Technology evolves at breathtaking speed .What was a wildly hot IT application can become obsolete so fast.Jun was engrossed as many youths were in the early heyday of social media with Friendster and Myspace and all that has vanished as with the Dodo bird nowadays.
So when social media sites like facebook and twitter do not protect the privacy of users with strong anti hacking programs,the data can be manipulated by unscrupulous agents to shape public opinion to sway voters in elections or be used by authoritarian governments to spy on dissidents and social activists,thus endangering their work in civil movements.So it is crucial for social media companies to engage with social activists in civil societies who work to empower the marginalized and powerless so that they are not under the surveilance of authorities and their work protected by encrypted software that is non hackable by state authorities.
How important is data protection is when private data is hacked,it exposes users to scammers,spammers and programmers who use your identity for malicious purposes.Instead of protecting the powerful and famous,these social media companies should sit up to protect the millions of ordinary users from malware,trolls and scams.Once abandoned enmass ,they would end up like Myspace and Friendsters.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Monday, December 10, 2018
disinformation
Just read Joseph Nye's article on fake news.It shows how social media permeates every level of modern society and how it shapes our perception of people and issues.
Using big data,the sites can amass lots of data on an individual's preferences and behaviour and enable politicians and advertisers to shape precise messages to disarm our reservations,bombard us and wear down our mental shields.
Lies,oft repeated becomes ingrained as truth.To show our support for something ,the so called likes have created a new business called click farms that generate the level of likes needed to sustain advertising sponsorship.
Such technological manipulation of preferences can distort reality.
The soft power of social media creator's bosses have seen how they are elevated to the rank of Hollywood celebrities and are on the same level to interact with prime ministers and head of states as compared to CEOs of a bank or manufacturer who would liase with a minister of finance or economy but not on par with the head of state.That shows how the power between the head of state depends on his public image which is shaped by the social media.This perception can make or break the grip of a leader on power come election time.
So consumers of information should go back to formal news network where investigative journalists do professional work to check and double check the accuracy of information before disemminating it unlike the power held by citizen journalist who may be influenced by subjective biasness without oversight by editors and sub-editors.Misinformation can have adverse effects of inciting hate news or feed the filter bubble of readers who are cut off from opposing points of view.
Using big data,the sites can amass lots of data on an individual's preferences and behaviour and enable politicians and advertisers to shape precise messages to disarm our reservations,bombard us and wear down our mental shields.
Lies,oft repeated becomes ingrained as truth.To show our support for something ,the so called likes have created a new business called click farms that generate the level of likes needed to sustain advertising sponsorship.
Such technological manipulation of preferences can distort reality.
The soft power of social media creator's bosses have seen how they are elevated to the rank of Hollywood celebrities and are on the same level to interact with prime ministers and head of states as compared to CEOs of a bank or manufacturer who would liase with a minister of finance or economy but not on par with the head of state.That shows how the power between the head of state depends on his public image which is shaped by the social media.This perception can make or break the grip of a leader on power come election time.
So consumers of information should go back to formal news network where investigative journalists do professional work to check and double check the accuracy of information before disemminating it unlike the power held by citizen journalist who may be influenced by subjective biasness without oversight by editors and sub-editors.Misinformation can have adverse effects of inciting hate news or feed the filter bubble of readers who are cut off from opposing points of view.
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Waxing lyrical to the legends of music
Growing up,I listened to folk singer like Joan Baez Blowing in the wind and Woody Guthrie.It was an exciting time of counterculture of hippy make love not war,John Lennon's Give peace a chance.Men challenge the status quo with bell bottoms,floral shirts,long hair and head bands while women wore tie dyed and psychedelic clothes.The aura was vibrant with expectation and hope for youths would lead the progress forward.We rolled magazines to make paper beaded necklaces and wore jumpers and flounced gypsy skirts,big looped ear rings and platform shoes.
It was a time of rebellious youth and guys with long hair were labelled wild and dangerous pot smoking trouble makers,banned entry to Singapore.
Just got some lyrics to two great female folksingers and writers Cosy Sheridien Woody Guthrie Watch Over Me -Sometimes I feel too much and Lui Collins The Friendship Waltz.Fine voices with lyrics that are so soulful.
I would welcome your presence back into my life
With an ear to ear grin,i would greet you on sight
I would danceuntil dawn,I would laugh at the rain
I would welcome your friendship again
We have chosen this distance,from a deep place of knowing
That each one of us may have space for growing
And the mirrorwe turn,and the honourwe share
Hold a promise to always be there
And though I well understand our paths drawn apart
I still feel the longing so deep in my heart
I will patiently wait till faith,hope,love,the trine
will invite us together in time
I can hear your soft voice on the phone line
I can see your sweet smile as it flits cross my mind
I can feel your heart,so full within mine
But I cannot look into your eyes
It was a time of rebellious youth and guys with long hair were labelled wild and dangerous pot smoking trouble makers,banned entry to Singapore.
Just got some lyrics to two great female folksingers and writers Cosy Sheridien Woody Guthrie Watch Over Me -Sometimes I feel too much and Lui Collins The Friendship Waltz.Fine voices with lyrics that are so soulful.
I would welcome your presence back into my life
With an ear to ear grin,i would greet you on sight
I would danceuntil dawn,I would laugh at the rain
I would welcome your friendship again
We have chosen this distance,from a deep place of knowing
That each one of us may have space for growing
And the mirrorwe turn,and the honourwe share
Hold a promise to always be there
And though I well understand our paths drawn apart
I still feel the longing so deep in my heart
I will patiently wait till faith,hope,love,the trine
will invite us together in time
I can hear your soft voice on the phone line
I can see your sweet smile as it flits cross my mind
I can feel your heart,so full within mine
But I cannot look into your eyes
Waxing lyrical
Late October
by Maya Angelou
Carefully
the leaves of autumn
sprinkle down the tinny
sound of little dyings
and skies sated of ruddy sunsets
of roseate dawns
roil ceaselessly in
cobweb greys and turn
to black
for comfort
Only lovers
see the fall
a signal end to endings
a gruffish gesture alerting
those who will not be alarmed
that we begin to stop
in order simply
to begin
again.
A song by David Roth
Before I die
Before I die I want to be
The richest man in history
I want to have a wealth of friends
Abundant love that never ends
Before I die I want to find
A lover who is soft and kind
And one last piece of cherry pie
That's what I want before i die
Before I die I want to choose
Some different roads and avenues
i want to walk each one in peace
And all my obstacles release
Before I die I want to know
I've told you that I love you so
I love you so,I love you so
That's what I want you to know
Before I die i want to be
The richest man in history
And one last piece of cherry pie
that's what I want before i die.
by Maya Angelou
Carefully
the leaves of autumn
sprinkle down the tinny
sound of little dyings
and skies sated of ruddy sunsets
of roseate dawns
roil ceaselessly in
cobweb greys and turn
to black
for comfort
Only lovers
see the fall
a signal end to endings
a gruffish gesture alerting
those who will not be alarmed
that we begin to stop
in order simply
to begin
again.
A song by David Roth
Before I die
Before I die I want to be
The richest man in history
I want to have a wealth of friends
Abundant love that never ends
Before I die I want to find
A lover who is soft and kind
And one last piece of cherry pie
That's what I want before i die
Before I die I want to choose
Some different roads and avenues
i want to walk each one in peace
And all my obstacles release
Before I die I want to know
I've told you that I love you so
I love you so,I love you so
That's what I want you to know
Before I die i want to be
The richest man in history
And one last piece of cherry pie
that's what I want before i die.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
A whole new world
When you experience a mind shift in perceptions,you see things differently from those with a herd mentality.Those with a herd mentality have been brow beaten by the conventional societal forces to accept the status quo,not to pose a challenge to
it.It starts from the familial conditioning of behaviour to the mass indoctrination by orthodox religion and public education on what constitute a good or a bad person.When we buy into that narrative,it becomes a form of social conditioning that sinks into our subconscious on what constitute success.Do well in your studies to make your parents and nation proud,The more money you make,the more successful you are,those who bum around chasing personal dreams are losers,a good person obeys the law and not challenge nor question it,you are a grown up because you have a cushy job,so marriage and the obligatory 2.0 kids and a landed property is the mark of your achievement.Branded luxury items show the world you have a certain status and class in life.
