Thomas Wictor

I’ve gotten several messages telling me that my post “The Utter Depravity of Palestinian Culture” is racist. This is a deeply silly notion. A culture is not a race. There’s no such thing as the “Palestinian race.”

These are Palestinians.

The two men are Palestinians.

Two Palestinian girls confront Israeli soldiers.

A Palestinian Hamas sympathizer.

People who told me I’m racist for criticizing a culture are, in fact, themselves racist. It’s the paternalistic, condescending racism that refuses to hold certain groups to the same standards of behavior to which they hold me, for example. If I went into a mosque and murdered five Muslims with a meat cleaver, nobody would want to know “my side of the story.” And that’s how it should be. Grievances should be addressed only when the aggrieved has refrained from savage, inhuman behavior.

The instant that a group begins murdering, that group’s complaints must be completely ignored, and the murderers must either be arrested or killed.

And if their culture has terrible problems, there’s nothing “racist” about pointing it out. Culture is just language; religion; education; dress; food; music; sports; views on morality; and the way women, children, and animals are treated.

The people who call me racist for criticizing Palestinian culture are certainly the same ones who want to outlaw bullfighting in Spain, for example. At funerals the Hmong people of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand “cut cow”; they hack to death a water buffalo tied to a stake. It takes forever, and it’s hideously painful for the animal.

Is it racist to condemn that ritual?

An Israeli principal got in trouble for sending this video to teachers and friends.

In this Haaretz piece, there’s absolutely no opinion expressed on the appalling abuse we just saw. Instead, here’s how some Israelis reacted.

“A principal is supposed to be an educator,” said a teacher at Kiryat Sharet High School who received the e-mail a few days ago from principal Irit Aharonson. “It’s inconceivable she should be spreading such racist, inciting material without any monitoring.”

Aharonson said she sent the video “in a distracted state” and called the decision a “regrettable mistake,” saying: “The context of the clip wasn’t anti-Arab. This doesn’t match my moderate opinions.”

The Education Ministry said it considered the distribution of the clip “a grave error of judgment.”

The ministry characterized Aharonson’s decision to share the clip as a “grave error of judgment,” saying, “We expect educators to promote tolerance, not send out harmful and disdainful materials.”

Guess what was happening while these Israelis were in a frenzy of outrage and self-flagellation on behalf of Arabs?

Arabs who saw the video were reacting with disgust at the man’s cruelty.

The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) is investigating an incident depicted in a widely disseminated video clip of a man pushing a toddler into a swimming pool numerous times disregarding the look of horror on the child’s face and the water she had swallowed…

The video has caused enough of a stir in the public that it was addressed on “Al-Majlis” on Ekhbariya TV on Thursday under the topic of child abuse.

NSHR President Mufleh Al-Qahtani told Al-Watan newspaper that his organization spent two days looking into the incident and that the Ministry of Social Affairs would be contacted once the investigation is completed.

Al-Qahtani said the man in the video is the girl’s father and that he might have been in his own way teaching the girl to swim. However, he said the video shows a girl being tortured in a way that could adversely affect her psychological state.

“Punishing the father is secondary,” he said. “What matters is educating society so that nothing like this is repeated.” Some Saudis who have seen the clip claim this practice on children is a common way to test their natural swimming abilities.

“I saw the video,” said Noha Al-Ghamdi, a teacher and a mother of three. “It’s a Saudi-Bedouin way to see if a kid has the instincts to swim on her own. What a bunch of retards.” Shaima Ahmad, a Saudi studying for her master’s degree in the US, watched the video on Facebook. She called for the punishment of the father.

“Seriously, how can any of us find the right words to describe how we feel about this? How funny would it have been if she actually drowned? Couldn’t they think of a better way to teach her how to swim?” said Shaima.

Khalid Bahaziq, family counselor and director of the Rapport Center, said the child might be traumatized for life and develop her own fears as a reaction to being forcefully pushed into the water.

“Violence is easy for anyone who lacks a means of communication,” said Bahaziq.

He explained how pushing the child in the water sets an example to others that using violence is the only way to instantly achieve one’s demands.

“Children grow up using the same way dealing with others,” he added. “Children seek their parents satisfaction. Violence creates rebellious streaks.”

A Bahraini journalist who saw the video told Arab News he got chills in his bones just watching the video.

“Even animals won’t intentionally put their children through such insanity in a bid to teach them survival skills,” he said. He hoped that the child does not grow up to behave like her “supposed guardians.”

See? Arabs don’t need you to protect them. Unlike the people who called me racist, I don’t view Arabs as children. As in any group, there are good Arabs, bad Arabs, and weird lumps of clay that just sit there.

Palestinian culture is rotten to the core. That doesn’t mean that every Palestinian is a monster. Some are what my brother Tim calls “sports of nature.” I have a video clip of an angry young Palestinian man watching one of the Bakr children’s fathers tearlessly braying like a donkey. The young man looks at the camera, rolls his eyes, and then turns away, his shoulders sagging in disgust. I won’t post the clip because I don’t want to draw attention to him.

That’s how degenerate Palestinian culture is. If I showed you a video clip of a young man sickened and depressed by depravity, he might be murdered.

I’d save you if I could, young man. You’d come to the US and spend a year just traveling and seeing the sights.

Then I’d help you figure out what you wanted to do with your life. We’d take our time. After what you’ve been through, there’d be no hurry.

I’m sorry.