Wild Cyprus, angry mermaids and my YouTube crush!

A few things I’ve been reading/watching today:

• Peace threatens wildlife on Cyprus! No man’s land separating Greek and Turkish sides of the island in 1974 turned into an unintentional natural reservation. Peace and the ensuing return of farmers and villagers will threaten various rare endogenous species. There have recently been an influx of other animals such as rats and wild dogs – maybe the returning folk could protect the incredible gift that has come of this conflict from such things and preserve it? The cynic in me says no.
• Represent Copenhagen! OK so the ground-breaking, pollution-tackling, environment-saving, hope-inspiring resolution everyone had been hyped up to depend on never came through. But can we really expect to solve a problem so great in just 11 days? Regardless, I think Copenhagen made some important statements that I hope people will take home with them, my favourite being no one is too good to drink tap water – Go Jantelov! (not that I really agree with it but it has its perks.) Can’t say too much as I have only caught bits and pieces during the Christmas cram.
• The Angry Mermaid – Awards prizes to worst coroporate lobby groups for “undermining effective climate change” (see above). Cool animation on YouTube – regardless of the criticism, I think it makes a valid point – we want to help, we want people that genuinely want to make a difference to represent us and solve this problem, cause in the end it’s going to be us paying for it! It’s totally doable – sure, drastic changes need to be made and some very powerful companies will lose out unless they, too, make the switch. Boo hoo. Things evolve, we need to pay the consequences for our mistakes and apply the knowledge we’ve gained to ratify the situation. How can the politicians keep selling us out? It’s us they’re meant to be representing!
• I’ve been watching this guy Lasse Gjertsen on YouTube for a couple of years now. I must admit that I am somewhat infatuated with him, but the guy’s seriously talented! He’s done a few different things, Hyperactive being his most watched video. Along the same line of stop-motion animation is Picadilly Postcard – awesome! He’s also done some classic animations – Gammel Nytt and The Business Man being a couple of favourites – and a satirical “commercial“. He’s has recently started making music videos to make ends meet – some people look at that as slightly traitorous. I disagree – music videos are an art overlooked thanks to all the trashy stuff out there and I think Lasse’s latest upload, A Bar in Amsterdam is proof of it (artsiness, not trashiness).

Jeffrey, Are You Listening?

Here’s a poem by Serj Tankian, most noted for his role in System of a Down. It was performed on the Concert Series Volume 1 album by Axis of Justice. It is also in his book of poetry, Cool Gardens – totally on my Amazon wish list!

I don’t know the exact punctuation and layout, but here’s my interpretation. Corrections are welcome as are thoughts on who or what Jeffrey represents.

I’d also like to add that “who pays the bills sets the ways” applies not only to foreign policy. It’s fundamental in capitalism and although it has its benefits, there are dire consequences when unrestrained.

Serves plenty of food for thought and the word play is delightful.
 

Jeffrey, Are You Listening?

Blessed are the criminals that pursue crime as a hobby,
as soldiers who kill the enemy for fun,
as hookers prostituting for joy,
tall trees and submarines,
skin deep abrasions.
Gods children serving dearly should be forgiven.

Jeffrey, are you listening?
Are you listening?

Out of their fierce bellies
like a swordfish dance hall metholyptus cough drops you on your ass.

I’m encountering a strange revival:
that of the mind.
Thinking, unobsessed, scrutinising
mechanism of our human experience
unlike the staggering loop forced contemplations
of the ego-based mind of trouble and canoes.
I am re-encountering the thriving pinnacle
of the expansive existential thought processes.

Jeffrey, are you listening?

Out of their fierce bellies
like a swordfish dance hall metholyptus cough drops you on your ass.

On the other foot,
why not laugh?
Laugh of well being
for it is that which drives us men to evolve.
It’s the trick of life.

Jeffrey, are you fucking listening?

We are freezing
standing in front of our electric heaters, nuking our food.
We are tired of your transparent “Who pays the bills sets the ways” foreign policy.
We are tired of sending our troops to foreign soils to die,
not knowing why
and who’s interest they were sacrificed for.
We are ashamed to see the way you take care of your people
by cutting social services and aid to those most in need.

