Thread: Please revise!
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Old 11th June 2005, 16:21
voltaires_priest voltaires_priest is offline
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Every country has issues that people need to know about before they go there, and Morocco is no different to any other country in that respect. If you were to admit that the real reason it pisses you off is that you don't like reading certain viewpoints about some aspects of Morocco - and it is just some aspects, remember, the author of the article concludes that this should in no way discourage people from visiting Morocco - then your argument would ring a lot more true than it does at the moment.

Oh and by the way, I've heard the cheap throwaway "you're not Moroccan so you can't comment" line from pompous, blustering ex-pat and diasporean nationalists more often than you can possibly imagine. It's always been a hollow line and your use of it is no exception to that rule.

Now, on to the substance.

Giving someone advice what to do in the event of diarrhoea is hardly a slander on any nation. It is a fact that when people eat a cuisine that they're not used to, a lot of them suffer diarrhoea. That's not saying that Moroccan food is "dirty" (or whatever else is going on in your head), it's saying that the average western tourist (at whom the article is largely aimed) doesn't eat a lot of it day-to-day. The same is true of large numbers of other varieties of global cuisine. You may find the disorder distateful, which is what I assume you mean when you say "how discussing" (sic). But it's a fact, and it has to be dealt with.

Moving on to AIDS/STDs, I don't buy, and I've never bought, the bull that's spread by some religious conservatives (of all varieties, not just Muslim), that these diseases do not occur in "their" areas due to their supposedly superior moral values. There is a greater stigma attached to STDs by conservatives, and there is less reporting, as well as in some cases less understanding (especially among older people) as to how these diseases are spread. Frankly I think your statements reflect your personal view of how the world should be, rather than how it is. That does not an STD-free nation make, methinks. And may I add that I feel it is utterly irresponsible to pretend that these diseases are not a factor, simply because acknowledging their existence offends your sensibilities.

As for the condoms, I'll give you that one. I daresay Moroccan condoms are the finest in the world, albeit that you presumably think they're hardly ever used since everyone's so morally upstanding that they'd never have sex outside of marriage in any case.

And you speak of contradictions...


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