<p>I am rooming with a friend i met through Hilel last year. However, we are in a suite with 2 others. One of them is an international student from Kuwait, and after looking at his facebook page he has "liked" some very antisemetic pages. For example, he has liked a page called "hezbollah for the future"....as well as a page about Sharia law.</p>
<p>Do you think we need to switch roomates asap? I have dual american /israeli citizenship and i am a bit worried. I am very patriotic and own Israeli flags, etc. My father served in the IDF in the 70s also.</p>
<p>No, I think that the best thing about college is that people are able to start to shed their own perceptions about people/issues that are cultivated through their family and start to form their own based on their own thoughts.</p>
<p>So I think you should try to be positive going into the situation and once you form a friendship, then maybe start discussing some of the issues that affect both of your religions. </p>
<p>Even if it doesn’t go the best, you still have a friend in the room and you can always decide to not talk about religion in the suite anymore which should end any tension that could come up if a chat goes poorly.</p>
<p>And obviously, if you feel that there is like a huge problem that would affect the entire balance of the suite (like you had a huge argument and really anti-semetic comments were made directly to you) then definitely tell your RA or even more importantly the Residence Director who should be able to sort things out and if need be, move one of you.</p>
<p>I think you should go in with an open mind, and give this person a fair chance. It may be very easy for both of you to avoid discussing politics or religion at all (I would often avoid the subject entirely when speaking with people who had very strong opinions), or they may be willing to talk to you civilly about your differing viewpoints if it ever comes up at all. I have friends who have different opinions about subjects than I do, and we generally respect that there are somethings we don’t agree on. We can talk about it every once in a while, but in general, it really just doesn’t come up very often.</p>
<p>However, if they do make you feel uncomfortable with their language or with comments towards you, I would strongly advise you to speak to your RA, resident dean, or similar. The issue may never come up, but you do have a right to feel safe and comfortable in your dorm, if it does.</p>
<p>I think that you should stick it out. He may have a bad perception of Jews/Israelis, so what better way to show him otherwise than to room with him and show him that you’re not a bad person? A lot of conflict exists because we aren’t open minded to begin with. So by just abandoning this roommate, nothing will ever change. And similarly, but bigger in scope, wouldn’t you rather have the Israeli and Palestinian govts talk through diplomacy than wage war to ‘solve’ the problems? Maybe you’ll end up being great friends too! Good luck :D.</p>
<p>Well will he threaten me if I watch South Park ?my parents and I are seriously worried for my safety,…I am also nontraditional and served in the idf</p>
<p>I’ll take the contrarian position. Yes, that sounds like a bad situation and I think you should attempt to switch. Sure, you could probably work out whatever and could live together without issues, but it’s probably better if you find someone else. In the same way as an Aryan Nationalist and a Black Panther or NOI, or a flaming homosexual and a homophobe shouldn’t be roomates, you two do not sound like you should be rooming together. </p>
<p>BTW, he’s probably thinking the same thing about you as you’re thinking of him.</p>
<p>Though I do suggest you contact him and work out the switching together.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, it seems unfair that you would be the one to have to switch rooms because of his racism. If he really has a problem with Jewish people, he should be the one to switch.</p>
<p>That being said, are you absolutely sure that he’s actually antisemetic? If all you’re going off is that he liked a couple Facebook pages, it’s possible that you’re reading too much into it. Sometimes people click “like” on all sorts of stupid pages without really thinking about it.</p>
His profile says he is 19, he would be older than that if he served
He apparently qualifies for financial aid at UNC as an international student?
One thread he says he goes to Notre Dame, another he wants to transfer from USC to UNC, another he wants to go to Vandy/Emory, he claims he also attended a Cal State and UCLA.
He makes ■■■■■ threads on the USC forum dissing the school
Other posters on the USC forum have labeled him a ■■■■■
If he really goes to Notre Dame, what are the chances that two jewish students (one israeli) and a Muslim all end up in a room together? Isn’t 90% of the school Catholic?
Seriously, south park makes you scared for your life?</p>
<p>I think you should try to switch. You’re not gonna solve the world’s problems by rooming with this person and it’s almost assuredly gonna be awkward and a bad overall situation.</p>
<p>I agree that the roommate might think that, but it’s still not a fair comparison. The OP has made no mention of harboring ill-will towards Muslims or Arabs, while apparently (emphasis on “apparently”) the roommate dislikes Jews. My point was that he shouldn’t have to switch rooms because of someone else’s problem. </p>
<p>Of course, life isn’t always fair, so that might still be the best thing to do in this case from a practical point of view.</p>
<p>You are not going to change rooms in your first job, or stay away from controversy all the time. I am not religious, my father is from a historically Jewish background, but atheist, and my mother is Christian. On my father’s side I have several relatives in Israel, and in Israeli Armed forces, and this came up one night when I was out drinking with a couple friends, including one who origonally was from the middle east and had in the past mentioned that this was an issue that bothered him</p>
<p>Nothing happened. I expected him to be ****ed, bt he just said that we all come from different places and we can’t change history. The next day I sat down and told him my views on the subject, that this issue is very difficult, and both sides have committed a lot of crimes (something he had said previously and I knew he would agree with) , but I tended to lean a bit more towards Palestine, but see that there is no end in sight. It was actually quite refreshing to talk it over and find we agreed on a lot of things.</p>
<p>At least try it out. Hopefully you both can be respectful of each other and your views. Later, if you can’t make it work, ask to be moved. It shouldn’t be hard.</p>
<p>But, doesn’t God and the Tanakh teach that we should love our neighbors and be peaceful? If you show love, kindness, and respect, maybe you can witness to this person that Jews are not bad people and both religons can find peace.</p>