Nisadas

I was reading Seth Godin recently on Demonization. Whilst he writes  what would be interpreted as a marketing-centric post, he makes a very valid point.

The closer you get to someone, something, some brand, some organization… the harder it is to demonize it, objectify it or hate it.

Reading through Achcharu today, I also came across some interesting posts – Indi’s rant against the diaspora in Canada and Rajaratarala’s innovative suggestion for reconciliation.

My socio-political views have and will be private, and are unlikely to be published. However, in all three cases above, one point is common – isolation from each other contributes most to the rifts in society. Seth talks about (or at least I interpret it to be) how being isolated from an issue makes it easier to demonize it; Indi talks about the Diaspora and how they talk to themselves in the comfort of Canada about the war in Sri Lanka; Rajaratarala talks about how giving the opportunity for the internally displaced to live normal lives again will help heal the wounds of war.

During my studies in secondary school, I had the opportunity to be part of the Interact movement (of which perhaps the less said now, the better). Through this I was able to make friends from different schools and different ethnic and religious backgrounds. The single biggest lesson I learnt from this was that there was just so much we all had in common. Teenagers the world over will have the same issues, albeit in different languages and different settings. Why else was Dawson’s Creek so popular amongst TV viewing Sri Lankan teenagers?

Closeted away in their own little enclaves, it’s easier for people to demonize others and act all morally superior. But then again, it takes a lot of confidence and courage to buck the trend and actually treat others as human beings and not as the labels they choose to stick themselves with.

But it all comes down to the fact that you’re no different from me or the person next to you. You didn’t choose the race you were born in to. You didn’t choose the country you were born in to. You can choose who you are – what your actions will mean in the greater scheme of things, no matter how small.

I only hope that the future holds for all of us the freedom to live our lives in relative normalcy and worry about stuff like learning new things, holding a job, raising a family and such-like – problems that have been around as long as civilisation.

In conclusion, I’d like to share something that Terry Pratchett wrote in his book Interesting Times, where the wizard Rincewind while running away from a major battle, finds himself in a field criss-crossed with drainage ditches (I’m hoping that this excerpt falls within fair-use, please notify me if it doesn’t – I can’t afford a lawsuit ):

Someone was watching him.

It was a water buffalo.

It would be wrong to say it watched him with interest. It just watched him, because its eyes were open and had to be facing in some direction, and it had randomly chosen one which included Rincewind.

Its face held the completely serene expression of a creature that had long ago realized that it was, fundamentally, a tube on legs and had been installed in the universe to, broadly speaking, achieve throughput.

At the other end of the string was a man, ankle-deep in the mud of the field. He had a broad straw hat, like every other buffalo holder. He had the basic pyjama suit of the Agatean man-in-the-field. And he had an expression not of idiocy, but of preoccupation. He was looking at Rincewind. As with the buffalo, this was only because his eyes had to be doing something.

Despite the pressing dangers, Rincewind found himself overcome by a sudden curiosity.

‘Er. Good morning,’ he said.

The man gave him a nod. The water buffalo made the sound of regurgitating cud.

‘Er. Sorry if this is a personal question,’ said Rincewind, ‘but . . . I can’t help wondering . . . why do you stand out in the fields all day with the water buffalo?’

The man thought about it.

‘Good for soil,’ he said eventually.

‘But doesn’t it waste a lot of time?’ said Rincewind.

The man gave this due appraisal also.

‘What’s time to a cow?’ he said.

Rincewind reversed back on to the highway of reality.

‘You see those armies over there?’ he said.

The buffalo holder concentrated his gaze.

‘Yes,’ he decided.

‘They’re fighting for you.’

The man did not appear moved by this. The water buffalo burped gently.

‘Some want to see you enslaved and some want you to run the country, or at least to let them run the country while telling you it’s you doing it really,’ said Rincewind. There’s going to be a terrible battle. I can’t help wondering . . . What do you want?’

The buffalo holder absorbed this one for consideration, too. And it seemed to Rincewind that the slowness of the thought process wasn’t due to native stupidity, but more to do with the sheer size of the question. He could feel it spreading out so that it incorporated the soil and the grass and the sun and headed on out into the universe.

