Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts.

The following excerpt is taken from Jonathan Franzen's op-ed piece for the NY Times, in which he discusses the difference between liking and loving. One is more narcissistic and impersonal, whereas the other is more vulnerable and sincere.

There is no such thing as a person whose real self you like every particle of. This is why a world of liking is ultimately a lie. But there is such a thing as a person whose real self you love every particle of. And this is why love is such an existential threat to the techno-consumerist order: it exposes the lie.

This is not to say that love is only about fighting. Love is about bottomless empathy, born out of the heart’s revelation that another person is every bit as real as you are. And this is why love, as I understand it, is always specific. Trying to love all of humanity may be a worthy endeavor, but, in a funny way, it keeps the focus on the self, on the self’s own moral or spiritual well-being. Whereas, to love a specific person, and to identify with his or her struggles and joys as if they were your own, you have to surrender some of your self.

In addition to what Franzen mentioned in the article, I believe that our smartphones are altering our thought process. Our brains are constantly bombarded with so much information that now our conversations are determined by our cellphone's news feeds. Our phones are depriving us from observing the world around us. They are also depriving us from formulating our own original well-thought and processed opinion about what is going on. If we find a news article that we like, instead of using words to describe what we like about it, all we have to do is hit the oh-so-convenient "like" button, and "share" it with the rest of the world.

Are our smartphones making us dumb?

Movie Marathon: Easy A

"Easy A" is a romantic comedy starring Emma Stone, which is loosely based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. The novel is about an adulterous woman, Hester Prynne, whose actions are publicly condemned by her Puritan society, and the same man who is an equal partner in her sin. The movie is a smart comedy about a generation that is greatly linked through texting and other social networking websites.

I recently read an article in the NY Times regarding the demise of emailing. Our generation prefers to communicate through texting or instant messaging. I remember when I was a teenager my friends and I preferred to communicate through MSN messaging, or emails. Then Facebook came along, and we started writing on each other's walls. We commented on oodles of pictures that our friends posted. However, things changed a couple of years ago, when people realized that information on social networking sites such as Facebook is not very private, and in fact very public. The shift happened, instead of sharing our pictures with everyone on our friends list we became more discreet. And, instead of writing on each other's walls, we started private messaging each other.

The way we communicate has changed a lot in the last 15 years. My husband and I prefer to either text or "talk" to each other on gtalk. We both have android phones which make keeping in touch and sharing quick updates on gtalk much easier. My major concern about texting is that kids are not using proper grammar and/or spellings. In the world of spell check, abbreviated syntax and 140 characters long sentences, the art of beautiful composition is at abysmal loss.

What "Easy A" shows that no matter what the preferred medium of communication is, gossip travels fast. And it is no picnic to be a teenager! The other interesting theme the movie touches upon is that high school kids do not read the books they are taught in English class. They either rent the film versions of the books, or rely upon SparkNotes. The books on the high school reading list seem dated to the students, but as the movie shows, they are far more relevant than they appear to be. In the past, myriad of classics have been turned into teenage romantic comedies. The list entails, Emma ("Clueless"), Romeo and Juliet ("Romeo + Juliet"), Taming of the Shrew ("10 Things I Hate About You"), Othello ("O"), Twelfth Night ("She's the Man"), and so on.

Emma Stone is wonderful in the movie. If you are looking for a fun and yet not a dumb movie, do check this one out. I will be posting more reviews throughout this week, as I have some time off until the next semester starts. My husband and I have a rather ambitious list of movies we want to finish watching during the holidays.

Disclaimer: For the sake of my husband's street-cred I should mention that I watched this movie without him.

Another Day In Paradise

During this economic downturn it is very easy to feel melancholic. Recently, I went to get my passport renewed, and I saw that a whole bunch of stores in the mall, where the government office was located, were having a "closing down sale" because they couldn't keep up with their lease. The thought of so many people losing their jobs made me extremely sad. Which sort of worked in my benefit, since due to the new government policy, Canadians are not allowed to smile in their passport pictures. I guess, this is the government's way of defying the stereotypical view of our innate Canadian niceness.

