Most interesting statistics found in last week's Lexington column in the ECONOMIST.

Yet a poll last month found that most Americans would rather their government did less. Some 57% said it was doing too many things that were better left to individuals and businesses. Only 38% thought it should do more. The proportion who believe that government over-regulates private businesses has also risen from 38% to 45% in a year. And despite the attention lavished on Michael Moore’s new movie excoriating capitalism, only 24% of Americans think firms are under-regulated.

Totally crazy, people think that bank and corporations should have less regulation. Wow.

I've come to realize that people are best in short & light dosages. If the period of time you (I) spend with someone is too long, it will no doubt causes problems. I just had this realization which I'm sure the rest of the world has accept and embraced a long time ago. I'm usually a bit slow in comprehending emotional and social issues. When you first get to know people they seem nice etc. Its best to just keep it at that by keeping the dose low, don't see them too much and you can appreciate them. Don't get to personal and get into their life cuz then no doubt you will see the negative aspects. Another I think being introspective infront of other people is another problem, just keep that to yourself too.
So here is life lessons by Faraz for Faraz.

And another bombshell hit today, it's totally unrealistic to expect people to respect you. Even as just another human being. I think I always try to explain myself and let the other person know that I was trying to do the best that I can by doing this and that, but that's just futile. Just know what you are doing, be respectful of others but don't for approval and respect from them.

Had a good meal at Sr. Liz's today. Enjoyed the food.
Thinking about taking off next week. Don't know where to take off too though. Can't go to Zubi's she won't want to see me. Maybe I could meet Elliot for dinner or something in Isb.

Well thats all for now,

Daily Times: Sunday, January 07, 2007

Lahore Lahore Aye: Where Hindus and Sikhs once lived

By A Hamid

There were 300,000 Hindus and Sikhs living in Lahore as independence approached. By August 19 that number had sunk to 10,000, and by the end of the month to just 1,000. The majority moved to India. Many were killed though there is no knowing their number Some neighbourhoods of the city were entirely Hindu and Sikh, others were mixed, while some were solely Muslim. Gumti Bazaar was a purely Hindu neighbourhood, with the exception of one resident: Maulana Salahuddin Ahmed, editor of Adabi Dunya, the leading Urdu literary journal of its time.

Outside the gated city, other predominantly Hindu neighbourhoods included Krishen Nagar, Sant Nagar, Rajgarh (Kamni Kaushal lived here), Ram Galli, Nisbet Road, Qila Gujjar Singh, Shah Alami and Gowalmandi, while the population of Beadon Road and Nicholson Road was a Hindu-Sikh-Muslim mix. Ichhra and Model Town lay outside the city as it then was. Ichhra, a Muslim-majority area, was said to be the original Lahore, the very site where the foundation of the city had been laid by Lahoo, a son of Raja Ram Chander Ji. Model Town was founded by rich and upper middle-class Hindus and had few Muslim residents. Every house was fronted by a large lawn with lush fruit trees, especially ones that bore mangoes in summer. There was also a Model Town bus service that took you into the city, right up to Serai Rattan Chand, Gowalmandi and Shah Alami.

The residents of Model Town, who owned their spacious houses, were retired judges, rich businessmen, traders and upmarket store-owners. Many high court judges, doctors and engineers had also moved to Model Town from the city. Included among the residents of this best laid-out residential estate of Lahore were college professors and officers of the civil service. The famous communist leader BPL Bedi, who had studied at British and German universities, lived here. His son Kabir Bedi became a famous actor in post-independence India.

In British times, only a handful of Lahore’s Muslims could be called affluent. Even in the old city, most of the grand mansions or havelis belonged to Hindus and Sikhs, for example, Haveli Kabuli Mal, Haveli Dhyan Chand and Haveli Rai Diwan Chand. The only exception was Haveli Mian Khan, which was located between Rang Mahal and Mochi Gate. Mention, however, might be made of much smaller havelis owned by Muslims in the inner city. One was located in Mohalla Sammian. It was known as Haveli Judge Latif. The other was called Haveli Barood Khana where the family of Mian Amiruddin lived. It was located between Pani Wala Talab and Koocha Langay Mandi. Most of the Hindus who lived in the city traded in gold and silver, foodgrains and textiles, both wholesale and retail. All the moneylenders of Lahore were Hindu. Every business in Suha Bazaar, Machhi Hatta, Gumti Bazaar, Bazaaz Hatta and Shah Alami was owned by non-Mulsims. The only Muslim-owned store in Anarakli was Sheikh Enayatullah & Sons. Dabbi Bazaar had a number of small bookshops, mostly Muslim-owned. In the same Bazaar, you could find Kashmiri Pandits who sold shawls and fine wool fabrics.

