the inexorable slide to fanaticism...

Well, since c, anton, and now roxana have abandoned me I might as well write about politics...

In a discussion with a beard. He writes:

" If you are a non-theist, you have no claim to rights"

But how did this start? A few days back a group of lawyers decided to ban a product because it is produced by Ahmadis. Of course, this is the beginning of fascism. No, not quite. When the state makes it mandatory that you declare on your passport that you are not an Ahmadi, when you can go to prison for 3 years if you wish someone 'salam' and you're an Ahmadi, then this isn't the beginning but just a continuation, an escalation of the madness.

(It should be remembered that it was a group of lawyers that vigorously defended Qadri, the murderer of the Punjab Governor, because they thought he was defending blasphemy by speaking out against the blasphemy laws. So, here you get an idea of how far human decency has been forgotten. These are, lest one forget it, people from the middle classes, people with some sort of formal education).

Meanwhile, back in the jungle, there's been the story of the good people of Chiniot. There the panchayat (tribal council) decided that a woman from the aggrieving party in a dispute should be 'given' to the aggrieved party.So, get this-and this is proof of how fucked up this country is, if further proof be needed- the 14-year old girl is given. She comes back dead, of course. There's no need to spell it out. But that's the level of 'honour' in what is an utterly barbaric place.

So, as Leonard Cohen sings, this place is going to slide. That much is obvious. The real question is: can I get out in time?