i learned something exciting and new last night, in the best place to learn exciting and new things - a 3rd world taxi.

c:"peace be upon you, take me to Zamalak please"
Taxi Shiekh:"yes, Zamalak, god willing"
c:"..."
ts:"god willing - happy Ramadan!"
c:".. .."
ts:"uh.. .are you muslim? do you know about ramadan?"
c:"well, my father was a muslim, my mother was a christian."
-oh fuck-
ts: "ah - you are muslim!"
c: "well, no."
ts: "no, your father is muslim - you are muslim"
c: "im sorry, no"
ts:"what? impossible - you are muslim!"
c:"im sorry my friend, untrue."
ts:"YOU ARE MUSLIM - FATHER MUSLIM - YOU ARE MUSLIM, PRAISE BE TO GOD."
c: "no my friend, untrue."
ts:"praise be to god.. so you are christian then, like your mother? we are all people of the book"
c:"no, i am not christian."
ts:"WHAT??"
c:"uh.. "
ts:"do you believe in god?"
c:[switch to english]"do you speak english?"
ts:"yes, i sbeaks a little, yanni. god- yanni, what about god?"
c:"uh.. "
ts:"..."
c:" uh. . .you speak good english"
ts"..yannii. .. sank-you."
c:"my arabic is terrible.."
ts:"nono, its good."
c:"thanks. shookrun giddan."
ts:"..."
c:"...so i wa-"
ts:"you know, it is good that you are learning the arabic.
c:"yeah, i like it - difficult but interesting."
ts:"nono, arabic easy. it is the first language god created. all languages come from this one, so it is easy."
c:"what?"
ts:"yes, its true! English, French, Spanish, German, Russian - all from Arabic."
c:"..what?"
ts:"you see, the word 'mother' in French - 'mama'. in arabic 'um'"
c:"huh..i ..never knew. ."(this is - of course - the most ridiculous and incorrect thing i have ever heard. but as usual, when people here are saying something 100% incorrect, he is 200% sure of it.this guy knows what hes talking about)
ts: "you see all of the world come from arabs. that is why god revealed the last prophet to us - the arabs. we, were chosen. and that is why there is so much oil under the holy cities of mecca and medina.
c:"really?"
ts:"god wants us to spread his message."
c:"that is wonderful."
ts:"you dont believe in god?"
c:"no. and, i am American."
"ts:"- ."
c:"im from Washington DC."
ts:"..."
c:".. ."
ts:"belcome to Cairo"

he turned up his sermon-on-tape.

funny but-
this conversation is in no way singular. this happens often. egyptians seem to me to be more prone to dubious truths than anyone i have ever met.. so far.

now, obviously, you cannot judge a place by its taxicab drivers.

wait - but - actually, this is completely untrue. you can.

like most of the "developing world" egypt is a place where 85 percent of the people are Fucking Poor - like the cabbie (who would actually fall in the upper end of Fucking Poor), 11 percent are Getting By, and 4 percent are Filthy Fucking RICH-RICH-RICH.

you have an upper elite, primarily centered around the wildly corrupt government and the extremely well run tourist sector. they generally ape the west and consume conspiciously and keep everything in the family, hording all the money (like the president's son, who will succeed him after his 20 years on the throne)

you have 11 percent normal people, who are just broke a lot.

then you have a ton of poor people who reject the (secular) government, can't eat enough, are ignorant as fuck because they recieved no education or they are smart as fuck but have nothing to do and cant climb the social ladder because they don't have the right connections. they are bitter about it, unsurprisingly.
they do, however, have religion.
miserable people turn to religion.
religion gives young, out-of-a-job guys something to do.
it's one very good, proven way to make yourself happy and mute poverty.

and how can i blame them for not wanting to mimic the snotty American Univerity of Cairo elites that annoy the fuck out of even me?

id take a little green book and a prayer-bruise over ill-fitting ass-pants shameless imitation and supplication to the west.

well.. i think.