Morning in the inner city in those pre-1947 days began with the siren sounded from the North Western Railway loco shop and Makandri Lal’s factory. The call to morning prayers was sounded from the city’s many mosques, while bells would be rung in Hindu temples to begin morning worship. Makandari Lal’s factory was located in Badami Bagh. Minto Park was where people took their morning walks and performed exercise. Cows and buffaloes were a common sight in city streets. Hindus respected the ox because they believed it to be Shivji Maharaj’s mount. The cow was of course sacred to all Hindus. Sometimes these animals would become a nuisance, blocking traffic as they would decide to sit in the middle of the street. Some Hindu shopkeepers would place large slabs of rock salt on the street for animals to lick. The more devout Hindus had built water troughs here and there for these animals to drink from. These were all very humane gestures.

In all Hindu neighbourhoods, you found wedding halls called Janj Ghar, which were a boon for families that did not have the means to hold wedding ceremonies at home. While Hindu women did not observe the purdah as many Muslim women did at the time, unmarried Hindu girls were not allowed to apply makeup or go around immodestly dressed. A great and beloved figure in the old city was that of Dr Sant Singh, whose clinic was located between Haveli Kabuli Mal and Chowk Chuna Mandi. He was an extremely kind-hearted man who would not charge for the medicines he dispensed. He treated everyone equally, without regard to their religion. Another very kind-hearted doctor inside Modhi Gate was Dr Bahadur Shah who also did not charge for the medicines he gave out. At times, he would even give money to the poorer among his patients so that they could buy themselves some milk to gain strength.

Whenever a Hindu funeral passed through the bazaar, Hindu shopkeepers would drop whatever they were doing, come down from their shops to stand on the street with their hands joined together in respect to the dead. When a Hindu died, his body was removed from the bed and placed on the bare floor, the belief being that if the dead person was left where he had died, his spirit would not leave the house. If a very old man died, his body was taken to the burning ground called shamshan ghat, led by a band playing merry music, including a popular movie hit of the time, Chal Chal re Naujawan (March on, march one, young man). Lahore’s three or four shamshan ghats were located outside the city, one on the banks of the Ravi where the painter Amrita Sher-Gil, daughter of a Sikh father and Hungarian mother, was consigned to fire. She was only 28.

The most famous shamshan ghat in the city was located beyond Texali Gate. A relative of ours lived not far from there and sometimes I would visit the family. If a body was being readied for immolation, I would watch it stealthily, utterly mesmerised. A close family member would pour ghee on the pyre and then set it alight. In the morning, milk was poured over what had been left of the pyre, the remains which were called phool picked up, placed in an urn and emptied into the Ravi. The more affluent would travel to Benaras to consign the remains to the waters of the sacred river Ganga. It was believed that this would free the departed soul from the endless cycle of death and rebirth.

On a dare, I once visited the shamshan ghat at night because I had heard that if one did that, one would be imbued with supernatural powers. I was so terrified that I did not have the strength in my legs to run back home. Then suddenly, I heard my mother’s voice, “Hamid, what are you doing here?” I turned but there was nobody there. I screamed and began to run, having somehow found the strength to do so. I never stopped till I had arrived home. Needless to say, I never went that way again, even during the day.

A Hamid, the distinguished Urdu novelist and short story writer, writes a column every week based on his memories of old Lahore. Translated from the Urdu by Khalid Hasan

Really stunning looking Land Cruiser created by Wald apparently only for the Russian market. Wouldn't be too surprised to find one in Islamabad next time I am down there. Well enough bitterness, the positive side is that it will look stunning where ever it may find itself.

---

He tells viewers that Obama's volunteerism efforts are really an attempt to create  a "civilian national-security force that is just as strong , just as powerful as the military."

