...such as most blogging was defined by Hitch, but continue I must:-)
Well, I have a diagnosis for the endless internal chills that now are quieted only by sitting next to a hot space heater. I've found you can be so cold as so be unable to sleep. I didnt realize how tense my body is until lying down near the living room heater and immediately the warm relaxed me, I was asleep in minutes.
Thinking of his death, after speaking with my oldest son, who said arrogance was the defining word for both Hitchens and Jobs. Arrogance that took the form of dismissing traditional medicine on Jobs' part and Hitchens loud fast talking over every opponent so that no one stood a chance against him. Well, no one did stand a chance but loud and fast talking can be heard from every protesting senorina in the 'hood' with in-your-face head bobbing and fake nails pointing, so being loud and fast proves nothing. Hitchens had, what Schama and most others who were genuinely close, termed a great desire to debate, understand as well as speak the truth of what he observed of Life, much like Twain, Hume and Orwell. If speaking Truth to the fatuous who prefer to mouth PC or tell us black is white when its obviously not, is arrogant- we suffer very little in our current society of such arrogance, but pompous PC bloat can be heard from virtually every talking head and politician, incumbent and running.
I'm watching the sad developments in Egypt, notably the beating of a covered woman. Heartbreaking it is knowing how people looked to the military as their safeguard against government tyranny, and they were that in the last days of Mubarak's reign. But something else is going on now that the media is not able to define. I humbly suggest that the' military' (defined as all elements not aligned with the Brotherhood etc) is refusing a takeover by Islamists or to have Egypt become another sharia ruled country. Egypt, with all its wanting, was a country apart from anyplace else in the arab middle east. Not simply because it absorbed so much Western money but because of its people, their nature, humor and general innate intelligence. Egypt has lost tourism, a mainstay of its economy and essentially the illiterate majority who have voted conservatively, did so in fear of Western style traditions overtaking their world-there seemed to be no middle ground, no leader to galvanize the people as Nassar once did, and in this vacuum the Brotherhood in its various incarnations has always thrived, patiently waiting to step up, take over. The military knows this...which doesnt excuse their current behaviour, but I think they're as frightened as the people they once protected, they are now fighting for their own continued existence.
While my relationship with Egypt will always be bittersweet and in some ways regrettable, I am glad I was there before the current morass destroys what remains of class structure and society. Even sadder is what they are creating for the students who had, for a moment, some hope of a country reborn where their work would bear fruit in an open and uncensored society.
I'm not out of words, but strength to write further.
Well, I have a diagnosis for the endless internal chills that now are quieted only by sitting next to a hot space heater. I've found you can be so cold as so be unable to sleep. I didnt realize how tense my body is until lying down near the living room heater and immediately the warm relaxed me, I was asleep in minutes.
Thinking of his death, after speaking with my oldest son, who said arrogance was the defining word for both Hitchens and Jobs. Arrogance that took the form of dismissing traditional medicine on Jobs' part and Hitchens loud fast talking over every opponent so that no one stood a chance against him. Well, no one did stand a chance but loud and fast talking can be heard from every protesting senorina in the 'hood' with in-your-face head bobbing and fake nails pointing, so being loud and fast proves nothing. Hitchens had, what Schama and most others who were genuinely close, termed a great desire to debate, understand as well as speak the truth of what he observed of Life, much like Twain, Hume and Orwell. If speaking Truth to the fatuous who prefer to mouth PC or tell us black is white when its obviously not, is arrogant- we suffer very little in our current society of such arrogance, but pompous PC bloat can be heard from virtually every talking head and politician, incumbent and running.
I'm watching the sad developments in Egypt, notably the beating of a covered woman. Heartbreaking it is knowing how people looked to the military as their safeguard against government tyranny, and they were that in the last days of Mubarak's reign. But something else is going on now that the media is not able to define. I humbly suggest that the' military' (defined as all elements not aligned with the Brotherhood etc) is refusing a takeover by Islamists or to have Egypt become another sharia ruled country. Egypt, with all its wanting, was a country apart from anyplace else in the arab middle east. Not simply because it absorbed so much Western money but because of its people, their nature, humor and general innate intelligence. Egypt has lost tourism, a mainstay of its economy and essentially the illiterate majority who have voted conservatively, did so in fear of Western style traditions overtaking their world-there seemed to be no middle ground, no leader to galvanize the people as Nassar once did, and in this vacuum the Brotherhood in its various incarnations has always thrived, patiently waiting to step up, take over. The military knows this...which doesnt excuse their current behaviour, but I think they're as frightened as the people they once protected, they are now fighting for their own continued existence.
While my relationship with Egypt will always be bittersweet and in some ways regrettable, I am glad I was there before the current morass destroys what remains of class structure and society. Even sadder is what they are creating for the students who had, for a moment, some hope of a country reborn where their work would bear fruit in an open and uncensored society.
I'm not out of words, but strength to write further.
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