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E-mailThere may not be a nation with a more delusion and grotesque form of nationalism than Lebanese nationalism. When ever I think of Lebanese flag-waving I am reminded of de Tocqueville’s observation that “all free people appear glorious to themselves but national pride does not manifest itself equally in all.”
Most people are proud of their nation and celebrate it accordingly. But may even make the occasional comparison to another nation and note with satisfaction that their country has excelled where others have failed. But the Lebanese - whom ironically have no cohesive country - not only celebrate but remark that their “achievements” are a reflection of nothing else but Lebanese genetic superiority over their neighbors. Lebanese do not shy away from expressing their innate superiority over their Middle Eastern peers.
The Lebanese have long promoted a belief that Lebanon is some sort of special country - the land of the Phoenicians - that has bequeathed to the world disproportionate betterment. The Lebanese like to tout the success of Lebanese overseas as “proof” of the supposedly great genes in Lebanese. And whenever a Lebanese wins anything, the media does not just express pride in the nation’s son or daughter; but editorializes that the victory is like no other victory beforehand. For instance, if a Lebanese wins a medical award the media will portray his award as being better than all the past winners due to some fabricated rational. That such-and-such Lebanese was granted this award and his award is not only a reflection of Lebanese greatness but that is came with added regard from the award committee. The Maronite Patriarch publicly declared in an interview that Lebanese are superior to all the neighbors. Gen. Michel Aoun also once remarked that the Lebanese are “the most civilized people in the world.”
And I put achievements in quotes because very often the things that Lebanese like to brag about are anything but. When Lebanese do not win real awards, they make them up. A casual reader of the Lebanese press will one day hear about some Lebanese winning an award in Thailand for “Best Custom Design” or some great honor like that. The Lebanese are obsessed with bestowing awards on themselves and any sane person cannot help but ask: do such journalists who write said stories actually believe what they are propagating?
Why do the Lebanese have a perverse nationalism? First, there is the strain of right-wing Christian activism in the country that created in the 1950s and 1960s an ethos of Lebanese nationalism that promoted the belief that Lebanese was a special country and an heir to a great empire. The most famous promoter of such a belief was the Nazi-inspired Phalange party. The party’s ideology trumped an ideology that upheld Lebanon as a superior country - in line with fascist dogma in, say, Italy - with a superior race. It also questioned whether Lebanon was Arab rather than Phoenician. And there was even a failed movement to replace Classical Arabic as the official language with Lebanese Colloquial Arabic, which the Phalange argues was isn’t own separate language (the notion that Lebanese dialect was its own language is a joke beyond sickness). The Phalange’s promote of fascist-style nationalism remains the de fault nationalism in Lebanon.
Second, there is the fact of Lebanese insecurity. It is ironic that a people so prone to flag-waving lack any sense of nationalism among their neighbors. There is no Lebanese country to speak of. Lebanon is a divided country where loyalty to sect is paramount and a large segment of the population identified with Syria (all of Lebanon was once Greater Syria) rather than the central government in Beirut. Thus the Lebanese compensate by fabricating myths and cheering excessively for sport teams...
And that leads to the point of the post. Lebanon’s national basketball team recently lost a game against China to qualify for the World Basketball Champion 2010 to be held in Turkey. The Lebanese are naturally indignant over their lose to the inferior Chinese, no doubt. Thus they have taken to Facebook and started a group - Petition for FIBA to give Lebanon a Wildcard invitation to the WBC - to award Lebanon one of the Wild Card entries into the games. Now there is nothing wrong with that. FIBA will award four nations a Wild Card slot and many losing nations are keen to lobby for one. But when the Lebanese seek to promote their country they can never be like other people and adopt normal talking points, instead they must usher in their delusions. Here are the listed reasons that the Facebook group is providing with my comments in italics:
Lebanon deserves to go to the world cup next yr in turkey because: First why is Turkey not capitalized? Are only “great” nations to be given a capital letter?
1) The refree was the main reason Lebanon lost to China in the semis.
Yes, the main reason was that the refree [sic] was unfair in that, my God, he did not fabricate points for Lebanon they way the Lebanese media fabricates achievements. Man, the only reason the U.S. lost against Brazil in the Confederation Cup was that stop referee. Of course, Lebanese basketball ineptitude next to the Chinese cannot be to blame, it is always someone else just like Syrians and Palestinians are blamed for Lebanon’s self-inflicted ills. Do these people not hear themselves? Logic: no nations ever loses, it is always the referee’s fault. Stupid!
2) Basketball is the # 1 sport in Lebanon.
Yeah, so? Because something is #1 in the land of the Ceders therefore Lebanon is entitled to a spot? Basketball may be number one in Albania too.
3) Lebanon has many good and interesting players like Fadi El-khatib and Matt frieji just to name a few.
O, these must be the genetically superior and “interesting players” that other nations simply do not produce.
4) Lebanon is so close to Turkey. Many Lebanese would travel to Turkey to watch the Lebanese NT.
This is a reasonably point to make. WBC wants to attract crowds. A broken clock words twice a day.
5) Lebanon can be full of surprises, remember we won France in 2006, for example.
Yes, full of surprises unlike other nations. And by surprises do they count civil wars and car bombings?
At the end of this all I can say is: GO CHINA! I would cheer for Lebanon if only they’d stop being so offensive in their celebrations.