One of my friends has X-linked myotubular myopathy. Meaning where his twin sister has healthy legs and muscle strength, my friend has trouble moving around. Earlier today, he was telling me that he has a very hard time staying in touch with people, and going out, because he has to either rely on others, or on TransHelp to get to places. This made me realize, here is another thing I take for granted. The ability to walk. The ability to drive.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting [in Northern Pakistan] this week and provincial authorities have estimated that as many as 500,000 people may have been displaced.

One of the colossal mistakes we make is that we focus on what we don't have, instead of being grateful for what we do have. There are people getting laid off, and shops getting closed, but at least in this country we have a welfare system, where the unemployed would be looked after, by the government. Unfortunately, we can't say the same about the people in the third world countries. For instance, there is a humanitarian crisis in Pakistan right now, but the country's president instead of being with his people in their time of need decided to travel to the US to ask for more aid, which he would eventually end up spending on himself.

Pakistani children displaced from Buner reach out for food at a United Nations camp in Takht Bai, about 85 miles northwest of Islamabad.

We do not get to determine our place of birth, family, or country; but for the most part they shape our destiny. Any one of us could have easily been one of the individuals in this picture above.

Blogworthy: The Great Incomprehension

Okay, here is the third edition of 'Blogworthy'. I am a dork, I know.

1. "If Only Literature Could Be a Cellphone-Free Zone" [The NYT]

This is one of the most amusing, and clever pieces I have read recently. Imagine if Romeo and Juliet lived in the cellphone era!

2. "The iPhone Gold Rush" [The NYT]

Speaking of cellphones, the recession might be kicking everyone's butt. But, software engineers, and programmers can find some sort of refuge under the Apple umbrella.

3. "Generation OMG" [The NYT]

So what of the youth shaped by what some are already calling the Great Recession? Will a publication looking back from 2030 damn them with such faint praise? Will they marry younger, be satisfied with stable but less exciting jobs? Will their children mock them for reusing tea bags and counting pennies as if this paycheck were the last? At the very least, they will reckon with tremendous instability, just as their Depression forebears did.

I remember the '90s. The huge bonus checks, and the I.T. bubble. But, my generation, which is the oldest of the recent "Recession Generation", does not have the luxury to make grand plans about the future. I know three people who got laid off this past week. And, one of them has decided since the job market is so bad for the engineers of the world, he would be better off going back to school, than finding another job.

Things are bad, and this article discusses the affects the recession is having on the recent graduates, university students, and the high schoolers. We do not know how long this recession is going to last, and what sort of lifestyle changes we would be required to make. But our youth culture is embedded in commercialism, and consumption. I wonder, if people can make the same sacrifices that our predecessors did in the '30s.

4. "Help, My Degree Is Underwater" [Slate]

The article poses the question, "In the recession, does advanced education really pay off?" More people are going into "safer" professions, such as teaching. When the tuition is sky high, and over-qualified university graduates cannot find jobs, does it really pay off to go to university?

5. "Torture Versus War" [The NYT]

When the Central Intelligence Agency obliterates a dozen suspected terrorists, along with assorted family members, with a missile from a drone, the news rarely stirs a strong reaction far beyond Pakistan.

Yet the waterboarding of three operatives from Al Qaeda — one of them the admitted murderer of 3,000 people as organizer of the 9/11 attacks — has stirred years of recriminations, calls for prosecution and national soul-searching.

What is it about the terrible intimacy of torture that so disturbs and captivates the public? Why has torture long been singled out for special condemnation in the law of war, when war brings death and suffering on a scale that dwarfs the torture chamber.

Obama has strongly condemned waterboarding, and other terror tactics that the previous administration used, to interrogate "enemy combatants". However, he supports the drone airstrikes, which have killed hundreds of Pakistanis, children and women included. This article explains what makes torture the subject of public outrage, and the airstrikes unworthy of the same outrage.

Survival of the Fittest

Often times when I think of contemporary Pakistan, I wonder what my life would be like, if I lived there. I think about the rich Pakistanis, in their fancy air-conditioned cars. I think about rich people driving hummers, in the narrow crowded streets of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. I think about the small percentage of Pakistanis who are rich, speak fluent and proper British English in their Anglicized-Indian accents. I think about the rich Pakistanis with better health care plans than the average American.

