Tag: Israel

Do not disturb: Essay in Progress

I probably won’t post much here in the next 24 hours. I’m trying to cut 2,000 words out of my essay on the wisdom literature. I got a bit carried away.

Here’s a paragraph that didn’t make the grade.

“The assumption that the permeation of foreign theology into Israel was a one-way osmosis is untenable in the light of the Biblical account. This idea, that foreign wisdom, and religious practices, seeped readily across Israel’s borders, but did not go both ways is not consistent either with the biblical account, especially the account of Solomon’s reign – our suggested key to unlocking the purpose of the wisdom literature.”

And by “our” I mean “my”…

And another off-cut:

“It seems that Israel was a participant in an international wisdom conversation, engaging in rich theological discourse both at home and abroad. This conversation was analogous to the conversation occurring in the pages of today’s peer-reviewed journals, serving to keep the nation of Israel focused on Yahweh despite the distractions of foreign gods, and offering a wisdom grounded firmly in the fear of the Lord to surrounding nations.”

Good news for bad brands

A study profiling relationships between 21 countries – coincidentally the 21 countries in the map above – has revealed that while all the usual suspects are still generally disliked worldwide, yesterday’s rogue state is today’s favourite son. Germany, who surely would not have scored this well in the 1940s, is the world’s most popular country according to the BBC  survey measuring populace sentiment in each of the 21 countries.

If Germany can hit the top spot there’s hope yet for Iran, Israel and Pakistan. This year’s losers.

Japan’s  top for finish is further proof that World War 2 is truly behind us. 

If these countries can recover market perception in this way there’s still hope for brands that have lost face with the general public. Perhaps Nestle* or other evil brands will find themselves clawing up the charts if they do what Germany and Japan did  – stop being evil. 

The Obama brand also had a minor effect on the US ratings. It will be interesting to see how much movement there is on that front next year. 

*I don’t know if Nestle is still evil, I just couldn’t think of anybody worse.