My self searching leads me to one conclusion.You can be broken if you keep on chasing the status quo and comparing yourself to societal norms.The yardstick of success has to be changed to Are you happy? Do you have self fulfillment? What have you done to improve the society around you?
Mass indoctrination through public education sells you the stories of your past ancestors.So historians like Howard Zinn are anarchists in that they challenge the official myths that Christopher Columbus enlightened the savages with civilized behaviour and he sought to free the savages from ignorance and a primitive life but the savages were not as destructive as the invaders who stole their native lands.
So if we look at Dr Farish Nor's book 'What your history teacher didn't tell you."it paints a different version to the official history of our nation.When I introduced it for Eu Jun to read,he got all fired up and read about the French revolution online and wrote a piece advocating republicanism and challenged the narratives his history teacher taught.Teaching should be the lighting of a candle to dispel darkness not a forcefeeding of information to cram the brain with facts and more facts without thinking critically about it.
Browsing through Noam Chomsky's book,Optimism over Despair,he puts his critical analysis of current affairs in a logical,convincing angle.Loss of jobs in the US should not be blamed on immigrants coming to snatch away the jobs of the locals but as the practice of capitalism that seeks to maximise profit by lowering cost of production or evading corporate taxes which saw many factories move offshore to countries with lower cost of production,to be nearer to target export markets or being given generous tax shelters.When the state opts to increase corporate taxes to finance healthcare or public housing,these big multinationals are globalised entity and so they relocate to places that offer them tax breaks and so on.If the city of San Francisco increases the tax rate on tech companies like Square,the CEO would relocate to another city that offers more attractive tax rebates.It's human nature that they seek the best deal possible by shopping around different places to seek maximum return on investment.They also seek to maximise returns for investors and shareholders.
In asking Noam Chomsky this question,it's interesting that he sees that civilization cannot survive "really existing capitalism".What did the interviewer define as "really existing capitalism",since the late 1970s,most advanced economies have returned to predatory capitalism.As a result income and wealth inequality have reached spectacular heights,poverty is becoming entrenced,unemployment is skyrocketing and standards of living are declining.Moreover really existing capitalism is causing mass environmental destruction which along with population explosion is leading us to an unmitigated global disaster.Really existing capitalist democracy is radically incompatible with democracy.Really existing capitalism is a human creation and can be changed or replaced.
Chomsky reminded the interviewer of a quote from the Analects defining the exemplary person as "the one who keeps trying ,though he knows there is no hope."
Was the current situation as dire as that?
Chomsky said "We cannot know for sure.What we do know,however,is that if we succumb to despair,we will help ensure that the worst will happen.And if we grasp the hopes that exist and work to make the best use of them,there might be a better world.Not much of a choice."
The butterfly effect is such that the idea of interdependence is vital to the survival of everyone as an insignificant event in one remote part of the globe could have catastrophic effect in a faraway corner of the globe.Could fracking cause unstable seismic activity in the core of the earth and trigger a tsunami or earthquake in another faraway part of the globe?Who knows? so we cannot operate in isolation and global institutions like the UN are needed to coordinate multilateral cooperative efforts to study global phenomenon like the rise of sea levels or melting of ice caps.
Multilateral effort would be needed to prevent collapse of nation states,the rise in international refugees or another nuclear war for as Chomsky predicted there are two grim shadows that loom over everything that we consider: environmental catastrophe and nuclear war.
I wouldn't need to peer into a crystal ball to imagine a future in which the dehumanizing effect of technology cause human society as we know it to undergo radical transformation.People would be increasingly alienated as they cut themselves off from contact with society as they don't need real time and face to face interaction to function.We could shop online,interact and socialise online,work online,have love relationships online and even have sex with non human robots.
What does it mean to be a human in this world would be the next big question if our jobs become redundant,relationships are with artificially intelligent non humans and the question of marriage,family,birth and death take on an altogether different level of understanding.Artificial intelligence makes better predictor of causes of diseases,make more strategic moves and even paint art better than the human counterpart.Where does that place humans in the world today?
That world is already at our doorstep so we better figure it out fast.
it.It starts from the familial conditioning of behaviour to the mass indoctrination by orthodox religion and public education on what constitute a good or a bad person.When we buy into that narrative,it becomes a form of social conditioning that sinks into our subconscious on what constitute success.Do well in your studies to make your parents and nation proud,The more money you make,the more successful you are,those who bum around chasing personal dreams are losers,a good person obeys the law and not challenge nor question it,you are a grown up because you have a cushy job,so marriage and the obligatory 2.0 kids and a landed property is the mark of your achievement.Branded luxury items show the world you have a certain status and class in life.
My self searching leads me to one conclusion.You can be broken if you keep on chasing the status quo and comparing yourself to societal norms.The yardstick of success has to be changed to Are you happy? Do you have self fulfillment? What have you done to improve the society around you?
Mass indoctrination through public education sells you the stories of your past ancestors.So historians like Howard Zinn are anarchists in that they challenge the official myths that Christopher Columbus enlightened the savages with civilized behaviour and he sought to free the savages from ignorance and a primitive life but the savages were not as destructive as the invaders who stole their native lands.
So if we look at Dr Farish Nor's book 'What your history teacher didn't tell you."it paints a different version to the official history of our nation.When I introduced it for Eu Jun to read,he got all fired up and read about the French revolution online and wrote a piece advocating republicanism and challenged the narratives his history teacher taught.Teaching should be the lighting of a candle to dispel darkness not a forcefeeding of information to cram the brain with facts and more facts without thinking critically about it.
Browsing through Noam Chomsky's book,Optimism over Despair,he puts his critical analysis of current affairs in a logical,convincing angle.Loss of jobs in the US should not be blamed on immigrants coming to snatch away the jobs of the locals but as the practice of capitalism that seeks to maximise profit by lowering cost of production or evading corporate taxes which saw many factories move offshore to countries with lower cost of production,to be nearer to target export markets or being given generous tax shelters.When the state opts to increase corporate taxes to finance healthcare or public housing,these big multinationals are globalised entity and so they relocate to places that offer them tax breaks and so on.If the city of San Francisco increases the tax rate on tech companies like Square,the CEO would relocate to another city that offers more attractive tax rebates.It's human nature that they seek the best deal possible by shopping around different places to seek maximum return on investment.They also seek to maximise returns for investors and shareholders.
In asking Noam Chomsky this question,it's interesting that he sees that civilization cannot survive "really existing capitalism".What did the interviewer define as "really existing capitalism",since the late 1970s,most advanced economies have returned to predatory capitalism.As a result income and wealth inequality have reached spectacular heights,poverty is becoming entrenced,unemployment is skyrocketing and standards of living are declining.Moreover really existing capitalism is causing mass environmental destruction which along with population explosion is leading us to an unmitigated global disaster.Really existing capitalist democracy is radically incompatible with democracy.Really existing capitalism is a human creation and can be changed or replaced.
Chomsky reminded the interviewer of a quote from the Analects defining the exemplary person as "the one who keeps trying ,though he knows there is no hope."
Was the current situation as dire as that?
Chomsky said "We cannot know for sure.What we do know,however,is that if we succumb to despair,we will help ensure that the worst will happen.And if we grasp the hopes that exist and work to make the best use of them,there might be a better world.Not much of a choice."