Then these words of Charles Dickens' come to mind.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

I believe, the above passage effectively describes the contradictions one finds in Pakistan. Pakistan is full of surprises, inconsistencies, and cultural shocks. The only way to survive a trip is to shut off your brain, and leave it at home. My parents are from Pakistan, and after spending every single high school summer in Pakistan, I still cannot fully understand this country of pretences. I cannot seem to find my place in their society.

Last week, The New York Times did a cover piece about Pakistan. The article was centered around Pakistan's bleak future, under Asif Ali Zardari's presidency. The cover story had a picture of Asif Ali Zardari sitting in front of a big portrait of the country's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. On the table to his right, there rests a closeup framed photo of his late wife, Benazir Bhutto. On the table to his left, there is a framed photo of Ms. Bhutto taken at a political rally. In front of the said picture there is a Kleenex box, depicting Zardari's sensitivity. If anyone out there knows how to send out a pictorial message of patriotism, spousal devotion, and sensitivity, it is definitely the people who orchestrated this photo shoot.

Pakistan is a country where the rich are ostentatiously rich, and the poor are extremely poor. The weak government is corrupted. The country is in the epicentre of terrorism, both by the government and the Taliban insurgents.

The country is in shambles. Which prompts the question, what happens to failed nations? In 60+ years of its independence, Pakistan has never had a stable government. People are dying of hunger, infectious diseases, and illiteracy. The Urdu language, Pakistan's official language, is dying.

So, who should bail out Pakistan? What happens to failed states? Who comes to their rescue? Bush believed he was saving Iraqis from Saddam Hussein. G20 nations have their own economic problems to overcome. But, at the same time there are flattering nations like Pakistan, Haiti, Myanmar, which need our immediate focus. Or, is it all about survival of the fittest? Something I know Dwight Schtrute would attest to:

Michael Scott: No no no no, I mean have this kind of party. I look around and I see all these beautiful people who are alone on Valentine's and I think that there are other single people out there too. We just need to find 'em. There's a girl out there for all of us. Maybe even in this office park. There has to be a way to get all these lonely people together.

Dwight Schrute: What do you have in mind?

Michael Scott: I was thinking maybe like a mixer.

Dwight Schrute: Oh God that's a terrible idea.

Michael Scott: Old-fashioned meat market. I don't think it is.

Dwight Schrute: No. Lonely people mixing with one another? Breeding? Creating an even lonelier generation? You're not even allowing natural selection do its work. Pssh. You're like the guy who invented the seat belt.

The Office

I am hoping, The Office fans would appreciate the above picture :).

In other television ramblings, I am really enjoying the new comedy called "Better Off Ted". Since it's 2ish in the morning, and I am absolutely tired, I would just share with you what The New York Times has to say about this hilarious show.

The show's satirical sense of humour is on the same par as say The Office, and 30 Rock. The last two episodes were HILARIOUS. So give this show a try, before the mighty mouse (ABC) cancels it for some other Paris Hilton wannabe reality show.

Duplicity

I finally got around to watching Duplicity last night. It's written by Tony Gilroy, who also wrote the screenplays for the Bourne movies, and Michael Clayton. Duplicity is a spy-thriller with some romantic comedy on the side.

I found the movie interesting, and enjoyed it very much. But, it was not as mysterious as say Michael Clayton, or as engaging as the Bourne series. It was entertaining, but something was amiss.

The major asset this movie has is Julia Roberts and Clive Owen's undeniable chemistry. Both of them are extremely charming in the movie. Clive Owen reminded me of the old school "Bond. James Bond", which is all a girl could ask for :).

The corporate rivalry between the two medical companies, shown in the movie, reminded me of the 3 Big North American automobile companies, GM, Chrysler, and Ford. These companies are lagging behind in terms of coming up with new innovative car models. In 2008, for the first time Toyota sold more cars than GM. For decades they have been relying on their staples, vans and trucks. Whereas, Toyota is constantly coming up with new models, which are both good for the environment and also provide a solution to the hiking gas prices.

