Why Mr. Anderson?

The Matrix Revolutions is the third part in the Matrix Trilogy. While both the second and third films lack in substance and are generally far inferior to the original movie, there are moments when you think 'oh... there is something good going on here'.

In Revolutions (spoilers ahead - but this is an old movie) everything leads up to one big final confrontation. During this scene we are treated to a superb monologue from Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). This is one of those scenes that actually make you pause and consider.

Walking in to this final battle Trinity ( I suppose you could call her Neo's soulmate) has already given her life so that Neo can complete his task. In the second film he asks the Oracle "What happens if I fail?" to which she replies "Then Zion will fall." Zion being the last human city on Earth.

Keeping all this in mind Neo enters the Matrix to fight Agent Smith in one major final confrontation. They fight and Neo takes more of a beating then Smith. He gets up, spits out blood before taking up a defiant fighting stance in what is a homage to the first film.

The fighting continues until finally... Neo is defeated.

This is the scene that immediately follows:

Many would say that Neo's reply is stupid, and it is what I initially thought, but when you keep everything that has happened in the two films in mind it makes sense. Smith states "Why keep fighting? You must be able to see it Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win... it's pointless to keep fighting." And that's where Neo's answer makes sense. Instead of choosing capitulation he chooses to keep fighting.

I believe that life is full of choices. At any given moment we always have a choice. Sometimes people say that they didn't have a choice. But here is a line from a different film that has been adapted from the original book:

"Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy." Albus Dumbeldore - Goblet of Fire the film.

Shortly after this scene Neo dies. But so does Agent Smith.

Amdens Stories (ඇම්ඩන් - නුතන ජනකතා)

Last week I managed to step into the National Library for the book launch of Amden Noothana Janakatha (ඇම්ඩන් - නුතන ජනකතා) which translates to english as Amden- Modern Folk tales. There's hardly anyone in Sri Lanka who hasn’t heard about Amden or one of his stories. Though his stories may not have reached some of our elders the younger generation is quite familiar who Amden is. So as someone who has grown up amidst all types of Amden’s stories, this event was something I was really looking forward to.

The book had been compiled by Asanka Sayakkara a young talented author who had inked the stories in far more different style. It can be considered that his attempt has been to convert Amdens stories which are told in everyday language (with so much filth) to a more traditional literature oriented text. This attempt gave book a different twist and made it an interesting read. 

The event also featured three interesting lectures that discussed how Amden has impacted the modern day society and the reasons behind birth of characters such as Amden. There was a very interesting lecture by Sudheera Jayaweera which discussed how Amden’s stories have become sort of a alternative path to go beyond the so called ethical boundaries in religious, social, political and sexual contexts that exist in the modern society. He discussed how it had paved the way for the common man to challenge the so called moral entrepreneurship with vile little funny stories based around this character called Amden. 

Anyhow, the event was quite interesting and the book was also a good read, which featured a selection of Amdens stories (not all of them) and is priced at Rs 200. I don’t actually know which bookshops would have it but if you come across it grab a copy and check it out. (Its publishers are Script House (pvt) Ltd)
 

Everything Can Change on a New Years Day...

So the year 2010 has come to an end, tomorrow would be the dawn of a new year and for those who believe in the Mayan calendar and that movie, we are just two years away from being  wiped out and the whole mandkind coming  to a stand still....  So as we all grow old, and step into a new mundane year called 2011, i would like to leave you all with a great song from Rage Agaisnt the Machine..a band that had inspired me all my life, and continue to do so keeping me sane across the insanity and clutter....

Its a song called War within a Breath, and though Rage Against the Machine is so much politically motivated and aggressive in their lyrics, one thing I continue to respect has been their attitude which had given me hope and courage to wade through... so as we say goodbye to another year and step into a new one, Wishing you all the every best in your future endeavors we leave you with these inspiring words from Zack de la Roacha....

Everything can change on a new years day..
Everything can change on a new years day ..
Everything can change on a new years day..
And everything changed on a new years day... 

Do Black Men Rule the World?

Black people have often been the target of much racism and discrimination throughout history, whether it’s been deemed as slaves or just generally being thought of as stupid or inferior.

But don’t you think it’s strange that there is one area where black people tend to dominate? What’s that area? Well it’s none other than the sporting arena. Been watching the Football World Cup? Ever notice that many of the Caucasian teams have at least one or two black players? Some have a lot more. England, France, Germany and the USA come to mind.

