civilisationReview

jh0nyzh3: why the f**k i was born in 1998 ? , f**k im in the wrong generation ed: I was born in '69 and loved & lived the rebellious 80s era. People came up with lots of their own styles, music, ideas. Now, its been taken over by the corporation and the only obvious sign of 'rebellion' are those jeans that ill-defies the law of gravity. Quite a let down isn't it (pun intended). However, i prefer the 70s and 60s as they were more advanced in radicalism. I like GnR, but i'm not going to fool myself into thinking that they can beat the old rockers like Led Zep, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison... (youtube) *** Whilst i do extol the virtues of the 80s era, and dismiss those who make a religion out of ‘keeping up with the times’ as ‘people who know no better for not knowing better and thus not being developed enough to appreciate better’, I am well aware of the deficiencies of the 80s as well. The 80s was basically the last era o...

Yeah. I love these guys. That’s what i call style. Off-the-beaten-track, don’t-give-a-crap-about-trends, assertive....in other words, ‘cool’. BUT, (following placed as comments on youtube) ed: “Whilst i love ZZ top's semi-anarchist style, and the above vid, i do wonder how much of western music would be as popular without music videos to embellish what might otherwise be taken as just another run-of-the-mill tune.” TwinPower3000: I love how they molest him and then throw him out of the car. LOL I love this song... ed: Reverse the situation and show a girl getting molested and thrown out of the car and people'l be yelling 'sexploitation'! Anyway, I don't think the chicks 'molested' him. He came off without his boots. Perhaps a pedicure and foot reflexology. *** I suppose the existence and prominence of ‘rock icons’ is paved by the decline of philosophical ones. That is paralleled, and I suppose, symbiotically complemented by the reduction of the ‘...

One of the richest couples in the world, the Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, have pledged to give away 95 per cent of their fortune to aid projects. Do you welcome the support of philanthropists or should governments do more? - bbc You could say that philanthropy is not unlike saying an 'our father' and '10 hail marys' as penance and then going out and doing what it takes to be given the same penance for absolution another day.  It is a small fee one pays to go out and screw the people for far more.  At the end of the day, viewing philanthropy as 'philanthropy' misdirects people from questioning after the justification for the existence of the filthy rich by way of getting us to thank them for giving back part of the loot.  Philanthropy serves to maintain a system that requires philanthropy as a means by which society is periodically relieved of the consequences of said system. In that, philanthropy is an investment by the rich to...

ed's comment on BBC's ' Have your Say ', I am from Singapore, and there, multiculturalism has failed. Not because multiculturalism is necessarily prone to failure, but because one particular culture - legalism-confucianism - has been imposed upon all through the media, government policies, immigration policies, etc. Over time, the chinese have been bred to appreciate no other way of thought or action other than the imposed, and thereafter internalised, one. Hence, multiculturalism died the death without even a whimper. The point here is not that multiculturalism does not work, but it requires the engendering, not of tolerance, but equal and mutual respect and appreciation. We also have to drop this 'indigenous therefore we are numero uno' nonsense. That isn't very far from, 'we are majority and we don't need to give a toss about you'. And that, in turn, isn't far from, 'racism as just a matter of preference'. Multiculturalism ...

The following is a consideration of the view that Gandhi was a founder of India, and not India and Pakistan. It was posted as a comment on Imran’s site . It's been slightly elaborated upon for clarity below. Just a thought. Gandhi wasn't the founder of modern India. Rather, he was the founder of both modern India and Pakistan. The division between either was the work of Jinnah, amongst others. But it was Gandhi, amongst others, who sought and acquired the independence of the land later divided as India and Pakistan. The division was a technicality, and wasn't necessary for independence to be acquired. That's an important point. You could say that Jinnah et al basically claimed possession of a portion of that which Gandhi et al had acquired for ALL of the peoples of India. The partition should never have been. They should have learnt to live together. Well, that's India for you. My mom always thought it ridiculous that the partition was allowed to happen. India was...

Cameron says, "It is not a cover for anything. I was talking about the Big Society and encouraging volunteering, encouraging social enterprises, voluntary groups to do more to make our society stronger, I was talking about that way before we had a problem with cuts and deficits and all the rest of it." Also announcing plans to use dormant bank accounts to fund projects, Mr Cameron said the concept would be a "big advance for people power".... "There are the things you do because it's your passion," he said. "Things that fire you up in the morning, that drive you, that you truly believe will make a real difference to the country you love, and my great passion is building the big society.... These schemes and others in the future, he said, would represent "the biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power from elites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street".". source: Independent , BBC Ed says, I’ve often found that capitalis...

[the following article was first published in 2006 by ed at a previous site] The state of Israel was formed on the basis of a number of reasons, with one of them being the increasing rate of Jewish occupation of the region which in turn served to bolster the Zionist claim to a significant portion of the land of the Palestinians. (what may be termed, 'Ethnic Saturation'). The Ethnic Saturation of Palestine commenced with the efforts of the Zionist movement - convened in 1897 by Hungarian-born Jewish journalist, Theodor Herzl. This movement sought to unite those of the Jewish Diaspora in the land of the Palestinians in order to escape the historical persecution they had suffered in the hands of the Europeans in Europe. (the population of Jews in Palestine at the time was about 5%) This accelerated after the Balfour Declaration of 1917 that expressed British support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the hope of garnering American/Russian Jewish support for the Allied w...

I read a most insightful article by the Third Estate a short while back that observed that the reason why there is little distinction between the right and left with regards to the top 3 parties is that they are so accustomed to pandering to the demands of the public that their ideological compass reflects experiences reminiscent of that which might be experienced in the Bermuda Triangle. But what’s left unanswered is why said pandering to the demands of the public tends to see a swing of the entire spectrum of the left and right to the right? Well, that’s for another observation, but in my waking moments this morning, I thought that a good strategy to swing them to the right, and the people along with it, would be to infiltrate the left with right-wingers who would then take the party right enough to make the right more palatable. A conspiracy? Or perhaps a sign of times gone right given the masses being increasingly customised for life within a capitalist milieu where both left a...

What a myth - this view amongst some that to be a communist is to support the violent overthrow of a government. This seems to be assumed to be one of the articles of faith amongst communists that leads to the demonisation of communists and communism, and socialism itself. In reality, communists have been divided on this subject for quite a while. Some do believe in violent revolution, whilst others believe in bringing it about through the democratic process. Communist, in other words, is not synonymous with some shady individual in a Mao cap garnished with a singular red star lurking with violent intent behind some bush a stone’s throw from parliament. I, for one, have met quite a few communists here in the UK whom seem more inclined to sing Kumbaya around the campfire and would definitely shudder at the thought of brandishing a pistol to usher in a red dawn. This demonisation, in some parts of the world, has led to the distancing between oppositional movements from the socialis...

“US anti-gay rights senator Roy Ashburn admits he’s gay A conservative US state senator who has voted against gay rights measures during his 14 years in office has confessed he is gay.....Mr Ashburn said his votes reflected the way his constituents wanted him to vote, not his own "internal conflict". ” source: BBC If that is true, then it is laudable enough. Putting aside his own proclivities to be representative is indeed praiseworthy - or perhaps he liked the benefits that comes with being a senator enough to confine his sexuality to the disrobing room. But then again, I often wonder why it ought to matter if an anti-gay rights or anyone for that matter lives a life other than that which s/he vociferously promotes. People might say, you have to practice what you preach. To that, I would say, ‘you are in a better position to preach if you’ve had good practice in that which you stand up against, especially if one is able to learn from her/is personal practices enough to l...