Wow, was reading an old Time on the loo today. Came across this article about Las Vegas and how it has come to be hit really hard by the recession. Condos that were selling for 600,000 dollars last year are now selling for less than 200,000. How crazy is that.
Anyway the reason it was a worthwhile article, so much so that I logged into here to write  a bit about it is this casino owner Adelson. This guy was worth 40 billion last year apparently and now is worth 4 billion. But I guess what difference it makes, once you're past the 100s of million mark would it really make much difference to your lifestyle? The article says it does, read underline part at the bottom.
Funny, I kinda would want to know more about it. Seems like quite a character.
That is true even of Sheldon Adelson, who has lost more during this recession than anyone else on the planet. The 76-year-old chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which owns the Venetian hotel, the Sands Expo and Convention Center and the Venetian Macao, was in 2007 and '08 the third richest person in the world, with — by his estimate — a net worth of $40 billion. By February of this year, he said he had lost $36.5 billion — more than the GDP of half of the countries in the world. In the years before that slide, banks were begging him to take their money, given his massive success in building the first Vegas-style hotel and casino in Macao, China, in 2004. Adelson didn't hesitate, taking all he could get and building an entire mini-Vegas in Macao called the Cotai Strip, along with huge casinos in Singapore; he also doubled his Vegas space by adding the Palazzo to his Venetian hotel. In a short time, he has accumulated a debt-to-earnings ratio of 6.8 to 1 in the U.S. Then the loans stopped coming, and his stock price sank from $144 to $1.42 in March. (It now hovers at about $12.)

He doesn't seem too crushed by his losses. "A billion dollars doesn't buy what it used to. So it's not as tragic as one would assume," he says. "I say to my wife that the worst tragedy I could have in business deserves a two-hour cry, and I scale down from there. I didn't cry one moment." When his wife asked him to cut back on expenses, he dismissed the suggestion, telling her he still had more money than they could ever spend. Eventually he capitulated: whenever possible, he uses his small private jet instead of his big one.

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Quote

YouTube - Khwaja and Ijaz-ul-Haq get personal - Exposing Each Other!
  

An excellent little piece in the book I'm reading right now THE WHITE TIGER.

"These are the three main diseases of this country, sir: typhoid, cholera, and election fever. This last one is the worst; it makes people talk and talk about things that they have no say in ... Would they do it this time? Would they beat the Great Socialist and win the elections? Had they raised enough money of their own, and bribed enough policemen, and bought enough fingerprints of their own, to win? Like eunuchs discussing the Kama Sutra, the voters discuss the elections in Laxmangarh."
---Aravind Adiage (The White Tiger)


In other news I'm really craving Deli food these days. Like really good sandwiches on really good rich bread, maybe with some tomato soap or something. That place Jason's Deli in Longview was excellent.

Been reading this book on Gulen which compares his view with western philosophers. The first one compared was Kant and during the comparison the author said
"Kant is well aware of the emotionalism that often accompanies religion and, thus, does not view religious faith as a stable enough grounding for moral principles, which include the inherent dignity of all people. "

I thought that was quite an interesting view because whereas most people just throw out religious faith altogether he seems to be ok with it but knows it's weaknesses.
The book itself is quite interesting because it shows the similarities between people like Fethullah Gullen and John Stuart Mill, Sarte, Plato and Kant. Only read so far the Kant and Mill chapters.

How cool would it be to have a Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon scooter. I just saw one and I love it, its so basic and functional.
l.

