Happy Anniversary to our beloved Democracy

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34 responses to “Happy Anniversary to our beloved Democracy”

1. 

   Shakir Lakhani

   February 24, 2010

   @ Hend: I belong to a family of lawyers. My father advised me not to do law (since it didn’t pay much in those days), so I took up engineering. So I don’t normally go to courts. The civil suit in which I was a witness was a rare event in my life. The only other time I appeared before a magistrate was to get bail for a cousin who’d been implicated in a fabricated case by his rivals. This is the kind of thing that is not unusual in the subcontinent.

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2. 

   James Killian Spratt

   February 24, 2010

   @Shakir: “…revision by concensus..” You confirm what I knew had to be there, and thank you. How beautiful, to bend like the willow, and not break like the oak, in the high winds of change. Every day is a new one, unlike any before; isn’t it exciting?

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3. 

   James Killian Spratt

   February 24, 2010

   @Hend: I see your point. Yes, a religion is bound by the book, Book, rather, which is fixed in print and the officials of any religion–the business end of the religion–are loathe to alter any of it. It’s their business, they profit by it enormously, personally and all the time (in THIS life, not the next) through tithes and sycophancy, and don’t want the gravy train upset in any way, in precisely the same ways with religion that politicians use nationalism. How much money is tied up in the Vatican? Pretty nice joint, isn’t it, and, um, who lives there? How big is Hajj tourism? How many poor old stupid country women leave their life savings to the Crystal Cathedral? How many poor Amish never get to go past the sixth grade, and have to use wooden outhouses, while the town officials and church elders clean up on tourist dollars? *Cherchez l’argent,* and the true motives are clear. What Turkey is doing is damage control, because they see the writing on the wall. People are wising up. The cat’s out of the bag.

   The Books are full of contradictions, and interpretation can be quite fluid, every bit as fluid as a democracy, I believe, depending upon how people choose to interpret it. And Muslims do interpret Islam in quite different ways, Sunni, Shia, Alevi, q.e.d. If the people find a better life elsewhere, and get to make and keep more of their own money, what do you think they’ll do?

   I went to school with some Muslims, long ago. Four or five Saudis, who were total toads, and a couple of Iranians who were my friends. The Iranians were as different as night and day from each other; one took to “wild” America like a duck to water, and the other, a much shyer, conservative type, went back to Iran to become a doctor.

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4. 

   Hend

   February 24, 2010

   “No doubt, in years to come, the veil will be made optional in Iran and Saudi Arabia, and “jihad” will revert to its original meaning of self-defense.”

   hallelujah…there is strong likelyhood that veil will be made compulsary in pakistan and jihad will continue to be waged with full support…the only places banning the veil will be in france, belgium and switzeland…which dont want this evil (anagram)

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