The Brave Pedestrian

We suffer from a collective grand delusion  that while we feed on, use and exploit other creatures, nothing feeds on us and exploits us.  We fondly believe that we are at the top of the food chain on Planet Earth, and that this planet is a self-contained kingdom, more or less isolated and insulated from the rest of the cosmos. We believe that except for an asteroid striking this planet, or some such cataclysmic event, we are safe from the universe because except for sunlight and starlight, nothing much comes and goes between here and the rest of the cosmos. We believe especially that while there are all sorts of natural phenomena influencing the course of our lives, there is nothing out there with a  will to exploit us,  use us and prey on us. In other words, we believe that humans are their own worst enemies, and that they have no natural enemies that cannot be dealt with a shot of vaccine or antibiotics. We try collectively to maintain this illusion by thinking ...

A certain prophet who existed 1500 years ago is said to have decreed that women should completely cover their bodies and faces in a largely shapeless, dull-coloured garment and veil. Why? To render them unattractive to males… To prevent males from getting the slightest glimpse of their femininity… To sanitize their interaction with males and to render their communication sexless, genderless. I wonder what the good prophet (peace be upon him) would have to say if he could see that 1500 years later, some men and women wouldn't even see one another, and communicate facelessly, voicelessly and even namelessly with only alphabets on a glass or plastic screen. "Wonderful! The faces and voices of both men and women are completely veiled! Praise the Lord!" he might have said in an ecstacy. And then some worldly soul would have gently and painstakingly introduced the immortal prophet to the ways of the blogosphere, chatspace, email, Facebook... "Well, I sense t...