A Tale Of Two Minds

Michael Totten pointed me to a fascinating post by Lebanon Profile at Lebanese Political Journal. It's a look at the many facets of thought in Lebanese political life--the many facets of thought in individual Lebanese, actually. Michael Totten says that Lebanon has more opinions than people. The conclusion I draw from reading both his writing and Lebanon Profile's is that many Lebanese hold what we would think are extremely conflicting ideas very comfortably in one brain. LP examines how it's possible for someone to genuinely support Hezbollah, and yet not hate Israelis or want to destroy Israel at the same time. He looks at individual Lebanese who have close relationships with Israeli Jews, and yet vote for Hezbollah in elections. Confused? I am still a bit confused myself, even after reading the post. Western thought and Middle Eastern thought simply are not the same animal, but Lebanon Profile does explain it well, and I understand the truly foreign politics of Lebanon a lot better than I did. As the conflict between Israel, Hezbollah and Lebanon continues, it can only help the situation for as many people as possible to gain insight into the thinking of "the other." It may not change conditions on the ground now, but it holds hope for the future, and if ever there was a situation that needed some hope...