This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Dalek Kan Noladti: Erased the bit about Israel (though it cited a great joke from "You Don't Mess with the Zohan") since they tend not to fall under Qurac stereotypes. Instead they tend to fall under the stereotype of war-torn nation that calls itself Western and is either The Empire or a besieged outpost of Western freedoms depending on who's telling the story. Either way you never see pyramids or Arab predominance in portrayals of Israel.
Chuckg: 'Terrorists'? The bad guys in the movie 'Hidalgo' were just Arabic horse thieves and bandits.
Looney Toons: <sigh> I knew someone was going to "correct" hareem into harem. Don't worry, I'm not changing it back. It was just a bit of flavor, caused by reading too many "Amelia Peabody Emerson" mysteries.
Aubri: I'm not sure Calormen should be mentioned here. It's not a stand-in for a real Middle East country so much as a fantasyland analog. But, eh, whatever. Agrabah qualified, I guess.
Lale: Calormen resembles the Middle East, it has "deserts, mosques, camels, Bedouins, veiled women, big-eyed children, and a fertile river valley," it's "ruled by a tin-pot dictator given to bombastic speeches." Looks like it fits.
Paul A: I've moved Calormen to Fantasy Counterpart Culture, now that that exists. Agrabah I've left here, since as far as I can recall it's supposed to be part of the real Middle East, not a Middle-Eastern culture on another world.
Lale: I don't like it. That entire entry itself is condescending, and the example of Calormen even more so. It's not a cheap rip-off of the Middle East that requires less imagination. It's a well thought-out thoroughly designed culture and nation modeled on the Middle East, and thus belongs here.
Robert: Then we reword Fantasy Counterpart Culture to be less condescending. There are sometimes good reasons to use that trope.
Ununnilium: Fantasy Counterpart Culture really does need to be less condescending. I did some work on it, but it needs more.
Paul A: Lale, Qurac is a cheap rip-off of the Middle East; a well thought-out thoroughly designed culture and nation modeled on the Middle East doesn't belong here either.
Licky Lindsay: "Carbomya"? I'm glad I can't remember that from when I was a kid. A country name "Car Bomb You"..
