The Last Terrorist

Well sorry for the short post, but i belive the video speaks for itself. Just came across a new release by Ajith Kumarasiri, one of the best underground musicians in Sri Lanka. I value him for his music and the messages that he's trying to communicate which are undoubtedly uncommon to many in this country.

The ordeal this country is going through now has been capured in one of the best ways possible.... enjoy!

Poltics controls all life

A while back, our Dear Bawa came up with the concept that all life essentially boils down to Politics. Whatever is taking place it all somehow comes back to politics. I always disagreed and he promised to prove it, but he never did. So instead I'm going to tell you what I believe dictates everything in life; Economics.

What's that Economics? That boring stuff about graphs and supply and demand? How is that relevant to all of life? Well let me tell you Dear Reader.

A good portion of our lives involves corporations, businesses or firms. There is no escaping this unless you're living in some ancient civilization (which would still not allow you to escape economics) as we all consume products from these companies and many of us also work for companies as well. You could almost say business is the lifeblood of the world.

With business being the heart of life today, the moment the economic situation takes a dive, immediately there are life changing repercussions. Thousands or Millions lose their jobs, a situation taking place today. Why does this happen? I'm not really qualified to answer but consumer spending falls which causes corporations to cut down their excess production as no one is buying.

This changes everything. People become more miserable because job security is lower, they are unable or unwilling to buy and various other reasons. Essentially the bad times roll on. Leaders during these times face hard times, and have a high likelihood of being unpopular.

Getting straight to the point, politics too is controlled by economics. Regardless of which man became the President of the United States, the economic policies that would be enacted would more than likely be exactly the same despite all the talk.

Politics is purely smoke and mirrors that paints a nice pretty picture for the masses who are quite frankly clueless about what's really going on. A clear example of this is once again Herr Hitler. Hailed as being the saviour of Germany's economic problems when he came to power, people loved the man.

Little did they actually know that the economy had already largely bounced back under his extremely unpopular predecessor Bruning. This man had actually done the right thing to save the economy by cutting down public spending and increasing taxes to reduce the budget deficit. Obviously this wasn't popular with anyone, rich or poor.

Empires were built purely on economic reasons. Did the British ever want to go on a 'Civilizing Mission'? I think not. The small island prospered with the newfound resources of its Empire's member nations. The central nation always prospers at the expense of member states. Another example? The Roman Empire. Rome always prospered due to its never ending taxes of 'member' states.

If economic resources and the wealth that they bring were infinite, would anyone ever bother to get leverage over anyone else? Would one nation bother attacking another? What for? What would be the GAIN? Nothing. If everyone was rich and had everything they wanted would we ever fight?

And the Lord said... 'Let there be Light!'

Ah Galle Face... What a place to be! A relaxing breeze, clear vision, the calm sway of the ocean and the chance to let the mind wander.

The Racist Flag of Sri Lanka

This is how some of my friends defined the National flag of Sri Lanka once we met up over a few drinks and smokes. This did not bewilder me as much because I have overheard such claims and it had kept me thinking for sometime. It is actually true that the first Sri Lankan flag was not quite popular among the minorities as it only depicted a lion which was derived from a Sinhalese flag. But the flag came under several amendments and included green and orange colors to represent the minorities.

The talk was about how the flag had its colors and designs in a way to signify each race which indirectly symbolized segregation of the minorities. One main supplementary argument was how other nations have defined their flags, and how we have done it. They claimed the use of a lion with a sword, is a rather a violent symbol compared to the nature of flags in other countries and depicted aggression particularly towards the Tamils.

This argument is any way represented among many in the Tamil Diaspora and even is used in the propaganda campaigns of the LTTE.

But in a holistic view we can not rule out the existence of such a claim. I personally believe its how you want to look at it, understanding each other and respecting their thoughts is something you would have to cultivate. And i dont believe that the current majority in this country would look at the national flag as my few good friends mentioned above. But there is a serious argument on how well the country was handled after the independence and whether all the communities were given proper prominence and equality in a way where it looked after the aspirations of everyone who fought for independence. And the issue of the Sri Lankan flag they claim is also a sub factor reflecting the mentality the country was in during that period.

Of course one can argue it both ways, and if you look at the definition of the Sri Lankan flag it would depict a whole different picture.

But several questions hover over my mind. If the flag had been designed in a different way will it had helped? Will it change the perception of some people?
Is our national flag really a raciest flag??

Santa Clause

Santa Clause is well known and then again not so. The true story begins with Nicholas, born during the third century in the village of Patara. His wealthy parents died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships. He is known to have done many a good deed, mainly distributing gifts to needy children on Christmas eve.

Yet today we have many perception “flaws” regarding this exemplary man, mainly due to exploited brand endorsements during the Yule season. Of course, there is nothing wrong in taking Santa Clause as a brand endorsee, for in fact he is a well known entity in the Christmas scene, yet its consequences are not to be thought of lightly since it has now ruined the true image and story of Santa Clause from a charitable and generous “saint” to a symbol of fun and amusement only.

This wrong perception of Santa Clause can be clearly witnessed through fake Santas who dress up at Christmas parties and carol services to give the crowd a cheer and laugh. No worries if they just do a normal dance and frolic around, giving away sweets to the cheering crowd, but today they don’t stop with that. No! They do all kinds of belly dances, body shaking dances and all kinds of sexy flirtatious moves with the audience that makes one wonder whether this “fun figure” is at all truly Christmassy.

It’s true that even originally the thought of Santa Clause was fun and joy since he gave away surprise gifts to the less fortunate children on Christmas eve. This however should not lead to the consideration that Santa Clause means fun alone. We should keep in mind that he is in fact a Saint in the Catholic Church, the highest rank of God’s favor possible to any human. We do not see people taking any figure out of the nativity scene as brand endorsees, this is because it is very well known that they are holy and heavenly and not symbols to play around with. The same should be applied to Santa Clause who was once a holy priest and now a saint.

Although this seems like a less significant error in our Christmas celebrations, it matters a lot in the future, for we will be creating a generation who will one day go to such an extent with Santa Clause that he “might” be solely a sex symbol at Christmas. Hence it is important that we have our fun while giving respect to those to have earned it and while refraining from ruining the true histories surrounding Christmas, which make it the blessed event it should be.