Katrina: An Abdication of Responsibility @Hamidm,

Why is it that every time I see an interact from you it is to mock or belittle someone else? Are you one of those who are incapable of feeling good about themselves unless they are belittling and humiliating someone else?

Even though I myself am an atheist, I found your attack on Zeena`s post and her beliefs truly petty. What difference is there between you and a raging tableeghi fanatic in a green turban out to convert people to Islam? Both are zealous believers in their own faith or doctrine (which may or may not be good), but both are also ardent activists in trying to convert others to their doctrine and barring that believing that people who don`t have the same point-of-view are somehow inferior (which is definitely bad). If you do not believe in God, fine; but descending to the level of either mocking the existance of God or those who believe in him is pathetic. If you judge people solely on what faith they have (or don`t have) rather than how they behave with others then I feel sorry for you.

And your constant patronizing of (among others) Romair is also quite obvious and believe it or not, makes you look bad rather than him. ``Romair mian``? Are you trying to gain an upper hand just by reiterating over and over that you are older? Old age sometimes bestows wisdom and sagesse, but sometimes it bestows a crankiness and frustration. Although I may not agree with all that Romair says, but he must be given credit for never descending to mocking people and insulting them, at least he tries to put forward his points with logic and a clear head. Maybe you should keep your message but mould your methods old man.

Regards,
Irfan.

Mercy beau-coup? I just want to point out that Pakistan has given consular access to a person convicted of terrorism by the Supreme Court. India has refused consular access to Pakistani civilians (including women and children) incarcerated on charges of violating visa specifications and going to a city they were not authorized to visit. This contrast makes me feel a bit prouder of my country than I was before.

Regards,
Irfan.

The g Quotient is Education and Success Truly pathetic. Like Delhiwala pointed out, this article is getting scant attention while inflammatory prose is inciting a wide debate.

The g Quotient is Education and Success @Sachin,

Most of what you say makes a lot of sense. Raw IQ cannot be taken as a predictive barometer for success in relationships, but it can be used for predicting how successful at certain types of studies and careers a person would be. A high mathematical and spatial reasoning score might mean someone is more suited to theoretical physics, a high score in pattern recognition might point to a career in cryptography. You yourself quote that the g theorists` results are validated by studies, and math (statistics) doesn`t lie; given a large enough sample, you can say with high confidence what the chances of accuracy for a certain hypothesis are.

I do, however, take issue with your interpretation of how major scientific breakthroughs occur. You state ``...greatest ideas in science are a result of abstract creativity and tremendous empathy``, well, abstract reasoning I can agree with. But empathy (defined as ``Identification with and understanding of another`s situation, feelings, and motives``), even in tremendous portions will not rectify a lack of knowledge, intelligence and hard work.

The great Isaac Newton was once asked how he solved his hardest problems, his reply is classic: ``by working unto it``. Empathy may, or may not, provide the motivation to solve a scientific problem, but will never be the vehicle for finding the solution to it. Being in engineering research myself, I can safely say that most people in this domain are smarter than average which is counter-balanced by a lack of social skills. It`s just the way it is. Most of the great scientists of history were not ``people persons``, they rarely had an artistic bent, and seldom displayed empathy. If empathy were a prerequisite to science, Oppenheimer and Fermi would not have developed the A-bomb, and a significant amount of technological innovation would not be driven by the military-industrial complex.

Regards,
Irfan.

PS: I can understand the romantic appeal of this point-of-view, in fact it has been discussed here at chowk before.

HEC Juggernaut and Pervez Hoodbhoy Re: # 27 (Viewer),

WARNING: Off-topic.

You say ``Scientists hardly preach their own lack of faith``. There are numerous examples of scientists who have publicly and vociferously challenged the existance of God. Stephen Hawking is a vocal advocate of atheism, having discussed it with celebrities, one of his publications states ``there is no place for a Creator``. Hardy was a famous mathematician at the beginning of the 20th century, one of his (publicly stated) life goals was to prove mathematically that God does not exist, this was preceded only by the proof of the Reimann Hypothesis in his list of TODO things. In fact, the only believer among top-tier scientists that I have read about is Sir Isaac of the Newton`s Laws of Gravitation, but suffice it to say that at the time science was too nascent and religious dogma too well entrenched for him to have thought otherwise. Don`t get me wrong, this is not at all a condemnation of scientists. Matter of fact, I would love nothing more than to have enough faith to dismiss their arguments and convince myself of God`s existance, or have enough horse-power between my temples to convince myself, and others, of God`s inexistance. I guess this is the burden of physicists (and to some extent mathematicians) insofar as they are privy to the intricate workings of the universe and thus have questions vexing them far deeper than those any of us could conjure up.

You disagree with my statement of the government being justified in imposing things such as headscarves. Well, that`s your opinion, and it`s your right to have one different from mine, and vice versa.