The butterfly effect is such that the idea of interdependence is vital to the survival of everyone as an insignificant event in one remote part of the globe could have catastrophic effect in a faraway corner of the globe.Could fracking cause unstable seismic activity in the core of the earth and trigger a tsunami or earthquake in another faraway part of the globe?Who knows? so we cannot operate in isolation and global institutions like the UN are needed to coordinate multilateral cooperative efforts to study global phenomenon like the rise of sea levels or melting of ice caps.
Multilateral effort would be needed to prevent collapse of nation states,the rise in international refugees or another nuclear war for as Chomsky predicted there are two grim shadows that loom over everything that we consider: environmental catastrophe and nuclear war.
I wouldn't need to peer into a crystal ball to imagine a future in which the dehumanizing effect of technology cause human society as we know it to undergo radical transformation.People would be increasingly alienated as they cut themselves off from contact with society as they don't need real time and face to face interaction to function.We could shop online,interact and socialise online,work online,have love relationships online and even have sex with non human robots.
What does it mean to be a human in this world would be the next big question if our jobs become redundant,relationships are with artificially intelligent non humans and the question of marriage,family,birth and death take on an altogether different level of understanding.Artificial intelligence makes better predictor of causes of diseases,make more strategic moves and even paint art better than the human counterpart.Where does that place humans in the world today?
That world is already at our doorstep so we better figure it out fast.
Sunday, October 28, 2018
tribute to Leonard Cohen
Democracy
It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.
It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on ...
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Traduction de Jean Guiloineau :
Démocratie
Elle arrive par un trou dans l'air,depuis les nuits de Tiananmen Square.
Elle naît du sentiment
qu'elle ne peut être vraiment réelle,
ou qu'elle est réelle mais pas ici.
Elle vient des guerres contre le désordre,
des sirènes qui hurlent jour et nuit;
des feux des sans-abri,
des cendres des homos :
la démocratie arrive aux USA.
Elle arrive par une brèche du mur,
sur un flot d'alcool visionnaire;
du récit renversant
du Sermon sur la Montagne
que je ne prétends pas comprendre entièrement.
Elle arrive dans le silence
sur les quais de la baie,
du coeur courageux, hardi et délabré
de la Chevrolet :
la démocratie arrive aux USA.
Elle vient de la tristesse de la rue,
des lieux saints où les races se rencontrent;
des vacheries homicides
qui ont lieu dans chaque cuisine
pour savoir qui va servir et qui va manger.
Des puits de déceptions
où les femmes s'agenouillent pour prier
la grâce de D--u dans le désert ici
et dans le désert très loin :
la démocratie arrive aux USA.
Vogue, vogue
O puissant vaisseau de l'Etat
Aux rivages de nécessité
entre les écueils des rats
et les grains d'adversité
vogue, vogue
Elle arrive d'abord en Amérique
berceau du meilleur et du pire.
Ici se trouve l'étendue
et la machine du changement
et ici la soif spirituelle.
Ici se trouve la famille éclatée
et le solitaire dit
que le coeur doit s'ouvrir
de façon fondamentale :
la démocratie arrive aux USA.
Elle vient par les hommes et les femmes.
O ma chérie, nous allons faire de nouveau l'amour.
Nous descendrons si profondément
que la rivière en pleurera,
et les montagnes crieront Amen !
Elle arrive comme le flot de la marée
sous le balancement de la lune,
impériale et mystérieuse,
en amoureux appareil :
la démocratie arrive aux USA.
Vogue, vogue
O puissant vaisseau de l'Etat
Aux rivages de nécessité
entre les écueils des rats
et les grains d'adversité
vogue, vogue
Je suis sentimental, si vous voyez ce que je veux dire :
j'aime ce pays mais je ne supporte pas le décor.
Je ne suis ni de gauche ni de droite
je suis simplement chez moi ce soir,
et je me perds dans ce petit écran impuissant.
Mais je suis têtu comme ces sacs de légumes
que le temps ne peut faire pourrir,
je ne vaux rien mais je tiens bien haut
ce petit bouquet sauvage :
la démocratie arrive aux USA.
the raspy voice that's gruff and scratches
the rough Life he has gone through ups and down
the serene wisdom he gained as a Zen monk
pours out his vision of the future
All the dents and wounds he cannot erase
the imperfect,the broken and the flaws
he sees and accepts rather than reject
for they moulded him
and strengthened him as steel
is forged in a tempest of fire
his words echoes
"forget your perfect offering
there is a crack in everything
that's how the light gets in."
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Himalayan rhapsody
There is something about high mountains at the top of the world that is uplifting to the human spirit. I love the peaks and clear blue skies,the simple lives of the rural communities and their adherence to rituals as a rite of passage in life.
As an intuitive person with a strong affinity for nature,my soul resonates with the Himalayan rhapsody.In my heart,I knew at once, my final resting place would be in Bhutan,my childhood Shangri La,the place I saw a double rainbow for the first time in my life and a Buddhist nation still uncorrupted by gross capitalism unlike Thailand.I've always been drawn to the die hard romanticism of untainted culture and environment of Buddhist monarch states like Mustang,Ladakh,Bhutan and Tibet.
The romance of the king of Mustang and his consort or the last king of Sikkim and his American bride or Princess Wen cheng are so like the fairy tales of the past.
Guess I hope they preserve their unique culture and not sucuumb to the monotony of ubiquitous globalization.So I thoroughly support the activism of Laurence Brahmn
in the Himalayan Consensus to have environmentally and culturally sustainable tourism
When water cuts due to pollution or hacking cough due to haze gets me down,I cheer myself up by looking at my dream home in Bhutan and think of a sustainable life that's possible
I
As an intuitive person with a strong affinity for nature,my soul resonates with the Himalayan rhapsody.In my heart,I knew at once, my final resting place would be in Bhutan,my childhood Shangri La,the place I saw a double rainbow for the first time in my life and a Buddhist nation still uncorrupted by gross capitalism unlike Thailand.I've always been drawn to the die hard romanticism of untainted culture and environment of Buddhist monarch states like Mustang,Ladakh,Bhutan and Tibet.
The romance of the king of Mustang and his consort or the last king of Sikkim and his American bride or Princess Wen cheng are so like the fairy tales of the past.
Guess I hope they preserve their unique culture and not sucuumb to the monotony of ubiquitous globalization.So I thoroughly support the activism of Laurence Brahmn
in the Himalayan Consensus to have environmentally and culturally sustainable tourism
When water cuts due to pollution or hacking cough due to haze gets me down,I cheer myself up by looking at my dream home in Bhutan and think of a sustainable life that's possible
I
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Will history repeat itself?
It's pointless to bear grudges and bitterness towards those who have wronged us.
They will have to face their fate one day even if the laws of Man do not punish them.The Chinese have a saying," Heaven's net is inescapable,it will not let even one wrongdoer go scot free."
In a war,the powerful have to bear responsibility as they have blood on their hands in sending youths to die for "their cause" or "ego".The unarmed civilians suffer harm and injury and loss of property and stability.
So Jeanne Wakasuki Houston accounts of her family's internment in the second world war was suffering beyond their control.That's the price to pay for war.The same suffering would be experienced by the Jews interned in death camps in Europe.
But the nationalistic government was proud that it was the only Asian nation that dared to wage war on a Western nation just as a militaristic govt managed to lock horns in the Russo Japanese war and the Sino Japanese war.The untold suffering on civilians was not limited to migrants of Japanese ethnicity but worst horrors befell the victims of wars in China,SouthEast Asia and Russia.The prisoners incarcerated were released alive unlike the Jews or the Chinese killed in the Rape of Nanjing or the Koreans made into free labour and sex slaves.But people have to move on,we forgive our enemies and put the past behind us.So the Americans have helped a lot in giving aid for the reconstruction of Japan and transfer of technology have propelled it to be an economically advanced nation,the former enemies have become allies in the international economy.So too has China learnt to put the past behind and work in tandem with Korea and Japan to boost economic developments in their respective nations,thus improving the lives of multitudes of civilians and establishing an affluent middle class.