I remember it being funny that in the past ‘America’ won the World Basketball Championship and yet so many of their team are African Americans. The NFL and MLB also have a heavy representation of African Americans like nowhere else in the country.

But what’s that you say? African Americans are Americans? Yes quite right. They are. But it’s strange that there’s all this racism (though a black President is a change) but when it comes to sports African Americans have the best facilities and are as American as anyone else. Shame the same isn’t true when it comes to aspects such as education. In the past there were rules limiting the number of black players allowed on a team (Before the 1960’s). Yet racial equality was achieved in sports much faster than any other area for some strange unknown reason.

My only question is… what do the Ku Klux Klan remnants think of this? Where is the white power movement to clean up American sports? Oh that’s right… they play damn good, so it’s cool then.

The Sri Lankan dream

Oh Honey, the Indi Aappa was fantastic!

Historian James Adams wrote of the American dream thus:

"The American Dream, that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of material plenty, though that has doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as a man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class."

- From Wikipedia, since I'm lazy like that.

My American Entrepreneurship lecturer fed us four weeks of entrepreneurial motivation taking American cases such as a man's cough syrup turned a billion dollar global company (Coca Cola) to a Kentucky family's chicken recipe taking on the world, that I really felt like packing up and going there with Journey's Don't Stop Believing in the background.

The question is, What is the SRI LANKAN DREAM?

An education? A well-paying job at WTC? A Honda Civic? Jumping ship to go abroad, clean up old ladies and then send Cadbury chocolates and Ebay shoes home? Your own business? A suitable marriage at a suitable time? 2 children, preferably girl and boy, in Ladies/Bishops and Royal/St. Thomas's respectively? Shopping in Bangkok? A house in Colombo?

I really wonder. What do you think? Taking into consideration that no country can ever compare to the American dream, it is unique, but as a country, what can we be motivated and driven for?

I AM THE LAW!

Quite some time ago I found myself in a class at ACBT. The student population in that class was all Sri Lankans and one Chinese girl. During the casual idle moments of the class where people would just chit chat, the conversation amidst the group I was in went to what I felt was an inappropriate place.

They started saying all this stuff about Chinese people and calling out 'Chinaman' and having conversation saying that all Chinese women are prostitutes. Worst of all that person could hear all of that, sitting only a single row in front. The group of people was both male and female and they were having a good laugh. The Chinese person stayed still like nothing was happening.

It took me a few seconds before I turned on those guys with an outburst and told them to stop. 'It's not funny' I said. They all went in to a quiet mumble mumble and stopped. But I ended up being the 'fun' killer. I have my rules and according to those what they were doing was wrong. All moral play. Yay!

But you see come the next class they were at it again and under the same setting. But you know what? I didn't say anything after that. Why? Well quite simply I felt odd. Like I was the lone guy who actually cared. I mean who the heck am I to go about 'enforcing' things? At the end of the day all I ended up becoming was the buzz kill. By doing that I was alienating myself from everyone else which wasn't something I wanted to do... and hell I didn't even know this Chinese person. So what was the point? There was a class full of people in there... what were they doing?

Looking back, what I did the first time was the right thing. If I was in that same situation today I'd keep doing what I did. I guess that would put me at odds with the mob, but I wouldn't really want to be part of the mob.

The question is, can you really do the right thing when everyone doesn't want to? I've always found you'll be on loose ground if you do and ultimately heading for trouble. All those guys had to do was throw a big "APOOOOO" my way or "Who Cares?" and then what am I supposed to say? "I am the law?"

Racism Racism

Racism is a cliche problem. It's a cliche because it really just doesn't go away. But there is a misconception as to what it really is. Most believe that one group of people just automatically begins to hate another and that they are evil. Since things can turn violent then the people doing these actions must be very bad people.

But the reality is a little more complicated. Racism stems from fear. People who are racist are afraid of those people who are not like them. It's all fine when there is only one different person, it's like 'oh this person is from so and so'. Even if its just 10 people then its usually fine. But the problem begins to manifest when the numbers become significant, say when an entire population moves in.

