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renatoobeidsworld   Friday, February 13, 2004   WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION Spot quiz – what's 7+1? If your answer was 8, congratulations – you're a genius! Anywhere in the world, 7+1=8. In Lebanon, 7+1=TROUBLE! To wit, this piece from today's Daily Star, "Beirut’s Chief Investigating Magistrate Hatem Madi concluded investigations on Thursday into a case brought by Beirut’s public prosecution against the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) television station, for stirring sectarian strife. LBC had broadcast a news bulletin on June 31, 2002, following the murder of eight employees of the Teachers’ Fund at UNESCO. The news report had hinted that the victims were shot for sectarian reasons, as they were all of the same religion" Sectarianism is an ugly beast that Lebanon can well do without but is it sectarian to merely report the news – i.e. the full identities of the victims? Is it sectarian to say that one plus one is two, to put two and two together and seven and one together and come up with eight? Quite simply, seven of the victims were of the one religion and it wasn’t the religion of the murderer. What's wrong with stating that? Is that a crime? Since when do we have Math's Police in this country? Why shoot the messenger? The murderer was dealt with by a fair non-sectarian judiciary and duly executed. 11:58 am

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