So we the civilians have to be vigilant against the rise of ultra nationalism that aims to oppress others in the name of "national pride".It was with outrage that a nationalist Japanese went to dishonour the dead by kicking on a statue of a comfort woman in Taiwan.The victims of war are pawns in the chess of war and to vent their anger in such a manner would be equivalent to the action of the American blogger Logan Paul making a mockery of Japanese suicide victims at a suicide forest by making fun of them.The golden rule applies do not do unto others what you do not like others to do to you.Respect is a two way street.Just as tourists,we should respect the local cultures and do not pose naked in public in a church or graveyard so too our sense of decency is violated when foreign visitors take nude pics at our holy sites.
International prejudices can be reduced if we observe the golden rule of behaviour and remember for every action,there will be a reaction,whether it is a positive or negative backlash.
They will have to face their fate one day even if the laws of Man do not punish them.The Chinese have a saying," Heaven's net is inescapable,it will not let even one wrongdoer go scot free."
In a war,the powerful have to bear responsibility as they have blood on their hands in sending youths to die for "their cause" or "ego".The unarmed civilians suffer harm and injury and loss of property and stability.
So Jeanne Wakasuki Houston accounts of her family's internment in the second world war was suffering beyond their control.That's the price to pay for war.The same suffering would be experienced by the Jews interned in death camps in Europe.
But the nationalistic government was proud that it was the only Asian nation that dared to wage war on a Western nation just as a militaristic govt managed to lock horns in the Russo Japanese war and the Sino Japanese war.The untold suffering on civilians was not limited to migrants of Japanese ethnicity but worst horrors befell the victims of wars in China,SouthEast Asia and Russia.The prisoners incarcerated were released alive unlike the Jews or the Chinese killed in the Rape of Nanjing or the Koreans made into free labour and sex slaves.But people have to move on,we forgive our enemies and put the past behind us.So the Americans have helped a lot in giving aid for the reconstruction of Japan and transfer of technology have propelled it to be an economically advanced nation,the former enemies have become allies in the international economy.So too has China learnt to put the past behind and work in tandem with Korea and Japan to boost economic developments in their respective nations,thus improving the lives of multitudes of civilians and establishing an affluent middle class.
So we the civilians have to be vigilant against the rise of ultra nationalism that aims to oppress others in the name of "national pride".It was with outrage that a nationalist Japanese went to dishonour the dead by kicking on a statue of a comfort woman in Taiwan.The victims of war are pawns in the chess of war and to vent their anger in such a manner would be equivalent to the action of the American blogger Logan Paul making a mockery of Japanese suicide victims at a suicide forest by making fun of them.The golden rule applies do not do unto others what you do not like others to do to you.Respect is a two way street.Just as tourists,we should respect the local cultures and do not pose naked in public in a church or graveyard so too our sense of decency is violated when foreign visitors take nude pics at our holy sites.
International prejudices can be reduced if we observe the golden rule of behaviour and remember for every action,there will be a reaction,whether it is a positive or negative backlash.
One Self:Two Cultures
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes the conflicts of being torn between two diametrically different world of East and West in her article"One self:two cultures."
I was spending most of my time with my new Caucasian friends and learning new values that clashed with those of my parents.It was also time that I asumed the duties girls were supposed to do,like cleaning,cooking,washing and ironing clothes.I cannot remember my brothers performing domestic chores while I lived at home.Their reciprocation came in a different way.They were very protective of me and made me feel good and important for being a female.My brothers taught me to ride a bicycle and to drive a car,and took me to my first dance.
My brothers encouraged me to run for school office,to try out for majorette and song leader,and to run for queen of various festivities.They were proud I was breaking social barriers still closed to them.It was acceptable for an Oriental male to excel academically and in sports.But to gain recognition socially in a society that had been fed the stereotyped model of the Asian male as cook,houseboy or crazed kamikaze pilot was almost impossible.The more alluring myth of mystery and exotica that surrounds the Oriental female made it easier,though no less inwardly painful for me.
What my brothers were saying was that I should not act towards Caucasian males as I did toward them.I must not wait on them or allow them to think I would,because they wouldn't understand.In other words,be a Japanese female around Japanese men and act Hakujin around Caucasian men.This double identity within a double standard resulted not only in confusion for me of my role as a female,but also in who or what I was racially.I would try to be aggressive,assertive and come on strong toward Caucasian men.i musn't let them think I was submissive,passive and all-giving like Madame Butterfly.With Asian males,I would tone down my natural enthusiasm and settle into patterns instilled in me through the models of my mother and my sisters.I was uncomfortable in either role.
Although i was attracted to males who looked like someone in a Coca Cola ad,I yearned for the expression of their potency to be like that of Japanese men,like that of my father;unpredictable,dominant,and brilliant-yet sensitive and poetic.I wanted a blond samurai.
When I met my blond samurai,during those college years in San Jose,I was surprised to see how readily my mom accepted the idea of our getting married.
She felt that my husband to be was strong enough because he was acting against the norms of his culture,perhaps even against his parent's wishes.From her vantage point,where family and group opinion outweighed the individual's,this willingness to oppose them was truly a show of strength.
I realized a very basic difference in attitude between Japanese and American cultures toward serving another.In a Japanese family,to serve another could be uplifting,a gracious gesture that elevated oneself.For many white Americans,it seems that serving another is degrading,an indication of dependency or weakness in character or a low place in the social ladder.
My father used to say'Serving humanity is the greatest virtue.Giving service of yourself is more worthy than selling the service or goods of another."
Now,I entertain according to how I feel that day.If my Japanese sensibility is stronger,I act accordingly and feel comfortable.If I feel like gong all-American,I can do that too,and feel comfortable.I have come to accept the cultural hybridness of my personality,to recognize it as a strength and not weakness.Because I'm culturally neither pure Japanese nor pure American does not mean I am less of a person.It means I have been enriched with the heritage of both.
My children's biracialism is,indeed,a factor in their identity and self-image,but I feel their struggle will be more to sustain human dignity in a world rapidly dehumanizing itself with mechanization and technology.My hope is they have inherited a strong will to survive,that essential trait that ethnic minorities in this country have so sharply honed.
-In reading her article,I feel that she has come to terms with both cultures and has accepted both culture's strengths and weaknesses.The ethnic minority would appreciate the potential of multi diversity,not being afraid to acknowledge the weakness of one's culture and being proud of its strengths.
So to be harrassed by insensitive provokers with stereotypical comments and jaundiced viewpoints,the best response is not to fall into their mud slinging taunts and rise above the fray by keeping our cool and let it fall on deaf ears.It only reflects badly on the provokers rather than the victim of abuse.Let the mad rants on the colour of the skin,the slanting eyes or bearded face make fools of themselves and not let our confidence be shaken.Everyone is beautiful,each in its own ways.Dare to be different and think different.Only those with deep insecurities will make themselves look good by making others feel bad
I was spending most of my time with my new Caucasian friends and learning new values that clashed with those of my parents.It was also time that I asumed the duties girls were supposed to do,like cleaning,cooking,washing and ironing clothes.I cannot remember my brothers performing domestic chores while I lived at home.Their reciprocation came in a different way.They were very protective of me and made me feel good and important for being a female.My brothers taught me to ride a bicycle and to drive a car,and took me to my first dance.
My brothers encouraged me to run for school office,to try out for majorette and song leader,and to run for queen of various festivities.They were proud I was breaking social barriers still closed to them.It was acceptable for an Oriental male to excel academically and in sports.But to gain recognition socially in a society that had been fed the stereotyped model of the Asian male as cook,houseboy or crazed kamikaze pilot was almost impossible.The more alluring myth of mystery and exotica that surrounds the Oriental female made it easier,though no less inwardly painful for me.