Suddenly these strange people are a noticeable force and they moved in to your land. It's like some strange guy moving in to your house, the one you lived in with the people you know for the last 10 years. Suddenly this new guy comes and he's brought his friends. You're house is big but you can't say no because its a public house (example).

Now these guys need to eat. So they open your fridge and start to help themselves. You don't like that very much. After all they're not one of your kind. Then they might even begin to intermingle with the people you know and this makes you uncomfortable. One guy might want to marry your sister. There's nothing wrong with the guy but you get a strange uncomfortable feeling. You'd prefer it just didn't happen because it'd be much simpler and you'd rather just not go there.

You're not a bad person, but you just don't like these foreigners that much and worst of all they have no intention of leaving. At first it was ok, they didn't interfere, but now they're changing the decor to match their tastes and getting more and more vocal in the house. You don't like that at all after all its your house!

The funny thing is, the house always belonged to you in the past, and no matter how many generations of the newcomers live in it, you feel it still belongs to your people. After all... they were here first.

The feelings of resentment are there, like some baby brother you now have to share your toys with. But the worst part is having to share without someone you don't really know that well and you don't identify with.

Just imagine that I come to your house and stay there. You never invited me and now you have to share all your stuff with me. I have a job and I contribute fairly and all, but still I can help myself to things that you never really owned, but when others take them you feel jealousy. Worst of all I'm here to stay whether you like it or not. I dunno... I get the feeling you wouldn't like me very much.

Sri Lanka is a Mountain

Yep that's right... as are the other nations of the planet. Most people believe that when they trek to the beach they are pretty much at the end of the country or can at least see its borders on the horizon. In actuality the sea waters extend quite far out. But that's not what I'm talking about.

While every nation is allowed a certain amount of the sea as part of their territory extending up to 12 nautical miles and up to 200 for economic purposes, the extent of a country can go much farther than this.

What am I talking about? I'm talking about what was dubbed by President Truman as the 'Natural Prolongation' of land. Under this a country's territory can extend well over the 200 nautical miles where the landmass (or the mountain) extends under the surface of the sea. This only includes the land part found under the sea. Anything in the water above it doesn't belong to anyone.

Sadly for us, though we have a large extension of land Sri Lanka has been 'slow' to register the land prolongation and it will be a few years till the claim goes through. In that time any other country could harvest any resources located outside out the 200 miles, especially since we don't have the technology to harvest it ourselves. No one is saying that there are resources, but if there were...

I'm sure its a little more complicated than this, but it is the basic idea. This can be seen in the image.

Sexual Terrorism

Osama Bin Laden, the former LTTE and others can't compete with the terrorists that lurk right in our own backyards. Who am I referring to? Well to be frank those individuals who use sex and sex appeal as a weapon for their own ends. Now I might end up being classified as a misogynist but I can assure you its not the case.

What are the indicators of sexual terrorism? A woman flaunting her stuff, manipulating all those around her with false promises of you know what. The suckers just line up to get knocked over like bowling pins. Pulling off such a feat of desirability is no easy task mind you as considerable effort has to be applied to perfecting not only superficial appearances, but also behaviour.

But the men can also do the same, but they market themselves in a different way as the women aren't generally queing up to get some. What those guys offer is known only to the women and the guys in question. Though in other countries the men can also offer sex and I'm sure it happens to a much lesser degree here. One women actually said "Yes... I got to sleep with HIM! Hurray!" This is also not unusual when dealing with male celebrities.

But really it's in all likelihood far easier for a woman to be a sexual terrorist than it is for a man. Men are simple. Show off some flesh, waggle a little and we're generally in, hook, line and sinker. Many a man must have strayed for a piece of the action to only to be dashed against the rocks. The women on the other hand are a lot harder to bait unless you know what you're doing... which only a handful of guys out there do.

Well what can we do about these people seemingly offering themselves? Say no to Terrorism and don't deal with terrorists!

The Island of Colombo

There has always been much talk on the fact that Colombo is an isolated pocket of civilization in Sri Lanka. In fact when outsiders or foreigners think of our little nation images of trees, jungles and rural people are what come to their minds. But the truth is, except for those living in the heart of the country, this really is what life is like.

There has always been an element of pride amongst the people living in Colombo. Many tend to feel that they are the most gifted, talented and generally the best of the best in the country. This doesn’t mean that everyone is a snob, but there is a tendency to look downwards on some people.

