Fight Fundamentalism, Embrace the Urb!
Now we mourn with Egypt. We dearly hope that all those injured at Sharm el Sheik recover and that the world has the fortitude to withstand this.
There is a degree to which these attacks, and all ‘fundamentalist’ attacks, are an attack against cities. Fundamentalists strike out against complexity. They attack the idea that people from different places and with different points of view can do more than just co-mingle, they can thrive… and where do they do that? In cities.
Cities are where we make the connections to form a new paradigmatic synthesis. We take our old traditions, are confronted with new ones, and out of that, yield a new way to live that involves the most productive elements of all. It sounds corny but it’s true.
I have met more Indian people in the past year who like Reggaeton than I would ever have imagined. I also know more people studying middle eastern dance than I’d have believed. When everyone gets together, the two merge. It’s an amazing to see people belly dancing to Reggaeton. Fundamentalists hate that.
What they really hate is that people work out their differences and get along. We send our best wishes to Egypt and to everyone who has suffered loss. We live in cities precisely to thwart the wretched scum who try to blow up people trying to get along.