Thursday, December 27, 2007

Benazir Bhutto

Sadly, her death was entirely predictable.

I was attending USC when Indira Gandhi was assassinated in nearby India. Like Bhutto, Gandhi rose to power as a member of a powerful political family, and served multiple terms as Prime Minister of her country. I had a Sikh and an Indian Muslim as two of my roommates at the time. When I got back to my apartment that night they were throwing a party and had invited all of their friends over. They were literally giddy with happiness.

I could only contrast their reaction to the weay the American people reacted when JFK was assassinated. There were no Protestants in the streets celebrating, the Republican Party did not rejoice. We were all stunned, sickened and saddened.

All in all, it was a pretty graphic demonstration for me of just how different cultures could be, and put the final nail in the coffin of multiculturalism as far as I was concerned. ( I was a Political Science/Internation Relations double major at the time)

There will be plenty of violence and celebrating in Pakistan in the week to come. Hopefully things won't get too destabilized.

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