In the movie, one of the company's CEO mentions the concept of "corporate evolution". GM et al. received the bailout money, and they still have not been able to come up with a plan to recover their flattering companies, and productivity. This really makes one wonder, whether these companies have exhausted all of their options and creativity. They have not been able to come up with new car models, recently. Ford's Model T of the last century still seems Detroit's biggest and innovative contribution to the automobile industry.

The New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, wrote about an electric car network, called Better Place. The Better Place, in association with Nissan, is planning on installing charging spots in parking lots, and major intersections. The company has already installed plug-in outlets in Israel, in December of 2008. They are planning on utilizing renewable energy, wind and air, for a national car charging infrastructure. This would not only make them oil independent, but would also help the environment. This is how Friedman explained The Better Place's plan:

"Under the Better Place model, consumers can either buy or lease an electric car from the French automaker Renault or Japanese companies like Nissan (General Motors snubbed Agassi) and then buy miles on their electric car batteries from Better Place the way you now buy an Apple cellphone and the minutes from AT&T. That way Better Place, or any car company that partners with it, benefits from each mile you drive.
[...]
The first Renault and Nissan electric cars are scheduled to hit Denmark and Israel in 2011, when the whole system should be up and running. On Tuesday, Japan’s Ministry of Environment invited Better Place to join the first government-led electric car project along with Honda, Mitsubishi and Subaru. Better Place was the only foreign company invited to participate, working with Japan’s leading auto companies, to build a battery swap station for electric cars in Yokohama, the Detroit of Japan."

Going back to the movie, I think the competition that they show, between the two companies, is healthy. This is exactly what we need to resuscitate our economy. Microsoft, and the cellphone industry carried us through the 90's, and changed the way we communicate. In 2001, Apple reappeared with their new idea, the mighty iPod. The reemergence of Apple computers, inspired Microsoft to come up with their cheap knock-off of Mac's OS X, in the form of Windows Vista. If it was not for the epidemiology program I use, I would throw away my Vista in a heartbeat. Now, Microsoft is about to launch Windows 7 this year.

This sort of healthy competition and the drive to find the next big thing to feed our consumer minds is what we need. Bailing out already handicapped corporates would not really provide us with a long-term solution. Yes, I am being profound today :).

Here is an Onion video for your pleasure. I think which you have earned after being subjected to my above gibberish. Beware of the profanity below :).

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

We are two but we are one.

In a Charmed Life, a Road Less Traveled

One of my Saturday morning rituals is to read the Modern Love weekly column, in the New York Times. Reading other people's take on love, be it about real life obscure breakups, or once in a lifetime eternal love, somehow has a therapeutic effect on me.

The story above pointed out that when we think about love, or when we get into a marriage, we are usually thinking about building a happy life together. For some it is having children, snuggling in front of the idiot box, going to the park together, vacationing together, and the list goes on. But, I guess, even the most morbid individuals don't wonder, would their partner be there for them if they became physically disabled. Then again, these are the things we should not plan for, right?

In this week's love story, a car accident leaves the writer's wife physically disabled, where the writer is left to look after her. When he got the call from the hospital he wondered if she was mentally okay. The fact that he would be required to clean after her didn't bother him. He just wanted the essence of her being, her personality, the person he fell in love with to be there.

You know how they say looks come and go, but who we are, our soul, our personality, our intelligence is something that is truly uniquely ours. I think, at the end of the day, if somehow I could find this mythical mental connection with someone, then I know I would be okay.

On This Day

So folks, on this day, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He has been charged for war crimes, and crimes against humanity. President Bashir is responsible for supporting the Janjaweeds who have killed millions in Darfur. This is the first time in history the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state. The Sudanese government reacted by revoking the aid licenses of 6 humanitarian organizations in Darfur, demanding them to remove their personnel from the region.



I reckon, the warrant would probably result in more bloodshed, but it was a necessary measure. The world needed to display some sort of action against the acts of violence campaigned by President Bashir. However, at this point the warrant only seems ceremonial since the ICC does not have any military of its own, and the UN Forces lack the means to arrest the President. I suppose, we are headed in the right direction. Here is hoping, President Obama sticks to his word, and follows through with his promise of assigning a special US envoy responsible for ending the genocide in Darfur.



