The Politics of Envy

Owners of behemoths aka 4-wheel drives often, pathetically accuse their monsters' critics of envy. Likewise, 'it's all down to envy' is the typical knee-jerk response of The Australian's foreign editor, Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan, whenever Islamist terrorists strike. Except that this time, Sheridan's predictable response to the Mumbai attacks was upstaged by the following wonderful (29/11/08) skewer to the editor:-

"In his explanation of the recent vicious crimes in Mumbai, Greg Sheridan (Attack on closer ties with Pakistan, 28/11) writes: 'This is a devastating assault on India, its democracy, its way of life and its brilliant economy, all of which incite envy and hatred from Islamic extremists'. The 'devastating assault' bit I agree with, but then my enthusiasm for Sheridan's words fall away rapidly. Do the three-quarters of India's 1.1 billion people who live on less than $2 a day know that their way of life is the subject of impassioned envy? Do the half of India's children who are suffering from malnourishment know that they have been blessed with brilliant economic times? If India's economy turned out not to be so brilliant after all, and India's way of life was something not to be envied, would that mean that the reasons for the Mumbai attacks were a little further below the surface than Sheridan cares to scratch?" Andrew Laslett, Norwood South, SA