Explain me something:
How could the richest country in the world have starving children?

Here’s the fucking point:
Nations and their governments should provide, protect and serve its citizens.
Not the interest of the multinationals.

Jeffrey, are you listening?

The cartoon controversy.

Before saying anything, I want to clear the fact that I am not taking sides. I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and feel at home among Arabs, but at the same time I am a Danish citizen and proud of my country. This is an attempt to reduce misunderstanding and resulting hatred, not an attempt to aggravate the already awful situation. 

I almost joined a group on Facebook called “Ingen undskyldninger, til Mohammed” – No apologies, to Mohammed. After a quick flick through their photos, I immediately changed my mind – I believe in freedom of speech, but not racism, which is what the group is leaning towards.

I don’t know why this whole issue about the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed have come up again – I haven’t been following the news that much recently. All I know is that death threats have recently been issued. I find it so frustrating that we are all so intolerant of one another! Sure, the Danish papers were a bit inconsiderate, but the reaction from the Muslim world, and the west’s reaction to their reaction, is all ridiculous. What’s going on people?? Are we not all flesh and blood, brothers and sisters, descendants of one (or two, depending on what you believe in) common ancestor(s)?

First, let’s get the story straight. We can’t take things out of context or else we run the risk of prejudice. The Danish author, Kåre Bluitgen, was writing a children’s book entitled Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv, translated The Qur’an and the Life of the Prophet Mohammed, but he couldn’t find people willing to illustrate his book. The newspaper Jyllands-Posten approached numerous artists to draw pictures of Mohammed which were published, and later Politiken wrote an article raising the issue of self-censorship in Denmark which is supposed to be a free country.

Now, this was an issue of self-censorship and freedom of speech, not – I repeat NOT- criticism of Islam or the Prophet Mohammed. All because a writer wanted to write a storybook for Muslim children in Denmark. Various Muslim groups in Denmark took offense, especially over some of the more provocative cartoons (completely understandable) and brought it to the attention of the Middle East, which has met it with extreme anger. Now Danish flags are burning and cartoonists are having to look over their shoulders and check their cars for bombs. An extreme reaction, no?

We must remember these are just drawings. I realise that it is forbidden in Islam to depict the Prophet Mohammed, but all religious figures, politicians, presidents, monarchs, etc. etc. have been poked fun at in the form of cartoons. It’s called satire, not racism. Of course they aren’t always nice. We must remember that they reflect not only the person, but also the political climate at the time. I understand people are offended, but take it in context!

The thing that irritates me even more is how the west reacts to the reaction in the Middle East. There is ignorance and intolerance on both sides. The west tends not to understand Muslim culture and generalise the ideas of fundamentalism and terrorism. Some of the pictures I saw on the group’s site I mentioned earlier were appalling and the comments below even more so, especially since I grew up in the Middle East and some of my best friends are Muslim. I hate to see this all brewing so much racism in Muslims towards Danes and vice versa.

All of this is not helping the situation! Hatred is not life, it is death. Death to happiness and peace. What we need is compassion and understanding, people! I am a hippie at heart, I know, just born a few decades too late.

I believe very strongly in freedom of speech – it is one of our fundamental rights, and I will not have anyone take that away from me. I think it is shameful that we live in a time where we need to be careful of what we say or do (or draw) for fear of being blown to smithereens. At the same time I think that we should also be more considerate of one another and respect that the world is a diverse place filled with people of different religions, cultures, values. It is a thin line we must walk and this is a difficult time we live in, so in the meantime, let’s try to have some respect and understanding and try not to step on too many toes.

Animal Farm.

I once read Animal Farm ages and ages ago, nearly a decade ago in fact. It was assigned reading for my English lit class and although I liked it, I certainly didn’t appreciate it for the masterpiece that it is. George Orwell is a genius.