On a personal note, my sister gets her Iron Ring today.

Sisters. Victims. Heroes.

When so many of the families are scrambling to overcome challenges the economic recession has posed; the genocide in Darfur seems a world away. The genocide has now lasted longer than the second world war. The humanitarian crisis in Darfur has never really received the media coverage, and/or the international community's support that it truly deserves. But, thankfully, Nicholas Kristof, has been writing about Darfur endlessly. He posted the above video from the region.

Hopefully his message would be able to raise awareness, and the Obama government would do its role in ending the genocide. My own Canadian government has been completely ambivalent about the issue. You see, live-blogging about Obama's visit, and giving it endless media coverage is apparently far more important. After all, Obama did go through the trouble of spending FIVE WHOLE HOURS in Ottawa. So in this case, our local media's 48-hour news-coverage of the trip was totally justified :|.

Milk

"Milk" is the story of a death foretold; released in the wake of Proposition 8 referendum.

The movie tells the real-life story of Harvey Milk, the first openly homosexual man to be elected to public office as supervisor, in San Francisco. I have to admit, the movie has all the elements that one may expect from the "biographical" genre. However, this film is critical in the sense that it reminds us of all the events, and sacrifices that made Obama's inauguration possible. Obama's campaign transcended biography. But the only reason he could afford to ignore to talk about himself and/or his race, at the inauguration, was because of the struggles people like Milk went through in breaking the boundaries their sexual orientation or ethnicity imposed on them.

The other striking factor is that it was only in the 1970s, when people were struggling to keep their jobs because of their sexual orientation. So it was reassuring to know that in just a few decades we have come a long way. I realize, in terms of equality there is a lot of other issues and stereotypes we still have to tackle, but the movie gave me hope. I know, all this optimism is almost nauseating :).

Milk's character is played by the always brilliant Sean Penn, and he has completely transformed himself for this role. He played this character with both vulnerability and assertiveness. And, of course, James Franco's presence in the movie didn't really hurt :). The other remarkable part of the movie was the inclusion of archival footage from the 1970s, providing us a glimpse into the period we don't really hear or read about.

I Have a Dream

I have not written anything about the Gaza strike. Partially because I have read excellent blog entries about the crisis, and felt I did not really have anything to add to what you guys have already mentioned. My friend who attended one of the many protests they had all around the world, took a picture of Jews protesting against the killing of a ~1000 innocent people, to show that it is not a religious issue but a human rights issue. Nicholas Kristof, my hero, also wrote an article about the problem last Thursday.

The question that everyone keeps asking is, what makes this issue so much more polarizing and engaging than say the genocide in Danfur, raping of women in Congo, and high maternal mortality in Africa?

I don't know about your Facebook, but some of my friends have dedicated their statuses (statusi?), so they can get the latest update about the number of causalities in Gaza. My Facebook inbox also got ambushed with constant updates.

Last night, I had a dream about Facebook and the Gaza conflict. Hey, before you judge my randomness, you should know I have already sort of hinted at my subconscious going off on multiple tangents in this post here. I had a dream that Israel has ended its air strike in Gaza, and I find this important, and much awaited news through my friend's facebook status.

The Time Magazine published an article about Facebook's role in the Gaza conflict. It is almost like the people at Time have an access to my sub-conscious. (I am being lame, I know). I personally have no opinion about the overtness of Facebook activism. After all, a cynic may look at my blog picture (Save Darfur), and question its effectiveness. And rightfully so, because I am not doing anything physically to save Darfur.

The Time article talks about censorship of our thoughts, because apparently people from the opposite sides of the argument have been sending e-death threats over Facebook. Facebook does not have a strict censorship, like say YouTube. YouTube, to promote its accessibility and use all around the world, does work in association with other countries' censorship laws. For instance, in Turkey, YouTube agreed to take down a few videos, which were criticizing Kamal Ataturk, the country's secular founder.

This phenomenon is interesting because we are the first generation who is experiencing the internet and its activism.

Paging Orwellian Thought Police, right about now?!

