So I’ve had a wonderful weekend… starvation on Saturday… drunken mess on Sunday morning… first free ambulance ride on Sunday evening… and a fine round of golf on Monday (outside the fact that I got outplayed by an 89 year old man)…
I have two things on my mind tonight… no… actually three… first of all – the most noble of them… the current events in Burma are quite exciting… and perhaps even promising… who knows what would actually happen if the military junta over there did get overthrown or pushed aside… perhaps controlled dictatorship is better than absolute chaos… something that’s a distinct possibility for a conglomeration of nationalities and ethnicities that Burma is… but on the other hand… having traveled there… and
experiencing possibly one of the finest weeks of my life on Burmese soil… remembering the countless people who approached Magnus and I wanting to talk about ‘freedom’… perhaps this will turn out for the best… and I must say… the one thing I am looking forward the most for tomorrow, is researching the events there further and trying to think up of a way of getting involved… but that’s the young Pioneer (see communist brainwashed youth) speaking in me …
Second thing is the semi-absurd fiasco of a United Nations assembly we are having here in New York this week… first of all, now that UN is an established organization with clear standing in this world… there is no more reason to have its headquarters in New York… I realize we are the capitalist capital of the world, bla bla… but does anyone outside here know the absolute disaster we, new Yorkers, have to live through each time these talking heads come to town? I mean its nice and all to know that of all the places in this world, it happens to be here… but on the other hand, when you see five miles of traffic down second avenue… or five square blocks cordoned off by secret service for the president of Zambia… one really has to ask if maybe Rochester or Albany or maybe even Lexington, Kentucky would be a nobler, saner choice for everybody invovled…
My second thought on this UN thing is the visit to New York by our favorite Hitler wanna be, Mr. Ahmadinejad… I don’t know if anybody followed this, but I thought his treatment at Columbia was an absolute disgrace… Especially considering the heat the school took for having him speak there… shit… if you are going to let him speak… at least treat him hospitably… instead the man gets introduced to the audience as the ‘honourable tyrant and dictator’ by the president of the school of international relations… and then gets grilled in a highly rude fashion about his esteemed opinions on the Holocaust, 9/11, etc… now I think this Ahmadinejad guy is an absolutely petrifying combination of street-smarts, charisma, assertiveness and delusion… and I really think his opinions, as outright mis-informed and absurd as they are, are driven by one underlying motivation – “Persians are somebody… and don’t you forget it.” So hence I think a lot of his foot stomping idiocies… from his theories on homosexuality to Iranian nuclear problem, really boil down to the fact that Persia (i.e. Iran)… much like Russia, India and China is finally ready (or thinks its ready) to assume to dominant position on the world stage… A position occupied for a long long time by tall white, blonde men… So with this in mind… I think if Columbia was to invite this guy to ‘speak,’ it really should have given him an opportunity to do so in a respectable and hospitable fashion… for no matter what his actual opinions are, he is without a doubt their ‘guest’… and if you don’t like the guest, what he is wearing, how he smells or what he talks about – don’t invite him into your house… but if you do… common courtesy and respect are not unreasonable to ask for…. And again, while being highly, even aggressively, ‘questioning’ of Mahmoud’s words and thoughts would be OK – he was after all there to defend his views… right… Being an unhospitable demagogue (as the head of Columbia’s international relations school was) is still inexcusable… and really does put our country (the good old US of A in a terrible, closed-minded and ignorant light abroad)
My final point of concern for today is of the nauseating variety… I have to compose a ‘telega’… translated as a complaint letter in English… about one of the superiors… it wont be an actual letter… but essentially talking points for the conversation ill be having with another of my bosses over this lovely gentleman… the great part of this is that end of all ends I think its all pointless anyway… and I am doing this under the guise of ‘not taking any shit’… instead of actually defending some ‘career’ position I might have… anyway, the ‘telega’ will consist of one giant point – this guy is an absolute dickhead… and a few supporting arguments… like he is fond of accusing without bothering to learn the facts… he tries to single out without any reason… and overall, his main motivation seems to be quite KGB’ish… dig up all the shit possible… put it in one big pile… and start tossing it against the wall to see what sticks… screw everything else…
I have two things on my mind tonight… no… actually three… first of all – the most noble of them… the current events in Burma are quite exciting… and perhaps even promising… who knows what would actually happen if the military junta over there did get overthrown or pushed aside… perhaps controlled dictatorship is better than absolute chaos… something that’s a distinct possibility for a conglomeration of nationalities and ethnicities that Burma is… but on the other hand… having traveled there… and
