Bluster on large and small scales

Submitted by Shishir (United Arab Emirates), Jul 23, 2012 at 06:13

As Mr Stanley , one can witness examples of bluster when residing in the Middle East. Let me give my own example- in Dubai there is a serious problem with road rage ,a person who cuts you off will be indignant if you honk or flash your lights at him ,even then I never hesitated to do so. What often occurs is that the driver will flag you down and challenge you to a confrontation .While I try and avoid such physical altercations, I can be hot headed enough to take up the individual on his offer and which point the aggressor almost always backs down.Now Im not a big guy ,neither am I rather tough looking but I do not show fear nor any sign of being intimidated(even if I may be rather frightened on the inside) and return their bellicose threats in kind. The Arab driver who is usually a local UAE national,Palestinian or Egyptian though bigger and stronger dont have the nerve to go through with their threats.On the rare occasions there was physical contacts, it was just pushing and shoving and I could actually FEEL the fear circulating through their body.Funny thing about fear and courage(or rather lack of fear) =-the former can make a strong man weak and latter a physically non imposing individual tough.

Someone once said Arabs are feuding ,not a warring people.On a smaller scale one can say that the Arabs are shoving rather than punching people!The latter is why the Arabs refrain from fighting with Russians,Chinese or the British in Dubai but prefer to intimidate mild mannered Indians.Men of those communities think nothing of beating a challenger to a pulp!

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".