This really isn’t the case at all and is just that the people who meet success generally do so in Colombo and receive greater amounts of income. This money is then spent on educating their children who tend to grow up with a Western upbringing which fits well in to a global context unlike someone who is raised in the village.

Most of the people in this country don’t speak English on a regular basis and yet we give it so much importance.

Why is that? Well quite simply the language spread due to the influence of the British and now the Americans globally. It is the ‘Universal’ language. But really it’s nothing more than that. It’s not better than Sinhala, Tamil, French or German.

Sri Lanka needs English. Not because it’s a superior language but because it is the language commonly used everywhere. National Pride for a language is not really the issue at all but it has been used as an election tool in the past whilst basically ruining the future prospects for the country. Take the Japanese for example. They are an extremely proud and nationalistic people. High ranking business officials who speak perfectly good English refuse to speak it and instead insist on speaking through a translator. I just don’t see why that’s not the case here instead of switching the education system to emphasise Sinhala and Tamil.

English is just a tool that many use to survive. Some people even survive solely based on their ability to speak English. Worst of all there is absolutely no reason why just about everyone in this country can’t speak English. If the education system was geared in such a way then everyone could and we’d be able to get more projects and business down here. We already do pretty well but we could do a hell of a lot better.

The recent presidential elections also were rife with speculation with Mahinda Rajapaske supporters insisting that everyone except Colombo really was behind him. There is probably a large amount of truth to this and Colombo has generally voted for the UNP which is a party that seeks to serve upper class interests.

Someone once said "I don't see point in blogging in Sinhala because you're just shrinking your potential audience." I disagree because if you're blogging locally, then you're actually widening it.

Most of the people on the relatively small English blogosphere don’t really live in Sri Lanka per say when considering the entire country. It’s like that George Romero zombie movie remake where human beings lived in the last final city complete with a good deal of comforts while the rest of the world was filled with zombies.

Abuse Part II

To begin let's define abuse as: “intentionally causing harm to another being either through physical or mental means. It typically happens when one person gains power over another.”

First off it’s important to clarify the fact that absolutely anyone can be abused regardless of who they are. However certain people are more vulnerable to abuse, especially women but children even more so. Men are not also not exempt from being abused. But realistically yes, women abusing men is somewhat of a minute problem in terms of numbers. I mentioned it earlier merely to prove a point, which I failed to do.

Abuse in all of its forms is wrong or harmful. However people tend to focus on the physical abuse because it’s immediate and noticeable. But really the more tactful abuser is less likely to saw someone’s hand off or set someone ablaze because they’ll get caught. Instead they would rely on more subtle methods. Even when it comes to physical abuse, a smart person will try to avoid leaving physical marks behind and will avoid easily visible places such as the face. Those who don’t are the ones who aren’t premeditating it and are caught easily. It’s the ones where you can find no evidence that are a real problem.

Abuse is about power and exerting it over someone. There is such a strong emphasis on physical violence that people seem to forget about the other type of abuses. Neglect is a form of abuse whilst isolating a person is yet another. Both are equally bad. Just because there’s no physical damage doesn’t means it’s not the same or even worse. It’s quite simply not a case of Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

Children are even more vulnerable than women because not only do they lack physical strength but they also lack the emotional development to figure out what is being done to them. The recent Brazillian case is a good example where a man’s lover convinced the man to perform a ritual on the son to get back at his wife. So the father would get the boy drunk on water mixed with wine and when he passed out proceeded to stick needles in to his body. When the boy woke up he never knew what happened but he felt ill. They repeated this on him several times before they were caught.

Let’s also not forget the mothers who harm their babies. In one case a woman suffocated her baby with a pillow, called the paramedics and then performed CPR to become famous. She did this more than once.

Then there were those folks who did things to children in nurseries in the US. Apparently they somehow met up on Facebook and decided to share pictures of the things they had done to the children before they were caught. I believe that group consisted of two men and a woman.

Women can also abuse other women. All women prisons are a great example of this. In such an environment a single woman (or a group) can assume the dominate role before forcing the rest of the women to do all kinds of things for her or else risk punishment. I'll just let you use your imagination... but suffice to say it can get quite nasty. Anything that purportedly only a man can do whether it be physical violence or sexual abuse can also be done by a woman in this scenario.

