LA Times:

Gunmen killed Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet member Wednesday in a hail of bullets outside his house in Islamabad, the second assassination this year of a top Pakistani official who had opposed the country’s controversial blasphemy law.

The assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, the country’s minority affairs minister, underscored the reach of extremism in a Muslim, nuclear-armed country founded on the principles of minority inclusion, as well as the government’s inability to protect its minorities.

I was going to call Pakistan “the basket case of the world.” But before doing so, I looked up the original meaning of the expression “basket case” and found it to be this: “[A] British slang for a quadruple amputee during World War I.” How dreadful. I thought it just meant nuts, cuckoo, crackbrained, bonkers. How did one become the other? From a terrible physical condition to a mental disorder? Never again will I call something, even something as sad as the country of Pakistan, a basket case.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

6 replies on “God-Crazy Pakistan”

  1. Basket case meant “helpless, has to be carried around in a basket”. It may be a stretch to go from one to the other, but not much of one.

  2. Good Morning Charles,
    Many years ago like you, I looked up the idiomatic phrase “basket case” and was surprised to discover its origin. I actually saw a documentary that featured a photo of a WW I vet who was actually in one, a basket. Quite humbling.

    As for Pakistan, first Bhutto now Bhatti. The country is convulsing. RIP Shabaz Bhatti.

    I believe fanatic violence is to blame. Whether one believes there is a God or not, fantacism comes in all beliefs.

  4. Charles

    Basket cases became basket cases because the prospect of living 40 or 50 more years totally limbless/helpless/dependent on a nurse to wipe one’s ass and feed one, would drive most formerly able-bodied men fucking crazy.

    Now, go look up “trench coat.” And “over the top.” Our language is full of Great War terms that have lost their original horrific meanings. Paul Fussell’s great book, The Great War and Modern Memory, should be next on your reading list.

    Bill

  5. @2 Obviously fanaticism is to blame, and in this instance that fanaticism is clearly religiously inspired. Their cult preaches complete subservience to an invisible magic man who commands them to murder apostates. Seems a bit fanatical to me.

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