experiencing possibly one of the finest weeks of my life on Burmese soil… remembering the countless people who approached Magnus and I wanting to talk about ‘freedom’… perhaps this will turn out for the best… and I must say… the one thing I am looking forward the most for tomorrow, is researching the events there further and trying to think up of a way of getting involved… but that’s the young Pioneer (see communist brainwashed youth) speaking in me …Second thing is the semi-absurd fiasco of a United Nations assembly we are having here in New York this week… first of all, now that UN is an established organization with clear standing in this world… there is no more reason to have its headquarters in New York… I realize we are the capitalist capital of the world, bla bla… but does anyone outside here know the absolute disaster we, new Yorkers, have to live through each time these talking heads come to town? I mean its nice and all to know that of all the places in this world, it happens to be here… but on the other hand, when you see five miles of traffic down second avenue… or five square blocks cordoned off by secret service for the president of Zambia… one really has to ask if maybe Rochester or Albany or maybe even Lexington, Kentucky would be a nobler, saner choice for everybody invovled…
My second thought on this UN thing is the visit to New York by our favorite Hitler wanna be, Mr. Ahmadinejad… I don’t know if anybody followed this, but I thought his treatment at Columbia was an absolute disgrace… Especially considering the heat the school took for having him speak there… shit… if you are going to let him speak… at least treat him hospitably… instead the man gets introduced to the audience as the ‘honourable tyrant and dictator’ by the president of the school of international relations… and then gets grilled in a highly rude fashion about his esteemed opinions on the Holocaust, 9/11, etc… now I think this Ahmadinejad guy is an absolutely petrifying combination of street-smarts, charisma, assertiveness and delusion… and I really think his opinions, as outright mis-informed and absurd as they are, are driven by one underlying motivation – “Persians are somebody… and don’t you forget it.” So hence I think a lot of his foot stomping idiocies… from his theories on homosexuality to Iranian nuclear problem, really boil down to the fact that Persia (i.e. Iran)… much like Russia, India and China is finally ready (or thinks its ready) to assume to dominant position on the world stage… A position occupied for a long long time by tall white, blonde men… So with this in mind… I think if Columbia was to invite this guy to ‘speak,’ it really should have given him an opportunity to do so in a respectable and hospitable fashion… for no matter what his actual opinions are, he is without a doubt their ‘guest’… and if you don’t like the guest, what he is wearing, how he smells or what he talks about – don’t invite him into your house… but if you do… common courtesy and respect are not unreasonable to ask for…. And again, while being highly, even aggressively, ‘questioning’ of Mahmoud’s words and thoughts would be OK – he was after all there to defend his views… right… Being an unhospitable demagogue (as the head of Columbia’s international relations school was) is still inexcusable… and really does put our country (the good old US of A in a terrible, closed-minded and ignorant light abroad)
My final point of concern for today is of the nauseating variety… I have to compose a ‘telega’… translated as a complaint letter in English… about one of the superiors… it wont be an actual letter… but essentially talking points for the conversation ill be having with another of my bosses over this lovely gentleman… the great part of this is that end of all ends I think its all pointless anyway… and I am doing this under the guise of ‘not taking any shit’… instead of actually defending some ‘career’ position I might have… anyway, the ‘telega’ will consist of one giant point – this guy is an absolute dickhead… and a few supporting arguments… like he is fond of accusing without bothering to learn the facts… he tries to single out without any reason… and overall, his main motivation seems to be quite KGB’ish… dig up all the shit possible… put it in one big pile… and start tossing it against the wall to see what sticks… screw everything else…
1 comment:
On Myanmar - first off all, the thought of you beating me to commenting on this issue has hampered my productivity at work all week. Secondly, I think you are very right - The people of Myanmar are on their own. Sitting as they do in the shadow of and under the protection of China, Nobody will do Anything to help them - not if they lined up their people outside a pagoda and chopped their heads off one by one on CNN. Sanctions don't mean anything to a country with three trading partners - China, India and to a small extent Thailand - who won't participate. As long as all those brainwashed eighteen year olds in the army keep taking orders to shoot from the Generals, the nation is screwed. It makes me angry, and it makes me upset - but there's nothing I can do about it.
On having the UN in New York - dude, deal with it. What I wouldn't do to have the world's decision makers - or scratch that, anything of enough international significance so that it would be worth spending a career working on - at my family's doorstep. New Yorkers, unlike the rest of Amercia you're blessed with a functioning public transport system - use it. I've never understood why one would want a car in New York anyway - it's consistently faster to walk across town. Here's an idea... congestion charge...
Ahmadinejad - I did not approve of the rude name calling. But everything else I thought they did right. Of course they were right to invite him - students and faculty got engaged, and intellectual debate and awareness was stimulated. Those voices calling in outrage for him not to be allowed to speak - I hate to point this out, but that's just another form of the self-righteous cencorship he practises in Iran.
As for how to manage the discussion and letting him say what he wanted to say - the man is an accomplished demagouge. He could have stood there for hours and spewed propaganda, some valid and some not. But the only way the discussion has any value is if there is frank debate. Not rude debate - but ask the tough questions, and when he doesn't answer, tell him he didn't answer. It's the same as a TV interview - if you want something new to come out, ask some real questions.
Enough ranting for now...
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