Just as "In the Loop" showed how self-deceiving politicians who have backed themselves into nonsensical conclusions can plunge countries into war, "Four Lions" zeroes in on the fairly mundane factors that might drive someone to terrorism: the desire for community, a persecution complex, flat-out stupidity.
At the behest of his court, Diocletian acceded to demands for a universal persecution.
Ever since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003 - when sectarian warfare lay the groundwork for a brutal persecution of Christians and other minorities - my mailbox has been flooded with stories: of children kidnapped and raped, of extortion, of families being forced to leave their homes.
Suppose a national leader calls for the persecution a man who has not yet been charged with any crime -- as for example Vice President Biden did when he described Julian Assange as a "high-tech terrorist" -- and suppose the leader does so in a pleasant voice and using commonplace words.
Singling out a minority for persecution puts us on a slippery slope.
Decius provided the model for a more thorough persecution of Christians, which began in 303 under Diocletian's reign.
Even before the graffitied posters eventually come down and these temporary commentaries are lost, we should remember that this aggressive competition for a memory of persecution betrays a disingenuous and dangerous approach to history and justice.
On the 9th of May, the Home Office summarily refused his claim for asylum, noting in their letter of rejection that, "It does not necessarily follow that a sentence for a crime denotes persecution rather than prosecution".
His accidental death was seen by the Quakers as a punishment from God for his persecution of them, an idea repeated in a play by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
How come other people are capable of hitting them, and I'm not?" Zhang's father was a senior Party scholar at Sichuan University, and his stature made him a target for persecution.
