rahmu wroteIt's a matter of perception. As the saying goes, "
The grass is always greener on the other side".
Lebanon has its fair share of problems, for sure, but it's not like all other countries are a magical land where everything's pretty and nice. There's a tendency to generalize any bad behavior to the whole country. If a french guy is acting like a douchebag, he's a french douche. If a Lebanese guy is acting like a douche,
all Lebanese are douches. (
obligatory xkcd reference).
Focus on the people you get along with and ignore the rest. This advice holds no matter which country you live in.
I understand your sentiment from that post but it's then easy to attribute everything to subjective perception. People are quick to judge others, that is true, but it wouldn't be accurate to blame one's perceptions for everything he/she sees. At the end of the day, social, political, economic, and environmental contexts can and do influence the social outcomes of specific individuals or large demographics as a whole. Indeed, no nationality, religion, race, or anything else ultimately decides the attitude or character of a person. The final decision in every action is made from that very specific, individual, free-to-choose mind. I don't go around lumping people into groups and calling them names, no. But I do admit that experience influences (not molds, as I explained why earlier) the character. What I was trying to get out of this discussion was an analysis of the environmental influence and its effects on Lebanese people. I'm not in the business of hating Lebanese people or hating any people, for that matter.