Finally the man said:

‘A longer piece of string would be nice.’

Before you point it out, Yes, I’m an apolitical idealist who is quite possibly out of touch with the world around him.

Or maybe not. I’ll fill you in once I’ve figured it out.

As I may have pointed out before, the consistent feature of this blog has been upgrades to WordPress and its plugins.

Rarely have I taken the time to actually add anything of note to this blog.

Beginning May 2005, Nisadas was launched from home on my dial-up connection and featured a mashed up theme that borrowed (stole?) heavily from various existing themes that I thought were interesting.

Prabhath, the design guru at the up-and-coming contender for Best Sri Lankan Web Design Firm (Vesess) saw it, puzzled over it and then kindly advised me to use a more interesting theme like Blix.

After that, I managed to squeeze in a few posts such as;

• Small is beautiful
• Multum in parvo
• Identity crisis
• The Horton Place Progressive Front (possibly one of my better posts)
• Quis custodiet ipso custodes? (which combined my penchant for latin headings with my interest in Pratchett)
• The Magic of books (the Kindle wasn’t out yet)
• Life on the silver screen (my first movie review and the first time I went for a premiere. It was weird sharing the theater with so many sri lankan actors, ‘cos I didn’t know any of their names – just their faces )
• and my most viewed post – HSBC (SL) doesn’t want me to use Linux

After that, most of my posts came few and far between, with random surges whenever I got some free time (which was spent mostly fiddling with the themes and plugins).

During all this time, I’d been hosting at NearlyFreeSpeech.net which I have to say is the best bet for anyone looking to start out hosting their own domain for their blog. Then came a special offer from Dreamhost which sounded pretty good  so as of January 4, 2009 Nisadas found a set of new nameservers. Within a few days though, the server this was hosted went down. It was back up again and I’m sure apart from a few spambots, no one else apart from me noticed. Which is ok – I’ll give DH a go and see how it fares. If it doesn’t impress me, I’ll be back at NFSN.

Installing WordPress 2.7 and getting the fabulous Amazing Grace theme working (after getting it off NFSN) was a breeze. I’m quite impressed by the ease of exporting the blog using the settings. Also, WordPress 2.7 looks even better than before. Very Web 2.0 so to speak (I remember the older 1.5 UI). The facility to upgrade from within the blog comes quite in handy, especially since I’m not much of a hacker anymore.

So my goal for 2009 is quite simple – at least one post a week, for a total of 52 in 2009. Let’s see how that goes.

I’d ask you to put your seatbelts on, but this is going to be more like a ride on a bullock cart, so no worries, y’all

Moving on from my previous post, I was going to blog about something that crossed my mind while typing it last night. However, it seems Morquendi has beaten me to it on Nittewa.

My point being – what defines your identity?

I spoke to some friends of mine. Apparently, whatever the scholars say, most average people seem to equate identity with name, ethnicity, nationality or religion in most cases. And it would seem that many people will pass judgement on others based on these labels… a practice that has been carried forward throughout human history.

He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my pains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?

– Shylock, from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice

The labels we give to distinguish ourselves have hardly ever been used for a good purpose. But what bothers me is how these archaic labels still exist in our global village. Why is it that even at a time when we are so clearly able to see that the biggest differences among us are figments, we continue to revel in these labels, directing hate and passing judgement on those we feel are different from us?

Maybe a few hundreds of years ago, when travel between nations was rare and multi-cultural towns were exclusively sea-ports or trading posts, the labels had more meaning than they have today.

How do you define someone’s ethnicity today? DNA testing – or do you take their word for it? Does following a particular religion mean you have the right to put down the followers of another religion?

What about the people who are born into a race or religion they don’t like? Are these matters of personal choice or social custom?

What if you were born abroad, in a country different from that of your parents’ home – but were brought up in a totally different country? What would be your nationality?

Personally, I’m proud to be Sri Lankan. I’m proud of what my ancestors achieved in the past.

