state of mind: getting my shit in order.
tune: andy caldwell "warrior" still!
travelling is wonderful. you can travel to another city, maybe in another country, and marvel at it's architecture, stand spellbound by it's natural histroy, or flail helplessly in the molasses-thick idiosyncasies of another culture. it gives you the chance to escape the mundane existence of your day-to-day life in your home town, escape the opinions of friends and foes, and escape a climate that might not be to your liking.
importantly, you can also run away from the follies of your own society, and bask in ideologies more in tune with your own beliefs, and cultural nuances that feel more comfortable. at the same time, whilst donning an ignorance of the current turmoils in your own state, you can blissfully sleepwalk through your destination, and remain ignorant of the dilemmas that the people and institutions there are enmeshed in (provided it is not a third world state you are travelling through of course).
in the last few weeks, i have become aware of troubles unfolding in several countries through which i have recently travelled:
malaysia:
former deputy prime minister anwar ibrahim, recently released from prison, was regarded by most of the world as essentially a political prisoner. officially, mr anwar was imprisoned on dubious charges for, of all things, committing sodomy. general consensus is, however, that mr anwar was imprisoned in fact because he represented a real challenge to then prime minister mahatir mohamad. the glass and steel skyscrapers, set amongst acres of parkland in kuala lumpur's golden triangle, as well as the "melting pot" feel of that metropolis' cultural mix, did a good job affording me ignorance to the high-level corruption and erroneous judgements characteristic of the state's leaders.
czech republic:
a recently formed coalition that has governed the czech republic has fallen apart. having been in power less than two months, it now looks like the defunct alliance between the parties will give way to a more conservative coalition of governing parties. however this coalition lacks a parliamentary majority, so another election is likely. sounds like a mess to me! when admiring praha castle, from within its walls or from across the vltava river, or whilst captivated by the bones of 40,000 plague victims in the catacombs of a small church in kutna hora, thoughts of the country being in complete political suspension were farthest from my mind.
iceland:
above-target inflation; excessive private debt; poor planning; a current account deficit far in excess of GDP (highest in OECD); high interest rates (knee-jerk to inflation). these were the findings of the latest OECD survey of the land of fire and ice. here i marvelled at some the most amazing natural features of any land i have seen, wandered the streets of a small city that at times resembled a lunar space port, and stood on the edge of reykjavik harbour and felt on my exposed nose the edge of the civilised world. when i proclaimed to family and friends that this land was more akin to another planet, i had little consideration that the issues it was facing were very much of this world.
the U S of A:
rates of poverty didn't rise in america in the last twelve months. this is the first time this has occurred since the current bush administration came to power. countering this however, was a larger than average drop in the number of americans with any sort of health care. so whilst the poverty figures are reassuring they are hiding a continued downward trend in the fortunes of many americans. could this also be overlooked by a visitor?
i wandered the streets of new york city and san francisco, and had nearly as much fun in those two towns as what i have had in my entire life (to which i am indebted to osiame for assisting with, i owe you kid!). NYC is certainly the town of all of tomororow's parties, but sad to say, many nu-yoricans aren't enjoying the party. a great many people are sleeping in the gutter with an enormous fiscal hangover. the only place i witnessed more homelessness than NYC is san francisco, a phenomenon that, a local told me, could be explained simply. which city's streets would you rather sleep on?
uncle sam sure does wear his heart on his sleeve.
6 comments:
oh J, i'm scared for this rock we live on. we need a REVOLUTION!
In a modern democratic society the right to vote is the right to a revolution. Take away the right to vote and expect an absolute revolution - a state of anarchy, a state of mass civil unrest that will spill over into other countries (think of the pebble thrown in the pond). Choose to ignore the wishes of the voters you choose to accept revolution...
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mills, the father of Utilitarianism, placed higher on non-material acquisition than material acquisition. Spiritual happiness purifies the soul, cultural happiness unifies, intellectual happiness promotes social progress... the only thing with utilitarianism is that it doesn't encompass everybody... screw socialism as a path to communism, UTILITARIAN ALL THE WAY!
One thing I love to preach is that money can't buy you happiness (how cliche) because you always seem to want things to be bigger and in larger quantities, and, when you're buried 3 metres under ground in a 1 metre wide and 2.5 metre long hole you cannot fit your 10 bedroom mansion with 25 bathrooms, your sports car collection, your other 20 homes, and bank vault with billions of dollars in it. The only thing you take with you is your soul, your happiness, and wisdom. All the material things may make life easier, but life isn't meant to be easy. It's meant to challenge you and give you all the happiness and wisdom you take with you when you get buried!
For you Mr Blog Owner, those pictures - I L.O.V.E. them! Especially the Iceland pic, it's very Warcraftish. Then again many structures in Iceland look surreal (so I have been told).
Democracy is not the great solution it's been said to be. In the world largest democracy, it's a joke. Politicians have circmvented the system; all they want is power so they rally around hot-button issues regardless of how morally correct the matter may be just to get that seat of power.
I'll remind you that slavery was allowed to continue in a democratic US all because it benefitted the majority.
Democracy rallies people around their commonalities and sometimes, those commonalities are prejudices.
I'm becoming more anarchist in my beliefs. We need to start again cos we've fucked it up monumentally but we're too comfortable or dependent rather to do anything about it.
oh, and i can't help but draw comparisons between democracy & christianity in the way it's being pushed on the rest of the world.
"we need to bring democracy to the people of iraq" - bush, circa 2003
"we need to bring the word of God to the savages in africa" - christian missionary, circa 1880s
majority rule sometimes means minority oppression.
in my opinion, democracy has, in may areas, largely failed. yet still we "take it to the heathens" as if it were the only way in which a society can function.
my partner is from a sultanate. they enjoy the most remarkable levels of personal and social wealth and health. yes, brunei is dependent on its oil, but in a country that spends more on the education of its people then any single other thing, it is likely that their fortunes will extend beyond the limits of their oil and natural gas reserves.
moreover, the sultan of bruei is, to my knowledge, largely an honest guy, with his subjects interests at heart. (should i mention he gets a hell of a good lifestyle on a silver platter for his troubles.) sure, a degree of nepotism exists even in the lower reaches of the public sector, but how is that nay different from almost any other nation?
it may be argued that such a system of governance is relatively easy to dispense in a rich nation with a population of about 1% that of tokyo's.
still, it has to be noted, other forms of governance do work, and the sovereignty of the nations that peddle them ought to be respected, as long as the welfare of the subjects is looked after (and therein lies the point of a subjective disagreemetnt).
and...
anonymous, thanks for the compliments on the pics. but in all honesty, the world provides everything in them, i just pressed a button.
osiame, it is uncanny how christianity and democracy are both purported to the world as the ideal solutions. i have remarked to a few people lately how it seems to be that christians (in particular protestants in the developed world) are the forceful ones with their beliefs, not hindus or muslims.
but i am not sure which one is the chicken and which one the egg on the issue of the export of 'isms... democracy, christianity, or western colonialism/imperialism.
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