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Originally Posted by DudeImBetter
Do you typically say Salamulakum to people you meet for the first time, or was this an anomaly of sorts?
Typically, I do not get asked if I am Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Atheist, by strangers.
I shall try and breakdown what happened, step by step,
A Jewish man comes over to a table I am playing on, sits down, and says to me "Are you Jewish"?
The very first thing that came to my mind was, "cool I can now have a peaceful discussion with a guy" so what I did was I said "Salamulakum" as a means of starting out the conversation. In no way, did I mean ill will toward the Jewish guy.
You probably would have had to be with me to fully understand this, and to realize that in no way, was I being Antagonistic toward the guy. It is not my issue if someone I am talking to takes offense to the words Salamulakum, just as its not the Jewish mans issue if I take offense to him asking me if I'm Jewish.
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Originally Posted by DudeImBetter
Because my understanding is that it's a Muslim greeting (though not exclusively), and that outright dismissing the, "Are you Jewish?" question and instead greeting him with a Muslim expression is pretty antagonistic...especially coming from someone who does full well know the history between these two groups.
Would you say that's fair?
It is not only fair, it is a good way to get people to come together. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a different language to greet someone, so long as the intention is good. And my intention was good, I did not intend to insult this Jewish man, if the Jewish man took offense then thats sad, because I did not take offense to his question.
Salamulakum is an Arabic greeting used by Muslims, but Arabic is of course spoken by Muslims, Jews, Christians, and others. In fact, Jews and Muslims have similar greetings, different languages of course but they sound somewhat similar.
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Originally Posted by DudeImBetter
Also, seems to me that you have infrequent contact with Jewish people, is that true?
Im sure some of the folks I come across at the store, mall, etc are Jewish. I do personally know of a few Jews that I maintain contact with.
I did want to ask you, do you know any Jewish folks, what are your own thoughts on Jews in general?
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Originally Posted by DudeImBetter
I say this because you coming across a Jewish man years ago and having a polite conversation was noteworthy to you.
I was addressing your earlier question, In your first response you asked,
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Originally Posted by DudeImBetter
Tell us about how you feel regarding Jews, Judaism, Israel, etc. Do you have Jewish friends? Do you have generally positive, neutral, or negative experiences with Jewish people, IYE?
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Originally Posted by DudeImBetter
This is borderline at best. Please refrain from name calling ITT, even if it's as relatively benign as this.
I feel that it would be easier to maintain a calm demeanor itt if everyone agreed to act politely.
Could you also please delete any posts that suggest that I'm Antisemitic. How can folks be expected to maintain a polite discourse in a thread where folks are calling others Morons and bigots. I thought that the point of this thread was to get rid of that stuff.
Posters suggesting that other posters are racist/bigoted, and doing so without providing proof, is a personal attack.