My Two Cents

Calling All Pakistanis
In this article, Thomas L. Friedman suggests, Pakistanis should take to the streets to peacefully protest the Mumbai attacks. He points out, the Pakistani government and media have strongly condemned the attacks. But, India needs to be reminded that their Pakistani neighbours are with them in the mourning of at least 173 innocent lives. If Pakistanis don't explicitly show their disdain for the attacks, the relations between their neighbours and them would deteriorate, immensely.

At the same time, India should realize the enemy is not Pakistan per se, but it is these heartless individuals, who think they can achieve whatever distorted goals they have in their minds, by taking innocent lives. The world and Indians need to be reminded that Pakistanis really do care for their Indian brothers and sisters. The world also needs to be reminded that you can only curb terrorism in Pakistan with education.

Terrorism That's Personal
Every time I look at this picture, I get shivers down my spine, and my heart sinks in. But then I realize, I only have to see this picture for what a few seconds. This woman, on the other hand, has to live with this face for the rest of her life, unless someone pays for her surgery. Like many other women from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and India, Naeema Azar was attacked by her former husband, who threw acid in her face. Why, you ask? Ms. Azar used to earn a decent living, but decided to divorce her husband, when he became interested in another woman. After their divorce was finalized, the husband requested to come by the house to bid farewell to their children. Naeema was sleeping, and he attacked her with acid, which not only burned her face, but caused her to lose her eyesight, and her ability to support herself and her three children.

Nicholas Kristof, who is reporting from Pakistan these days, said he had the first draft ready for an article about the Mumbai attacks, but instead decided to write about this grotesque form of terrorism, which we really don't hear about in the news. In November, a group of Afghani men attacked school going girls with acid. In this part of the world, women really don't matter. In Nepal, they are sold like commodities to the brothels in Mumbai, India.

Terrorism is, sadly, not just about people blowing up hotels, and killing foreigners. But it exists silently in the streets of Pakistan, where these nameless women are subjugated and pushed to the curb, when all they have done is dared to speak their minds.



I really hope to travel to these places one day, and do my small bit to help these women, and young children.

Until then...

Mukhtar Mai
Progressive Women's Association

Mumbai Attacks

The siege in Mumbai's Taj Hotel just ended a few minutes ago. My thoughts and prayers go out to the people in Mumbai. May you find strength and hope to recover from this extreme act of terrorism.

The Special Sting of Personal Terrorism
It is ironic that last week, in the New York Times' 'Week in Review' there was an article about American-born-Indians choosing to work in India, their ancestral country, because of America's failing economy, and India's emergence as one of the fastest growing financial centres. But in the Mumbai attacks, we saw that the terrorists cherry picked their targets. Unlike the previous attacks, the terrorists had a close encounter with the victims. They asked the hostages their names, and decided their fate based on their nationality and religion.

At times like this, it is crucial that we keep in mind that scapegoating people of one particular religion will not help us in solving the epidemic of terrorism. We really need to put aside our bogus differences, and really need to work together to fix the problems our world is facing. I know, I sound like a broken record.

What They Hate About Mumbai

As this article points out, the attacks may have originated in Pakistan, but it will be India's Muslims who would have to endure the backlash.

“The Second Coming” - William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Mirror Mirror, who's the fairest of them all?

Imagine a species that can challenge our claim of being the ONE and ONLY species of the Highest Order.

What does that species look like?
Does it look like us?
Or does it look something like E.T., a friendly alien from Steven Spielberg's movie E.T., with inflated and elongated head and protruding eyes?

Or does it look more beautiful than us?

A recent discussion with my sister got me thinking that as humans we are very resourceful, creative, and generous when it comes to giving ugly attributes to say a friendly alien, or a mutant. But unfortunately we cannot imagine a single biped, extraterristial or earthly, which is better looking than us.

Thomas Huxley, a 19th century anatomist, pointed out, only egocentric species, such as humans, could deny having similar anatomical traits as primates. Maybe if our closest genetic relatives, chimpanzees and orangutans, were LESS hairy and a bit MORE "attractive", naysayers would be more than willing to accept the reality of evolution.

