From Pope To Snowden: In 2013, The Smart Guys Won Globally
All the world may have been a stage in Shakespeare's day, but in our time, it's more like an endless sandlot ball game slugged out between two teams — the smart and the stupid. Although 2013 started out looking like a shoo-in for the Stupids, the Smarts took the prize again — though not without a few assists by some half-a-deck heroes.
The first break for the Smarts came in February through an unexpected conversion by Pope Benedict XVI, German starter for the Stupids. Benny broke with five centuries of tradition by deciding to hang up his red shoes early, creating an opening for cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina.
A former nightclub bouncer and tango dancer, the first Latin American pope lost no time in showing off some fancy footwork that gave the smarter elements of the Roman Catholic Church control of the ball for the first time in decades.
Bergoglio, now Francis, broke with recent tradition by actually making sense in some of his pronouncements. Thanks to his clever realization that most Catholics are more concerned with the prosecution of child-abusing priests and money laundering at the Vatican Bank than hearing an old celibate guy rattle on about the evils of homosexuality and the virtues of an all-male priesthood, the popularity of the Church soared by the end of the first quarter.
Momentum for the Smarts seemed to ebb in the second quarter of the game, however. The biggest surprise: Stupid elements in the Palestinian Authority forced the resignation of prime minister Salam Fayyad, punishing him for a rare anti-Stupid programme that cracked down on corruption, improved infrastructure and boosted the economy.
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