Last among equals: Profiled in the Guardian as part of a week-long investigation
into the state of Muslim Britain, Imran Khan, solicitor, argues: 'In the
end racism is just another brand of unequal treatment. Inequality in our society
is increasing and for those at the bottom things are getting worse. Racism is
bred by inequality.
'Look at Oldham for example, a very poor white community turns on an even
poorer Asian one over ever scarcer resources. On a global scale, inequality
and injustice breed the growing confrontation in the world between the US and
its allies and its enemies.
'Many Muslims are among the poorest of the world. It is no wonder that millions
consider this discrimination against Muslims. It is a terrible social system
that discriminates against the vast billions whose lives are blighted by hard
labour and poverty.
'We need a society that is dedicated to equality in every field of life
and we need political leaders with the courage to say so. It's a small word,
equality, but it is the key to all our futures.' [Guardian].
We are Google: Google currently delivers 3,190,000 entries for 'Islam'; 832,000 entries for 'Judaism'. Which tells us what? More Jews than Muslims use the internet? Jews have a greater interest in comparative religion? 'Man' gets 69,400,000 entries; 'Woman', 22,400,000; 'Mars', 7,700,000; 'Venus', 2,390,000. So? We're living in a feminised world that's desperately searching for a better understanding of what men want? [Smackdown].
Imagine a world in which everybody had access to the internet. The ability to peer into the word rankings of particular communities would give an amazing, dynamic insight into collective thought processes. Reworked continuously, word rankings would mirror our minds, the minds of our neighbours, our enemies.
English and Brazilian word rankings are bound to be quite different from each other. Would subtle changes in Google word rankings precede sporting fixtures? elections? wars? earthquakes. . ?
The zeitgeist according to Google is currently biased towards the West and the US and towards English. But Google's ability for capturing the essence of what's going on can already be seen: the top word for September 2001 was 'Nostradamus'. [Google Zeitgeist].
Want to know if the Brazilians are shaking at the prospect of meeting England in the World Cup? Give it a couple of years. By 2006, the 10 O'Clock News will consist of nothing but analyses of the Google sporting zeitgeist by the BBC's chief Google editor and a professor in Google studies. [First Monday].
In a nutshell: Wacky theories survive and become religions when they contain, beneath the mind control and the imposition of absurd rules, the idea that runs through all enduring institutions of humanity: the ethic of reciprocity. Amen to that. [The golden rule].