What my brothers were saying was that I should not act towards Caucasian males as I did toward them.I must not wait on them or allow them to think I would,because they wouldn't understand.In other words,be a Japanese female around Japanese men and act Hakujin around Caucasian men.This double identity within a double standard resulted not only in confusion for me of my role as a female,but also in who or what I was racially.I would try to be aggressive,assertive and come on strong toward Caucasian men.i musn't let them think I was submissive,passive and all-giving like Madame Butterfly.With Asian males,I would tone down my natural enthusiasm and settle into patterns instilled in me through the models of my mother and my sisters.I was uncomfortable in either role.
Although i was attracted to males who looked like someone in a Coca Cola ad,I yearned for the expression of their potency to be like that of Japanese men,like that of my father;unpredictable,dominant,and brilliant-yet sensitive and poetic.I wanted a blond samurai.
When I met my blond samurai,during those college years in San Jose,I was surprised to see how readily my mom accepted the idea of our getting married.
She felt that my husband to be was strong enough because he was acting against the norms of his culture,perhaps even against his parent's wishes.From her vantage point,where family and group opinion outweighed the individual's,this willingness to oppose them was truly a show of strength.
I realized a very basic difference in attitude between Japanese and American cultures toward serving another.In a Japanese family,to serve another could be uplifting,a gracious gesture that elevated oneself.For many white Americans,it seems that serving another is degrading,an indication of dependency or weakness in character or a low place in the social ladder.
My father used to say'Serving humanity is the greatest virtue.Giving service of yourself is more worthy than selling the service or goods of another."
Now,I entertain according to how I feel that day.If my Japanese sensibility is stronger,I act accordingly and feel comfortable.If I feel like gong all-American,I can do that too,and feel comfortable.I have come to accept the cultural hybridness of my personality,to recognize it as a strength and not weakness.Because I'm culturally neither pure Japanese nor pure American does not mean I am less of a person.It means I have been enriched with the heritage of both.
My children's biracialism is,indeed,a factor in their identity and self-image,but I feel their struggle will be more to sustain human dignity in a world rapidly dehumanizing itself with mechanization and technology.My hope is they have inherited a strong will to survive,that essential trait that ethnic minorities in this country have so sharply honed.
-In reading her article,I feel that she has come to terms with both cultures and has accepted both culture's strengths and weaknesses.The ethnic minority would appreciate the potential of multi diversity,not being afraid to acknowledge the weakness of one's culture and being proud of its strengths.
So to be harrassed by insensitive provokers with stereotypical comments and jaundiced viewpoints,the best response is not to fall into their mud slinging taunts and rise above the fray by keeping our cool and let it fall on deaf ears.It only reflects badly on the provokers rather than the victim of abuse.Let the mad rants on the colour of the skin,the slanting eyes or bearded face make fools of themselves and not let our confidence be shaken.Everyone is beautiful,each in its own ways.Dare to be different and think different.Only those with deep insecurities will make themselves look good by making others feel bad
Friday, September 21, 2018
The pilgrimage of a seeker
when the time is right,you will meet your teacher
the answer is in you if you seek within
I have been a carefree and happy go lucky person until my world fell apart.
I was dead at heart .
If something is too good to be true,then it's not true.
The apple polishers always have ulterior motives,their true colours will come out sooner or later.
Emotions make us vulnerable,control it or it will tear us up
But I've learnt to trust and hope again
that changes are possible.
Why compare yourself to others/there will always be those who are better off than you and those who are worst off than you.
I am true to myself ,why put my happiness in another person's hands?
As Helen Keller said'Alone we can do so little,but together,we can do so much."
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Individual is shaped by the environment
Humans are brought up and grow up within a specific culture determined partly by language and geography.A positive way to look at it is human nature is changeable and an individual has the option to choose how he likes to live.In other words,the ability of humans to do or be whatever they wish is limitless.
Conversely,some argue that humans cannot change their conditioning and they act out,carry out behaviours which are entirely shaped by their upbringing,and cultural constraints.This brings forth another paradox,why is it a group of children born into the same family and with the same cultural conditioning can have such vastly different personality traits and attitudes?But in nationalistic behaviours,humans tend to believe strongly in their own way of being.This sets up the idea that one set of values is intrinsically superior to another set of values.Differences in viewpoint are not valid if one believes that their own cultural norms and values are the only norms and values.
If a different culture has different values and the two come into conflict,then the defense of those values embodied in culture may lead to serious conflict.They come into conflict as a result of one culture holding the view that they have the right to impose itself on another.
Dire consequences may arise between nations,countries,potential business partners and individuals as a result.Some detrimental aspects of culture are fuelled from extreme nationalism and patriotism.In the extreme,these notions give rise to war and to the idea that it is appropriate to wipe out a people who have a culture different from one's own.An understanding of differing cultural viewpoints is essential for world peace and also for international business dealings.
There are several indicators to understand cultural differences among different societies:
:power distance index measure the degree of inequality in a society
:uncertainty avoidance index:the index measure the extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain situations
:individualism index:measures the extent to which a society is individualistic or communalistic
:masculinity index.It measures the extent to which the dominant values are assertiveness,money and things(achievement) versus the femininity index based on relationships
Conversely,some argue that humans cannot change their conditioning and they act out,carry out behaviours which are entirely shaped by their upbringing,and cultural constraints.This brings forth another paradox,why is it a group of children born into the same family and with the same cultural conditioning can have such vastly different personality traits and attitudes?But in nationalistic behaviours,humans tend to believe strongly in their own way of being.This sets up the idea that one set of values is intrinsically superior to another set of values.Differences in viewpoint are not valid if one believes that their own cultural norms and values are the only norms and values.
If a different culture has different values and the two come into conflict,then the defense of those values embodied in culture may lead to serious conflict.They come into conflict as a result of one culture holding the view that they have the right to impose itself on another.
Dire consequences may arise between nations,countries,potential business partners and individuals as a result.Some detrimental aspects of culture are fuelled from extreme nationalism and patriotism.In the extreme,these notions give rise to war and to the idea that it is appropriate to wipe out a people who have a culture different from one's own.An understanding of differing cultural viewpoints is essential for world peace and also for international business dealings.
There are several indicators to understand cultural differences among different societies:
:power distance index measure the degree of inequality in a society
:uncertainty avoidance index:the index measure the extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain situations
:individualism index:measures the extent to which a society is individualistic or communalistic
:masculinity index.It measures the extent to which the dominant values are assertiveness,money and things(achievement) versus the femininity index based on relationships
Friday, September 7, 2018
uses of social media
Social media sites like blogs are an avenue of expression of thoughts and ideas of an individual whereas social sites like Facebook are used for social interaction and instagram for posing and vanity and self gratification of ego obssessed people who want to do oneupmanship and be selfie kings and queens.Twitter is used to promote products ,services,do soul marketing or expression of individuals in the marketplace of ideas where we can bounce ideas off each other.So those who abuse it for spamming,trolling,stalking or propaganda of extremist ideology should be banned.
Users should be educated on media literacy from young so that they can detect ulterior motives and be tech savvy to unfollow dangerous people who may be doing cult brainwashing or sexual grooming or scamming for money.The social sites that earn a lot from advertising should have a standard policy and a training manual for users to learn to detect fake news or false advertising.Empower the user rather than rely on an external body to censor sites.Self censorship works better than "father knows best what's good for you" patronizing control.
Users should be educated on media literacy from young so that they can detect ulterior motives and be tech savvy to unfollow dangerous people who may be doing cult brainwashing or sexual grooming or scamming for money.The social sites that earn a lot from advertising should have a standard policy and a training manual for users to learn to detect fake news or false advertising.Empower the user rather than rely on an external body to censor sites.Self censorship works better than "father knows best what's good for you" patronizing control.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Extract from Individualism or society?
Individualism can be understood in two different ways.The first implies an individual's aspiration to self reliance or independence and the need to exist as individual human beings.By contrast,the second is a social theory which prioritises freedom of action by individuals over the authority of an all powerful state.The state's function was to protect a citizen's individual liberties and interfere with any citizen's actions only when those actions violated another individual's right to act freely.
