A Closer Look - Voltaire's quote

If you've been around in the blogging world for a while, you must have come across the following sentence - attributed to Voltaire, the French philosopher and writer - stated by someone either in his post or in the comments, in defense of either free speech or someone else's comment, usually about an issue that's controversial:

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Perhaps you yourself have quoted the above words while feeling good and holier-than-thou about it, not that there's anything wrong with feeling holier-than-thou once in a while. The words seem so right and attributable to Voltaire (or a similar writer of his stature), having a ring of finality to them and conveying their progressive and liberal credentials in fewer than twenty words, while giving the person who quotes the French writer, an instant moral bump. It is quite another matter whether the person really means it and is willing, till his last breath, to stand between an angry mob and a controversial writer, but I digress.

Would it then come as a surprise to you to know that Voltaire never said or wrote those words? It is a drawback of attributing certain words to famous people, that most readers who are not familiar with the actual works but respect the person who is considered a hero, will accept such words without bothering to dig a little deeper. The other issue with insta-quotes like these is that many won't bother to look up the preceding and succeeding sentences, or the context, or the specific situation under which the words were penned or uttered, knowledge of which can not only alter, but sometimes reverse the meaning of such words, or make them not as universal as they are made out to be. I myself have been fooled on more than one occasion before I decided to not accept such pithy quotes attributed to famous people, without first doing my research. Our fast-paced lives today, a desire to adopt labels using top-down approach instead of bottom-up, and quotes that nicely fit in and advance a partisan or ideological cause, all contribute to misquotes spreading like wildfires.

So what exactly did François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire was his pen name) write, and how did he become the author of that quote?

The phrase can be traced back to Evelyn Beatrice Hall who wrote the biography The Friends of Voltaire, published in 1906; and the actual quote, while not written by Voltaire, supposedly reflects his views on the subjects of liberty and censorship. Here's from wikipedia*:

Hall intended to summarize in her own words Voltaire's attitude towards Claude Adrien Helvétius and his controversial book De l'esprit, but her first-person expression was mistaken for an actual quotation from Voltaire. Her interpretation does capture the spirit of Voltaire’s attitude towards Helvetius; it had been said Hall's summary was inspired by a quotation found in a 1770 Voltaire letter to an Abbot le Roche, in which he was reported to have said, “I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.” Nevertheless, scholars believe there must have again been misinterpretation, as the letter does not seem to contain any such quote.

Moral of the story: research your heroes before you decide to be a hero and imitate them.

While Voltaire was no stranger to controversy or censorship when he was alive, nothing could be more ironic than some Muslims, more than two centuries after Voltaire's death, demanding a cancellation of his play in none other than (double irony!) his home country.

Makes you wish that he had actually written those words, and perhaps in another 200 years, we will have a society where no violence occurs over staging of a play and we won't need to misquote Voltaire any more.

* usual caveat about wikipedia applies
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Life imitates art

When I read this news about a banana gun robber who bungled his robbery attempt, the first thought that came to my mind was Bill Naughton's short story titled "Seventeen Oranges", where the protagonist is caught stealing oranges and comes up with an ingenuous solution to get rid of the evidence - all seventeen pieces of it.

At least John Szwalla had to eat only one banana, and he didn't even eat the peel.
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Buzz about Bees

Did you know that honeybees have a circadian clock, just like we do? It helps them get to the flowers right around the time when they are producing nectar. Or that the bees can work out the position of their food source from its position in relation to the sun, and even cloudy days can't deter them? All this information is passed on to their sisters through the "waggle dance" - translation of which won the Austrian ethologist Karl von Frisch a Nobel prize.

