As Los Angelenos know, it's the white Americans who live furthest from Muslims who fret away their days worrying that all Muslims have a plot to destroy them. This belief presupposes that Muslims are aware of these Americans, or that Muslims would give shit if they were aware of them, and many other hilarious things.

Ever wondered how these Americans came to these beliefs? There's clues in this week's Studies in Crap post! The 1966 kids' textbook Let's Visit the Middle East includes marvels like:

“A dictionary tells us that an Arab is 'a Semite of the race which from earliest known times has lived in the Arabian peninsula.' It is interesting that the Jews are Semites, too, and yet the Arabs generally hate them.” (pages 25 – 26).

And:

“Given time and help to solve their many problems, the nations of the Middle East may once again contribute much to civilization.” (page 94).

So take a pilgrimage to Studies in Crap on our Style Council blog! It's cheaper than hajj!

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