The poet Robert Burns, watching a louse crawl around a rich woman's head, was inspired to write a poem that contains a line to the effect that we need to see ourselves as others see us.

I just read a blog by an Arab woman, obviously educated, that is livid with hatred for us for the destruction of Iraq. She dismisses the excuse of those who say they didn't vote for the present administration.

What follows is a summary. She says: "My problem is you; your character, your behaviour, your haughtiness, arrogance, false pride, denial, collective stupidity and ignorance, your way of life, which I find boring, distasteful and empty. You are ogres of consumerism, greedy, covetous, gluttonous, voracious, jealous, envious. You are nothing, and your nihilism contaminates everything else. You destroy and self-destruct."

She closes by saying: "Iraq is going down with its past and its future. I can only promise you one thing. However long it may take, we are going to take you down with us."

Hatred & Fear