Now that the bee colonies have been mysteriously collapsing since 2006, and this has affected some crops, these little insects have appeared into the spotlight and we've realized the indispensable role they play in pollinating our crops worldwide and how much dependent our food supply is on bees. Scientists and researchers don't know yet what caused the collapse of bee colonies, but fingers have been pointed at the monoculture of crops, use of pesticides, a pathogen, stress caused by transporting bees across long distances, or a combination of more than one of these factors. Instances similar to CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) have been documented since 1896, so it could be a cyclical event, the exact reasons for which aren't well understood or known. Which tells us how fragile the interconnected web of life is and how much we take it for granted.

You can read the full article here [may require registration] which describes in interesting detail the life of honeybees, their circadian rhythms and their in-built GPS. Go read the column, but to conclude, I'll quote James Gould's (an ethologist at Princeton University) words from it:

"When a human decides whether to recommend a restaurant, taking into account its menus, the tastes of the friend being advised, the cost of the food, the distance to the establishment, the ambience of the dining room, the ease of parking and all the other factors that enter into such a decision, we have little hesitation in attributing conscious decision-making to the calculation. When a small frenetic creature enclosed in an exoskeleton and sprouting supernumerary legs and a sting performs an analogous integration of factors, however, our biases spur us to look for another explanation, different in kind."

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Jal Neti works

Not that I needed any confirmation or validation as I've been quite satisfyingly using a neti pot for a couple of years without knowledge of any studies, and it has helped relieve my sinus problems, but it was nice to see this article in NYT [may require registration] mention some independent studies verifying the claims that nasal irrigation can reduce symptoms of allergies. Here's quoting from the article [emphasis mine]:

"In one independent study in 2008, researchers examined a group of children with severe allergies. They found that regular nasal irrigation with a mild saline solution significantly eased symptoms and helped reduce the need for steroid nasal sprays. A 2007 study at the University of Michigan looked at 121 adults with chronic nasal and sinus problems. Over two months, the scientists found that those treated with nasal irrigation reported greater improvements than those treated with a spray."

I'd been aware of jal neti since my childhood, but had never tried it till about three years ago when I was suffering from a severe case of cold and blocked sinuses. After coming to the US, I would always get a chuckle out of the ceramic neti pot sitting on the shelf in the 'health and beauty aids' section at the local co-op, like Alladin's lamp straight from the Arabian Nights. It just seemed very incongruous in a society where popping pills as a quick-fix for all kinds of ailments is second nature. Still, it was a common fixture in alternative health stores, available to those who were open to exploring holistic health and living their lives chemical-free - or at least free of chemicals sold by the pharmaceutical companies.

The fact that the neti pot was entering the mainstream became apparent when about three years ago, I saw it being sold at the local drugstore (part of a huge chain store) - even though it was a plastic one and without the fancy packaging or statements that appeal to New-Age folks here. Still, at $15 it was a much better deal than buying inhalers and steroids on a regular basis, and all you needed was warm water and pure salt (free of caking agents), and some resolve.

I bought mine from Health & Yoga - a nice stainless steel pot with a pointed spout which makes it easier to use, as compared to the ceramic pot, and after trying it for 2-3 times, it was quite easy to get the hang of it. The neti pot came with detailed instructions on how to use it, an anatomical description of sinus cavities and the respiratory system, and what jal neti does. A CD with video instructions was also available for extra payment, but I didn't get that. Some people have a fear of pouring water in their noses and using a neti pot can seem a bit daunting, but once you get past that fear, there's nothing like jal neti to relieve allergies or sinus problems. The best part is that unlike drugs, there are no known side-effects of jal neti if done correctly.

And after having practiced jal neti, I could tell that the sketch used in the NYT article was quite inaccurate. Compare this (from NYT):











to this (from Health & Yoga):

See the difference? The second picture more accurately shows the posture, whereas looking at the first picture, it seems that the person is snorting water up one nostril and letting it out through the other.