Making the impossible possible

Thursday, August 06, 2009 Kamila Hyat The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor The latest incident of extremist mob violence, this time in a village near the town of Gojra, is a reflection of the anarchy, and the barbarity, we are spiralling towards. It is as yet unclear what – if anything at all – led Muslim zealots to burn down dozens of houses belonging to the Christian community. At least seven people, including at least three women and possibly a child, were burnt alive. Initial investigations by the Punjab government show no evidence that a copy of the Holy Quran was burnt, as was claimed. We do not yet know if there was a personal dispute of some kind, though this has in the past triggered such acts of insanity. It is also a fact that greed, a desire to seize property or wrest away business has led to similar attacks. The alleged involvement of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a force known for its incitement of hatred against non-Sunnis, proves too that extremism lives on in the country. The fact is that the defeat of the Taliban in Swat and other areas does not mean we have overcome our problems with militancy. The problems created over many years cannot of course vanish instantly. Indeed there are many strands to the havoc we face. It is indeed far from certain that we have even finally won back the northern areas. Reports state the militants have simply set up base in other districts or retreated to the mountains, and will attempt a comeback at some point. This is a worrying thought. But the problem of extremism lurks too in other places. The events in Gojra indicate the menace it presents and the fact that such violence can flair up anywhere and at any time. The southern Punjab has been identified as a place where many groups have their base. It is obvious that the ban placed on many of them in 2002 and afterwards has, for all practical purposes, no meaning at all. Is there then any way of turning back the tide? Of taking steps to ensure other citizens do not perish like the Christians murdered in Gojra? Of building a state of mind that accepts all citizens as being true equals, regardless of their belief or their ethnicity? It has over the past decade become clear how difficult a task this is. But it must be attempted if we are to build a sounder, safer, nation which is able and willing to protect the life and property of everyone who lives within its boundaries. This of course is the primary duty of the state. Its failure to fulfil it is one of the reasons for the chaos we find now, with the Rangers having to be deployed to prevent more killings in Gojra. The chain of happenings there exposes once more the inadequacies of this entity and the decreasing impact it has on the lives and the welfare of people. So, can anything be done? The main point to be made is that if this is even to be attempted, we need political will and long-term commitment. These are of course hard to find and demand that far more be done than merely making statements condemning the violence. To make any kind of real difference that goes beyond this, we must first make a serious effort to understand quite what went wrong and why. First-hand testimonies from those who lived through the 1950s and 1960s, indeed even beyond these years, narrate how the frenzied passions of Partition quickly died down to leave behind a mainly harmonious society, within which people who held different beliefs rarely clashed. The anti-Ahmadi laws of the 1970s were the first signal of how things could change and how swiftly this could happen. Since then, the creation of extremist groups, the imposition of discriminatory laws, the cropping up of thousands of madressahs and the change in mindset achieved mainly through school curriculums which promote bigotry have exacerbated the problems we face. Solutions need to be drastic. There is nothing to be gained by tinkering with what exists or making comments that are not backed by deeds. The decision to launch a full-fledged military action in the north was in many ways a brave one. It needs to be followed up still more courageously in other spheres. It has been said in the past, and indeed continues to be said today, that the madressahs that exist everywhere cannot be shut down. That it is impossible to do so at least in the immediate future; that perhaps the focus should be on reforming these institutions and that not all of them encourage militancy. There is of course some reason behind what is said. But the situation we find ourselves in means we must somehow seek out ways of making the impossible possible. Otherwise we will continue to flounder, and perhaps, one day, sink. It is true not all madressah's teach extremism, but what limited research has been conducted suggests even the so-called 'good' institutions; those whose pupils also sit regular exams and are taught by relatively better-educated teachers, build a particular way of thinking that constructs divisions within society on the grounds of gender and belief. What we need to divert immediate attention to is re-establishing our public schooling system and persuading donors to pour money into this sector, so that they can draw back the pupils they have lost over the decades to madressahs. In many cases the fact that the madressahs offer clothing and food and shelter has been a key factor in this. This aspect too needs to be debated and perhaps means found to offer a meal, or at least a glass of milk, in government schools. Donations have in the past been collected to 'modernise' madressahs. There is no evidence at all that this has worked to alter the nature of these institutions. Questions are now also being asked on where the money for such 'modernisation' went. We need an altered strategy and a readiness to replace madressahs with schools. The dichotomy we see now must end. We also need more research on how the madressahs have altered the face of our society and what can be done to reverse this. In other spheres of life too we need action. The private television channels have played a part in generating more debate and more open discussion on issues of religion. Such discussions must be encouraged, so that we can regain the lost tolerance of the past. School textbooks too can and should be revised to achieve a similar change in thinking – to alter a situation where even in some of the most elite private schools, small children distinguish between Muslim and non-Muslim teachers. None of this is easy to achieve. It will take time and a great deal of effort. But the fact is that we need to take drastic action if we are to prevent other acts of inhuman brutality of the kind seen in Gojra. Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com

An excellent article about the recent burning and killing of Christians in Gojra.
Thank god some people in Pakistan are not scared to oppose Sipah-e-Sahaba.

