Reply #19: I don't find racism between closely related ethnic groups that surprising

[LeftishBrit]

Happens all the time, especially when nationalism and religious conflict join the mix. E.g. between English and Irish, or Indian and Pakistani.

I don't think that racism corresponds just to a socially more backward time or an uneducated individual. There will probably always be racism; and those who practice it are not 'backward or humourless' in general (at least, not necessarily); they are simply blinded on certain issues by their bigotry, which they have usually learned from others.

Racism exists everywhere but tends to be more accepted when a government is right-wing, especially when this is associated with nationalism.

The outrage over the Mohammed cartoons is not so much 'hypocrisy' as an acknowledgement of the influence of cartoons, and regarding them almost as a war weapon. It may be just *because* they are ready to use cartoons to attack their enemies that they were so quick to perceive the Mohammed cartoons as enmity.

The surprising thing in all this is not so much that antisemitism is a problem in Arab countries, as that it seems to be so influenced by the Europaean variety.