In 1999, Thomas L Friedman argued (in his book, Lexus and the Olive Tree ) that no two countries that both had a McDonald’s had ever fought a war against each other since it got its McDonald’s. The decade that followed disproved Friedman. However, the point he was trying to make was valid. He was using McDonald’s as a symbol of the middle class. The presence of McDonald’s in a country indicated the rise of the middle class. And the middle class is not interested in violence and war. The middle class would rather relish a chicken burger than feel patriotism flowing through their veins when some semi-literate sadhu demands that the women give birth to ten children so that the population of a particular religion rises. The middle class is essentially hypocritical. Its religion is not about spirituality at all; it is about social encounters, social niceties and mutual utilisation of social connections. The middle class is interested in improving their social and economic
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