Why so much hypocrisy towards western visitors in egypt?

Question

I have been to egypt as a spouse of an alexandrian and I noticed that most of the ppl. I met seemed to have to get beyond their apprehension of common beliefs that american women are sluts. People often label us to their beloved egyptian man that we make bad wives and have ingrained in their heads that we're "loose." If american culture is so "bad", why is Egypt adopting the music, sneakers, hip hop attire, etc., etc. and looking down upon americans w/ condescension who come to egypt w/ an open mind. The same things like affairs, people having premarital sex happen there. It's just not as obvious, but it happens. So why pretend that it does not? Not that you must accept it, but not treat those with an attitude of, "i'm holier than you." You don't know me yet, so don't label me until you do. It seems as if americanized muslims are more willing to take someone for who they are rather than treat them as if they're going to spread some sort of disease when first meeting them.

Answer 1

I beg to differ. I think there is a huge misunderstanding here. I am Egyptian who lived for extended periods in the west. Allow me to clarify the situation based on my own experiences.

First of all Egypt is not a strict Islamic country, on the contrary it is a liberal country when compared to most countries in the middle east. In other words, it is not a cultural shock for a westerner.

I think your probably bumped into the wrong group of people. This does not reflect the opinion of the majority of Egyptians. To be honest, I feel that you have been dealing with lower-middle class people who derive their information from T.V and the media in general.

This brings me to an important point; Media - What you see on the different T.V stations here, mostly American movies, soap operas etc really affects people's perceptions.

For example when an ordinary 40 year old middle class house wife watches Desperate house wives, she would surely be shocked at what is considered normal by american standards. To them this happens in the states and reflects what American society is all about. Cheating house wives who sleep with their neighbours husband, can only think about sex and the wholse series deals with sex, sexual fanatasies etc. It is not just depserate House wives, Show Time airs the Girls of the Play boy mansion, Wild On, Naked Wild ON, Jerry Springer!!!

Oh my god!! do you get the picture now? it is a form of generlization, just like a lot of people believe all muslims are terrorists, blondes are dumb etc and the media fuels these stereotypes but rest assured, this is not the opinion of the majority, just like I believe that most Americans out there believe that only a minority of brain-washed idiots are to blame for all the terrorism and not the muslim people of the world.

Hope the above clarifies the situation

Answer 2

I think that they believe this because this is what they are taught to believe. I am an American and my ex is from Alex. I was always treated very well by his family and they never treated my badly and I miss them very much, but I also know what you mean. They tend to judge people by what they see on TV cause this is all most of them know. They watch Jerry Springer and think that this is real life for most Americans. In Egypt a woman who dresses a certain way is loose, in America that same way of dressing is normal and in some cases even considered conservative. lol. They tend to judge by their own standards, if you are in hijab and praying 5 times a day then you are good, it doesn't matter if the inside is bad, they only seemed to look at the outside. It seemed that when I accepted Islam then I became acceptable in their eyes even though I was the same person on the inside. They seem as a whole to be very shallow people who only look at the way you dress, how much jewelry you wear and the things that you have in your home. If you look to be good then you must be and they don't look beneath the surface to the motivations at all.

Answer 3

Hip hop attire! have not seen that here in Egypt!. Maybe that's because of the too many American women coming to Egypt on a man hunt mission. I am not saying that you are a bad person yourself but consider this, US citizens call all Middle Easterners terrorists because a few bad persons from that area were involved in terrorist attacks... Yet some Egyptians see American women as you described because there are LOTS of foreigners who come here and give you a bad name, and I did not even start mentioning the ideas your movies provoke!
I think their thinking is very justified as a general idea. But you are right that people should not judge you without even knowing you.
Another thing you're right about is premarital affairs, but these are exceptional cases and not the whole nation because the society rejects that behaviour!
There is one thing you forgot to mention though... The hospitality, friendliness and kindness of those who received you well, and I'm sure they were not just a few persons!