But I will not be defined by society’s whims or the ruins of my ancestors. Frankly, I’d rather just be me. I will define who I am by my actions. I’m thankful to my friends, who by being themselves and constantly challenging my beliefs, help me maintain my individuality. Maybe I’m being an idealist, but I would rather be an idealist seeker of the truth than a hypocrite defined by the company he keeps.

It’s election time. Time to make promises, shake hands, pay people to throng at your speeches and wave majestically. It is a time for many things. Perhaps even a totally irrelevant and irreverant post on something that came to mind (these kind of thoughts occur very often, but very few are ever published). Before reading the rest of this post, please ensure that you’ve got a sense of humour and most importantly, an open mind – I can be very confusing sometimes, which can be a good opportunity to laugh at me. If you lack the two – I hope that you have free will. This entails being able to understand that No, I Don’t Need To Read The Rest Of This Stupid Post And Get All Hot And Bothered About It. If you find yourself lacking in all three departments – please don’t read any further. If you’re still reading this, you’re implicitly agreeing that you posess the first two qualities yadda yadda yadda yadda…

So anyway. I watched Ms Nisha Pillai on BBC speak to Lord Naseby of the British-Sri Lanka Parliamentary Group with regard to the issue of the EU travel ban on the Tamil Tigers. It was quite interesting to watch the conversation and the reactions of the two individuals concerned.

However, for details and discussion on matters re: LTTE, GOSL and the “ethnic” conflict in Sri Lanka – might as well check Mephistopheles or Nittewa. Nothing on those lines here. Sorry, Politics is a subject that I refrain from discussing (specifically) or debating in public – as someone once said, “It’s like wrestling a pig – not only do you end up getting dirty, but the pig actually enjoys it”.

Rather, much in line with the strange ways that my mind works – watching that little tete a tete cultivated a (rather weird) vision of the future. A glimpse of the world as it soon could (will?) be.

A quick trip to the Wikipedia (don’t we all love that site) will show just how many separatist movements are at work in the world today. I will not discuss the validity or the idealogy behind these movements.

Rather, I will say this – today, more than ever before in the history of mankind, we are living in greater proximity to each other. Something of a global village. If not physically, then virtually. Advances in technology such as the Internet and satellite broadcasts have brought cultures diverse and different in contact with each other. People who only 20 years ago would have led lives that hardly strayed beyond the borders of their little hamlet in the border villages in Sri Lanka may now watch various american television shows on their solar powered TVs. What does Siripala make of “Sex and the City”? (Okay, so its a dumb example – please provide a better one)

So in this modern Babylon where races, religions and cultures are continuously confronting each other, I see people getting increasingly anxious about their individual identity. This is followed by perceived or (sadly) actual social/political/economic disadvantages that tend to frustrate people and cause problems. Hmmm….

Sure – I’m unique – but so’s everyone else. Oh dear, I’m feeling a little – just a little – bit insecure now. How come those other people are getting a better deal than I am?

So lets all gang up depending on what our most common factor is. Let’s get Tribal. After all, the Tribe knows whats best for its members. Or rather, the head of the Tribe knows what is best.

So lets assume the Tribes are set up. These will be split along the usual lines of race first. Perhaps religion can be a secondary distinction. Caste, Social status, Job satisfaction, Sports involvement and voluntary services provided can be used as filters afterwards. Being of mixed racial background can be a hindrance. Best to go with the secondary distinctions then.

So what does that give us? Hypoythetically, we’d have The Sinhala Bauddha Govi Madhyama Panthika Rekiya Wirahitha Upadhidharee Pakshaya (translated: The Sinhala Buddhist Govi-caste Middle-class unemployed-graduate party) could be set up, where it would find itself in polar opposition to the Sinhala Bauddha Govi Madhyama Panthika Rekiyalabhi Upadhidharee Pakshaya (as before, but employed-graduates), on the grounds that employment was given out by central government on a purely arbitrary basis that discriminated them.

But why stop there? Let’s get geographical. We can get these various groups to agitate (first peacefully, then violently – subject to actual weaponry and training available) against whatever central government is around, asking for a separate state. This would enable the different parties to pursue their various agendas independently.

