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.


                     

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."