Wednesday, January 03, 2007

(Mis)Fortune Telling in Lebanon. I have written before about a Lebanese fortunate teller (and a well-known charlatan) by the name of Michel Hayik. And on Michel Hayik, all Lebanese seem to agree. They avidly follow his "predictions" on Lebanese TV stations. And if you really want to bore me please tell me about his "predictions". His appearance on LBC-TV on New Year's Eve caused a big stir. His claim to fame was that he had "predicted" prior to Hariri's assassination that something may happen in the Solidaire area. Well, Hariri was not assassinated there, but for his fans it was sufficient. So now people say that he predicted Hariri's assassination. He names 30 or more politicians in Lebanon as being in danger, and when one gets killed people take that as a sign of his powers. So he predicted a few days ago that something may happen at the Lebanese House of Justice, so the Lebanese government added security measures in the area--I kid you not--based on that guy's "predictions"? Have you seen that episode of the Twighlight Zone about the napkins' dispenser which also tells fortune? Well, Hayik does not even dispense napkins. But Walid Jumblat added a new twist: he accused the fortune tellers in Lebanon of being part of the Syrian-Iranian conspiracy that he is facing. I kid you not.