Bill Gates, the richest man in the World, has given 34.5 Billion Dollars to the neediest in the world. The money has been well- and inventively spent. Gates does not seem to be cruel or fearful, though his business rivals might not agree.
The Saudi have spent a comparable amount proselytizing Asians in the beliefs of Wahhabism. The money has not been well sent: only Qatar and the Islamic State are convinced, and Qatar is lightly convinced. Most people do not like Wahhabism.
Not all rich folks are so generous as the Gates family.
In Paul Krugman's analogy:
Take someone whose personality might have been merely disagreeable under normal circumstances, and give him the kind of wealth that lets him surround himself with sycophants and usually get whatever he wants. It’s not hard to see how he could become almost pathologically self-regarding and unconcerned with others.
And see The Rich Have Higher Level of Narcissism, Study Shows | TIME.com
Hubris is the Greek word for it: In Greek tragedy excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods, leads to Nemesis. In modern terms, "the people" tends to replace "the gods".
"Nemesis" is a goddess who punishes o'rerweening pride or presumption.
Where, Oh where! is Nemesis now that we need her!
New Saud King Salman is surely guilty of hubris. His hubris is compounded by the fear that the Islamic State [IS], a co-religionist jihadist group, desires to take control of Mecca, thereby confirming its claim to be the Caliphate.
The king also fears his own clergy, which believes that the king and his kin may not b sufficiently committed to Wahhabism. That fear is compounded by the Kingdom's establishment, on Saudi soil, of a large, sell-designed co-educational university, where women attend, their hair in Open Display. O Horrible! O Catastrophe Appealing!
To combine hubris with fear and great wealth is to visit terror on all the king has the power to harm.
Here is a picture of Himself, his Son -- who is in charge of the massacre of helpless Yemeni and with the Defense of he Realm from IS -- and His Nephew -- whose job it it to assure that the populace adheres to every jot and tittle of Wahhabism jurisprudence, the official dogma of the Saudi and also of tIS.
A picture commissioned by Himself, showing Son and Nephew, for he edification of His people.
In addition to slaughtering Yemeni and financing Salafi jihadists in Syria, , the King is busy beheading his own people. See the Huffington Post, Saudi Execution Of Shiite Cleric Draws Worldwide Protests. The New York Times and the Washington Post did not report the tory, out of, well, respect for the quandary the Administration fins itself in. The Wall Street Journal did, from the Saudi perspective.
Beheadings are not so bad as American justice, which imprisons more men than any other country on earth and which delights in Indefinite Solitary Confinement, which may last for life without judicial review and which generally results in madness. The beheaded is quickly dead; dead's dead, and the beheaded is quickly out of it.
Lashings are worse, and Saudi like lashings.
Blogger Receives 1,000 Strokes Of Cane, 10 Years Imprisonment For Criticizing Muslim Clerics
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