Sticky Wicket

Earlier, I had reported on the apparent murder of Pakistan's English cricket coach--within hours, mind you, of the team's humiliating defeat against Ireland. The weeks since the World Cup have been interesting. Despite the tremendous circumstantial evidence, most Pakistani fans have steadfastly resisted the initial account of what happened--that a mysterious poison was used to strangle Coach Woolmer. In fact, some have espoused what looks to me to be this view--and I'm speaking in the broadest of generalizations: "Come on, you know the Jamaican police is incompetent." That is, come on, you know black people are stupid and lazy. The Jamaican police, for their part, made no effort to rule out natural causes and hung their hat on a wild theory about non-manual strangulation at the hands (vials?) of angry odds-makers. That is, come on, you know brown Muslims are savage and wanton.

What I fear about colliding stereotypes like this is that in the wake of their collision one side is left more emboldened in its view. Despite the fact that Woolmer's death from natural causes has now been confirmed by an international team of pathologists, and despite calls for the Pakistan Cricket Board to sue the Jamaican Police for defamation--yeah, it's as dumb as it sounds--I hope my fear is misplaced.