Burned at the stake

Thursday, August 06, 2009 By Talat Farooq

Let us hope that in the wake of the Gojra incident the suo motu action taken by the chief justice of the Lahore High Court will result in justice for the aggrieved Christian community. Until now blasphemy cases have been settled mostly by vigilantes and not by the judicial system. Although under the blasphemy law none of the accused has been executed to date, the lynch mob has often taken the law into its own hands, and with impunity. In 1997, the twin villages of Shantinagar-Tibba Colony were looted and burned by hundreds of zealots and policemen acting together after an alleged desecration of the Holy Quran. The police, after evacuating the Christians, helped the zealots loot and blow up the victims' property, using battlefield explosives. The Sipah-e-Sahaba was linked to the tragedy. In 2005, a local elected politician led a mob of 3,000 and, helped by the police, wreaked havoc on Christian homes and churches in Sangla Hill after a rumour of desecration was started by religious elements. It was alleged by the archbishop of Lahore that the mobsters were brought into the town on buses. The Punjab government was prevented from acting fairly by a Lahore-based Sunni cleric and his lashkar. And this past June 30, all hell broke loose in Bahmaniwala in Kasur after a Muslim and Christian youth driving tractor trolleys started to quarrel on the right of passage. The scuffle soon turned into anti-Christian violence after the local cleric announced from the mosque that Christians had desecrated the Quran and therefore a "jihad" was in order. The violent mob burned and looted Christian property and churches. More than 700 people took refuge in fields at night to escape the wrath of the mob. The latest incidents in Gojra tell a similar tale. The Punjab law minister himself said on record that after initial investigations it was revealed that no act of desecration had taken place and that the violence was fuelled by rumours of the alleged act – and that the mob was being led by a cleric. While neighbours settled scores, the mob took the law into its own hands on the instigation of extremists of the Sipah-e-Sahaba from Jhang. And all this while the law enforcers watched and did nothing. Reports that the Punjab government had been forewarned of such violence have been denied by Punjab police officials. Nonetheless, the wilful inaction by the police during the incident is there for all to see and cannot be denied. Be it the burning of women accused of being witches in medieval Europe or acts of the zealots in today's Pakistan, it is quite evident that religious fanaticism feeds on mob mentality. It is easier for people fearing for their own lives and safety to succumb to the herd instinct and join stone-throwing crowds. Moreover, many find it emotionally cathartic to vent on a weaker group their pent-up anger at their own sorry state of existence. With regard to the victimisation of religious minorities, the zealots often not only incite the mob but also pressure or threaten judges and lawyers after an accused has been arrested. Because of the presence of extremist elements within their cadres as well as lack of moral courage, members of the law enforcement agencies easily succumb to pressure or intimidation. They provide impunity to private acts of vengeance by either actively participating in violence or through delaying tactics. By deliberately failing to apprehend the culprits, such officials become accomplices of the criminals. Add to this the pliant state that gives in to the blackmail of religious extremists, and the recipe for disaster is complete. In the aftermath of Gojra, both the Punjab and federal governments have been quick to take stock of the situation. One hopes that all the political hustle and bustle will not translate into monetary compensations alone, and that the culprits will be punished in accordance with the law. Extremists and bigots are enemies of society and must be dealt with with an iron hand. There is no point in appealing to their better sense because they do not have any. They are like serial killers who must be quarantined for the security and the general good of society. Any law that gives rise to discrimination or abuse or is so open-ended as to jeopardise human rights is itself contrary to the spirit of Islam and should be either repealed or drastically amended forthwith. The concept of desecration of the Holy Quran should be widened to include wilful manipulations of Quranic injunctions and of using the Holy Book out of context to incite others to violence. It is a sad commentary on our collective double standards that while we are ready to follow rituals and do things which only change one's physical appearance, we do not follow the Holy Prophet's (PBUH) many acts where he emphasised the importance of tolerance, where he fought for the oppressed or where he countered irrationality and ignorance with the power of reason and intellect. The writer is executive editor of the magazine Criterion, Islamabad. Email: talat farooq11@gmail.com

HILARIOUS ARTICLE.
LEXINGTON

Lexington

Glad to be godless

Jul 16th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Reflections on a summer camp for the children of atheists

Illustration by KAL

AS PART of a travelling Christian drama group, Don Sutterfield used to perform short plays. In one, a young man gives his girlfriend a rose and tries to persuade her to have premarital sex. The couple walk off, leaving the rose behind. Jesus picks it up and starts plucking the petals. “They love me, they love me not…”

Pious audiences loved it, says Mr Sutterfield. He and his chums would stand at the altar of a Pentecostal church, speaking in tongues, laying on hands and praying for members of the congregation to be delivered from sin, sickness and sexual perversion. Occasionally, they would attempt to drive out evil spirits. It was incredibly dramatic, says Mr Sutterfield: like the movie “The Exorcist”, only with lots of exorcists. At the time, Mr Sutterfield was “immeasurably proud” of his work. But with hindsight, he thinks it was a load of mumbo-jumbo. He is now a militant atheist. He organises secular groups at universities and, this summer, volunteered at Camp Quest, a network of summer camps for secular kids. Lexington visited one in Clarksville, Ohio.

