Traditional virtues were abandoned by many scholars of Bhutan, when confronted with the Southern Problem.
I am a journalist and know my place at academic conferences: keep quiet, take notes, and let the experts do the talking. Compared to us hacks, the academics have longer views, deeper knowledge, and are more committed to impartiality. Or so the theory goes.
It didn´t quite work like that at the London conference on Bhutan, organised by the School for Oriental and Asian Studies of the University of London, 22-23 March. There were solid papers on non-political subjects, but in the political arena, where everyone´s focus seemed centered, the traditional virtues were abandoned by many scholars, and it was left mainly to three journalists who presented papers — a British, a Bhutanese and a Nepali — to demonstrate the art of rational debate.
This was in part a sign of good health: at least controversy was aired. The Bhutan scholars were not ostriches, and walked across the sand rather than stick their heads in it. And a good third of them, more like ducks than ostriches, plunged straight into the turbulent waters of what is politely called "the Southern Problem".