[Buddha-l] NYTimes.com: Let Us Pray for Wealth

[Dan Lusthaus]

> To think that Rome is burning is one of the most tragic beliefs of our
time.
> If people persist in believing it, it will eventually come true. Ever
heard
> of self-fulfilling prophecy? I can think of no better example than the
> feverish panic people have over such fictitious entities as terrorists,
> jihadis, Islamofacsists and other such spooks and hobgoblins of little
minds.

Fortunate for you that you weren't working in the World Trade Center on 9/11
some years ago -- or you would find nothing fictitious in this. Or hanging
out in Bali discoteques. Or greeting Mrs. Bhutto on the day she returned to
Pakistan. Or send your kids to school on Israeli buses. Or make
documentaries in Holland.

Interesting that you chose to ignore everything else I wrote. So be it.

Here's a simple homework assignment to separate the paranoids from the
justifiably cautious. Make a list all the violent hotspots around the world
that make headlines these days. If memory is a problem, then consult any
reasonable newspaper for a week (any week).

Now mark off on a world map where those places are.

Then go to the following link(s) and compare maps.

http://www.islam101.com/dawah/muslim_world_map.html

or

http://www.nature.com/news/specials/islamandscience/map/islam-map.html

or

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-religion-map.htm

If you did the first part of your homework well, you will have traced the
outline of the green areas on most of the above maps. Coincidence? Fantasy?
Prejudice? You decide.


For maps providing historical context, see
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~rs143/map.html


Dan "Just the facts, ma'am" Lusthaus