"Mai knew that Beirut had taught her to accept diversity and resist prejudice." Is this the same Beirut that I grew up in? The same Beirut that I know. Beirut is a school of prejudices: it is based on all the corrupting values of the hierarchies of wealth, power, prestige, and skin color. Beirut is a a graduate school of hate, animosities, sectarianism, and very rigid lines of class demarcations. To speak about diversity in Beirut is like speaking about brotherhood in the deep South during the era of segregation. And when Lebanonese advocates write such absurdities, do they think that they are being smart, or do they think that they are deceiving the White Man in the hope of winning his approval? And why do Lebanonese think that the world has forgotten about Lebanon's civil war--I mean history of civil wars?