Why are Lebanese in Australia SO BAD?

[Ktat]

Did you guys send all your criminals to Australia? In Sydney, gangs of
Lebanese youth roam the streets, looking for fights, come to the beach on
Sundays and terrorise locals, and there have been about 5 instances of gangs
of up to 10 men pack raping women.

I've met some Lebanese people while travelling overseas, and they have
usually been thoughtful, intelligent people, but in Sydney they are nearly
always violent thugs. Any explanations?

Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about.

http://tinyurl.com/bzfds
http://tinyurl.com/bzfds

[JosephMo]

It sounds as if a group of locals decided they did not want any
non-Anglos on their beach. Did you read the story the URL points to?
here's your first clue:

"I saw a group of ethnic people come down as usual and try to start a
fight," she said. "They always do it. I didn't actually see the fight.
But I saw everyone running towards the club."

She did not see it, but she's sure the "ethnic people" started it.

Your other clue should be that mass emails were actually sent out to
urge the locals to come down and confront the "ethnic" people. There's
good and bad in every people. The Anglos arrived to Australia first,
and people from other nationalities started arriving later. It sounds
to me as if it's a case of prejuducism, and each side sticking to its
guns.

[richard joseph]

"Ktat" <k...@home.com> wrote in message
news:43975cd7$0$72051$c30e...@ken-reader.news.telstra.net...

> I've met some Lebanese people while travelling overseas, and they have
> usually been thoughtful, intelligent people, but in Sydney they are nearly
> always violent thugs. Any explanations?

Some of my best friends in grad school were Aussies. Great drinking mates
and great friends!

I don't know what's going on down under. Certainly something disfunctional.
Lebanese immigrants to the U.S. and Canada (other predominantly Anglo
cultures) have assimilated well. I am puzzled as to why Lebanese in
Australia are having (or creating) difficulties. Give us more insight.

Richard

[Cheers]

Hi Richard

In article <dn8839$ood$1...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu>,
rjo...@mail.utexas.edu says...

>
> "Ktat" <k...@home.com> wrote in message
> news:43975cd7$0$72051$c30e...@ken-reader.news.telstra.net...
>

> Some of my best friends in grad school were Aussies. Great drinking mates
> and great friends!
>
> I don't know what's going on down under. Certainly something disfunctional.
> Lebanese immigrants to the U.S. and Canada (other predominantly Anglo
> cultures) have assimilated well. I am puzzled as to why Lebanese in
> Australia are having (or creating) difficulties. Give us more insight.

is Paris deja vu!, there's a sense of rejection going on
toward Lebanese specially youths, a clue ? "my nephew
pretend to be from Italian Heritage to get along mind you
he's 30+ years old born in Lebanon but raised in
Australia and he doesn't even live in Sydney, his brother
on the other hand took the wrong turn and become very
popular amongst people he call friends but at least he
feels belong to some group, I think enough said .

I still believe people who came to Australia or any other
country if they feel they don't fit, they should go back
home.

>
> Richard
>

--
Cheers......

[Ivor]

Dear Richard,

Please keep the situation in proper perspective. the Lebanese migration
dates back to the late 1800's. Today many prominent Australians are of
Lebanese origin and are proud of their heritage. Currently, the Governor of
New South Wales is Professor Marie Bashir. She has the distiction of being
NSW's first female governor and first non-Anglo governor. Her husband is Sir
Nicholas Shehadi, formerly Lord Mayor of Sydney and prominent ex-rugby
player.

There are indeed two Lebanese communities. The Christian and Muslim
communities live on opposite sides of Sydney in a separate existence. The
derrogatory term of <Leb gangs> specifically refers to the Muslim Lebanese.
But this is now an Australian (or Sydney!) social problem as their gang
culture is a fusion of Lebanese heritage and Australian inheritance. Sydney
Lebanese Muslim hierarchy are not very impressed with these young people who
are considered by them to be rather un-Islamic. At any rate, these gangs
represent only a small percentage of young Muslim Lebanese, most of whom are
ambitious and achieve high academic levels. In the past, other ethnic
minorities have spawned similar gangs (eg Vietnamese).

Kind regards,

Ivor

"richard joseph" <rjo...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:dn8839$ood$1...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu...

[richard joseph]

"Ivor" <mor...@optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:4397e9f0$0$9287$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...

> There are indeed two Lebanese communities. The Christian and Muslim
> communities live on opposite sides of Sydney in a separate existence. The
> derrogatory term of <Leb gangs> specifically refers to the Muslim
> Lebanese. But this is now an Australian (or Sydney!) social problem as
> their gang culture is a fusion of Lebanese heritage and Australian
> inheritance. Sydney Lebanese Muslim hierarchy are not very impressed with
> these young people who are considered by them to be rather un-Islamic. At
> any rate, these gangs represent only a small percentage of young Muslim
> Lebanese, most of whom are ambitious and achieve high academic levels. In
> the past, other ethnic minorities have spawned similar gangs (eg
> Vietnamese).

Thank you, Ivor, for providing insights.

In the Southwest United States, we too have our gangs. But they are
"Christian" --of Mexican extraction to be precise. They feel alienated from
"mainstream" American society, form gangs to insulate themselves from that
society and empower themselves in terms of a different value system, and
manifest a certain disdain toward the mainstream. In any event, as you
know, the phenomenon is not sectarian- or cultural-specific.

It seems to me that based on what you say, early Lebanese immigrants to
Australia faced two principal obstacles to assimilation: (1) culture and (2)
social class. By contrast, many of the more recent Lebanese immigrants face
three principal obstacles: (1) culture, (2) social class, and (3) religion.
The latter is perhaps the most critical, because it prevents the forging of
a common bond with the mainstream, that could transcend both culture and
social class.

Regards,

Richard