Living in self-denial

I've known him for twenty seven years and he's the source for me of what the illiterate masses of the country believe. In the early years of our acquaintance, he used to say that Shias are responsible for the mess the country is in. Although he's got two degrees from Karachi University (which was once notorious for providing fake degrees), he talks like an illiterate man. In those days, he would refuse to have tea or eat at a table if he knew one of those present was a Shia. He still says Shias are not Muslims. But he's cooled down somewhat, and does have tea with Shias. 

He also used to say that a nation which allows its women to earn is on the way to destruction. Even when I would point out that Japan and Western countries have made phenomenal progress because their women work in offices and factories, he would shake his head. In his opinion, the minute a woman went out alone, she would easily be seduced and become a prostitute. He still believes this, even though he's going to be 60 soon. One would have thought that after so many years working for me, and coming into contact with so many women (none of whom have turned out to be loose), he'd revise his opinion. But he continues to live in self-denial.

For years he's been telling me that Pakistan would again be dismembered in a couple of years, and every year I have to remind him that it is still intact. And when I tell him that if does break up, it'll be because of the religious lobby's persecution of minorities, he smiles. He thinks like all members of the political party he belongs to (Jamat-e-Islami). This party's student activists still beat up couples for walking together (even if they're married). In fact,when he was a student, he and his fellows would measure the distance between a boy and girl talking to each other, and if the distance was less than five feet, they would soundly thrash the couple. 

I shudder to think that most Pakistanis (both literate and illiterate) are just like him. Which is why I see no future for the country.