It'll be interesting to see how those Indians, who look to the West to validate anything from India before accepting it, respond to the independent studies on jal neti and whether they give credit where credit is due. The pharmaceutical companies can rest for a while since I doubt that the simple, effective and inexpensive technique of jal neti has become popular to the extent that it will take a bite out of their profits.
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A Book Tag

Shefaly tagged me with the book meme, and it's been a while since my last tag, so here goes.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Either Agatha Christie or Isaac Asimov. Haven't done an exact count.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
At present, most likely The Gods Themselves by Asimov. Somehow, I ended up buying two copies. (Too lazy to go downstairs and check the bookcase.)

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not really. I'm somewhat laid-back when it comes to grammar as long as I get the intent.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Hmmm....when there are real-life characters to be in love with, why settle for a fictional one? Nevertheless, I used to have a crush on Modesty Blaise during my teenage years.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams. Also Agatha Christie novels as well as Calvin & Hobbes.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Gee, I don't remember. Champak? Nandan? Chacha Chaudhary? I think Enid Blyton, Asterix, Tintin, Hardy Boys and Amar Chitra Katha all came later.

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
Can't really think of a book that I thought was worst among the ones I read last year.

8) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

9) If you could force everyone you know to read one book, what would it be?
Undoubtedly, Earth in Mind by David Orr. It's a collection of insightful and thought-provoking essays on life, education and nature that everyone must read, especially college students. As a companion to it, I'd add Srimad Bhagvad Gita, or any book that distills its philosophy.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Don't really care.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Books by Munshi Premchand. I'm talking to you, Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Kashyap. It's my pet peeve that Indian/Hindi/Bollywood films have not done justice to the vast body of literature from different Indian states and writers. Instead of copying Hollywood movies, it'd be a treat if they brought to screen stories from India that are waiting to be told.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Eh. It all depends on the director's vision and skills.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
If I had such a dream, I don't remember it.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
I plead the fifth.

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Though I never got past 50 pages or so even after more than one attempt. Swimming in molasses would've been far easier.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
None as yet.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
French. They have Maupassant and Victor Hugo.

18) Roth or Updike?
Neither. I haven't read any books by them, and doesn't look like that'll be changing anytime soon. No reason to pick up a book written by either.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Neither. Though I have listened to some shows on radio where David Sedaris read excerpts from his books, and I enjoyed his self-deprecating sense of humor.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Why these three?

21) Austen or Eliot?
Hardy. :-)

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Doesn't the question assume that there should be no gaps in reading, and that one should be embarrassed of it? Which is illogical, given the breadth of topics/subjects out there and finite time everyone has.

Recently, I realized a gap in my knowledge of Indian history, and that high school history lessons (whatever I remember) and Bharat Ek Khoj were not only insufficient, but provided a very narrow perspective. So I'm in the process of learning more about the subject.

23) What is your favorite novel?
Don't really have any favorite novel, but Agatha Christie's books still keep me entertained, even on repeated readings.

24) Play?
I remember being fascinated by Vijay Tendulkar's Ghasiram Kotwal that I saw at the Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi during my college years. Some of the street theater plays performed by Bread and Puppet here in Boston were quite impressive and an education in how to do more with simple props, though I'm not sure I entirely agree with their ideological perspective.

25) Poem?
A bit dark and somewhat caustic, but Philip Larkin's This Be The Verse comes to mind.

26) Essay?
What is Education for? by David Orr.

27) Short story?
I remember a ghost story by Ruskin Bond (I think) about how a new teacher at a school in a town encounters a student and a watchman with, um, interesting physical features. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is another one.

28) Work of nonfiction?
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts.

29) Who is your favorite writer?
David Orr, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Asimov, Daniel Quinn, Ralph Nader, to name a few.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Dan Brown.

31) What is your desert island book?
How to Survive and Thrive on a Desert Island: A Reference Guide sounds pretty good to me.
/tongue-in-cheek

32) And… what are you reading right now?
Looking forward to reading Indian Philosophy: A Critical Survey by Chandradhar Sharma.

I tag:
Nita
Vikram
Zen
Carla
Der
Megan

If anyone else would like to take up the tag, please feel free to do so.
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