merry Christmas EVERYONE!

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3

...with the strange lady seated upon a lotus flower, there was eternal everlasting calm over the land. She was the goddess of wealth. She brought a fruitful year to those who worshipped her for she was metaphysically intertwined with the universe. She alone stood as a pedestal that acted on behalf of those who bowed before her. Eclipsing the relevant stars and coercing the lights of other celestial bodies to shine down upon those who bestowed their love for her. This was her power. It summoned good and scattered the bad. The destiny of many in her grasp, the pathway...


…he took flight from the threshold of his shanty hut and proceeded to enter his gateway, his nexus of freedom, riches and mirth; the central garbage disposal zone. He was 8, bald and hungry. Searching through every nook and cranny of everything he sets his sight upon, he stumbles upon many a trinkets and treasures. An expired box of milk, a moldy loaf of bread and a fly infested cup of jelly, ‘a lunch from the Gods’ he whispers to himself. He gathers more for his siblings, his ill father and his disabled mother. All in a days work for…


...he called upon his fleet of men with guns and demanded the prisoners to stand in single file facing the guards. Sobs of the women and children were heard; cries of great travail and sorrow. The men stood still knowing that the worse has come to an end. One final blow and they will be at peace; far from all the persecution, lies and hate. They will be released from their agony into the hands of the Creator. They are waiting. Shots were fired and then, silence. 13 dead and 1 injured. A guard approached the injured one hastily with…

Always

Hollywood has been a great source of entertainment in the early decades of this century but all that remain is a big commercially driven enterprise bent on making sequels and remakes of old series and films. These new movies not only lack themes but lack all coherence or moral justification. Everything is either murder or sex. Nothing is original and everything is superficial. There is just no value placed for quality film making, directors all assume that movie goers are a bunch of morons who want nothing but bloodshed and body counts (well I’m sure there is a whole load of them that do, but equally there’s many who don’t).

Upon having watched a few movies recently, most notably Flight plan, I can’t help but realize the sheer stupidity that most Hollywood movies portray. There is certainly a great deal of shock value but arguably the entertainment or pleasure factor never stays. It is truly an ephemeral feeling. Nonetheless, I still have hope for decent film making in the future as I have witnessed much talent between up and coming directors; Directors who tackle the more pressing and modern issues, directors that push the ambits of ethics, directors that offer a perverse justification which while offends some people nonetheless is a logical solution and directors who defy pedantic and conform only to themselves.

Ultimately a movie is an artistic piece, an expression or impression of oneself within a subject matter. I go to the cinemas wanting to know the viewpoint of the people that make the film not societal justification. If I wanted societal justification, I can just as easily take a trip to the courts or to prison to see social sanctions at play.

Why do I talk about this today? Well, I have witnessed a very interesting piece of work from a Kyle Langenbach. He has assessed and given a truly introspective view on the subject of euthanasia. Being someone who just attended a 4-week program in film academy, he has an amazing view on things and the whole short was done brilliantly reflecting a moment contemplation, love, distress, anxiety and rationality. For those of you wanting to watch this, here’s a go:


Always


Upon watching it and synthesizing the values gained from the story and my own views, I cannot help but agree with the ethical premise surrounding this film. Many a times we are confined within our own interpretation of death and the narrow view taken by our religions. Death and life in itself is a subject matter so vast that it transcends anything any religion has to say about it. The fact that different religions have different interpretations of death just goes to show the extent and nebulousness of death.

Euthanasia (or mercy killing as it is sometimes known) is illegal in most countries but receives approval in Holland and a few other EU countries (in certain situations). What I wish to assess about is when someone is in a terminally ill position. Being unable to lead a qualitative life no more, I truly believe there is no harm in ending ones life. Being bed ridden or in a wheel chair void of all sensory, aural and visual perspective is no way to lead ones life. Why suffer in a way most derogatory knowing that you will never be able to do anything remotely similar to the things you used to do. Alternatively for those pulling the plug on behalf of a loved one, don’t consider it a violation of religious morality, consider it an act of love. An act of releasing your loved one from his misery, an act of nobility and solitude, an act of abnegating the cecity that shrouds God’s love from the eyes of your loved one.

