Killing the messenger not so softly

Every so often you are criticized for being “radical.” So triumphant is the critic that it is as though once the word “radical” is laid on you, nothing you have said is of any worth, the foundation of your argument collapses on contact, and you are defeated and dispatched.  On the other hand, your critics never say a thing about the atrocities of the government perpetrated over decades, they hold no principles against it and have unlimited tolerance for it. They suffer from severe Stockholm syndrome without knowing it; they even feel complacent about this mental deformation.

Before I get into the source of that quote, I think it's important to consider context here, particularly for the first part of this statement. Frankly, when I first read it, I considered politics in the US and the carelessness with which terms like "liberal" or "commie" or "radical right" or "religious fundamentalist" are bandied about by political opponents. Quick, if you want to discredit someone, assign some label to them which will be readily interpreted by your followers as a symbol of denigration and therefore not worthy of consideration! It is a sad and unfortunate commentary that when people are unable to argue the merits of a particular point of view that they then reduce themselves to demonizing the ideological view of their opponents. I am not so naive as to argue that we should all agree but no justice is served by attacking the messenger when the message itself cannot be refuted.

For reference, the above quote comes from Ran Yunfei ( 冉云飞), a Chinese intellectual and blogger, in relation to the government of his own nation. It's sad, however, how applicable it is elsewhere throughout the world... *sigh*

Peace of mind

Yesterday, in the middle of our first snow of the year (well, ok, beyond the 30 minutes of snow showers we had a few weeks ago which I won't count), I took a 30 minute walk outside. Of course, if I had woken up on time and felt more motivated, I would have gone to the gym and worked out there before the snow started but clearly I was not functioning properly. I would say that I will learn from that for the next time but, knowing myself, I doubt it. :-)

Nonetheless, I did this walk in order to get exercise as that is something that I am trying to focus more upon - exercise, that is. Spending most of my days in front of a computer or at meetings and such is not terribly conducive way of feeling good so I have to find another way of doing it. I would run but I have an arthritic knee that screams at me in 6 different languages when I try; I have instead tried to walk very quickly and hope that my knee does not become too upset.

Now, normally when I find myself alone (often in my car as I traverse the 25 minutes each way to work and back), I tend to have long, prolific conversations with myself in my head. It is a method that I used for many years to come up with stories that I would then write down. Of course, the fact that it also made me look a wee bit on the loony side was an unfortunate side-effect was that it would ensure no one would want to approach me (or fortunate, if you consider that it would keep people away that, in many cases, I did not want to interact with in the first place). It also helps me to sometimes rationalize things in my head that may have been bouncing around inside for a while. In short, such time alone has been like speed for the neural synapses and, after many years, have been very reassuring to me.

However, yesterday, I was approaching the end of my walk when I realized that my mind was completely blank. Not necessarily blank as in the vacuous statements issued by politicians to encourage people to vote for them but blank as in nothing was distracting me from what I was doing and I could focus, such as it was, on the current here and now. And for those who know me, being able to focus in such a manner is a rare event, indeed. It was a blankness that was a peaceful feeling that permitted me to find the balance that I often seem to lack in my occasionally frenetic daily pace. To essentially blank myself from everything for that short time is reassuring and grants me the ability to reacquire the sense of peace that is the legend written about in prose and poetry. It does not happen, and indeed has not happened, very often but that makes it so much better when it does occur. It is almost like recharging the mental and emotional senses and a restoration of equilibrium that it so often needed in my own chaotic world so I am grateful.

I'd be even more grateful if I could find that same sense of blankness when I want to go to sleep - but perhaps that is asking a bit much?

