Diversity.

So was it evil Assad, a false flag op by Al Qaeda or a cock-up with chemical weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia with instructions by Ikea? Who knows. For me a PBS documentary nails it. In 300BC the Persians, led by their omnipotent God encrusted leader, invaded the Athenian meritocracy. This culture clash of a democracy against a ruthless despot-lead hoard is still being played out today. The Middle East has a long history of despotic rulers; it’s in their culture to be restrained by some ultimate authority. Without it all hell breaks loose in emotional feuds between minorities of every description. It’s a viable form of governing a people caught up in the dramas of grief and victory. But the ideas of freedom and democracy add a spark to this combustive mixture. You can’t take the lid off a pressure cooker without getting jam roly-poly all over the ceiling. Even Disneyland Dubai under its own despotic leader is a foretaste of a dystopian dream where borrowed finance uses slave labour to build what looks like utopia but has only a weeks water reserves and a sea full of excrement. From this to Russell Brand who has tasted all our western ‘benefits’, often to excess, and found them fascicle, and become one of the few honest voices on the planet. And then to totally overwhelm my concepts of diversity there’s, ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’, thanks to Bethmouse. Honey Boo Boo is a six-year-old American redneck with her father who says, “Aar lerv ma faimly”, her mother whose pronunciation of English requires subtitles and her two sisters. They is proud of raiding dumpsters for household appliances and prove not only that the American diet will add twenty pounds for every year of your life but that not having a TV gives a lot of time to, “harv furn.” They is as content as a family of baboons and make it a strangely attractive proposition. They ain’t intelligent, successful, skilful or motivated to do anything more than scratch, laugh and struggle with their indigestion. So here’s a question. Do you fight to the death for what you believe, introspect to be become the best you can be or just, “harv furn”? It’s not easy.