When Shanie is critical about "tribal instincts" she seems to find them only in those who abhor terrorism, especially, in those who have been visibly happy about the defeat of the LTTE. She has no problem with the kind of tribalism that the LTTE used to unleash for thirty years. Perhaps she is unable to brand it as tribalism because Prabhakaran did not care whether he killed his own people or others. When Prabhakaran’s barbarism was triumphant, the voices which Shanie brands as smacking of tribalism were drowned in sounds of exploding bombs.

For nearly thirty years, the common people of all "tribes" in this country had to either die or watch their fellowmen dying. People were shocked and silenced but that silence was not branded as a manifestation of tribalism. If the way in a people celebrate victory is tribal, then the way they mourn the death of fellowmen should also be tribal. But Shanie and others like her never deplored that silence as a show of tribalism. But when they celebrate the end of barbarism then it becomes a vulgar display of triumphalism and tribalism. This again is a double standard, of course of a superior order, which Shanie sees in the "other" who finds fault with the double standards of the west. However, Shanie accepts that she has tribal feelings when she magnanimously declares "This tribal instinct is there in all of us and it is good for us to recognize it" (Island 6th June). Unfortunately, it seems that her discovery is not so unique because "tribal instincts" in her generalization seems to be easily substituted with hundreds of other human weaknesses including double standards.

It is no use pontificating on human weaknesses. We have been living (and also dying) with them and it is likely that the trend will continue. There does not seem to be much point in lamenting the tenacity of these human flaws. Surely, those who practice double standards will accuse others of double standards in the same way they accuse others of jealousy, haughtiness or any other weakness which they themselves have. Shanie, who is showing so much insight into the human condition, can have no difficulty in accepting the fact. Therefore she doesn’t seem to say much when she bewails "We accuse the West of double standards when we ourselves are guilty of double standards."

It is true that this human flaw- accusing others of a weakness while one has it in oneself, is deplorable. It is nice if one can wait till one is completely rid of a weakness before one starts seeing it in the other. But till we realize that high ideal in a universal scale, we will, as normal human beings, be critical of each other. Although we may practice double standards, as Shanie says, we will always cry foul when we see a specific instance of it which we feel is particularly horrendous, for example, when the US and the UK pretend to be concerned about "war crimes" said to have been committed by other countries while they continue to top the list of those who are accused of war crimes.

Shanie claims "We get nowhere by abusing and striking the West with one hand and appealing to them for financial aid with the other." This is very good, but it advocates groveling submission before aggressive behaviour and is not consistent with the courage she admires in people who are ready to go against the tide even at the cost of being branded as ‘traitors’. One can only wonder when she bemoans our supposed lack of courage when she says "Sadly, this is what our country has lacked in the past." Courage our country and its people have shown on various occasions in abundance, though Shanie sees it only in a few people who she admires.