so, yeah, graceland counts, too.

frank, i don’t get why this is so perplexing. ’splain it for the slow kids in the back of the class, please.

…back to your original point. I think.

I remember reading once - I think it might have been Herbert Marcuse - about the TIME-ification, the condensation and reduction of language in the news media. The media labelling. ie ‘the holy city of…’ Take an adjective and a noun, combine them, and the label sticks. The lingo of briefing mechanisms.

Imagine a factory somehwere that does this.

‘The phlegmatic technologist Frank Paynter.’

That you may or may not be either phlegmatic or a technologist becomes irrelevant. The label sticks. No one doubts or questions the meme.

‘The radical cleric…’ ‘Presidential hopeful’ ‘ ‘the troubled region of…’ and so on.

And so why is Najaf holy?

At least I know why Bethlehem is holy. It’s the birthplace of steel. But yeah…Najaf?

Frank, get your history right. The Prod aspect of Norn Iron is Scots!

Don’t get me started.

Dublin is more English than Belfast ever was or ever will be.

That’s where I was going with the Belfast bit. And it’s deep and I’ll grant that there are too many true believers. But at the bottom are the cynical power mongers who manipulate that faith.

Is there anyone else I might offend?

Dresden. Now there was a holy city.

Tokyo. The fire bombing did wonders for the construction trades.

Hiroshima.

I know that Bethlehem is quite the tourist Mecca…

whoa!!! Mecca!

and how about Oakland?

What makes a holy city a holy city, and if there is such a thing, isn’t it a little bizarre that you might think it holy but no major gob smackage occurs for me when I visit?

Which side of Sharon’s wall is Bethlehem on I wonder?

Please cite one instance of a Prod referring to Belfast as a holy city.

Or are you implying that Belfast is a wattle and daub village? If so you really should pay a visit. Okay so that’s not about to happen for you I suppose but still…

And I’m not certain I’ve ever heard
the media refer to Belfast as a holy city. What are you thinking here Frank?

There’s nothing holy about Belfast.

Other than that you’re right about the politics and power aspect of warfare. Still, I’m not sure than religion and all its holy rollers can be amputated from the body politic.

i think it might be fair to say that the city has some special, unique, religious significance to some people. of greater religious significance than, say, brooklyn, i imagine. tho what could be holier than a new york deep dish pizza, you’d have to ask them.