What is common to all these scenarios is that they involve one party having an indomitable influence over the other and using that to inflict harm in various forms. The victims also generally say absolutely nothing because of guilt, shame or a feeling of powerlessness that that they can do nothing to change things.

The real goal that needs to be achieved in cases (outside of prison and the military) of abuse is to get the victim to come forward sooner rather later or never as it is in some cases. Easier said than done.

Violence against women by husbands is more likely (but not restricted to) to occur in the lower classes of society where education and exposure is less. The women who do end up becoming punching bags have no idea what their rights are and maybe even believe that their husband does have legitimate control over them. The problem there is that women are not empowered.

Even the pervs on the bus know this because they target the shy traditional women when doing anything because they know they will say nothing whereas if they see a completely westernized woman in a short skirt there not going to do anything because they know she’s going to kick up a storm.

But even with education, that age old husband-wife relationship is quite strong. Marriage is after all considered sacred in every culture.

In a nutshell what I’m saying is, abusers are abusers. They come in all races, genders etc and they have many ways of doing it. When they get the opportunity to abuse, they take it. In the household, men tend to have a lot more power than women, and that’s why you get so much abuse there.

War of the Mind

So a while ago I saw this show on Abuse against Women called Apeksha. The show went on to show men as evil beasts who just plain do horrible things to women. In fact at one point it seemed that one man actually saved the titular Apeksha from her terrible fate to only end up marrying her and becoming another monster.

The whole thing seemed somewhat one sided to me. Sure these things happen but they themselves go on to say that abuse can be both physical and mental. In the discussion with the audience that followed afterward I found myself agreeing with the Father from the Church who said that abuse can go both ways, it’s not only against women… yes even the physical kind. Pots and Pans people… pots and pans. But psychological warfare is equally or more potent.

In fact I’ve noticed that women are generally better at psychological attacks with the reason being that physical attacks are generally out of their means. I stress generally. They can be great schemers. Such forms of offensive action are also commonly employed by men who lack physical strength because they too need to develop alternatives.

In fact it seems to me that mental abuse can have more far reaching consequences and be sometimes be permanent or near permanent. Physical blows on the other hand will heal and recover but sometimes damages on the mind cannot. Even worse other people can’t really see if another person has been mentally abused either.

To show you the strength of what can happen to the mind I’m going to take two examples... though I'm sure there are many other examples that can be found.

The first is Al Capone. This hard man gangster was the untouchable man during the major bootlegging era of the United States. But strangely enough when he was caught he was a broken man who was quiet and humble. Once the game was up he was finished being completely defeated in the mind.

The Second is Lawrence of Arabia who led many successful campaigns in the Middle East. Unfortunately for him he was captured by Turks who subjected him to all kinds of sexual abuse. He was never the same and he died a broken man.

Just think hypothetically of a robot whose exterior was completely fine. But it if its programming is messed up it may behave erratically but you might not be able to see why and I believe this is the same with human beings.

I leave you with a quote from the Matrix:

Morpheous "The body cannot live without the mind"

Love will Save us All!

So the age old adage goes. Or is it a cheap cliche? Well... let's a take a look.

A long long time ago, Europe was besieged by war. At the end of the First World War much of France was destroyed due to the fact that much of the fighting had taken place there. Being a member of the victors, the French demanded harsh reparations from the Germans. Thus the Treaty of Versailles was born.

The French were completely angry and pissed off at how their nation had been ravaged by the war whose chief propagator was Germany. So with this hatred their decided to 'suck the blood' of the Germans for what they had done to La Francaise.

The Germans were also pissed off. They had lost the war and much bitterness was felt all around, especially with the Treaty of Versailles making life in the country unbearable. Amidst this bitter resentment rumours began to spread about how the Weimar Democracy had stabbed the Germany Army in the back and how they had never lost the war. This hatred on both sides eventually lead the World to war once again.

With Hitler in power, he blamed the nations ails on the Jewish people. Ordinary German folk lapped it up like a cat does milk. So easy to just blindly hate the people who were different and many of whom were affluent. They went nuts with the idea.

Soon the Jews were being rounded up, killed, their babies bashed in the head etc etc. Why did these things happen? An absence of Love I tell you. Because of the bitterness all around the people in Germany just wanted to tear someone apart in pure revenge.