In all honesty, I do believe that the medical care providers (hospitals & governments), the only reason they keep you alive on machines is for nothing more than attaining profit and funds from you. Do not prolong one’s misery when death is to be achieved. Why feed them food through tubes and store nutrients in cylinders. Release them from this vessel of earthly existence so that they may recuperate from the pain and travail they have endured thus far. Let them achieve that spiritual bliss which the Christian God speaks about. This is no murder, this is no travesty and this is certainly no wrong. As Langebach beautifully depicts, this a choice by a loved one done for a loved one derived solely out of love and done simply for love.

On a side note, Rama left yesterday evening; indeed it was a great meeting and a small food fest. Rashdan has got me a little present for Christmas, Radiohead’s Amnesiac which I shall be reviewing soon together with Mastodon’s Leviathan and Tankian’s Serart. I shall be setting my sights quite high for the New Year, a lot of new experiences to be received and a whole lot more perspectives to be achieved.

Positively Discriminating?!

The topic was positive discrimination which technically is the preferential treatment of certain disadvantaged groups of people. There is a fine line of difference between positive action (non-selective) and positive discrimination (exclusive) but for the sake of making things more comprehensible and less complex, I shall set those differences aside and just focus on ‘preferential treatment of a group of disadvantaged people’.

To cut to the chase, the major argument is vis-à-vis entry to university. Must universities consider the ethnicity and race of their applicants for the sake of assessing whether these groups of people might be at a disadvantage at attaining certain foundational elements in their educational life? Are they to consider the deficiencies or discrimination these groups of people might have suffered in the past? Are they to consider the lack of educational support these people might have succumbed to?

The system set by the University Of Bristol and even the School Of Medicine in Cardiff seem to be in coherence with my proposed question. University of Bristol looks at the status of the school by which their applicants come from. A substantially lower grade is required from those that come from State owned schools as opposed to those from public schools or independent schools. The School Of Medicine here on the other hand places a lower pre requisite for Welsh students under the basis that these students will be serving their local NHS. In other words, not so much attention is given to the acquisition of merits and grades and more so detail is placed upon the societal status of an individual.

This does seem very unfair to the majority of society but the reasoning behind such a system is to promote the minority, to better their stand in society and to provide them with an adequate amount of assuage so as to enable them to attain an equal opportunity; when intending to pursue a career or a path in life. With regards to the article entitled ‘A case for Positive Discrimination’ by B. Parekh (who proposes positive discrimination for the betterment of society and diversity in the education sector), he speaks about the role model methodology, whereby the establishment of people from a certain minority group as pioneers in a certain field of work will only serve as a catalyst to ensure that more members of that minority group take the opportunity to better their lives.

But I nonetheless think the relatively crude approach to reducing pre requisites to minority races is not only futile but is at its crux no different from direct discrimination. I for one think that the government should solve the problem before it becomes a bigger problem. Instead of piecing up legislations to allow for positive discrimination, I think the government should invest money and time in creating a more conducive educational environment for minorities from the very beginning. Why resort to ‘grade’ and ‘factor’ manipulations when all that effort can be spent in creating more reliable and efficient state owned schools?

The reasoning that has led me to this conclusion is that the effort of a person from the majority cannot be weighed. It’s easy to argue that the average white person or someone from an independent school might have more access to books and other educational material but no argument can be made to say that the lack of effort by these people has granted them great results in their exams. These people (aside from the educational material) got their straight A’s from a substantial amount of effort and it would be unfair to abnegate them simply because they belong to a certain “advantageous” group.

So this brings me to my point that the government should look into the state of affairs faced by the minorities. I believe that the easy way is no way. Everyone should invest the relevant and necessary effort in trying to achieve their goals, thus in providing the relevant study and educational material to these minority groups, we are thus creating a more ‘equal opportunity’ field for individuals. Analogically speaking, everyone should START a race from the same position; there is no point in placing a standard position in the MIDDLE of the race track.

.....in 3 minutes...

Lonesome - Confusion - Hunger

Barrier - Drive

Hope - Pride - Dry

Determination - Memories

Pain - Love - Adapt

Future - Success

Desire - Pathway - Strong