Answer 4

you have to understand that egypt is a totally different culture... what might be okay in the united states might not be okay there.... for example... you see men and women in the US hugging eachother even just as friends.. but it is not okay according to many people in egypt to hug the opposite sex... most of them believe that you should leave that at home... and it is also not okay in egypt to even hug some one until your married.. that is just one reason why their is such a culture clash between egypt and america... there is nothing wrong with either culture... well i think that both have there ups and downs to them but this is how we were raised... you were raised here im guessing and he was raised in egypt.. it is not his fault he sees things the way he does.. be more open minded about other cultures especially if your going to marry or even date someone from another country because not everyone is going to be like you...

Answer 5

I am an Egyptian, i m originally from Cairo, but i live in Alex. for 6 years now, and i think i can make a fair opinion here about what you are talking about.
First: I think that what you are talking about is MUCH less in Cairo than in Alex. the reasons for that is not our issue now.
Second: I totally agree about your conclusions, let's not generalize, but i think that lots and lots of people are living in denial, lots of people are hypocrites, lots of people have double standards, etc..
Third: The reasons i think why the people has become like that (coz i assure you they weren't 20 or 30 years ago) are the long oppression of government, the plaguing corruption on all aspects of life, the interference of what so called religuous extremists opinions on people's minds.
I wish you all the good luck living here!

Answer 6

well, kobe didn't leave the lakers and go to the suns with nash and stoudamire, first point. second u mention that kobe needs brown, barnes, artest, and odom to win the championships they've won, when barnes wasn't there last year, brown was horrible second half of season last year, artest was so bad the crowd told him don't shoot when he got the ball, and odom has been mr. inconsistent his whole career, except this season, Bynum spent the 2008 playoffs injured and in bench, that doesn't look like kobe needs him and Gasol is a better version of bosh but he's not the top guy in his position and isn't even in the top 15 players right now. Now who's Kobe's wade? No one. If kobe needed odom, it was in 2006 and 2007 when they faced phoenix. But you look at the lakers and u know automatically Kobe's the guy no doubt. then u look at miami and u see wade and lebrick. lebrick's better but it's wade's team and city, so who's their guy? Plus kobe doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for the 3 rings wit shaq because shaq wit out kobe would have to get his passes from somewhere else cuz kobe always passed it to him and shaq didn't acknowledge kobe's big role in the championships, so the lakers let him go. Plus kobe also stuck wit the lakers through thick and thin, no matter what. Lebrick took the easy way out and planned his escape from cleveland in the 2008 beijing olympics. ands unforunately, carmelo is taking lebrick's path toward failure! THE ELITE THE SUPERSTARS THE GOOD Jordan>>Magic>kobe>Bird>>>>>>>>lebron>... THE OVER-RATED THE UNDER-RATED Stoudamire>Bosh>Joe Johnson>>Caron Butler>Josh Howard>Ginobili>Monte Ellis>Rudy Gay> Danny Granger Other mentionable superstars D-Will CP3 The Truth Derrick Rose Durantula Nash

Answer 7

first at all, you should compare between people who can have open mind to understand and other with no way to make them understand. also depart between the people and them education level, this very important that you treat with opther as them mind and that u can find it anywhere in the world even in the USA,
so i can't belive that all the people you met here around was treating you the same or look for you from the same view. wish you get my point.
wish u all the best

Answer 8

i am sorry but, if your husband is egyption, and you see all this bad things in egypt, where were your eyes before you marry him?? or why you just keep coming with him to see this country witch you only sees and think and look for the bad parts happening in it??? why you did not say to us any thing good you have seen in egypt? or this is all what you saw from egypt???
is all what you sayin and talking about doesn't happen in U.S??

Answer 9

Mubarek is America's friend on one hand and a mini-Saddam on the other hand. So, Egypt looks like America to the untrained eye but the police and security services are Saddam in miniature.

Answer 10

DEAR, DO YOU KNOW THAT THE SAME IS HAPPENING IN YOUR NATIVE COUNTRY? JUST BEHAVE IN A DECENT PULITE WAY WITH THE PEOPLE YOU GET IN TOUCH, DRESS AS YOU SEE IN THE STREETS AND YOU WILL SEE THAT THE PEOPLE OPINION CHANGES. I JUST REMIND YOU WHEN SOME YEARS AGO WOMEN DECIDED TO MOVE FROM THE SKIRT TO THE MINI SKIRT IN THE WESTERN COUNTRIES.
DO YOU RECALL HOW THE MEN WERE LOOKING AT THE WOMEN?