Love is a feeling or state of mind that allows for creative and peaceful creation. Movies, books, art, music and so much more is created with a love for the medium. You can't hope to create any of those out of anything else... well a lot is created just for money, but they're usually no good. You need soul and passion.

Without the positivity of love we cannot create and instead go down the destructive route that requires little thought, understanding or reasoning.

Battery Myths

"Let's all charge our batteries right before they die!" said the wise man before he died. And thus the followers proceeded to do so in honour of their wise man ever since.

But hah! Sorry for you my friend... but your wise man was off his rocker. You see back when he was a young un they used to have these different kinds of batteries that needed to be fully discharged before they could be recharged. It's kinda like how some people played village games with stones before they invented video games and movies and stuff.

So why is the wise man wrong? Well most devices these days with batteries use a different kind of battery known as Lithium Ion. These little babies prefer to be charged whenever and actually hate to be discharged fully or left in the low power battery ranges. It's bad for them. Practically every mp3 player, laptop and mobile phone uses these now.

These kinds of batteries have one main weaknesses and that's exposure to heat. It's better to keep them cool but with the heat in SL that's kinda hard unless you have AC. Most laptop batteries die fast because when people run them on the mains, the battery remains at full power whilst being heated from the laptop which kills the battery. The more charge in the battery the worse the effects of heat. In fact its recommended to store them in a fridge or somewhere cool to increase longevity... but who can be bothered doing that?

How do you know if it's a lithium ion battery you've got? Open the back and google the serial number. You should find info on the battery. Another method is to see if it has a battery meter - that you know tells you how much battery is left. If it has one... chances are its a lithium ion battery.

Devices where you can't see a battery meter and are requested to keep charging constantly without interruption for X amount of hours even after the first time you charge it are usually not lithium ion batteries. These you do need to wait till the damn thing gets to near death before charging and can't remove it from the charger.

Anyway keep charging those lithium ion batteries whenever instead of waiting for them to die or get to near death. Your battery will be happy.

The Wife, the Prostitute and the Golddigger

Let’s assume that there are three types of women out there as the title states, The Prostitute, The Gold Digger and the Wife.

The Prostitute is a woman who has sex with men for money. She does this for a living, usually because she has no choice in the matter. I really doubt anyone does this out of choice. In fact there’s that whole classic scenario that happens even here with the Chinese and possibly Russians who are told that they’ll be given a good job if they come to a particular country. Once they get here it’s another story entirely and it’s either work or go back home… except they’re paying for the ticket.

Porn stars are another matter entirely and the people who work in that business as certain unnamed people pointed out can be highly educated business people – yes even the women. Anyway last point about the prostitute, she is probably never ever going to complain probably because she doesn’t give a damn about you and will most likely never see you again.

The Gold Digger on the other hand is a woman who will do anything for her own security, wealth and comfort. The ultimate extreme would be marrying someone they care absolutely nothing about just for the money and comfortable life. There are plenty of women who are willing to do this… I suppose it’s a biological survival mechanism or something. But what is the difference between a woman like this and the prostitute?

The answer is quite simply the money. You see the prostitute is paid on a wage basis whereas the Gold Digger gets paid on a monthly basis… a salary if you will. The latter type of women will typically have a monthly expenditure amount that Hubby/Gold Mine is willing to put up with. While technically it can’t be seen like this, if you were to divide the amount of money she siphons off in to months or years you can work out the salary or annual gross.

Of course the job description is a little more complicated and can involve birthing and raising children in addition to being a smiley representative. These things are just not cheap. But such women are probably amicable as long as you can keep paying, though probably less amicable than the prostitute.

But you know what’s even more surprising… it’s the men who actually don’t mind marrying a woman like that. What exactly is going on in their heads? Do they even care? Are they anyway having affairs with a stand in wife to cover the fact and maintain appearances? If the latter is the case, then they are getting what they paid for I suppose: a total farce of marriage to keep people placated and stop asking questions.

Now we come in for the wife which is probably the most complicated. This ‘type’ of woman I assume would enter relationships for more suitable reasons such as building a long term commitment. Her duties aren't part of a salary package and she’s going to be squeezing out babies for absolutely no additional charge. The wife is also probably going to be very cranky and highly likely to complain and be an all around bitch.