As for the tshirt and Aryan supremacists in Israel, they were simply hypothetical examples of vocal minority viewpoints being foisted upon an orthodoxy that does not tolerate them, much like Dr Hoodbhoy and his atheism is not tolerated gracefully by the Islamic orthodoxy of Pakistani society (I did state that the examples were progressively more extreme).

Regards,
Irfan.

HEC Juggernaut and Pervez Hoodbhoy Re: # 20 (Viewer),

Don`t shoot the messenger. Like I said, I don`t think there should be any problem with a person being an atheist, but there IS.

1) In France, the government does not allow civil servants to wear headscarves at work; although I find this slightly oppressive, but I still think that the government has a right to enforce its own wish if they feel it is required. Nowhere in my post did I say that Dr Hoodbhoy should not BE an atheist, only that he tone it down a bit.

2) I believe that American foreign policy is wrong, but does that mean that the most effective way to bring about a change in American public opinion is to go there and start parading around Manhattan wearing a ``Down with Imperialist America`` t-shirt? NO.

3) Israelis would never tolerate an Aryan supremacist living among them, for understandable reasons.

The three examples I gave are progressively increasing in severity, and I`m sure everyone would conclude that the ``establishment`` being irritated would be justified in each. I live in a largely secular country, I have atheist friends, yet I never try to preach God to them. Does that mean I lose my faith? No. Similarly, if the good physicist does not preach or promote or advertise his atheism, does that make him less of an atheist? I don`t think so.

Regards,
Irfan.

PS: I think that our treatment of Dr Abdus-Salam was probably the worst example of religious persecution since the harassment of Galileo by the Catholic church. In the end, it was Pakistan that lost by a large margin, not Salam. Men like Salam will never want for nations that lay claim to him, but he will want for the nation that SHOULD have embraced him. The nobility of the man is that he did not reject Pakistan to the very end.

HEC Juggernaut and Pervez Hoodbhoy Dr Hoodbhoy is a very intelligent man, it is safe to say he probably has more grey-matter than anyone else at chowk. But the man courts too much controversy to be effective. Although the idealist in us would like to tear down the system and construct a perfect one, the pragmatist in us should advise us against such a course of action. Evolution is always a more effective tool than revolution.

Furthermore, it is never a great idea to antagonize the sensibilities of the milieu one is in. Dr Hoodbhoy wears his atheism on his sleeve; now, there is nothing wrong with being atheist, it`s a personal choice. But when you are in a country that is as decidedly religious as Pakistan, perhaps not flaunting the fact that you`re an atheist would get you farther, specially if your aims are noble (which I strongly believe his are). The same people who would rile at me for saying that he should hide or tone down his beliefs are perhaps the same who would say that muslims ought to conform when they are in the west, so I can safely say that conformance is a 2-way street.

Coming to HEC. Although I am not a beneficiary of any of its programs, but I know some people who are, and I know some of the programs. Apart from financing research in Pakistan and recruiting faculty from abroad, one of HEC`s main programs is financing Pakistani students` doctoral studies in Europe and other ``low-cost`` educational destinations. Every year, thousands of people apply and hundreds are accepted and sent abroad, they are paid a living stipend, and their fellowships are are paid for by the government of Pakistan. What is asked in return is that they come back and serve in a public or private educational organization in Pakistan for 5 years after completing their studies. I know for a fact that this year there were 92 people sent to France alone under this program, a number of others must also have gone to Germany, Scandinavia, Austria etc. Once this pipeline is full and there is output at the other end, we should see a significant improvement of the dismal higher education landscape of Pakistan.

Regards,
Irfan.

PS: Atheism seems to be a very common trait among scientists, e.g.: Hawking, Einstein, Hardy.

Changing Muslim Hearts Re: # 28 (nadsc),

Either you have misunderstood my point, or are deliberately ignoring it. Rational thought dictates that there be ``ifs`` ands ``buts`` when discussing any issue. If (see, it appeared) you are asking or advising people to make their sympathies, respect and admiration or even disdain for a person solely the color of his skin or the color of his passport, then I`m afraid I cannot side with you. As a humanist I must condemn the Islamic invasion of Europe and the Islamic rule in Spain, but if I do not condemn the British Raj then what exactly am I?

I quote the author ``Or at the very least, stifle our urges to say disparaging things in front of our kids``, now many people may find this a completely normal thing, but I see in it the beast of Orwellian thought raising its ugly head. However, later the author does say ``By all means, criticize its shortcomings, but in a context of concern, not condescension``, which is heartening.

By your own admission, this is a country where you have found ``respect, honesty and freedom``, yet you are unwilling to accord that same freedom to someone else who has a point of view not totally compatible with your own?

Regards,
Irfan.

Changing Muslim Hearts Good point Anne, we should visibly protest terrorist acts committed in our name. This will not only show the victims (9/11, 7/7 etc.) that we are not tacitly condoning them, but will also show the perpetrators that there is a sizeable segment of our society that does not consider them heros.

