PRETENDERS

The Prime Minister of Malaysia announced recently from his position of power and authority, that "human rights-ism goes against Muslim values." He expands, "in this age of globalisation, there are attempts to spread retrograde values such as pluralism and liberalism by linking it to Islam. It is very dangerous to our faith...What more for deviant movements like the LGBT to be recognised and permitted." (From The Star Online)

These dogmatic words come from the poster boy for Islam, Najib Razak, known for more than a few scandalous affairs in Malaysia. They are the beliefs of a person with no sense of empathy. 

I do not link the emotion as being exclusive to being liberal or progressive. I link them to being human. I don't know how he defines the term "retrograde," if he, and those like him, (the Sultan of Brunei comes to mind) sees a nation's progression only in terms of economic development and wealth, but refuses to acknowledge the backwardness of a people and their demeaning of others who are different.

One great thing about religion is that it always brings out the true hypocrites.

KIDS

Bangkok, 1995

My mother was cleaning out some boxes in storage and found this letter that I'd completely forgotten about. She took a picture of it and sent it to me.

People don't write letters anymore, but I'm glad to have artifacts that have come from and survived friendships that did not stand the test of time, the only remainder of what had once been. Maya Angelou said that people will never forget how you made them feel. At age 10 I made one of my best friends laugh hysterically every day at school.

One of the greatest joys in life is being able to be the complete goofball that you are at heart and have your friends appreciate you for it.

PHILADELPHIA

I boarded a train bound for Philadelphia three weekends ago and surprised some dudes at a bike store in North Philly. Walked in on a cold, damp Friday evening and was met with a lingering bear hug from Paul, who I hadn't seen in over a year. The newest and youngest addition to the crew - blonde, blue eyed Mike, who I had only spoken to on the phone on previous occasions, was working too. Izzat wasn't there so I hung out with those ace mechanics until closing time.

Had dinner with little brother and Hanan that night.

Saturday started early. We had breakfast at OCF coffeeshop in the walking distance Fairmount neighborhood before opening up at 10am. Izzat initiated the work day by playing Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry Be Happy, a song I find suitable to be used as a torture tactic against the people you despise the most, especially if you take into consideration the cruel taunting of the message in that context, especially if played on repeat, and even if I am unequivocally against torture. But the song has been a permanent fixture in the store's daily playlist since the inception of Kayuh Bicycles and the most I will say to express my objection to the song is a simple, "hate this song." To which Paul once immediately switched to another tune as a gentleman would, I guess, but my brother tends to believe that no one is more capable to endure painful things more than I. To some extent, he is right.

Why do Westerners need help with everything? What's wrong with being a bad conversationalist? My theory is that socially inept people tend to become good conversationalists when meeting "their people" finally. It is worth the wait, in my opinion.

Because what's so bad about struggling through life?

Or having breakfast alone at the bar seat?

BEAUTY IS SKIN DEEP

While browsing the internet for popular blog posts of the day I was brought to a site titled Skinny Confidential. I could see that it was another generic fashion type blog, but decided to see what could possibly make it such a popular post.

The blonde blogger from San Diego wrote a post about women shaving their faces and then gushed over why it should be a trend now, because America is all about trends. She included a YouTube video of some person going by the name of Michelle Money (upon googling the name, because I had no idea who she was, I learned that she was a reality show contestant) who demonstrated how a woman should shave her face to get rid of any facial hair or peach fuzz.

I found nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. What was gross about her video, and I only got to 1:25 of the 4 minute demonstration before turning it off, was her presentation. She spoke with a condescension that proliferates unrealistic beauty standards already rampant in today's society. "I don't care who you are, ladies. You have hair on your face and men don't like it." This is what she says with arrogant authority. This is also the moment I instinctively made my what the fuck face at the screen and turned her off, wishing I hadn't come to learn of her existance. I think this of a lot of people today who are given a universal platform, a lot of irresponsible and ignorant people who spread all sorts of tripe over the internet. Females who set women back a hundred years are of no exception.

Finding the whole thing ridiculous and pathetic, I wrote a comment on her blog, for the sake of intelligent debate or discussion with others, in which I pointed out the fact that it's girls like Michelle Money and the blogger herself who encourage girls to be too hard on themselves and strive towards perfection. And not even to feel better about themselves, as many of us who experiment with make up and such do, but to please men. Those people who only exist in this world because women decide to push them out of their vaginas. That is how they come to be. That is the only reason they get to live life. And these cunts think we should plan our lives to revolve around some of these boys who never learned from a young age to appreciate the natural woman, boys whose opinions don't, won't and never will matter when it comes to beauty or standards. How insecure do you have to be to promote such drivel? If you are with someone who makes you feel like you're not physically attractive enough then they are the problem. 

Needless to say, my comment was immediately deleted by the owner of the blog.

Later, I am reading the news story on the high school prom-related murder in Connecticut and post a comment on the messageboard. I point out the obvious, once again, that America is a morally bankrupt nation. If you disagree with this then you are wrong. The only culture that permeates the US is that of violence, entitlement, and Black Friday deals. The constant news stories such as the school stabbing is a reflection of that, and it's time the severity of the issue is addressed internally. Several other commentors agree with me, but many more probably flagged my comment because half an hour later it was deleted by CNN moderators.

Lately, as I work arduously at writing and researching my first book, I think about the painful fact that talking truths and accuracy is an outrage today. People are conditioned to reject the truth in favor of deceit, as it is much easier to accept. Whenever a sole individual comes up to the podium and makes an unpopular yet genuine remark about the state of our society today, the masses react in hostile denial. They attack the person uninfluenced by the propaganda of media, corporations, or politics, thus speaking from a clear, informed perspective, but because they are an army of one, they lose.

The people who are given platforms today to spread their vile, superficial beliefs to the world are just another problem contributing to society's fast decline. And the blogosphere is now a cesspool of dangerously insecure, hollow consumers begging to have their voices heard, yet have nothing of significance to say.

COMMON DECENCY

Just after the first vinyl pressing in 1981, the record company received a serious letter from the World Council of Islam in the UK stating that they considered the recording offensive. "We consider this blasphemy that you put grooves to the chanting of the Holy Book.” Without any explanation, ‘Qu'ran’ was removed from later re-releases of 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts'.

“ There was an op-ed piece in The New York Times by an evolutionary biologist or somebody - which was a curious place for the opinion to come from - and he said that there's no such thing as a completely free, uncensored medium, that people censor themselves all the time, in deference to hurting other people’s feelings, or offending other groups, or in their own, not to provoke a fight. It is a form of censorship, but that’s also the way people are as animals - that you don’t unnecessarily provoke people unless you really are looking for a fight. And we thought, "Okay, in deference to somebody's religion, we'll take it off. And you do self-censor certain things, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. That’s just the way human social interaction works. "  

- David Byrne