This is a “fairy story” describing the history of the Russian revolution and the emergence of Soviet communism. The oppressed animal working class, inspired by the dying Old Major’s dreams of a time of equality and freedom, rise up against their negligent human masters and establish The Animal Farm. Although the seven commandments of Animalism are put in place to ensure the rights and equality of the animals, the intelligent pigs Napoleon and Snowball swiftly take the role of leadership on the farm. Their never-ending quarreling and opposite viewpoints result in the ousting of Snowball and Napoleon’s dictatorship supported by the upper-class pigs and guard dogs. Propaganda in the form of fake statistics and patriotic songs keep the “lower animals” assured that times are certainly better than they were under human rule, even though they still go to bed hungry in their cold barns. At the end, “the creatures…looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but…it was impossible to say which was which.”

I could go on and on about this novella and its brilliance. Given the time that this book was written (mid-1940s at the end of WWII and the start of the Cold War), Orwell had to be very careful about writing such a tale. However, by turning it into a fable, it overcame these difficulties and also acquired a sense of timelessness. It can apply to any time, any leader, any country. You really sympathise with the ignorant working class, embodied by Boxer and his maxim “I must work harder”. You’re enraged by Napoleon and the pigs, exploiting these poor creatures and you feel their helplessness as they lack the words to complain and the intelligence to know better.

Call the inspector. Oh wait, there is none.

The news is shocking. American infrastructure is crumbling. What has been done? Well, not much on American soil apparently, and they’re trying to bring the rest of the world with them, steadily destroying more and more cities. Unbelievable.

My heart goes out to all those that have been killed and injured in the Minnesota bridge incident the other day. Hopefully it is inciting a much needed revision and reparation of their infrastructure.

The figures are shocking. More than 70,000 bridges across the USofA have been flagged as structurally deficient. That bridge that collapsed was marked as deficient in 1990. That’s seventeen years ago. Maybe if officials had paid attention all those years ago, this would not have happened. How can they allow them to remain unmaintained? How can they ignore the professional advice of these civil engineers? How can they risk the lives of their own people? 300 million vehicles cross those bridges every day. That’s a lot of potential victims.

And it’s not only bridges. On CNN today they were discussing the danger of dams as well. Several dams over the past few years have broken, causing major flooding and taking lifes that need not have been lost had the dam(n) inspectors done their job. Oh wait, but there are none! Alabama has a grand total of zero inspectors to check the condition of over 2000 dams. Zero. None. Nobody. What’s going on??? If I was living in Alabama, I can tell you I’d head straight to my representative and ask what the hell is going on, not to mention move as far as possible from any dams. And Alabama’s not the only one. Texas has 7 inspectors watching over well over 7000 dams, and the list goes on and on…

I realise it takes a lot of money to fix these problems, but hell, it also costs a lot of money to rebuild an entire bridge, not to mention the cost of the lives that have been lost.

America spends 22 million dollars every single day on their war on Iraq. What’s the result? Iraq’s gone to shit, falling into a denied civil war, and America is neglecting it’s own country, it’s own people and even killing them in this useless, failed excuse of a war on terror. Eventually they’ll have to pull out, and they’ll leave behind a broken nation that is certainly in no better position than when they went in.

Or how about the 3 billion dollars the US sends each year in aid towards the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel. Israelis are continuously booting Palestinians out of their own homes, confiscating their lands, and moving their own people in. This is against international law! The Bush administration claims they’re fighting terrorists, yet they are supporting who I and countless others consider the biggest terrorists in the Middle East. A bit hypocritical, no?

If instead they focused a little more on their internal problems, a lot of good could come of it. Of course there’s the obvious drastic increase in safety. There are also a lot of indirect advantages, such as a major widespread increase in job opportunity. They’ll need labourers, engineers, managers, technicians, inspectors….. This would put a major dent in their unemployment, boost their economy. It needs all the help it can get seeing as the dollar has steadily sunk to the lowest it’s been in decades.

I feel sorry for the American people. Not only is their government unnecessarily scaring them with constant terrorist threats (Europe has been hit how many times now since 9/11, and still they’re shaking in their boots), but they’re also not doing anything to protect them from otherwise avoidable disasters. I must say, it’s not doing much to convince me to continue my education over there…