Persiflage & Paroxysm

All men were not created equal... some were not even born whole... some were born to parents who were rich, some to parents who were poor... but wherever there is a disadvantage nature creates another advantage, when one cup runs dry nature fills another. To say we are all equal implants false expectations and once our kids grow up and realize we are not in fact all equal, they will feel betrayed. Equality under law, of course, is the bedrock of democratic systems, but it is just that, the right to equal treatment under law and no more. It is far better to teach our kids that life is a crapshoot, to work hard to survive but not to have any expectations that it will end well, only to live in the certainty that it will end and probably sooner than many of us expect, and probably very badly. Maybe then we would have less whining and more, oh what’s the word I’m looking for… reverence for life!

Today I 'unliked' a Lebanese news site on facebook after they put up a picture of two African men wrapped in white shawl-like garments sporting unconventional hairstyles that the website obviously thought was very funny. On the picture they wrote asking women specifically (Lebanese women, most probably) to answer a question: 'If these were the last men on Earth, which one would you choose, keeping in mind you have to pick one.' The answers that came in were equally offensive: 'I'd rather die' one responder wrote in a comment and 'death is preferable' another said. This is yet another example of how callous and unfeeling some Lebanese can be, sometime without even noticing it. To this day many older folk still use the word ‘Abed’ (technically meaning ‘slave’ or ‘servant of’ in Arabic) when referring to all dark skinned or black people. It also explains why Asian and African domestic workers in Lebanon are treated so badly. The problem of ra...

There is more that separates us as Arabs from the European Jewish settlers of the land of Palestine than mere religion alone. I really hate it when the struggle of the Palestinian  people for recognition, for freedom from occupation and for nationhood that has dragged on for over half a century is reduced to a Muslim-against-Jew fight by the Western media. What divides us is far more substantial, it is a cultural thing, it is a different world view, an attitude of righteous indignation and a national fervor that we were fed as infants together with mother's milk, it is a far greater barrier than which God we pray to or how. The no-man’s-land between us is littered with history, milestones of misery, countless injustices, frustration and anger. Peace, I can't see it in my life time, nor would I want to see it until the Israelis make a serious attempt at making amends and reparations for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians they have wronged. At the very l...

Khoot, slang for off their collective rockers, is my favorite word to describe the Lebanese. This is not an insult by the way, but rather most consider this term a badge of courage, evidence of their stubborn refusal to bow down to the rules or to someone else’s will. Many Lebanese see themselves as free spirits, as nonconformist rebels, in truth most are boastful inconsiderate bullies. More than ever before many Lebanese behave in ways, even abroad, that make the rest of us cringe and hang our heads in shame, case in point a smoker onboard a flight who refuses to put out her cigarette despite a flight attendant’s calm insistence and in the face of the passenger’s rudeness. “Respect yourself,” if you hear those words in Arabic know that you are in for a shouting match that may end in a fist fight or some form of macho posturing. If you reply by reciting the rules, or with calm logic and reason you will likely be at the receiving end of an avalanche of obscenities and personal a...

It’s an unassuming low rise one story building with beautiful detailing on the windows and shutters and cast iron balustrades. It’s now a shell. The façade is still there but the structure behind it is being torn down to build a new building. It’s not the first building to suffer such indignity. On the main road in Mar Mikhail there is another but more massive construction project that has preserved the façade of al older structure on the main road and encased it in a steel beam framework to prevent collapse.   This new trend in construction is trying to capitalize on the popularity of old traditional buildings that are so appealing to the nostalgic set. This practice speaks volumes about a country that has lost its way and is desperately trying to cling to the shells of the past while discarding the meat. Below are a few more pictures of old buildings in Mar Mikhail, its anybody’s guess how long they will last.        

I was amused at the vitriol spouted on Facebook aimed at the late great Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , Baroness Margaret Thatcher, may her soul rest in peace. I was equally uplifted by how many people remembered with gratitude her lasting impact on the modern political debate in the UK, on issues of the economy, on labor issues, on relations with the US and Europe. Above all it is her courage and stubborn determination to stand up to a militarist bully in Argentina that stands out for me. In that bold yet risky move, and ignoring all advice not to send troops, Thatcher reawakened the great British lion from its deep sleep and rebuilt the image of a once great colonial power in the eyes of the world. Even in her relations with the US she was constant in her friendship but firm and unwavering in her criticism of ill advised US military adventures including the occupation of the Island of Grenada . It struck me how much Thatcherism has influenced New L...

Atheism is as unbending and as much a radical belief system as any system of faith that has been around for thousands of years. It proffers frightening certainties except it does not offer hope of salvation, but it does so based solely on current scientific knowledge, which will always be limited as science always tells us. It attacks religions and shines a spot light on these faith systems’ contradictions and inconsistencies but fails to realize that it is unwittingly creating a new religion, that of no belief, placing temporal existence on a pedestal as the only form of consciousness that all sentient beings need to embrace, which many already have without any help, after all the cult of the individual (Solipsism light) is the most widespread religion. Atheism is the angry, frightened child of faith and it is sweeping the hearts and minds of the trembling masses all over the world... I prefer to keep an open mind.