Not surprising since she had the misfortune of loving your sorry ass. See that’s the main thing that would separate the wife from the other two; that iffy little word called ‘love’ and that’s the difference. The love of a woman is not for free, but you can't buy it… for it was never for sale.

A New Political Candidate?

With the recent happenings regarding our Good General it seems to me that another person has stepped on to the scene. Who am I talking about? No one but but the Good General's wife nonetheless. Crazy idea? Hmm...

Well let's see, having watched some of the press conferences, what comes across is that this woman has a far better 'stage' presence than that of Sarath Fonseka and generally comes across as being more polished. She seems quite interesting to watch unlike her husband who just might put you to sleep.

It appears to me that the longer Mr. Fonseka is in trouble, the longer she will be in front of the cameras and talking to the nation. Going to the hypothetical: if anything were to happen to Sarath Fonseka she would be the prime candidate to lead any kind of 'new wave' of politics. After all the grieving widow has generally been quite a success politically especially when considering the likes of the Bandaranaikes, Sonia Gandhi and Corazon Aquino.

To be cold and a realist, one wonders if the opposition themselves might put 'two' in him... after all seems like no one really gave a damn about Sarath Fonseka.

A pile of crap or not... it's up to you to decide.

"Evil Knievel"

Serendib Isle recently made a comment on this post about people being evil in nature or inherently evil (perhaps even being born this way). This is a response to that using the fictional character of the Joker from the 2008's 'The Dark Knight' as an example.

First off, what I argued in that post is that there is no such thing as good or evil, only motivations. People who do evil things do so out of some kind of compulsion. Let’s take the Joker who might be classified as being just plain evil. I however disagree. While his actions are all designed to cause damage to others and generally bring about chaos there is still a motivation behind his actions.

The Joker is a twisted individual who has become this way due to reasons that are not known to us. He makes up constant stories about his origins, but what is clear is that he enjoys messing the plans of others and generally causing chaos or anarchy. You might say this is being inherently evil, but I say that his motivation is simply doing something that satisfies or pleases him. You might also say that is sympathizing with a psycho but I once again disagree.

Most of us do things that we enjoy. The problem with psychos and other crazy people is that the things that they enjoy doing are detrimental to society or just plain dangerous. The fact that such people ignore the negative aspect or even enjoy it is what allows us to deem them psychos in the first place.

So I say that everything is motivated one way or another, whether through reason or irrationality. Good and Evil are just labels we attach to events and actions to classify them in our minds.

Giving money to the poor = Good
Stealing = Bad
Stealing from the rich to give to the poor = Good if you’re poor, Bad if you’re rich

After all during war... the psychotic killer is our hero.

Please Note: This is not a flame on Serendib Isle

Consolidation...

Defined as: The act or process of consolidating, making firm, or uniting; the state of being consolidated; solidification; combination. [1913 Webster]

People who consolidate usually go out of their way to cement their position and make it the status quo. It is generally done when the position held is not unassailable. Let's look at some examples.

Hitler during his reign consolidated his power early on by raiding the offices of the Communist Party, a strong rival. After the Enabling Act that gave Hitler the status of "Fuhrer" or leader there was an invitation that all views were welcome. The Communists came in droves to exercise their rights. The ones that showed were all arrested and the membership of the Communist party never recovered during the Third Reich and they were eliminated as an opposing force.

Joseph Stalin used a variety of ways to overcome his rival and Lenin's number two, Leon Trotsky, in order to consolidate his position. The first was lying to Trotsky about the date of Lenin's funeral... Stalin became the chief mourner at the funeral.

Second he eventually expelled Trotsky (who was opposing him at the time) from the Politburo and then banished him to the practically barren wasteland that is known as Siberia. But Stalin was paranoid... understandably so since he was the man with all the power in the USSR. Many would do well to oust him. So he set about purging the army... after all Trotsky had once been 'Commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War' meaning he had many loyalists in the Soviet Armed Forces.

Sadly for the USSR, the purging of the army went too far and all experienced personnel were demoted, arrested or executed leaving younger men who were loyal to Stalin in charge. This led to the Soviet Army being embarrassingly defeated by Finland during a Soviet invasion attempt of the small nation. It also demonstrated a sign to the Germans that perhaps the Soviet Army wasn't all that it was cracked to be... a reason for Operation Barbarossa but that's going off on a tangent.