In practice,in the context of late20th and early 21st century developed societies,the term"individualism" is generally identified with a world view whose followers wage a metaphorical low-level war against what they perceive to be the incessant and incremental growth in the power of the state.True individualists would argue that society's attempts to regulate the individualist's two most closely guarded spheres of personal liberty-economic and civil-will always represent individualism's most keenly fought over battlegrounds.This strongly individualistic view of the role of society is often referred to as "libertarianism".
An intriguing characteristic of those professing to be libertarians is that they can happliy disagree,equally,vehemently with a government policy on,say,education ,from either a distincyly left or a distinctly right libertarian perspective.Indeed,commentators and opinion formers in the mass media readily admit that one of the most fascinating aspects of these modern individualists of either kind is just how frequently both claim to be the authentic standard bearers of libertarianism.Thus,anarchists arguing for their particular vision of libertarianism would never be seen dead breaking bread with right wing neo-liberal libertarians-or vice versa.
The most striking evidence of the enduring strength of individualism ,and just how deeply this view of society has permeated all fields and forms of the contemporary arts,being famous for just being famous,has become an article of faith for wannabes everywhere.The seemingly insatiable public appetite for reality TV and tabloid newspapers,in addition to the all-pervasive celebrity photo journalism that fills multitudes of glossy magazines,are living testimony to Andy Warhol's dictum that anyone"can be famous for fifteen minutes" these days.
In practice,in the context of late20th and early 21st century developed societies,the term"individualism" is generally identified with a world view whose followers wage a metaphorical low-level war against what they perceive to be the incessant and incremental growth in the power of the state.True individualists would argue that society's attempts to regulate the individualist's two most closely guarded spheres of personal liberty-economic and civil-will always represent individualism's most keenly fought over battlegrounds.This strongly individualistic view of the role of society is often referred to as "libertarianism".
An intriguing characteristic of those professing to be libertarians is that they can happliy disagree,equally,vehemently with a government policy on,say,education ,from either a distincyly left or a distinctly right libertarian perspective.Indeed,commentators and opinion formers in the mass media readily admit that one of the most fascinating aspects of these modern individualists of either kind is just how frequently both claim to be the authentic standard bearers of libertarianism.Thus,anarchists arguing for their particular vision of libertarianism would never be seen dead breaking bread with right wing neo-liberal libertarians-or vice versa.
The most striking evidence of the enduring strength of individualism ,and just how deeply this view of society has permeated all fields and forms of the contemporary arts,being famous for just being famous,has become an article of faith for wannabes everywhere.The seemingly insatiable public appetite for reality TV and tabloid newspapers,in addition to the all-pervasive celebrity photo journalism that fills multitudes of glossy magazines,are living testimony to Andy Warhol's dictum that anyone"can be famous for fifteen minutes" these days.
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Artistic feast
Hua Chen Yu is a talented composer and singer from China.He can rap as well as sing pop songs.He composes beautiful lyrics like a poem in emotional nuance.Junichi Mitsubori is an artist who sculpts with bean dough to make wagashi,a japanese desserts that is a piece of art in itself.He is also talented in writing poems with insight into the human heart and stirs your eyes and soul.
Dust after the fireworks
Watch the flying dust falling down
No one is aware of its existence
How free it is
But all of the world loves company
There's no place for me to be alone
I shouldn't be lost in thoughts all alone
Only me waiting in the silent desert
for the flowers to blossom
Only me watching others having fun
and subconsciously sighing on my own
Just let me listen to those grave rules
and not be willing to understand
There's nothing I should or shouldn't do
My heart houses an old child
If the world doesn't understand
I'll confess to my own shadow
Is it true that I'm the only one who's still asking
Why tomorrow will bring more
No remains of innocence can be found after the fireworks
Only me waiting in the silent desert
for the flowers to blossom
Only me watching others having fun
and subconsciously sighing on my own
Just let me listen to those grave rules
and not be willing to understand
Only me
Just me
How strange
I'm still sighing
Gusts of wind are blowing at me
Why does it never come back
As it goes the wind never comes back
Does it feel sad
that one can become numb so fast
Should it
Can it slow down
Laugh and don't hold back your happy feelings
Cry and don't hold back your tears
Why should my facial expressions be arranged by the world
I'm just me
I'm only me
only the spraying dust after the fireworks
Gusts of wind are blowing at me
As it goes the wind never comes back
· 
· 
· 
Hua Chen Yu .powerful lyric writing skills.I love it.
People.
Forget the happiness you can't get from people.
If you live reasonable in everything,
I don't need people.
It's rather bothersome.
When you find out, it's just vain.
The whole world is so useful.
Sure enough, there's limbo and complaints about it.
Why are you so vain?
I don't know. It's because of people.
Convenience and self-satisfaction
Happiness?
I don't want to.
Forget the happiness you can't get from people.
If you live reasonable in everything,
I don't need people.
It's rather bothersome.
When you find out, it's just vain.
The whole world is so useful.
Sure enough, there's limbo and complaints about it.
Why are you so vain?
I don't know. It's because of people.
Convenience and self-satisfaction
Happiness?
I don't want to.
This is my soliloquy.
To the charisma of the longing
So cool. Self doesn't want to puke.
It's such a cheesy little wave.
I don't want it in manner.
I don't know what to say.
Because you're a lonely original.
I want you to take care of yourself more.
If you don't mind,
Wobble is the way.
It's the only one.
Please don't leave me alone.
To the charisma of the longing
So cool. Self doesn't want to puke.
It's such a cheesy little wave.
I don't want it in manner.
I don't know what to say.
Because you're a lonely original.
I want you to take care of yourself more.
If you don't mind,
Wobble is the way.
It's the only one.
Please don't leave me alone.
コレは私の独り言
憧れのカリスマに
カッコ悪いセルフは吐いて欲しくない
あんな陳腐な小々波なんかに
ゆらいでなんか欲しくない
誰がなんと言おうと
貴方は孤高のオリジナルなのだから
もっと自分を大切にして欲しい
貴方がゆらいでしまったら
ゆらぎゆらされ思い通り。
唯一無二よ
どうか私を一人にしないで
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Confessions of a Female Chauvinist Sow
I have to eat my words and eat humble pie at the same time for having a biasedness against the males.I've assumed that since Asian females do most of the household chores in a family that Asian males are helpless and hopeless at shopping,cleaning,cooking or looking after children.Our fathers,husbands and sons played the role that we expected-taking care of the bread and butter issues while we became domestic goddess,they took care of finances,taxes and expenses ,we mended,sewed,marketed,cleaned,tidied,changedthe nappies,fed the kids,cooked and gossiped on trivialities.
So my specs of prejudice dropped when I met guys who are spotless in cleaning,interior decorated their homes to stylish modes,male florists who know their blooms as well as me or cooked like a gourmet like Toshi and Nicholas Tse that I realised of my stereotypical view of the Asian male was unfair and prejudiced on my part.
A funny article by Anne Richardson Rolphe
I once married a man I thought was totally unlike my father and I imagined a whole new world of freedom emerging.Five years later,it was clear even to me-floating face down in a wash of despair-that I had simply chosen a replica of my handsome daddy-true.The updated version spoke English like an angel but-good God!-underneath he was my father exactly:wonderful,but not the right man for me.
Most people I know have at one time or another been fouled up by their childhood experiences.Patterns tend to sink into the unconscious only to reappear,disguised,unseen,like marionette strings,pulling us this way or that.Whatever ails people-keeps them up at night-tossing and turning-also ails movements no matter how historically huge or politically important.The women's movement cannot remake consciousness,or reshape the future,without acknowledging and shedding all the unnecessary and ugly baggage of the past.It's easy ehough now to see where men have kept us out of clubs,graduate schools;it's easy enough to recognize the hidden directions that limit Sis to cake baking and Brother to bridge building;and it's now possible for even Miss America herself to identify what they have done to us,and of course they have and they did and they are....But along the way we also develop our own hidden prejudices,class assumptions and an anti male humour and collection of expectations that gave us,like all oppressed groups,a secret sense of superiority(coexisting with a poor self image.)