In most ways, it is like other summer camps. Kids aged 8 to 17 share cabins in the woods. During the day, they paddle canoes, shoot arrows, go swimming and explore nature. At night, they chat beneath the stars. Like other summer camps, Camp Quest satisfies a demand that springs from America’s combination of very long holidays for children and very short ones for their parents. Unlike other camps, it is staffed entirely by humanists.

They are not pushy or preachy, but scepticism flavours nearly everything they do. Lunch comes with a five-minute talk about a famous freethinker. Campers are told that invisible unicorns inhabit the forest, and offered a prize if they can prove that the unicorns do not exist. The older kids learn something about the difficulty of proving a negative. The younger ones grow giggly at the prospect of stepping in invisible unicorn poop. There’s a prize for the tidiest cabin, too, because “cleanliness is next to godlessness”, jokes Amanda Metskas, the director.

Campers are not told that there is no God; only that they should weigh the evidence. They learn about the scientific method. An amateur biologist invites them to gather creepy-crawlies from a nearby pond. They are told how sensitive each species is to pollution, and asked to work out from this how polluted the pond is. They find several critters that can survive only in clean water, and conclude that the pond is in good shape. The kids are encouraged to explore ethical questions, too. The more argumentative ones sit in a clearing and debate the nature of justice.

The kind of people who send their kids to Bible camp are appalled. Answers in Genesis, a Christian fundamentalist group, berates Camp Quest for drumming a “hopeless” world view into young minds. But a humanist camp is less about indoctrination than reassurance that it is all right not to be religious; that it is possible to be moral without believing in the supernatural. Nearly all the kids at Camp Quest say they find it comforting to be surrounded by others who share their lack of belief. Many attend schools where Christianity is taken for granted. Many keep quiet about their atheism. Those who don’t are sometimes taunted or told they will burn in hell.

Atheists are broadly disliked in America. Only 5% of Americans admit that they would not vote for an otherwise qualified black presidential candidate, but 53% say they would shun an atheist. That makes the godless less popular than Muslims, Mormons or gays. Granted, the proportion of Americans who say they might vote for an atheist has doubled in the past half-century, and the polls are muddied by those who do not know what an atheist is.

Only one congressman—Pete Stark of California—openly admits to non-belief. When Barack Obama was inaugurated as president, he described America inclusively, as “a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers.” But since then he has publicly invoked Jesus more frequently than George Bush junior did, according to Politico, a political newspaper. “I was surprised. I thought he’d be different,” says Valerie, a 12-year-old at Camp Quest.

Although America’s atheists are not loved, they are not persecuted. Hate crimes against them are almost non-existent. In 2007 only six were reported to the FBI, and that included minor offences such as vandalism. (By way of comparison, there were 969 anti-Jewish hate crimes.) Of course, the fact that atheists are practically invisible makes them less vulnerable. A neo-Nazi can easily identify a synagogue or the Holocaust museum in Washington. But how do you spot an atheist? The guy you see walking a dog on Sunday morning could be planning to go to evensong.

Many atheists opt to remain in the closet, except perhaps with their closest friends. It is the path of least resistance. Deny the existence of God and you may be challenging your neighbours’ most deeply held beliefs. That could get you ostracised, so why risk it? Yet living in the closet has costs. Christians have their beliefs constantly reinforced by neighbours who proudly and openly share them. Atheists often wrestle with their consciences alone, even though they are perhaps 8% of the population. Christopher Hitchens, the author of an antireligious polemic in 2007, observed that half the people who came to his book-promoting speeches had thought they were the only atheists in town.

Isolation matters especially when it comes to bringing up children, a tough task at the best of times. Christian parents can call on a vast support network of churches, Sunday schools, Bible camps and incidentally religious organisations such as the Boy Scouts. Atheists have precious little to compare with this. Small wonder the kids at Camp Quest seem so cheerful.

Economist.com/blogs/lexington

Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.