Nothing ever really changes

I'm currently slogging (and believe me, "slogging" seems negative but it's the right word considering how long it is taking me) through The Great War for Civilization by Robert Fisk. It is a long book and covers much Mr. Fisk's journeys and research on the Middle East. And while he has a certain leftist bent that does not diminish the work that he has compiled. I have found it to be fascinating reading, though not everyone would necessarily agree. I only wish I had read it when I first purchased the book more than a year ago - then promptly misplaced it until recently. *sigh*

But before my ADD tendencies cause me to diverge too far from my intended subject, I am currently reading through one of his sections on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. He brings up the demonization that takes place by the Israelis when they discuss the Palestinians and how they are vermin, cockroaches and insects to be stomped upon in order to teach them lessons. This is, of course, when they're not being referred to as terrorists or homicide bombers. <sarcasm> Really, I suppose the world owes Fox News a debt of gratitude for that. </sarcasm> And one only need go through MEMRI to see how many Arabs and Muslims talk about Jews. And these are things that have been occurring for years, not something that is just recent. If anything, the only thing recent about these characterizations is that they're now much more easily translated into English and therefore available to the English-only crowd who previously may have been unaware of them. And it is this demonization issue that I discussed less than a year ago on this blog and it seems to have come around again.

Indeed, how it easy it is to learn that the best way to make it easy to hurt or kill someone is to strip away their humanity and see them only as a negative caricature or as nothing more than a beast. It is not hard to understand how the situation in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians continues to fester when they see each other as beasts needing to be slaughtered in order to obtain what they want. Someone needs to really bring both sides to the table and enable them to start talking to each other - as people. This doesn't mean that it would be as easy as that but there can be no real beginning to a solution unless and until each side recognizes the other as someone more than just a generic "enemy" - or vermin or terrorist or Zionist or pig.

Would that it were so easy...

Movie weekend

Apparently, it must have been movie weekend. I suppose, when the temperature is hanging around "cold enough to snow" (and we got 30 whole minutes of it! thunder snow, no less!), that is a good time to spend inside watching movies. So that is what we did on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday night we watched "Aftershock" (or 大地震). I have to say that is probably one of the better movies that I've seen in recent years, especially for something that was produced in mainland China. One of my criticisms of movies coming out of China in recent years is the overt politicization and/or nationalism that seems to pervade the great majority of them. Perhaps there many people who enjoy them; I am not one of them.

But I did enjoy Aftershock. It was emotional, I didn't have to suspend my disbelief and, while the disaster scenes at the beginning of the movie may not have hit some of the high standards that have emanated from Hollywood in recent years, it also wasn't a movie about only the disaster. I felt that the mother in the movie was a bit of a martyr but I also understood (and admittedly agreed with) her attitude and choices. The children were also realistic to me and it was great to see such a wonderful story being told (that was not as depressing as some movies feel they have to be these days). As I put it to my better half, this was one of the best movies I'd seen in a while. "Out of China?" was the response. "No", I responded, "period". I enjoyed it and it didn't matter to me where it came from. I wish there were more stories like this sometimes.

Saturday was an old favorite, Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring). Of course, now I have to go back and also watch The Two Towers and The Return of the King, but that goes without saying. Combined with the fact that I also need to go watch Star Wars Episode I in 3D soon, you could argue that it is a week or rehashes, but that's ok. I happen to like each of the movies.

Sunday was "The Flowers of War", another Chinese movie by Zhang Yimou. While I've not been impressed by Zhang in recent years (as much for his philosophical changes and willingness to toe the government line), I have to admit that this movie was almost a guilty pleasure. There were parts where I felt the movie was good and moderately realistic and other parts where they seemed to be carrying things to excess (a single Chinese sniper wipes out an entire Japanese patrol single-handedly?). I enjoyed the story even if it seemed to swing wildly between excess and sappiness, often in all the wrong places. I know enough of the story of Nanjing during that time to believe the worst of the Japanese but there were times it really annoyed me, too. More of the politicization and nationalism that I mentioned earlier. And that doesn't even mention the fact that they kept saying "Nanking" rather than "Nanjing". Perhaps someone can tell me if that is actually accurate or playing to Western wordplay... Regardless, while not the best movie I've seen, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, either (though I did have to really suspend my disbelief at times).