Most Lebanese hail Hezbollah chief for war conduct

[bemildred]

So much depends on how you phrase the questions.

BEIRUT - A majority of Lebanese believe their country and Hezbollah won the month-long war with Israel and applauded the militant group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah, a poll published on Thursday suggested.

The poll in the English-language Daily Star newspaper said 78.7 percent of respondents thought Nasrallah had demonstrated a good or excellent performance during the war, launched by Israel after Hezbollah staged a cross-border raid and captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12.

The poll showed that 57 percent approved of Hezbollah’s action in snatching the soldiers while 34 percent were against it.

Fifty-nine percent of those questioned said Hezbollah and Lebanon won the war, with some 30 percent saying no one had.

Khaleej Times

[geek tragedy]

1. Either the poll is wrong or 57% of the Lebanese people

are about as dumb as Bushbots.

"Heck of a job, Nasrallah. We're glad you provoked Israel into invading!"

[Igel]

2. Never underestimate cross-cultural differences.

Having everything you own destroyed in the name of honor is worth it for many people. At the extreme end is killing your own kids when they bring dishonor on your family, in order to restore your honor.

A different view of honor is prevalent in the West; it was not always so. Many people in other cultures refuse to acknowledge our version of honor, since appreciating cross-cultural differences is, oddly enough, a culture-specific trait. Many in the West, proudly giving lip-service to the appreciation of culture-specific differences, nonetheless have a problem actually accepting that they exist.

[geek tragedy]

3. Anyone willing to have their families and neighbors

endangered for 'honor' is an idiot. Cultures sometimes cause people to act, speak, and think like idiots.

Note that this applies to the people who wanted the US to invade Iraq for similar reasons, or Israelis who think that the answer to their problems is always warfare.

[pelsar]

5. accepting other cultures...

works great as long as its limited to how your tea is served....when it starts getting in to killing ones family members its gets a bit tricky in accepting it....(the difference?....there is no difference if your from that culture)

and like you wrote for some, "honor" is worth everything....some cultures need some modifications to fit the 21st century model.

[breakaleg]

4. The results of the poll depend in large part to the wording of the

questions.

I suspect the results of this one have more to do with the damage Israel has done on Lebanon, which is what you would expect would happen.

It would be silly to expect the majority of Lebanese to be on Israel's side at this point.