Why are there laws insisting on alimony and child support? Well,everyone knows that men don't have an instinct to protect their young and given half a chance,with the moon in the right phase,thy will run off and disappear.Everyone assumes a mother will not let her child starve,yet it is necessary to legislate that a father must not do so.We are taught to accept the idea that men are less than decent;their charms may be manifold but their characters are riddled with faults.To this day I never blink if I hear that a man has gone to find his fortune in South America,having left his pregnant wife,his blind mother and taken the family car.I still gasp in horror when I hear of a woman leaving her asthmatic infant for a rock group in Taos because I can't seem to avoid the assumption that men are naturally callous heels and women the ordained carriers of what little is moral in our dubious civilization.
A better style of life may develop from an assumption that men are as human as we.Why not ask the child's father if he would like to bring up the child?Why not share the decisions,when possible,with the male? If we cut them out,assuming an old style indifference on their part,we perpetrate the ugly divisiveness that has characterised relations between the sexes so far.
Hard as it is for many of us to believe,women are not really superior to men in intelligence or humanity-they are only equal.
As my kids in class pointed out in a debate half of woman is man,half of female is male.Point taken at their unbiased perceptions.So we do not assume that old age confers the person a sense of wisdom as sometimes there is no fool like an old fool.
So my specs of prejudice dropped when I met guys who are spotless in cleaning,interior decorated their homes to stylish modes,male florists who know their blooms as well as me or cooked like a gourmet like Toshi and Nicholas Tse that I realised of my stereotypical view of the Asian male was unfair and prejudiced on my part.
A funny article by Anne Richardson Rolphe
I once married a man I thought was totally unlike my father and I imagined a whole new world of freedom emerging.Five years later,it was clear even to me-floating face down in a wash of despair-that I had simply chosen a replica of my handsome daddy-true.The updated version spoke English like an angel but-good God!-underneath he was my father exactly:wonderful,but not the right man for me.
Most people I know have at one time or another been fouled up by their childhood experiences.Patterns tend to sink into the unconscious only to reappear,disguised,unseen,like marionette strings,pulling us this way or that.Whatever ails people-keeps them up at night-tossing and turning-also ails movements no matter how historically huge or politically important.The women's movement cannot remake consciousness,or reshape the future,without acknowledging and shedding all the unnecessary and ugly baggage of the past.It's easy ehough now to see where men have kept us out of clubs,graduate schools;it's easy enough to recognize the hidden directions that limit Sis to cake baking and Brother to bridge building;and it's now possible for even Miss America herself to identify what they have done to us,and of course they have and they did and they are....But along the way we also develop our own hidden prejudices,class assumptions and an anti male humour and collection of expectations that gave us,like all oppressed groups,a secret sense of superiority(coexisting with a poor self image.)
Why are there laws insisting on alimony and child support? Well,everyone knows that men don't have an instinct to protect their young and given half a chance,with the moon in the right phase,thy will run off and disappear.Everyone assumes a mother will not let her child starve,yet it is necessary to legislate that a father must not do so.We are taught to accept the idea that men are less than decent;their charms may be manifold but their characters are riddled with faults.To this day I never blink if I hear that a man has gone to find his fortune in South America,having left his pregnant wife,his blind mother and taken the family car.I still gasp in horror when I hear of a woman leaving her asthmatic infant for a rock group in Taos because I can't seem to avoid the assumption that men are naturally callous heels and women the ordained carriers of what little is moral in our dubious civilization.
A better style of life may develop from an assumption that men are as human as we.Why not ask the child's father if he would like to bring up the child?Why not share the decisions,when possible,with the male? If we cut them out,assuming an old style indifference on their part,we perpetrate the ugly divisiveness that has characterised relations between the sexes so far.
Hard as it is for many of us to believe,women are not really superior to men in intelligence or humanity-they are only equal.
As my kids in class pointed out in a debate half of woman is man,half of female is male.Point taken at their unbiased perceptions.So we do not assume that old age confers the person a sense of wisdom as sometimes there is no fool like an old fool.
humour of writer James Thurber
I enjoy laughing at the humourous stories of James Thurber as they're witty,subtle and hits at some hard truths.
(excerpt from Further Fables for Our Time)
The Shore and the Sea
A single excited lemming started the exodus,crying 'Fire!" and running toward the sea.He may have seen the "sunrise through the trees,or woken from a fiery nightmare,or struck his head against a stone,producing stars.Whatever it was,he ran and ran,and as he ran he was joined by others,a mother lemming and her young,a nightwatchlemming on nhis way home to bed,and assorted revelers and early risers.
"the world is coming to an end!"they shouted,and as the hurrying hundreds turned into thousands,the reasons for their headlong flight increased by leaps and bounds and hops and skips and jumps.
"The devil has come in a red chariot!"cried an elderly male."The sun is his torch!The world is on fire!"
"it's a pleasure jaunt,"squeaked an elderly female.
" A what? she was asked.
'A treasure hunt!'cried a wild eyed male who had been up all night."Full many a gem of purest ray serene the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear."
"It's a bear!" shoured his daughter."Go it!" And there were those among the fleeing thousands who shouted "Goats!" and "Ghosts!" until there were alomost as many different alarms as there were fugitives.
One male lemming who had lived lone for many years refused to be drawn into the stampede that swept past his cave like a flood.He saw no flames in the forest,and no devil,or bear,or goat.He had long ago decided,since he was a serious scholar,that caves of ocean bear no gems,but only soggy glub and great gobs of mucky gump.And so he watched the other lemmings leap into the sea and disappear under the waves,some crying"We are saved!"and some crying "We are Lost!" The scholarly lemming shook his head sorrowfully,tore up what he had written through the years about his species,and started his studies all over again.
MORAL: All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from,and to,and why.
(excerpt from Further Fables for Our Time)
The Shore and the Sea
A single excited lemming started the exodus,crying 'Fire!" and running toward the sea.He may have seen the "sunrise through the trees,or woken from a fiery nightmare,or struck his head against a stone,producing stars.Whatever it was,he ran and ran,and as he ran he was joined by others,a mother lemming and her young,a nightwatchlemming on nhis way home to bed,and assorted revelers and early risers.
"the world is coming to an end!"they shouted,and as the hurrying hundreds turned into thousands,the reasons for their headlong flight increased by leaps and bounds and hops and skips and jumps.
"The devil has come in a red chariot!"cried an elderly male."The sun is his torch!The world is on fire!"
"it's a pleasure jaunt,"squeaked an elderly female.
" A what? she was asked.
'A treasure hunt!'cried a wild eyed male who had been up all night."Full many a gem of purest ray serene the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear."
"It's a bear!" shoured his daughter."Go it!" And there were those among the fleeing thousands who shouted "Goats!" and "Ghosts!" until there were alomost as many different alarms as there were fugitives.
One male lemming who had lived lone for many years refused to be drawn into the stampede that swept past his cave like a flood.He saw no flames in the forest,and no devil,or bear,or goat.He had long ago decided,since he was a serious scholar,that caves of ocean bear no gems,but only soggy glub and great gobs of mucky gump.And so he watched the other lemmings leap into the sea and disappear under the waves,some crying"We are saved!"and some crying "We are Lost!" The scholarly lemming shook his head sorrowfully,tore up what he had written through the years about his species,and started his studies all over again.
MORAL: All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from,and to,and why.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Such a struggle doing a balancing act
It's a struggle trying to do all the things we have to do.Try multitasking between marketing,cooking,cleaning,laundry,preparing your work,trying to finish reading a book,dabbling in painting and trying to exercise with a demanding child who wants your full attention to talk and listen to him.
