Tru Principle said:
You uneducated bafoons just because their parents were Lebanese doesn't mean they are "Lebanese" .
Lebanese living outside of Lebanon, to me, are not Lebanese..
So Katy, did you like the 747?
Im sorry but you have no idea what you are talking about. These type of people live in their own little communities inside the community, in this case lets call it little Lebanon. They have their own schools and continue their culture.
In a lot of situations they behave worse than in their country of origin because when they left, or their parents left, their cultural development stopped, where as their country continues.
Ill give you a simple example. My background is Polish, I speak different Polish than people in Poland because I dont know all the slang, my language has not evolved, it stopped when I left Poland. I am however still Polish.
This is the same with these communities, while their countries move forward in understanding and tolerance for women and other people, they do not.
You have not been to these communities, you can not judge. Simply saying "I live in Lebanon" does not give you any authority what so ever over Lebanese communities in Australia; and calling people "uneducated bafoons" does not help your plea any especially considering they see this happening every day with their own two eyes.
Having said that I know some lovely Lebanese people in Sydney who have helped me a lot, but even they will admit that most of the Leb's there are out of control and dangerous.
Here's a perfect example. One of my friends happens to be a Catholic Leb, her mother and herself were hit by a car that ran a red light in a Lebanese neighborhood. The car that hit them began to drive off and the Lebanese men whom they did not know in the car behind her chased the driver to get a license plate number. The men came back to the accident scene with a piece paper in hand; as they walked up to her they saw a cross on my friends neck; one turned to the other and said “shes not one of us.” The piece of paper disappeared and the license plate number they gave her was something something 666, sorry I forget the letters.
You have no idea what goes on in these neighborhoods.
HOWEVER, a lot of Lebs in Australia are really cool, some rotten apples just give them a bad example. I have a lot of Muslim Lebanese friends here who I know have our back no matter what. Most Lebs I know, while gangster and connected, are polite and respectful to other people who they feel deserve it.
As a whole, Lebanese people are great. But there are some bad eggs, and simply saying they are not Lebanese because they do not live in Lebanon not only covers up the situation, but it disrespects the good Lebanese people living here trying to set an example and are proud of their origins and want to show people that Lebanese is a beautiful culture.
I wonder, are the good Lebs not Lebs in your book too? Or is it just the bads ones that you dont want to bundle into your neat little Lebanese circle?