Horror of all horrors!

  ¶

08:58 |

 

First they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me –
And there was no-one left
To speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller, 1938

* * *

Bush's inauguration speech was crap. Nobody gave him the right to police our world. He is not clearing the global society of evils; he is challenging the foundation of human co-existence. Let's not sit back and think, he is going for the hardline Islamists. Let's not sit back and think, he is going for tyrannical and authoritarian regimes. Let's not sit back and think, he is going for terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. Because he is coming for each and every one of us. Bush is essentially a neo-Nazi who aims to dominate the world under a unilateral system of American liberty. He is quick to arms in the process to achieve his goals. Individually we may not resist the superpower, militarily or economically, but united the world should say "no" to a hawkish America.

Let's not be so quick to forget.


  ¶

19:02 |

 

21.  ¶

10:56 |

 

Capricorn, the Sea-Goat, is identified with the Greek goat-god, Pan. During their war with the giants, the Olympian Gods were driven into Egypt and pursued by Typhon (Egyptian devil). Pan leapt into the Nile and tried to turn himself into a fish to retrieve his enchanted trumpet in order to defeat Typhon. However he managed only half his transformation. Therefore the present form of the Capricorn.  ¶

02:18 |

 

'Twas a week ago when i finished Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Doubtlessly, it was less philosophical than 1984, though similar in style. But not unlike other books by female writers i read recently, Atwood has a sensitive perspective when it comes to portraying her characters. i was especially enchanted by her style of extrapolating the implication of one word or one phrase to seemingly irrelevant places, yet everything gels together to create an absorbing atmosphere.

Ultimately, though, be it 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale or Brave New World, mankind is trying to explore what a highly conformed society would be like. i myself wonder what i would do if the world around me does become as it was described in either of the three books. Would i dare to oppose, or would i conform?

The society had in the past shown us that it is indeed capable of transforming into a highly authoritarian system run on white terror. Humans would allow themselves to be manipulated by the general consensus. Too scary, but too true.  ¶

10:49 |

 

i was watching Channel News Asia the other day. There was a Vietnamese mother crying, soundlessly, for her son who was dying of avian flu. The tears dropped into the mask she was wearing loosely. She looked at the camera and, through the camera, into my eyes. At that instant i understood, what was lacking in the aftermath of the tsunamis. Amid all the pledges of aid, grappling of leading role in relief effort, who would shed just one heartfelt tear for the shattered souls...

Una lágrima.

  ¶

13:20 |

 

Received a message from Starhub today asking for donations to the tsunami victims. It was easy, a few button clicks, send. "Thank you for your donation. $10 will be added to your monthly bill..." Felt both good and bad at the same time. Good that i was doing a little to help. Bad that i, like so many else, feel like i have done my part, paid my due with such an insignificant gesture. As if i bought my conscience with 10 bucks.  ¶

23:25 |

 

The rain started shortly after daybreak today and never stopped, never even subsided. Occassionally boughs of heavy downpour would batter against the windows, making a drumroll out of the glass panes. But right now, as the sun travels west behind the borderless cover of grey clouds, the rain just falls like an open tap. It's as if the Sky has held herself for so many days, sufficing with short furtive weeps, but can't hold it any further. If each drop of rain for each life lost, would there be enough to go around...  ¶

16:51 |