change the way they pronounce it, when they have been taught or learned that it is I-RACK is a show of my elitism.  “I know how to say it, and you are wrong, so I have to teach you”—is elitist.

A teacher at our high school told one day in class “actually you pronounce it “Iraq” (the actual Arabic way of saying it).  So according to my friend, our teacher, who was supposed to teach us…demonstrating the correct way of saying Iraq, is elitist.

Moronic.

I am not arguing correcting someone over “supposebly” or “Ax”

But when someone says “ch-aldean” instead of “kaldean” I will correct them.

i don’t think this elitist rule applies to proper nouns.

Reading at Arab, one can easily say “ay-rab.” There is no “air” for A R…..is there in English?

Damn straight I will correct someone saying ay-rab…..

about this time of year

I was working in retail last year…around march/april. 

that didn’t last long. just a summer job to make extra cash to pay off credit card bills.  it really was a shitty place to work…here’s why:

1. it was a shoe warehouse, so the “zone” i worked in was HUGE, and always a mess…because the bitches who worked the zone before me did not care to keep it organized after thousands of customers would pick out their shoes and either a)throw them in the wrong area b)leave them piled up in the isles c) return them to the front, creating “go backs” for us to put back in their original space.

This made my space isolating, since i couldn’t chat with any of my coworkers..the few i actually WANTED to chat with…

2. I had to sell rewards cards…and i am not a hustler when it comes to sales. AT ALL. I mean i would rather not have a damn job, bc selling stuff makes me anxious.  all my jobs that dealt with me selling stuff never worked out, and ended up in my bosses being disappointed.  but if you need me to organize, or make sure something runs smoothly and efficiently…i’m yo’ girl!

FURTHER more…imagine if i had that job now? during this economic crisis…i would have major problems telling someone they NEEDED to buy shoes when they should probs save their bills for more important stuff.

3. it was shit work, for shit people, for shit money. 3 out of 3 is bad.

4. i wasn’t “passionate about shoes.”  That was their motto.  I mean, I can be materialistic, and I like fashion…but this isn’t my passion…shoes? are you kidding me?

5. my managers were morons who couldn’t manage shit.  

6. my coworkers were morons who liked to boss other people around

7. i hate hostile environments…they make me want to leave int he middle of my shift and quit two days later….oh wait i did that.

I was feeling a weird sense of nostalgia….”wow, I was pretty miserable this time last year”…but things worked out…got better.  I am thankful I am at a new job now…and I can move on to bigger better things that truly mean something to me, and hopefully what i am doing benefits other people.

 

p.s. the job i have now actually pays way less than the shoe selling one…but the work is a billion times better….and will get me places….so take that retail!

Aggravation

So a few days ago I had to go to a local community college diversity fair, and represent my work. So basically I had table set up with artifacts and info about Arab Americans, the place I work, etc. I talked to many students interested in Arab stuff. It was nice. But…these sorts of things are just grounds for ignorant folk to come up to you and voice their thoughts on the middles east in the most fucked up general terms. One woman comes up to me seeking “enlightenment.” Bullshit. I think she just wanted to air her aggravation. Don’t get me wrong, I think there are a lot of fucked up things in my culture…BUT THAT DOESN’T GIVE YOU, MS. PRIVELEGED WHITE WOMAN, THE RIGHT TO CRITICISE OTHER COMMUNITIES/CULTURES. LOOK AT YOUR OWN DAMN RACE IN YOUR OWN DAMN COUNTRY. Yeah, you are so fucking civilized…right?

Annoying Lady: So, lemme ask you something: because all countries in the mid east (she may not have even said a designation) are governed by religion, how do families who come here adapt? (because our government is so secular, right? and all families are the same)

Me: Most adapt pretty well. I mean they are trying to live their lives. Perhaps some older generations may be resistant, but they just want to hold on to their culture.

Lady: Well then why even come here if you don’t want to change? ::then her son came by and shook my hand and they both looked at me weird…like “I just met a real live Ay-rab:::

Me: its not that they (again…they? They ALL??? It was so hard to talk because she caught me off guard with her gross generalizing) don’t want to conform. I mean…younger generations usually assimilate faster-

Lady: yeah yeah I know but I’m talking about— (And she went on and on….)

Lady: So in all those countries, don’t they all know that the three religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) have the same beginnings with Abraham? Don’t they know that? Why all the fighting? (insinuating that they are all barabaric)

Me: I’m sure they know that information…(why don’t you ask them??? Then I tried getting specific by talking about one country, like Iraq, as very secular, and comparing it to a religious country….because NOT EVERY COUNTRY IS THE SAME) Also, I mean, look at Christianity, Catholics and Protestants have had their troubles.

Lady: well yeah, but they aren’t killing each other over it….

And I should have said this…after conferring with a coworker later: “oh REALLY? So Ireland untilt he late 1980s had no problems between religions…that’s a country in the west…non Arab….you stupid fuck” I wish I was able to get clearer with her. It just caught me off guard. She was talking so GENERALLY that it totally threw me. I sorta clarified that I was Chaldean…only to see how she felt about THAT (mostly because she said she had lived around the area where many Chaldeans live). I wanted to gauge her thoughts on Christians in the middle east. Maybe she just hated Muslims? She just looked at me blankly. I think she probs conflated culture and religion…as she conflated EVERYTHING else. Maybe she just hates Arabs.

So my question: are you really trying to understand the many CULTURES of a region, lady? Or are you just their to air your grievances? ‘Cause, bitch, I ain’t got time….