Episode 437: Southern culture and Arab culture are cut from the same cloth
Summary
A rider from South Carolina argues that Southern culture and Arab culture are cut from the same cloth, rattling off similarities that catch Kareem off guard. Family orientation. Hospitality to the point of aggression, especially around food. Line dancing and dupit. Even the quietly racist kind of niceness that's more about being polite than actually good. The guest admits Southerners wouldn't like hearing this comparison, then drops another parallel: tias and grandmothers secretly running the show in both cultures, the hand-asking formality when you want to marry someone, the prevalence of big families. Kareem's intrigued enough to joke about swapping his Egypt trip for Georgia instead. The conversation veers into whether Cletus is racist against Southerners. It's a wild pitch that somehow lands.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? Southern culture and Arab culture are cut from the same cloth.
100% unsure because I've never been to the South.
Really? But I'm going to disagree.
Okay. So, hear me out. Let's start with the big stuff. They're very family oriented.
The South and the Middle East.
True. Hospitality to the point of aggression, especially when it comes to food.
True. Line dancing and dupit.
Wow. The South has an awful lot of similarities with the Arab world. Strange. They don't know that though.
They don't. And they would not like to know. You think so? Because another thing that is similar between South and Arabs is that they're both quietly racist.
They're more nice than they are racist. That's the thing. They're not the kind of racist where they're like, "I hate you." They're the kind of racist where they talk behind your back.
I mean, there's a difference between being nice and being a good person. So nice is one thing.
Yes. And being a good human is another thing.
Interesting. You can still be ethical and a good human without being
nice. Huh. Let's go back to our No, that's great. I've never thought about that before. You can be a good person and an
Yes, that's good to know. What else is similar between Southerners and Arabs? The big families.
Big families. If you want to like marry a girl, you have to ask for a hand from her father.
That's true. Tias and grandmothers. They kind of secretly run the show.
The matriarch. The matriarch.
Wait, this is fascinating. Next time I have a trip to Egypt, I might just go to Georgia instead. Egyptians are the Southerners of the Middle East.
Y'all want to come see the pyramids? Do you all want to come see the pyramids? So, do you agree?
Now, I'm going to have to experience it for myself, but at the moment, I'm going to continue to disagree with you.
No, I made a really good case. You know, Muhammad is the most popular name in the world. What is the equivalent in the South?
John. No, there's no Cletus. That's racist.
Who would the name Cletus be racist against? I was making a joke about how it's racist against Southerners.
Oh, where are you from? I was born in South Carolina. Do you agree that Cletus is racist against Southerners?
No. I guess I'm wrong.