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Arabic Weather Term Enrages far-right Texans
Far-right Americans from the state of Texas have been voicing their outrage of Facebook lately after a local news channel used an Arabic term to describe the weather on their Facebook page.
KCBD News Channel 11, described a sand storm heading towards Lubbock, Texas posted as a 'Haboob,' which is an Arabic term that has been used by weathermen, albeit rarely, since the 1950s.
Texans protesting the use of the word on the channel's Facebook page used it as an opportunity to express their hatred for Arabs and Muslims, insisting on using the English terms 'dust storm' or 'dirt storm' in its place.
Writing for the Daily Beast, Dean Obeidallah, a former lawyer turned political comedian and writer, mocked the protesters, mentioning that many Arabic terms are used in the English language on a daily basis.
“Take, for example, the word 'alcohol',” he said, “which is probably what many of them were consuming before posting on Facebook.”
“There’s also words like algebra, coffee, safari, and almanac, to name just a few,” he continued.
Likening the behaviour of the online protesters to those who opened the way for 'french fries' to be renamed 'freedom fries' in the US after relations between the US and France took a stumble in 2003, Obeidallah said he wondered if “these Arab haters will now call alcohol, 'Texas juice' or rename algebra to, 'that thing I failed in school'.”
Haboob winds are frequently created by the collapse of a thunderstorm, with sand and debris reaching several kilometers into the sky.
Arabic weather term enrages far-right Texans | Muslim World | Worldbulletin News