RSS 
Learn what history? Learn about the greatness of Rahbani brothers and Hummus? Or the greatness in the massacres and torture of the Lebanese civil war?
No, I know Lebanese history quite well and the birth of such a delusional nationalism in the 1950s and 1960s. And observing Lebanese extreme nationalism does not even require looking into history, but simply reading the press.
And it is you whom needs to learn history. You need to learn about the destructive consequences of such extreme nationalism. But I know that in Lebanese schools you do not even learn about the civil war because Lebanese sects cannot agree on a narrative. That is just sad that tomorrow’s leaders are not being taught about a civil war that nearly destroyed the entire country.
And finally for someone whom claims Lebanese are so ”great,” your comments have been anything but. Where is that Lebanese greatness?
Nobody is envious of Lebanon or Beirut. And I do not even say that to insult the geography of the place, but nobody is more jealous of Beirut any more than, say, Greece.
And Alan you are an Arab. A self-hating one no doubt, but, alas for you, you will always remain an Arab your Phoenician love-affair not withstanding.
And keep telling yourself everyone adores Lebanon. Lebanese like you are so eager for the White Man’s acceptance and approval but when Lebanon was being bombed in 2006 (and before then) by Israel, did the White Man adore Lebanon so much as to stop Israel? No, Westerns do not care about Lebanon. If the whole country broke out in civil war again do you think any Westerns will lose sleep over that fact? Do they care that Israel killed 1,200 Lebanese in 2006? No, they don’t. But the Arabs cared and do care today because they share a heritage, language, a common ancestry with Lebanon. But instead of embracing your fellows who are the only ones who support you, you in your infinite insecurity and inferiority complex resort to self-hating to make yourself feel better because you are ashamed of being an Arab. And instead of confronting Western racism, you are too weak to do that and instead submit to Western racism.
The least enviable thing in the world are pathetic people like you.
It doesn’t seem like u read what i wrote, so i’ll write again. WE WERE PHOENICIANS FOR 1700 YEARS. I hope you read it now. Hence, 200 years of arabic occupation won’t make us arabs, again, God forbid. Keep the title for urself and don’t try to inflict it on others =).
In 2006, lebanon was not in war with Israel, Hezbollah was. Lebanon was partying like crazy. Clubs shut down in Beirut and opened in the mountains. Streets were so crowded u couldn’t walk. Trust me lebanese could care less about Israel. They’re bored of that shit. The 1,200 dead are the responsibility of Israel and Hozballah equally.
Arabic ancestry is similar to the Lebanese one in a few aspects due to historical regional proximity, not more. Just for your knowledge, the 1975 war was because of those bastards called palestinians backed by the ”fellow arabs” to throw Christians out of Lebanon and make the Lebanese land palestinian. (the famous Kissinger’s plan)
But the Christian militias taught them not to **** with them ;) Now they know.
and btw watch at 0:26 ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hunE-gA5sAc&feature=related
And one other thing. I met a guy from cyprus yesterday and he said to me ”to me, u are mediterranean not Arabic” =) So i think there’s a few things u should rectify ;)
Can u plz say from which country are you exactly??
And plz also can u say what is the problem that u have against lebanon and our qualification by wild card? As u know We are ranked 24th in the world by Fiba so we’re the first among Arabs, and we deserve to qualify. Also our obligation is to bombard the Fiba to have a chance to win a wild card and we’re proud that we succeed in this.
Moreover what is the problem with extreme nationalism? Is it a problem ?? or the problem is when u lose ur nationalism?
In addition Lebanon has a great history that u cannot delete it and we have to be proud of it or else we don’t deserve to have this nationality.
Also we can’t say we’re not Arab, we speak arab, and we were from the first seven countries to create the arabic federation, however arab doesn’t mean muslim. Lebanon is a mixture of religion and that what make Lebanon one of the great arabic countries.
And to talk about war, first ur not living in this country so u dnt feel antg, 2nd dnt say abt helping us, no arabic country send forces to us but historically when they did it was only to conquer us. And when arabic countries unify than come and talk about them.
So we are proud that we’re in the Fiba world cup for the third time at a row, and we’re proud of every lebanese in the world that make success.
Finally sorry for every mistake in english but i think my ideas are clearly enough.
”5) Lebanon can be full of surprises, remember we won France in 2006, for example.
Yes, full of surprises unlike other nations. And by surprises do they count civil wars and car bombings? ” (Marco Villa) ....
mmm ... shitty response, u can find better than this to reply! under bombardment, wars , and we were in the World cup and yes we won over France... Give us peace .. and see what we can do!! and I am speaking to the world including Arabic countries.
I never said anything about Hezbollah - I don’t know where you got that; the word doesn’t even appear in my post - my post was solely on the fact that unlike other people the Lebanese often resort to an extreme and grotesque form of chest-beating nationalism. The Lebanese often like to pretend that they are Phoenicians - as if Phoenicians are some superior people or even had the most impressive empire - and they often like to boost about the Ceders as if Ceders are a tree superior to all others (by the way, the Ceders are solely going extinct). The Lebanese go around bragging about how great they are.
Dani says my post is ”not true” and ”non sense” [sic], but he provides my point by ending his comment with the following:
”WE ARE THE CEDARS, WE ARE THE PEOPLE, WE ARE THE DESCENT, WE ARE THE PHOENICIANS, WE ARE THE GREAT LEBANON.”
This is the delusional form of Lebanese nationalism.