Anyway, totally agree with your views.

Cheers,
S.

PS: If I am not mistaken, we were together at Buraq Space Camp ‘96. Keep the good work going!

Damn Uzi, I sent you a link and you ended up publishing a book on it! :^) Next time I know where to go for publicity… Haha. J/K - well thought out post.

I won’t comment on this topic anymore since a lot of intellectuals have already expressed their thoughts on it and I have nothing new to add to the table by beating the benazir topic to death (pun intended). However, I do wonder about the reasons behind her glorification, besides the obvious political ones that we cannot discount given that elections were (and still are) around the corner.

I had taken a Management course as a grad student (I forget what it was, but that’s immaterial). I had learnt in it about the human tendency to glorify people, esp leaders, after they’re gone. The idea stems from the fact that people know they’re not perfect, but they sort of have a mental image of that perfection. Whether or not the departed leader’s ideas come close to the glory that he or she’s being associated with is typically never questioned b/c
a) the sea of human emotion typically impairs logical thinking after such losses
b) most people don’t really know, or don’t really care to know/verify the facts

I think the underlying reason for much of what’s being reported in the post-Benazir-assasination is b/c of the above. No doubt that some of it’s also b/c of the way she died; but had she died in a more natural way, I’m sure there would have been at least 1/2 of similar glorifications.

Our mainstream media understands this tenet of human psychology very well and, as you can see, is taking full advantage of it while loss is still in public memory. Cherish this drama as it unfolds. History, as you know, repeats. Sit back, relax, enjoy the show…

PS: Vir Sanghvi writes in HT every Sunday. I’ve been reading his opinions since I was in my early teens. Lot of his article are India related/lament on the state of Indian politics but occasionally he has food for thought for the international reader.

House of graft: Tracing The Bhutto Millions