Word: though
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...between the profligate prince and the cautious King reflects something more than the aging of the young hell raiser into a 69-year-old monarch whose 275-lb. bulk has so weakened his knees that he has trouble walking. Some 37 years ago, Fahd went through a conversion that, though forced on him, has had a lasting effect...
Spurred by shame and ambition, Fahd tamed his playboy ways and became Minister of Education just as the oil money was beginning to pour in. Though his formal education had been confined to a few years at a kuttab (Koranic school), Fahd built schools by the hundreds and several universities. He later served as Interior Minister, and in 1975, when King Faisal was assassinated and succeeded by another brother, Khalid, Fahd became Crown Prince. Khalid, troubled by a weak heart, paid little attention to affairs of state; Fahd in effect ran the country for years before he succeeded...
...Though Fahd's views are tinged with superstition -- he follows the advice of astrologers -- he keeps the Koran at his bedside. He suffers from diabetes, back trouble, a weakness of the heart and shortness of breath, but still chain-smokes Marlboros. He has tried repeatedly, with varying success, to lose weight by methods ranging from diets to occasional visits to a Swiss fat farm...
...sleeps during the day and often starts work at 11 p.m., then receives top officials and foreign envoys until 6 a.m. Some he keeps waiting for hours while he chats or watches a videotape -- the result not of discourtesy but of a lack of any sense of time pressure. Though his attentions are confined to his wives (he reportedly has three, and six sons), he still has an eye for women. Fahd was so smitten with Britain's Margaret Thatcher when he met her in 1975 that he is said to have ordered his court poet to compose...
...will avoid the simplistic argument that everyone has feelings and thoughts worthy of respect, though it is an immensely valid one. We all owe respect and deference to the viewpoints of others on issues that we cannot understand through experience. Certainly, race, sex and class grievances still exist, and must be redressed on a structural level. And those who espouse racism, sexism, and classism must be confronted. But it is wrong to exact retribution from individuals solely on the basis of group membership...