Persiflage & Paroxysm

Practicing racial and ethnic hatred is the norm for our hairless-ape mammalian species. This is a fact; we don’t have to like it we just need to deal with it without too much indignation. Any community of humans on the face of the planet has at one time practiced or still does openly or secretly practice some form of racial and ethnic hatred/profiling, especially those communities that today preach against such an ugly facet of human nature, often with a profoundly patronising tone. The US, its xenophobic whites, and its overtly aggressive and well-armed police, are a case in point. We are tribal and xenophobic; it’s a basic trait and defense mechanism of human kind, which has evolved to allow us to protect the territory of our tribe against incursions from other tribes who we basically distinguish by minor or major differences in physical appearance. In short, we are not a loving angelic species that loves to share and give until it hurts, that is a Christian-propagated myth tha...

Why do the Lebanese think it's ok to not answer their mobile phone, why do they think it's ok to refuse your call, the equivalent of someone in the old days of land line picking up the headset and slamming it back down, have the rules of social conduct changed so much when I wasn't looking?! Is being rude and having bad manners now so common that it has become the accepted norm?! All I know is someone cal ls you you answer, or if you're really busy you put the phone on silent, let it ring until it stops, then, when you are no longer busy, you call back. Or, if you really don't want to talk to someone, send them an email or message politely asking that they stop calling you. Under no circumstances is slamming the line shut an acceptable mode of behaviour! But then again, in the mad house that is Lebanon today it is not only the Maronites that seem to have "lost their minds," according to the Vatican, but the whole country has gone barking mad and people ...