How do people find time in their lives to write a novel?According to Firoo
zen Dumas
"I write in spurts.When I'm writing,I get up at 4.00am without use of an alarm clock.Once a story is in my head,I'm possessed and the only thing I can do is write like mad.This means the house gets very messy and dinner is sometimes frozen.I do not read or go to the movies when I am writing because I can't concentrate on anything else.it's really a challenge trying to be a writer and a decent mom."
So on the next holiday in Thailand,I'm gonna go around observing people going about their daily lives and make notes on quirky characters.I'm also going to seek out a stint at a retreat that I don't feel obliged to talk or listen to anyone so that I'm quiet to be alone with my thoughts and continue my sci fi story writing that has been abandoned.I'm also hoping to look for the same fortune teller that the Italian travel writer wrote in his novel 'A fortune teller told me" which send him not travelling by planes at all for a year as the prediction that he may meet his end flying in the air.
Mom did an astrology prediction when I was young that say I would meet with a devastating life changing crisis in mid life but I would survive and get my life back on track.So let's see what the Siamese astrologer will say about my fate in life.Hmm to believe in it or not .That's like living with a sword dangling over the head.
How do people find time in their lives to write a novel?According to Firoo
zen Dumas
"I write in spurts.When I'm writing,I get up at 4.00am without use of an alarm clock.Once a story is in my head,I'm possessed and the only thing I can do is write like mad.This means the house gets very messy and dinner is sometimes frozen.I do not read or go to the movies when I am writing because I can't concentrate on anything else.it's really a challenge trying to be a writer and a decent mom."
So on the next holiday in Thailand,I'm gonna go around observing people going about their daily lives and make notes on quirky characters.I'm also going to seek out a stint at a retreat that I don't feel obliged to talk or listen to anyone so that I'm quiet to be alone with my thoughts and continue my sci fi story writing that has been abandoned.I'm also hoping to look for the same fortune teller that the Italian travel writer wrote in his novel 'A fortune teller told me" which send him not travelling by planes at all for a year as the prediction that he may meet his end flying in the air.
Mom did an astrology prediction when I was young that say I would meet with a devastating life changing crisis in mid life but I would survive and get my life back on track.So let's see what the Siamese astrologer will say about my fate in life.Hmm to believe in it or not .That's like living with a sword dangling over the head.
Friday, July 27, 2018
We are migrants like our primitive ancestors
Somehow our ancestors moved from one continent to another looking for food and shelter.Then later some became early explorers and settlers in alien land,migrating to look for freedom and land.
Yesterday when I did the document on Universal human Rights,the kids were bored as there was a lot of reading of abstract ideas and academic language.So I cooked up a teamwork game today. We pushed the tables to one side ,leaving an empty space ,then the ngirls became immigration officers while the boys were refugees who are leaving the boats and trying to run to land on the opposite side of the class.The immigration officers held paper batons made of rolled up papers and try to hit the refugees to drive them back up the boat.If caught they are thrown into a detention centre witha guard.The rest of the refugees will try to rescue the inmates and then together run to the alien land.There was so much tension and screams and running around.
Then we cooled down and discussed the reasons why people become refugees.I let them listen to the music video by Sting on song Inshallah.They were engrossed.later we divided them into a debate with two teams one the immigration and the other the refugees spokesperson.It was wonderful,they researched the topic and debated passionately and it was worthy to see young Malaysian debating in a gentlemanly manner ,fighting with facts and not emotions.
democracy requires us to train the youths to think critically and argue logically
there is hope for these young malaysians.Kudos I feel optimistic again.
Yesterday when I did the document on Universal human Rights,the kids were bored as there was a lot of reading of abstract ideas and academic language.So I cooked up a teamwork game today. We pushed the tables to one side ,leaving an empty space ,then the ngirls became immigration officers while the boys were refugees who are leaving the boats and trying to run to land on the opposite side of the class.The immigration officers held paper batons made of rolled up papers and try to hit the refugees to drive them back up the boat.If caught they are thrown into a detention centre witha guard.The rest of the refugees will try to rescue the inmates and then together run to the alien land.There was so much tension and screams and running around.
Then we cooled down and discussed the reasons why people become refugees.I let them listen to the music video by Sting on song Inshallah.They were engrossed.later we divided them into a debate with two teams one the immigration and the other the refugees spokesperson.It was wonderful,they researched the topic and debated passionately and it was worthy to see young Malaysian debating in a gentlemanly manner ,fighting with facts and not emotions.
democracy requires us to train the youths to think critically and argue logically
there is hope for these young malaysians.Kudos I feel optimistic again.
Thursday, July 26, 2018
My favourite readings
Just read David Byrne ,ex Talking head and his extensive collection of books and how he let his concert goers have a chance to borrow some of the books from his library when he shipped them from New York to England.Heck a few of the books in his library are so freaking intriguing to read like the history of Jazz,bachata or bossa nova.I would love to have a chance to read some of them.
Some of the reading materials I remember having read when young and impressionable was Heidi, a swiss children's storybook,the little Prince,antoine de exupery,the Arabian Nights, and as I grew older,Greek mythology,Journey to the West,Romance of the Three Kingdom,Tuesday with Morries,Italian writer The solitude of Prime Numbers,M Gandhi's My experiment with Truth,the Mosquito Coast.The Asian future -Dialogue for change.
When we open a book,we are given a chance to travel to a foreign place,to travel back in time or forward to the future.They are a treasure trove of talking heads.We are richer for having the chance to read
Some of the reading materials I remember having read when young and impressionable was Heidi, a swiss children's storybook,the little Prince,antoine de exupery,the Arabian Nights, and as I grew older,Greek mythology,Journey to the West,Romance of the Three Kingdom,Tuesday with Morries,Italian writer The solitude of Prime Numbers,M Gandhi's My experiment with Truth,the Mosquito Coast.The Asian future -Dialogue for change.
When we open a book,we are given a chance to travel to a foreign place,to travel back in time or forward to the future.They are a treasure trove of talking heads.We are richer for having the chance to read
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Music as meditative tool
Music has the ability to soothe and tame the wild thoughts that reverberates in our brain. To empty the trash in the bin that's up your neck,music is a useful tool.
This morn,Jun showed me a youtuber ,a Thai DJ that did a mix of Emimem's music with a Cambodian monk chanting at super fast speed.I thought it's freaking awesome to mix rap with Pali chants -the young might be drawn to the rhythmic beat of modern rap and chants.So I suggested he asked his newly ordained friend who is a gifted musician to create Metta Blues or Jazzy sutta.Cool and good for stress reliever.
Music is music-there's no good music or evil music
This morn,Jun showed me a youtuber ,a Thai DJ that did a mix of Emimem's music with a Cambodian monk chanting at super fast speed.I thought it's freaking awesome to mix rap with Pali chants -the young might be drawn to the rhythmic beat of modern rap and chants.So I suggested he asked his newly ordained friend who is a gifted musician to create Metta Blues or Jazzy sutta.Cool and good for stress reliever.
Music is music-there's no good music or evil music
Heavy Metta
I've got the blues
Aint a cent in my pocket
And that car I've sold
That chick magnet sure draws the hot chicks
It got fire man and we just seem to click
I need some heavy metta
Coz my blues aint ever getting betta
Da cops think I'm a low life robber
When i pull my hoodie over my head
Think I'm gonna scream This is a stick up,put up your arms
And empty that cash register into the sack
When they see me and pullover
They jab the stick onto my back
Shudup or I'll fire
Shudup you F...g nigga
What dat in your sack
Which pack you belong to
No sir i work alone
Coz I'm the music man
That's my guitar in the sack
And I aint belong to any pack
Coz I only sing the heavy metta
To get over the blues and make you feel betta
My gig will blow your brains outta
More powerful man than any speed
I don't wanna go messing around drugs,no need
Coz my music will blow your brains outta
All you need to chill with is heavy metta.
Bro heavy metta much betta ,much betta
Listen to the blues on my guitta , my guitta
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