Also, if you look at computer generated images of our early ancestors, they look less attractive than us. The most recently discovered ancestors of ours, Homo floresiensis, were nicknamed Hobbit by the popular media. Maybe there is some pleasure involved in outgrowing one's ancestors, but that is hardly a politically correct way of referring to our genetic progenitors.

In science fictional accounts, aliens are either less attractive than us, or they take our anthropomorphic forms. We often hear that our imagination is limitless, but my imagination fails me to come up with a species (earthly or martian), which trumps our attractiveness. I am not talking about enhancing our own human characteristics, or eugenics. I am referring to our collective high self-regard, and limited creativity, which fails us in imagining a bipedal species which is better looking than us.

A couple of weeks ago, evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson in her blog entry "Wanted: Intelligent Aliens, for a Research Project" pointed out, humans usually rate themselves high when it comes to being more attractive, funny, intelligent, and reckon themselves to be below average when it comes to "bad" traits such as, racism, dishonesty, and so on. So our personal bias dictates that we are far more intelligent and attractive [1]; and far less dishonest than we actually are. Maybe it is this personal bias that stops us from imagining a species far more attractive than us.

Here is my favourite paragraph from the aforementioned article:

"Moreover, in our assessments of other animals, we are consistently surprised. My favorite example of this comes from a headline in Nature a few years ago that announced that 'sheep are not so stupid after all.' The reason for the re-evaluation of ovine intelligence was a series of elegant experiments that showed that sheep can recognize and remember other sheep. But sheep are social animals: they live in flocks. It would be astonishing if they could not do this. (A sheep newspaper would no doubt have run the headline, 'Humans Amazed Again!')"

[1] However, most people I know underestimate their looks.

The following video shows that our concept of beauty, just like everything else in this world, revolves around us. Accentuate a couple of facial features, make them symmetrical and voila you're beautiful.
"No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted."

Yes We Can. Yes We Did.

friend says:
i think its official
friend says:
congrats
zany says:
the happiest day of my life
friend says:
i swear i worry for ur hubby
zany says:
why
friend says:
babe is this this happiest day of ur life (wedding)
friend says:
ummm......i can't say it is
zany says:
lol
zany says:
no sorry
zany says:
my happiest day of life was back in november 08
zany says:
when obama won

In the words of Dr. King, "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!"

I am so glad Barack Hussein Obama actually won the presidency, and I am alive to see this day. I can hear people blaring their horns, and this is in Canada. I can only imagine how people are celebrating in the States. His story is definitely one of resilience and hard work. People around the world were rooting for this guy, and that alone is a strong sign of leadership.

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them." (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night)



Congratulations Mr. President, you are an inspiration to all of us. God Bless America! =).

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Why we go to movies?

My Dark Knight hangover still hasn't worn off. As, I mentioned in the previous post about the movie, that each viewer probably came out of the movie theater feeling something unique and special. Some were probably awestruck by the Joker's social commentary and understanding of our social dynamics, others by the righteousness of Batman, reaffirming our faith in humanity.

I know, I shouldn't be taking a superhero movie this seriously, but I think it is a very rare occurrence where a movie has both the so-called popcorn entertainment and a social message.

Here is a Freudian quote which explains the relationship between the cinegoers and films, and perhaps my own reaction to this particular movie.

The spectator is a person who experiences too little, who feels that he is a ‘poor wretch to whom nothing of importance can happen,’ who has long been obliged to damp down, or rather displace, his ambition to stand in his own person at the hub of world affairs. He longs to feel and to act and to arrange things according to his desires — in short, to be a hero. And the playwright and actor enable him to do this by allowing him to identify himself with a hero. They spare him something, too. For the spectator knows quite well that actual heroic conduct such as this would be impossible for him without pains and sufferings and acute fears, which would almost cancel out the enjoyment.

Not so green after all

Here is a list of 10 things that contrary to popular belief are actually not bad for us.

NYT stamp of approval

This NYT article surely made me feel good about my Internet activity. Turns out reading blogs and grammatically incorrect content on fanfiction flourish young minds. The graphic content of Internet is credited for attracting not only young adults but also individuals with dyslexia toward reading. This source of information should be a relief to those who are concerned about the plummeting number of young readers, and those of us who spend countless hours sitting infront of the computer :-).