As Ramy H on Skyscraper.com points out, this is probably sensational journalism at its best:

It’s the classic Canadian dream: a pro-hockey career. And for one of hockey’s most unlikely stars, that dream has come true.

20 year-old Nazem Kadri is the first Muslim to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. His pro-hockey dreams have their roots a generation ago, in the desert heat and violent upheaval of civil war in Lebanon.

Kadri’s father, Sam, was only four years old when his family fled the rising tide of violence in Lebanon. In an interview with 16:9 The Bigger Picture, Global News’ current affairs program, Kadri Sr. said he’d never seen a hockey rink before coming to Canada. But it didn’t take him long to fall in love with Canada’s most beloved game.

Ramy H’s issue with the article is this:

Okay, help me do the math. Not only is the “desert heat” comment just stupid, but what about the rising tide of violence?
Nazem, is 20 yrs old, born in Canada. Thus, born in 1990 (end of civil war).
His dad, Sam, left Lebanon at the age of 4, correct? So let us say he left at the start, 1975 when the civil war was just starting. That would mean at the age of 19 he fathered Nazem.

Okay… does this also sit uneasily with anyone here? Why do I get the feeling they tried to make this an ultra dramatic story incorporating desert heat, civil war, guns, violence etc into achieving one’s dream of playing hockey. When, the reality is the dude is living in Canada and got involved just like any other Canadian could…
wtf

Ramy H is not the only one with issues about misconceptions. Nasrin Aboulhosn also experiences poor assumptions on a daily basis:

Growing up in Alhambra with the name Nasrin Aboulhosn has not always made for a simple introduction. In a city packed with foreign names, substitute teachers would still always stumble over mine. Even the barista at Starbucks always asks, “I’m sorry, Jasmine, was it?”

Indeed, as one of the handful of Lebanese in the city, I got used to answering a lot of strange questions:

“Do you speak Lebanese?” That’s not a real thing.

“Are Lebanese people from Libya?” What?!

I decided to spend some time in Lebanon this past year to reconnect with my roots. Little did I know that as soon as I said I was staying with my grandmother in the mountains, a whole new set of questions would start flowing:

“Are you in a tent?” No, I’m in a large house.

“Do you have to cook by the fire?” No, we cook on a stove. You know, like you.

“Do you pee outside?” What?!

So I decided to write a letter from abroad to help clear up some of the misconceptions and hopefully give some of my friends from home a clearer picture of my life in Lebanon.

You can read her letter in its entirety here.

So how many times have you been asked if you ride camels to work?