"The Pope and all the Idiot Americans..."

I love taking my laptop to the local book store to work. A nice fresh cup of coffee, the surrounding piles of completed work to inspire me, and the steady procession of interesting people. Generally, people watching is an activity I throw in between writing my notes, a way to temporarily rest the mind and keep a rhythm of working going. Sometimes, however, as in any other public situation, you only find yourself infuriated.

The purposefully amplified cell-phone conversation came from the middle table in my favorite local Borders store, being sustained almost entirely by a middle-aged Fara-Khan dressed man with a Jesse Jackson tone and attitude.

"You know what tha problem IS, brotha: It's like I say in all my classes: the Europeans gots it all figured out: you need a mistress."

My ears shot up. This was going to be good. I had already deduced -- by force rather than by voyeurism -- that this man was a professor at some local college. His "lecture" continued:

"It's not about morALity, brotha, but just about releasin' some pressure. It's a win-win, brotha: you get your fun, and she gets supported. But all the stupid Puritans in this country, they just can't get on board..."

Finishing this conversation, he proceeded closer to my work area, greeting all the older men around him. He began to engage in a conversation about the cover-story in Time Magazine (that great scholarly source) about global warming:

"Yeah, brotha, I tell you what: It's like I say in my clASSes, we need population control. Not just the humans, but the animals too!"

I was doubtlessly entertained at this point.

"The Chinese have already started to limit their births, but the Pope and all the idiot Americans can't get on board. Don't they realize our limited resources?"

He shook his head in disdain, bid his friend farewell, and presumably went to spread his learned wisdom to his next group of unfortunate students.

Apparently, Time magazine is a scholarly source. Apparently, this supposedly educated man would advocate planet-wide sterilization programs, despite the fact that the world has more food, resources, and space than it knows what to do with. Apparently, in all his enlightened wisdom, this man has no problem treating one woman as a wife, and another as a glorified prostitute. Apparently, these "beliefs" and "opinions" are somehow tolerated in the company of the academic elite.

There is nothing else I need to say here.