Fast food 

«De fait, nous sommes tous infinement plus proches de nos contemporains que de nos ancêtres. Serais-je en train d´exagérer si je disais que j´ai bien plus de choses en commun avec un passant choisi au hasard dans une rue de Prague, de Séoul, ou de San Francisco, que´avec mon propre arrière-gran-père?»

Indeed, any person chosen at random from those who walk the streets of Prague or San Francisco have more in common with me than my great-grandparents and, of course, I don´t mean the physical aspect or the tools that surround us, but rather the way of thinking.

While it´s true that A.M. in a paragraph on page 118 it assumes that all people, or almost, no longer see the Hell as a concrete physical place as if it were in Asia Minor because they had transmitted it from generation to generation, with the devils throwing sinners to eternal fire, I bet that today there are many more people who still believe in these things that, naively, Mr Maalouf believes they are. There is growth throughout Europe - I am not going to leave this continent because it is considered the most advanced geopolitical space in the world - of ultraconservative parties that proliferate in many corners of our 'welfare state'.

Yes, Amin, if we neglect ourselves, and if these groups reach enough power, we risk being stoned in the street, thrown into a dungeon or burned on a stake for being impious, heretics or sorcerers.

Section four of Chapter III ends with total support -to which I add- to food and music, taken as an example of what it should be. The author —whom I personally do not know— seems to like a good table and rejoices with the culinary traditions of any country in the world, and as he rejoices tasting dishes from the four corners of the planet, he also declares that recipes coming from Sichuan, Aleppo, Champagne, Hanover, Pouilles or Milwaukee should be appreciated throughout the world.

As for music, never have so many people had the opportunity to play, compose, sing and be heard as today and that must be protected.

Food, music, what is said of them could be said of many other aspects of current culture. Precisely this empathic position open to the future would be a wonderful way to fight against the impoverished and infantile globalization that the fast food and the American television series impose on us.

From my Borstal.

LDR

Les Identités meurtrières. Amin Maalouf. Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, 1998. Edition 13-mai 2009 Paris