Craving the unattainable!

Islamic State (2014; Vice News)

This documentary is the product of the field work of a Vice News journalist who managed to gain permission to follow the Press Officer of Islamic State, a certain Abu Musa. The officer draped in Arabic garb, spotting a reggae-type of a hat in place of the keffiyeh, donning unashamedly Ray Ban shades and wearing an ala-Castro beard minus the moustache.

The crew follow them in a battle weary town of Raqqa in Iraq. The whole movement of IS seems to be working towards the dream of one particular individual named Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi. Al-Baghdadi is a demigod whose charismatic speeches appear to recruit more and more followers for his course. Youngsters, pre-teens and teenage boys, speak passionately about their willingness to shed blood and give their lives for the honourable path of their fight.

The Vice News cameramen follow the soldiers on their field trips across the Iraq and Syrian borders. All along the way, roadshows are held to lure new recruits. The Sharia type of moral policing is carried out in the town. Justice is meted through legal means.

Many interviews are shown. Not surprisingly, many who were interviewed sing praises of the IS management of their territories. With the brutal treatment of their subjects, it is not surprising that there must be a prior arrangement to allow only the positive image of the organisation.

It is the same scenario every time. From the cradle of civilisation, first there will be an ideology to try to understand our existence. More people will agree that this MUST be it. Then they insist that that must be propagated to everyone, first willingly, then forcibly. Others resist, they want to keep their own fate. The majority get the power, by legitimate means or by force. A small group become militant and mayhem ensues. To combat violence, more violence follow. Then lull, before a storm, yet again.

I think most people anywhere in the world are just not interested in knowing the truth and the secret of all our existence. What they really want is just pleasure, in the physical absence of pain, away from mental torture. It is the reason why most follow the path of least resistance and stay with the herd.

P.S. During Lenin’s Era, many starving peasants rallied behind him and sang praises of him, hoping that their sufferings would disappear. Hold behold, after his ascent to power, they realised that it was just status quo, The pleasure (absence of pain) was still an elusive enigma.

World War 4 would be fought with sticks!

Tomoyuki Yamashita @ Tiger of Malaya
1885 -1946

His name rhymed with dog, so we call him one. Maybe because he tried to live up in the shadows of his brother who was a Valedictorian and school head prefect, Anjing-san wagged his tail around the teachers in the beginning of year for him to be thrown the bone of the unenviable post of class monitor. Our last three doggone years of primary school were filled by his tyranny.

Looking like General Yamashita of World War 2 infamy with his physique and hair cut, he fitted the role of a loyal bulldog very well. With his iron-fist style of leadership, he managed to instil morbid fear in our young fragile chicken hearts.
During the brief moments that the teacher would leave the class to run errands, Anjing-san would morph to the front ready to pounce as he jotted down names of 'trouble maker' students on the class board for the teacher to peruse.

He made it appear as if he had a special one to one divine relationship with the class teacher. Any word from him would get us all in trouble and only he had the 'get-out-of-jail' free card. Life went on dutifully. Our young impressionable and gullible minds were cowed into submission.
It only took one dissident to create a melee at the end of his seemingly endless brutal tenure. One day, the class teacher sneaked in at the back of the boisterous classroom to witness first hand Anjing-San 's iron-fisted fascist administration. Anjing-san got a earful which included pull of both ear pinnae and a rant. Only then did we realise that Anjing-san was mortal like us after all. We had unnecessarily lifted him up and placed in high on a pedestal.

Funny how after four decades, there are still people who think they have direct communication lines with the Forces above, be it administrative or divine. They interpret the circulars as they like to and insist that it is meant to be the way they say it is. Shirkers and non conformists are berated. Band of yeoman are cajoled to monitor that His alleged law is carried out on Earth as He would have wanted. Interestingly He is silent and has not showed any seal of approval or otherwise. Conveniently random same events are interpreted at will by believers and naysayers in any way that suit them.

History has shown us that challenges in life come in different and newer forms. In order for the human race to survive way into the future, as they have done in the past, they have to embrace the problems with newer ideologies and strategies. Living on past laurels and utilising middle age innovations to combat space age issues is a sure way of annihilation.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

Albert Einstein US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

Feel free to be free...

Another pastime that I occasionally indulge in is T-shirt watching. Some of the things written on them could be quite entertaining. Of course, some of them could be construed as sexual harassment if uttered by an individual. As it only written and not uttered, nobody gives a second look. Actually it is meant to be looked again and again! T-shirts with messages like 'Wish these were brains', 'Hammer says "You can't touch these"' would fit this bill. My favorite must be 'My girlfriend went to Vegas and all she got me is this lousy T-shirt'. Not to forget the abbreviations of the word 'Fornication Under Consent of the King' purposefully spelt as the abbreviations of 'French Connection United Kingdom' to  give a false sense of grandiosity to its wearer. Grandiose feeling by its wearer who is awed by his the fact that he is not wearing a garment but a statement. A statement that he dares to be different and fight against the self imposed worldly prejudices against him!
Just the other day, I saw this man who from his appearance as a vagabond with his disheveled hair, unshaven 1 week's stubble, more of a beard, worn out Japanese rubber slippers which had seen much better days, walking aimlessly with his gaze far into the horizon donning an equally worn out T-shirt screaming with red clenched fist and the fiery red words 'Walk for Freedom' emblazoned on it.
My curious mind wondered....
What kind of freedom is he looking for? Is he not free to wonder where he fancied - unlike a time not so distant in the past, where signboards like 'Dogs and so and so not allowed' were placed outside reputable restaurants. Is he not free to be restricted to dress in a particular way or manner (lack of) of grooming? Is he free to speak as he pleases? Is he not free to pursue his dreams if he had any?
Even the epitome of freedom, the bird, is not totally free. He is not free from his daily obligations to look for food. He is definitely not free from predators and pranking kids.
Maybe our homosapien friend wants to be free from the curse of the cycle of karma!
For all you know, the T-shirt could be a discard from a formerly radical thinking individual who had turned his back and to the dark side of capitalism because it is more self gratifying...