A tale of two cities

Ain't saying nothing.

'It's something I want to be able to tap into. It's about the experience I'm having today, and being able to know that I am sexy, I can lay here on the bed and feel beautiful, feel shalem..'

(from 'In the boudoir with Jewish Orthodox women,' The Guardian).

Er..well, ahem.

I can't remember who said this-Merton possibly-but if a nun or a monk watches the same television as a lay person, say, if they are consumed by the same anxieties, speak the same broad language, and their habits of mind and attitudes are formed by the same cultural impulses as those in the wider society then under those circumstances what, exactly, is the difference?

In some sense we're all modern (or aspire to be modern); we're all liberals to some degree or the other; and it's hard to imagine a genuine alternative to capitalism that isn't tainted by it. 

The mullah, the socialist, the shrink..at the end of the day they aren't that different after all. 

Of course, part of you is quite happy that there are such photos but all things considered..

And the political point is worth re-emphasizing in case it is lost on anyone: If the ability to feel good or whole comes at the expense of inflicting suffering on other people, if it is predicated on it, then I don't know what kind of warped view of 'wholeness' that is.

'All the smiles were from your side;
all the tears from mine'
--Ghalib.    

Israel, according to a U.N. report, plans to demolish 17,000 'structures' in the West Bank. Ah, how useful those fantasies of being sexy are!