But where do we draw the line? Is the setting up of separate states the solution to problems brought about by globalisation? Where do we draw the line and say that separatism by the Horton Place Progressive Front, the Mirihana People’s Alliance or the Melbourne Idama Liberation Kangaroos are people with serious issues as opposed to other separatist movements?

The planet we live on is like an island in an ocean of stars. Until there are viable alternatives (like the proposed colonies on the moon and Mars), there’s little we can do. The world population has been growing at what seems to be a dangerously unsustainable rate. This leaves all of us with increasingly less land to live on, much less die on. Are we to keep splitting it up into tinier and tineir pieces?

Do we really need to go back on millennia of evolution, technological and social progress to relive the ways of our ancestors and their tribal feuds (“My grandfather offed your grandfather 100 years ago, so the fact that your father offed my father is no reason for you to claim ownership of this piece of land”)?
If we keep splitting up the land we have based on the various labels we give ourselves – what will be left of us as humanity?

Have we as humanity grown up? Or do we still dwell in our little individual wells, admiring the sky above and ignoring the world around us?

The gentle caress of the sea breeze, the glint of sunlight upon dew-topped leaves in the morning, the cacophony of birds, the kaleidescope of colour in the flowers… it’s little wonder that artists throughout the ages have depicted Nature with a distinctly maternal theme.

So human beings take all this for granted, thinking that every day will be all sugar and sweetness.

Yet when we stand upon the beach and feel the waves gently lapping our feet, we become acutely aware of the simmering power of the ocean. And then there are those terrible days when we find out just what nature can do.

Nature has once again shown its awesome potential as a destructive force. If the tsunami that devastated much of the coastal areas in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia wasn’t enough indication of what it can do, then the hurricane that’s devastated New Orleans certainly is.

While I am shocked by the destruction caused by natural events, I am shocked even more by the events that have unfolded due to human intervention – the sniper attack on rescuers at the hospital, the armed gangs looting etc. Despite seeing and hearing of incidents of this nature in the past, the effect is hardly diminished. I have always been cynical of human nature and these incidents just go on to affirm that view, especially with regard to the scammers who are trying to make a quick buck off this calamity.

Indi and Ivap have details on the US response to this calamity and various questions that have been asked on its implementation. Judging by the the relief activities carried out here in Sri Lanka by American personnel during the post-tsunami period, we can only hope that those so strongly affected by the hurricane will receive similar relief – soon.

The latest developments on this story unfold on CNN and BBC.

The ravages of nature are the most powerful message that we, collectively as humanity, are still fallible and have much further to go. Amongst the angels who heed the call of their conscience to help the helpless – irrespective of differences of geography, ethnicity, religion or whatever other distinction – there still walk demons.

CVO. Chief Virus Officer. That’s what my pals at Vesess call me. Hmph. I read so much about the havoc caused by viruses on Microsoft’s operating system that paranoia stalks me all the time. Especially when you consider the time it takes to reinstall the whole thing when something goes wrong. So, downloading virus updates on a religiously regular basis is something I do.

At home, I was running Vector Linux, which gave me a cute little application called KGet for downloads. Looking for a similar application led me to WackGet. I’d wax lyrical on this little package, but it seems that after two months of using it and deciding to do a little post on it, Lifehacker beat me to it. Read all about WackGet here.

So before Lifehacker beats me to it yet again, let me share another little jewel with you – www.TinyApps.org. This site has a list of various small, low-overhead software for well, various uses.

Whereas my experience with Linux is still in the fall-down-more-times-than-walk and really-smelly-diaper stage, I’m lovin’ it. Since moving to Ubuntu, I’ve been a big fan of the little software called Axel. It’s a fantastic downloader that I use quite often.

Of further interest to interested parties may be Steven Watsky’s Lagniappe! page. Of course, if you take the time to visit it, then you should also check out his homepage and blog. This guy is more or less responsible for BeatrIX, and subsequently my shift to a totally linux environment at home.

UPDATE (2008 Aug 10) It seems that the whole BeatrIX program was discontinued ages ago. I have since disabled the links to Watsky’s pages.