pharmaceus

Dude please. I don't think you understood my joke. I wrote it because black metal is considered a "Norwegian" thing mostly because of Oslo and Bergen scenes while death metal is considered a "Swedish" things because of Stockholm and Goteborg scenes. So If a Norwegian guy tells me he's in a death metal band I immediately feel like asking:

"Oh really? Have long have you been in Sweden?"

But it's a joke... although I am yet to hear a prominent death metal band from Norway. Even Darkthrone thought it's a better idea to play punk than go back to Soulside Journey

I just wanted to drop in with just a single remark. It is hard to blame Arab leaders when after long decades of occupation and colonial rule they were faced with a prospect of yet another external intervention. The unrest started well before 1947 back when Palestine was a British mandate ruled just like every other colony - with no regard for native population. Or did you forget Arab uprisings in the 20's and 30's after Britain decided to go along with what very much goes in line with "Greater Israel".

Arabs were aggressive but so were (if not more) all Jews trying to forcefully create a country of their own where there has been none for centuries. People think that the creation of Israel was something akin to Poland regaining its independence in 1918 after a century of partition. It was nothing of that sort and just compare how complicated the re-formation of Polish state was and how unfairly it turned for so many people and ethnic minorities who had their lives arranged around the pre-war status quo. Ethically speaking what actual right did Jews have to their country established the way it was established? None. None whatsoever. And therefore it should have been a compromise between the people living there...not the horrid thing it developed into.

Truth is Israel as a purely Jewish state had very little reason to exist and it was an entirely artificial creation which resulted in the typical problem - check post WWI history of Europe to compare or how the expulsions after WWII turned out. It's easy to make a political decision while it affects countless families and individuals that just have to accept the consequences.

Since I'm European I instinctively hold Jews to a higher standard than Arabs for historical and cultural reasons. Thats why I blame them more - they should have been more mature and responsible. Instead they were just as agressive as Arabs only more lucky in finding support of powerful allies.

I really don't think Russia is so much different from the rest of the world. All governments are tyrannical and oppressive by nature and it attracts corrupt and manipulative people. It really just boils down to what the people expect and how much direct oppression they will tolerate. Most Russians lived in either the USSR or Russia their entire lives so they have no idea about anything else and for them Russia is just great. It's mostly the people who are not connected to the government and go abroad that get angry because they see the comparison in the standard of living and think that it's connected in some way. But that's it...

The Ukraine is protesting mostly because they see the connection between corruption - which is far worse than in Russia (surprisingly) - and their poverty. It's not really about the politics of it at all...Twenty five years ago when the Soviet bloc collapsed people were protesting food shortages, lack of work and collapsing living standards first - political freedoms second.

Now truth be told Russia seems like a bit better place to live because of slightly better economic situation and much larger resource reserves...but beyond Moscow or St.Petersburg and a couple of mining towns it's really comparable with Ukraine. The difference is that Russians see their country a bit differently than non-Russian Ukraininans. After 70 years under Soviet Rule Ukraine is essentially an artificial country with a fairly clear ethnic East-West split. Unfortunately most of the industrial base was populated by Russian/Soviet population and that's why it's predominantly Russian-speaking region - because it was of huge interest to the Soviet government.

Which means that after the split - if that was to occur - Western Ukraine would have it really tough for a time. But if they managed to introduce swift and successful reforms such as the Baltic states they'd see their standard of living improve over time.

The question is whether they will be able to do it... just because you wan't to live better and free doesn't mean you have any clue how to achieve it. And the EU or the US as institutions won't help either. They're here to screw you just like Russia - only with perhaps more pomp and style.

Yes, I'm serious. But notice the word instinctively in the sentence. It just means that my expectations are higher because of how I understand the terms "Jew" and "Arab". It's like you expect someone who you know - as in being friendly - to be the good guy in a dispute.

During the formation of Israel Jews were either part of indigenous population or came from Europe, Russia or America. That means that most of them had (you'd expect ) some understanding of how a modern democratic society should work including what it feels to be persecuted or put on the sidelines. In my home country Jews formed a huge part of the population and despite the Germans they were a vocal group until further expulsions by the communist regime in the late 60's. There still are many people with Jewish heritage who look and act no different than others and who would qualify for Israeli citizensips - ergo can be considered "Jews" in the "Israeli" sense.

Arabs lived under Ottoman Empire which was a primitive political body and since the dissolution of it they form those weird little countries ruled similarly - by a dictator or a military chief. Culturally modern Arabs are also a far cry from their golden age and especially compared to Jews who tend to seem overrepresented in educated professions....It's true that modern Israelis have much less in common with modern Europe but they also do pretend to continue the legacy via a very effective PR in the West and in America in particular. Arabs on the other hand are commonly understood as those unwashed, unshaved primitives that spend time abusing welfare, covering their wives in blankets and trying to blow us all up. Or - if we talk about Arabs abroad - do the same thing and sell us oil. Consider that "Arab" means something else than "Muslim". Having met many I do not immediately have the same instinctive response to the word muslim as I have to Arab because muslims can come from many more places.

It's an irrational thing but that's largely how most people think - first the reflex then the realization - you included. That's human nature for you. What I essentially mean that hearing the words "Jews" and "Arabs" I expect Jews to act more in a civilized European fashion while not being surprised at all by some crazy antic by an Arab. Which adds to the overall disappointment since I would typically be considered "pro-Palestinian" on this issue.

Did I explain it well enough?

The problem with black metal was that it started really as an ideological movement. Musically there's nothing wrong with categorization especially that black and death are really historically quite distinctly different. It wasn't until the 2000's that black-death mixture slowly became the norm.

Ahhh I miss the good old days of old-school death metal. Everything nowadays is about buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and blastblastblastblast...