That said, maybe you should try and temper your indoctrination of patriotism to your children. Teach them humanism instead, imbibe in them the spirit to respect and admire all countries, not just the US of A. Instruct them to pay homage to the diversity of human existence rather than foaming at the mouth and swelling with pride every time the Stars and Stripes is staked in the capital of another sovereign nation. ``Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious`` said Oscar Wilde, truer words have seldom been spoken.

The world population has passed the 6 billion mark, the resources of the planet are stretched so thin that an overwhelming percentage of humanity is deprived. Add to that mix the competitive instinct of man and you have a sure-fire recipe for disaster. Humanity is a juggernaut rolling relentlessly towards an inevitable and ignoble end. I would be very surprised if there isn`t a string of major disasters during my lifetime that result in our auto-annihilation.

Regards,
Irfan Hamid.

Pardon, didn’t mean to kill you... Re: # 20 (kaalchakra),

I was not being critical of their behavior. If you read my account again you will find no malice in it. Of course I don`t blame them for acting the way they did, in fact, they probably behaved better than many of us might have had the roles been reversed. What I did was give an accurate account of the sad situation for Pakistans and Indians, indeed brown-skinned people of any country (as is evidenced by the killing of the Brazilian). Far be it from me to pass judgment, and I hope others won`t either.

Regards,
Irfan Hamid.

Pardon, didn’t mean to kill you... Very well-written article Beena. I do believe this is the first time we`re seeing eye-to-eye on an issue.

I was in the UK from the 13th to the 24th July, and after the 7th and 21st July attempts you can understand how jittery the police (and more so the public) was. On my last day I had to take the London Underground to get to Waterloo and catch the train out of England. I was carrying a backpack, I`m a Pakistani. Everyone around me in the carriage put 2 and 2 together and the game of furtive glances and uneasy fidgeting started. There was a middle-aged lady opposite me who was ostensibly reading a newspaper but obviously watching my every move, her thoughts couldn`t have been more clear; ``is he going to blow us up?``, ``does he have a bomb in there?``, ``should I get off at the next stop and wait for the next train?``. Everyone around me was on the edge of their seats, I could even see a couple of white-knuckled hands grasping knees in a morbid melange of dread and anticipation. Everyone was making a conscious effort not to look directly at me, whether it was the irrational fear of them not wanting to confront/aggravate/precipitate a perceived terrorist or whether it was the fear of exposing the fact that they were afraid of a brown man (and thus being labelled racist in this overly politically correct atmosphere) I will never know. As is my habit whenever I am about to pass an immigration checkpoint, I checked whether my passport and ticket were where I had left them. It was a big mistake, since the moment I opened the outside pocket of my rucksack, everyone stiffened, I stuck my arm in, and I heard the lady directly in front of me gasp. I took my passport out, satisfied that I had it, I tucked it back in. Waterloo station arrived a few seconds later and I got out. The exit was in the direction the Underground was travelling, when the carriage I had been in passed by a few seconds later, I noticed that my single-serving friends were now reclining in their seats, obviously weary from the nerve-wracking ordeal, but relaxed at its uneventful conclusion.

The Impact of the Greek Philosophers on Modern Education Wow, 3 out of the 4 links for webpages you gave are broken, some biblio you got there.

Irfan.

Project Mumbai Makeover: Casualties of Development @Cayenne,

Why not attack the article and its material rather than making unsubstantiated allegations on her assumed background and motivations?

Or is trouble in paradise so hard for you to bear that you must shore up your own perceptions by a quick link to the contrary? :)

Regards,
Irfan.

Our Turkic Connection Re: # 22 (Terranova),

Urdu means ``army`` in Turkish. The reason is that urdu was the language that evolved in the military bases of the invading muslim armies, which were a mixture of Arabs, Persians and Turks; which is also why our language is derived from these.

Who Created Pakistan? Re: # 27 (Charlie),

Yaar, forget that. I just read your ilog entry on the ``Statistics of flirting``. I was laughing so hard I damn near got a cramp in my stomach, specially the last sentence (I almost fell off my chair) ``Sachant qu`un homme sur 10 est homosexuel et que tous les pédés sucent, il vaut mieux s`adresser à un mec``.

Where did you find this gem?

Irfan.

Who Created Pakistan? cayenne,

You are quite an amusing person. But I think you are grinding your axe to a nub now. Everyone (Pakistanis, Indians, Americans, Europeans) agree that India is on the fast-track. Everyone knows you people have made the right choices for the past 3 or 4 decades and are reaping the rewards. It is one thing to rub something in someone else`s face; which in and of itself is not the epitome of grace and dignity, but is understandable nonetheless. It is, on the other hand, quite a different thing to harp on the same thing like a broken record.

Case in point is your incessant posting of images of metro systems of Indian cities and highways. It is an impressive achievement (far above anything we can expect in Karachi or Lahore anytime soon), but by no means singular; Tunis has had quite an impressive metro system for a couple of decades now.

Like I said, everyone knows that India has ``arrived``. So relax and enjoy the moment. Because after a certain point your histrionics ask the question of which side of the fine line dividing the inferiority and superiority complexes are you standing.

Regards,
Irfan.