Really interesting article I read out of an old Time magazine that was sitting around the house. Its too bad I didn't read time more often while I was in the US, I missed out. Good to be back in PK and reading Time every week.
Here's an excellent article about how conservatives like to view history (Dick Cheney). It struck a cord with me because it mentioned the Thermopylae 300 movie which I enjoyed immensely due to it excellent action sequences but detested the blatant propaganda in it. I think in the whole film we see only 3 Persian faces, two of which are black...African Persians? And one fat ugly and terribly foreign looking guy with a whip. Whereas all the greeks are good looking, blonde and real people with emotions, wives and general human stuff.
Anyway, enough of my poor punctuation and grammar. Here is the article.

Virgil Goes Viral

At school, I loathed Latin, in general, but I detested Virgil in particular. After you'd spent hours wading through conjugations and declensions and ablative absolutes and gerunds and pasts perfect, imperfect and pluperfect, there was the pointless torture of learning and then reciting lines of dactylic hexameter about this bloke wandering aimlessly around the Mediterranean at the whim of a perpetually pissed-off goddess. I mean, even Milton was more fun than that.

Imagine my surprise, then, to open Robert Fagles' new translation of The Aeneid and discover that it's, you know, pretty great stuff. Here's the demise of Euryalus: "He writhes in death/ as blood flows over his shapely limbs, his neck droops,/ sinking over a shoulder, limp as a crimson flower/ cut off by a passing plow." Fagles published terrific translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey a few years ago, so maybe I shouldn't have been gobsmacked by his Virgil. They're all quite popular too, part of a renewed passion for the classical world. The culture has lately offered up for mass consumption two new histories of the Peloponnesian War, a whacking great biography of Julius Caesar, a film on Alexander the Great (plus a book lauding his business strategy), the current bbc-hbo series on Rome, Robert Harris' recent novel Imperium and a book (with a film to come this year) on the battle of Thermopylae.

In this enthusiasm, the usual biases seem to be absent. Old fogies like me are reaching for the classics and so are young guns; 300, the film about Thermopylae, is based on a graphic novel. Conservatives sup at the classic cup; Victor Davis Hanson, a scholar of ancient warfare, is Dick Cheney's favorite historian. (One of the lessons of the Peloponnesian War, Hanson writes, is that "resolute action" brings "lasting peace." Ah, yes.) And liberals seek succor from the ancient texts too; it is easy to read Harris' novel on political intrigue in Ciceronian Rome as a critique of the idea that external threats justify politicians taking extraordinary power. But why this sudden thing for the toga-and-sandals set? Quid donat?

We reach for the classics, I think, when we are uncertain of our own bearings. We imagine that the Greeks and Romans knew what stars to steer by, that virtues such as honor and bravery, nobility and loyalty, guided their behavior. We think that the classical world was sharply defined, immune to the little cowardices of doubt. We would like the comfort of thinking that our times can be like that too. "This administration ... divides the world into friends and foes, and the foes are incorrigible and not redeemable," veteran Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross told the New York Times recently, which sounded to me like a description of a bunch of people who just love reading the classics.

I do too. I like the fact that in our small-bore times, we can look back and see rock-jawed men (rarely women, I fear) like Caesar and Mark Antony, heroes who bestride the narrow world like colossi. There's much to be said for hero worship--a lot more, in any event, than for its opposite, which is the cynical assumption (distressingly common among journalists) that nobody but liars ever entered public life. But we can misuse the past too, especially if we look back to what we think was a time of moral clarity and of actions based upon it--and then use that supposed lesson as a way of beating up our miserable selves for lives of tentative compromise.

In truth, life has always been a shades-of-gray thing; there's something dishonest about cherry-picking the past as if it was always nobler than the present. The Greeks were indeed cultured and eloquent. They were also the most frightful pederasts, but you don't hear much of that from their conservative admirers today, nor that stoic, law-giving Romans spent 200 years figuring out really, really bad ways to kill Christians.

There's nothing especially venal about the ancients in this regard; nobody's perfect or ever was. The classical world knew crosshatching as much as bands of white and black; the Greeks and Romans had their moments of doubt. Here's Virgil's Aeneas in the underworld, catching sight of his erstwhile lover, Dido, Queen of Carthage, whom he had deserted as she climbed onto her funeral pyre: "Oh, dear god, was it I who caused your death?/ I swear by the stars, by the Powers on high ... I left your shores, my Queen, against my will ... Stay a moment. Don't withdraw from my sight." That sounds like a man distressed, confused, lost, uncertain, indecisive: a man like us and none the worse for that.

• http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1582332,00.html