i believe in miracles...
no, there is not a tone of optimism that will ring throughout today's post. on the other hand, i think its quite depressing. maybe cause i'm quite depressed.
what started as me sitting down trying to figure out some sense of direction for my yet-to-be-started essay, turned out into a wiki fest..looking for things for maus. then..i dunno. maybe its the whole notion of dividing people down racial and religious lines, which people do on a regular basis. even more so at home in malaysia where its part and parcel of administrative measures. in schools. in universities in terms of the entrance quota and what not. i'm kinda glad i'm not having my tertiary education in malaysia, in some ways.
we were talking about this in lit tutorial the other day. what is this notion of race? does it really exist? in some cases it has been proven that you can genetically find out someone's racial background. but just what is that all about? when you tie in an idea like "race" into some scientific method of verifying it, where does that leave us? a real and verifiable way of cassifying people? a valid way of asserting superority, simply because one has got a better pool of genes than the other? which is probably just a minute percentage. we're all people in the end.
the term "race" has actually been denounced, or something like that, by the UN, or some body like that. based on the grounds that it carries negative connotations and what not. and i think the term "race" only is valid when used for plants and animals. well, its only recognized when used in that context, thats what i mean. i think the term to use now is "ethnicity"...
and now back home we have this growing sense of dissatisfaction among people. the power to define people as being "other" (you know what i mean). thats power. you're only recognising ONE particular type. everything else is..."other"..its DAN LAIN-LAIN. somewhat less significant.
government's cracking down on bloggers back home. geez man...
there's nothing to say that hasnt been said. and there's nothing that can be done without some dire consequences.
one thing i absolutely HATE is how politicians say "kalo korang tak suke, korang boleh kluar". what is that?? i mean seriously, WHAT. IS. THAT?? how can you just tell people to get out if they dont like it? and if there's a lot of them making noise about things they dont like..maybe something's not right.
i hate to stereotype people and say they're just like that. but lets face it..we all kinda do that from time to time. eg: dumb americans.
these perceptions are dangerous. they can cause real harm.
EVERYBODY SING ALONG TO GEORGE MICHAEL'S FREEDOM 90