Suggestion for you: Tell 'em you don't mind Chaldeans (which are more or less a flavor of Arabic Christian, so you score 'Oh, he doesn't hate Arabs' points), you just hate Islam.    They'll get into a what're they? bit, then you explain about the religious persecution they faced in the Middle East, etc.  At the hands of Muslim arabs!  That tends to derail their white-self-loathing train and give you basis to reshape the discussion.