But the final paranoia of Stalin led to the untimely fate of Trotsky. Some twenty years later when Trotsky was living out his days in Mexico, an NKVD agent (Soviet form of Gestapo) buried an ice pick in to the back of the man's skull thereby eliminating him for good.

Relationship Randoms

When people see a guy and girl hanging around together everyone automatically assumes that there is something going on. While naturally there is a strong precedent for such a belief as people of different genders hanging out together as a duet generally does convey an image of being a couple.

Sometimes however people really are just friends, but this doesn’t stop others from making a world of assumptions. This isn't the only form of speculation, so lets look at some others.

First off as a guy, there is sometimes the tendency to take even the slightest bit of attention from a woman as a message that ‘she likes me’. This is quite common I would argue. Secondly if a woman gets touchy with a guy it also sends more signals confirming the previous statement.
However looking at it from a female perspective the same actions can mean two different things and it really depends on the woman. Yes for some women being all touchy is clearly a message that says ‘Let’s Go’ but really I think that’s rare and more so in Sri Lanka. If anything it just means that a woman is comfortable with the guy and doesn’t even think of him in that way. But the guy on the other hand gets a complete wrong idea. In fact sometimes a woman who really likes someone will do the complete opposite by being distant from them and never daring to venture in to the physical realm.

Why? It’s quite simply really because it’s all in their heads. It’s the way they are thinking about it. If they like someone then the physical stuff actually means something. If they don’t like someone then it’s just like slapping a buddy on the back. So as a guy it’s probably important to not read too much in to the actions of women… after all we have no way of reading their minds as much as much as they might want us to be able to!

But let us not forget that there are some women who deliberately convey the wrong idea all for a bit of attention. They are out there. I assure you. Some guys do this too... but perhaps with more 'sinister' motives behind their actions!

On the other hand there are also some guys with a serious lack of exposure who know next to nothing about women. One creepy individual that I spoke to seemed to think that he could get married after a single date. That’s right… a SINGLE date! Ok… that’s not creepy right? Well he also seemed to be under the impression that his wife would be his sex slave. I listened to him with my jaw on the floor and when I tried to tell him that it wasn’t really going to be that way he insisted that he, I quote “would make her do it”. I pity his wife should he ever get married. The guy is 27 years old and clueless.

I'm sure there are also some women who have no idea what a man really is. Some even venture in to marriage before they really find out. Exposure can be (and I don't mean physical) so important.

Seems to me a lot of men just get married to have sex, especially in the more rural areas/or people with less education. A friend of mine had a servant in his house. She was going to leave because she was going to get married. My friend was telling me that her man was repeatedly saying “I love you baby… I love you baby” in what I assumed was generally a meaningless conversation. My reaction was “oh oh… that doesn’t sound good’ based on the stuff I mentioned before.

Anyway surprise surprise a while in to the marriage the woman had enough. She wanted to come back and work at my friend’s house. It’s not that the man was evil he was just thinking with the wrong body parts. It happens to every guy I would imagine at some point in time. And I don’t mean he was abusing her in any way. It’s just that going in to something with only a single idea in your mind is going to be a disaster. Maybe it’s the over importance that is ascribed to sex that makes people believe that it’s the entire world. All the guys I’ve ever spoken to confirm that it just doesn’t really change your life all that much. It’s an experience but not of life altering proportions.

Anyway this entire topic seems so murky with so little scientific analysis on it despite it potentially forming a significant part of our lives. Strange isn’t it?

Evil Becometh Thee

The story of good and evil is a timeless tale that has been told since the dawn of man. Always pitting the extremely good Samaritan against that ultimate and despicable villain. In the end after a long struggle the good always wins out.

But these tales which dominate our movies, sometimes our books and most certainly some religious texts don't really have any basis in reality.

I mean look at it for real. When have you ever met someone who was truly evil? Probably never? Ever met anyone who was pure good? I doubt it. While its all nice and convenient to sugar coat everything in to simple black and white, the reality is a big giant grey.

There are no really evil acts that people do. It's all simply actions that are justifiable for the person undertaking them and generally selfish in nature. It's all well and good to be a peace loving hippie when there is no conflict of interest whatsoever, but its when the small personal gains (and sometimes not so small) come in to the picture that everything tends to fall apart.