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I never said they had to hide their origins, just change their name. "X - an affiliate/subsidiary of Al-Jazeera." You only see it when you actually go to the c
by rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
I never said they had to hide their origins, just change their name. "X - an affiliate/subsidiary of Al-Jazeera." You only see it when you actually go to the channel. Then once you hear the reporting and commentary you can balance it with your predispositions, but at least they have a chance to sell themselves, if only for a minute.
If I tell you there's a new channel called "X" and you go to check it out and notice the affiliation, then your judgement will be your own. But if I recommend a network with an off-putting name, you likely won't check it out, even for a second.
- gotchange 11y agoAl-Jazeera just means "The Island" in Arabic. What's off putting about something called "The Island"?
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoI never knew that. Most Americans won't even get that close. You're trying to use logic to argue a problem of emotion and personal bias. That never works.
- mikeash 11y agoThe Arabic is what's off-putting.
- gotchange 11y agoDo you feel the same when you hear "Alcohol, Algebra, Alchemy, Algorithm, Albuquerque ...etc" or you're just turned off by "Aljazeera"?
- mikeash 11y agoAlbuquerque is a pretty tenuous example. Anyway, I don't know. I'm not talking about me, just saying this is how a lot of people react.
- gotchange 11y agoNo, it's not tenuous. Americans (Spanish settlers/Mexicans?) imported the name from Spanish (Castellano) and Spanish got it from Arabic and the list I made is just arbitrary and there are many many more Arabic origin words starting with "Al" that made their way to English and don't seem to have the same negative effect on the English speaker as claimed by you and the other poster.
- mikeash 11y agoThe etymology is not certain, but Albuquerque looks much more likely to be Latin than Arabic. As for the rest, well, there's a difference between English words with Arabic origins and Arabic words that haven't been appropriated into English. You can dislike the way people treat it all you want, and say it makes no sense (and I'd agree), but if you argue with how it works then you're basically yelling at the clouds.
- gotchange 11y agoThey're are other places in Badajoz with the "AL" prefix and they're Arabic influenced so it's more likely that Albuquerque was as well than being Latin derived but my main argument stays the same that if English speaking xenophobes or bigots have any problem with the Arabic definite article "Al ال", they should cease using those words in their language to avoid public embarrassment and being labelled hypocrites.
- mikeash 11y agoWhat's the point of that main argument? You asked a question about why certain unreasonable feel a certain way, you got an answer, and now you're arguing with the answer because you think it's unreasonable. That's silly.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoHypothetical example: let's say there was no Hitler or Hirohito but somehow Benito Mussolini - Il Duce, the leader - conquered Europe and conducted human rights abuses equal to or greater than the other Axis powers, all while expanding Italian territory through conquest. Let's also say that you live in the Middle East, which for a while was Roman territory, the empire that Mussolini attempted to ressurect. You would have a good reason to fear Italian conquest and be distrustful of Italy in general, even if Italians themselves are generally amicable and the people in conquered territories resent the regime. Now you hear that a major Italian news company - Il Notizie, the news - is establishing a pan-Arab station, Il Notizie Arabia. Would you trust it to be fair and balanced? Would you trust it not to have a subversive agenda?