Intra-Arab bigotry is a known matter. The Lebanese don’t like Iraqis. The Iraqis think they are better than Yemenis. Yemenis think all Lebanese are condescending bigots. The clash of national identities is a tragedy in our community, especially since anti-Arab xenophobia does not differentiate in its hatred for us.

Moreover, because of the recent turmoil in the Middle East, the anti-Gulf sentiment in the community has reached a shameless point. It is considered acceptable, even in seemingly polite conversations with strangers, to curse the people of the Gulf and hurl insults on them.

“All those Saudis and Qataris are dirty,” an elderly Lebanese man once told me. “They have no civilization. A couple of decades ago, they lived in tents and drank camels’ piss. May God curse them.”

What made his comments more disturbing is that I had just met him. We had struck up a political conversation while waiting in line at a store in Fairlane Mall.

I have even heard similar statements from a so-called community leader in the presence of a non-Arab government official. (I cannot describe that incident in detail).

This racist rhetoric is unethical, unproductive and dangerous.

Vilifying the entire populations of six countries because of the policies of their monarchial governments, which they did not chose, is bigoted. It is as unintelligent as saying all Muslim are terrorists because of ISIS.

The Arabian Peninsula is the cradle of Arab civilization. From what are today Gulf monarchies came the main aspects that define modern Arab culture— language, traditions and religion.

There are a significant number of Saudi students and Arab Americans from the Gulf who live among us in southeast Michigan. They are a part of our community, as much as their home countries are a part of the Arab world. The parochial mentality of this kind of language divides our society. It creates animosity and poisons relationships between Arab Americans at the collective and individual levels. 

Reinforcing stereotypes about “uncivilized” Arabs who live in tents and ride camels is a form of self-loathing that empowers racists who loathe all of us. 

The policies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, have been destructive to the Middle East and the world. 

The rise of violent ideologies, the war on Yemen, bloodbath in Syria,  counterrevolution in Egypt, abandonment of the Palestinian cause and the dwindling influence of Arabs over their own affairs are mostly the product of Saudi Arabia’s sectarian approach and obsessions.

However, the people of the Gulf are not responsible for what their governments do.

Bottom line, a superiority complex is a sign of an ego crisis. For weeks, Beirut’s streets have been open landfills for uncollected garbage, while Dubai has become a cosmopolitan hub of investment, architecture, art and education.

Nobody is inherently better than anybody else.