Immigration: A Different perspective

Immigration is a very complicated issue, with there being little consensus amongst the politicians on how to approach it. It is also a delicate issue one that gets certain approaches called racist, right-winged and compared to the 3^rd Reich. On the other side there are approaches that have been seen as being too relaxed and allowing anyone to trample over the original citizenry of the country.

Dealing with a problem this big can be a bit daunting so let’s put this in simpler terms, in abstract terms, so that it does not feel like I am pointing to any particular country and calling them out. We are in a world with many different countries and cultures, customs and traditions, languages and the like. In this world we have two countries, Country A and Country B. Now Country A is a fully developed, rich nation with a high GDP per capita, Country B on the other hand is the opposite of that. For one reason or another a group of people decide to emigrate from B to A, thus establishing an immigrant community within the borders of Country A.

Mosque near 9/11 Site?

Recently the go ahead has been given to building a Mosque near ground zero, the place were extremist Muslims bombed the World Trade Centre Towers killing around 3000 people on the 11^th of September, 2001. Responses to this have been largely “YOU CANNOT BUILD THIS HERE!” and others such as this cartoon. I am not sure what the cartoon is supposed to convey cause no amount of being assholes in the House of Representatives negates the fact that representatives of Islam did the act in the first place. Regardless the responses weren't very elaborate so let me explain the first further. Now I am opposed to the construction of a Mosque near the site of the bombing and also to the construction of any such religious buildings anywhere in the world.

How to be a valuable citizen

We could benefit from the use of this organ, hopefully it is not completely atrophied

Most of humans regardless of political and religious orientation are essentially the same. They are the same in regards to their unwavering belief in the dogma and agenda of their preferred religion and/or political organisation. We blindly follow the peers in our like-minded groups and support other members of the same group in their unwavering belief. We like to feel as if we belong and it is easier to accept something that suits our beliefs then anything to the contrary and we persist in those beliefs, passing them down to our children and only perpetuating the problems of the world. We become blinded to the flaws of our group and confident that the elimination or conversion of opposing groups to our side will resolve all the ills. At times this will happen but then that once unified group will see the ills perpetuating and will seek to label their comrades as the same as their enemies. And new groups will form and always the problems will continue.

What Job Can YOU get with that degree?

At the start of the year in university when in residence everyone was getting to know each other, we would break the ice with a “Hey, what are you studying?” and hopefully kick off a good conversation and a friendship. Studying history and political science is something that is not seen as having so much of a great future, but nonetheless I was surprised to hear, “What job can you even get with that?” I understand the pickings are slimmer and getting anywhere is harder than with the business degree that the person that just asked me that was going in for, but it is still surprising. Why surprising though? Well because I have a different goal in education, and that goal is to get an education and not just a career. The whole broadening my horizons thing is what I aiming to get out of my time in university.

I could rant on how the world is geared for careerism rather than a proper education, which exerts a great deal of influence on the students in university and the ones considering that path, but it is the attitude. The attitude of going into university to find a career and ultimately make tons of money or taking an extremely arrogant and pretentious tone throughout a degree supports a world that I more interested in careerism and less in education and pushing human thought to the boundaries. How many business school graduates will contribute something long lasting to humanity, a new philosophy, a new perspective, broaden our understanding of the universe? Oh about none to none. But yet it remains a popular direction though there is nothing of value that it contributes to general welfare of humanity and its knowledge.

The popularity of that direction is the result of the attitude mentioned earlier that was promoted by society at large, particularly successful capitalists. It is circular reasoning. The attitude exists because society is favourable, and society is favourable to it because it exists and supports society.

Looking at one can almost say that business degrees are viewed as something that will make the holder money and it is taken that that is to be a certainty. While true that money making chances are higher with business then other degrees but it comes at the cost of risk taking, risk taking that is greater than your personal finances (though it is from there that it begins) risk taking that has the fundamental ability to change our understanding and knowledge. It is for this reason that I chose to do a degree where I can learn the broader spectrum, and have the chance to advance human understanding or fail at trying to move us forward. 

The 20 Clowns

Twenty of the world's most pathetic clowns arrived in Toronto last weekend for a clown convention that was widely protested. Being around the region, I got the chance to witness how the downtown core was turned into a police state in order to protect the lives of the world leaders and essentially harass and abuse the normal citizens (you know the people they are SUPPOSED to protect and serve!). I guess with all the focus on the politics of the meeting and the protests surrounding it I may sound like a broken record repeating the usual but the gross misuse of power by the police was too much to bear.

We had the honour of incidents like this, reported by the CBC, where the police confiscated a LARPer's (Live Action Role Playing) foam equipment on grounds of it being dangerous. The article even quotes the police as saying the "spell balls" could be used to set buildings on fire... yes these are not ordinary foam balls they are Uranium Grade Ex-Soviet Foam balls! They were designed with one purpose to be hidden in innocent LARP equipment and let the full force be unleashed on us capitalist pigs during the Cold War.

Apparently the police have already been forced to admit that some of the "weapons" confiscated had no connection with the G-20. I believe that is planting evidence to frame someone? Isn't that a criminal offence if us regular people do it?

Hilariously the chief kept us in the dark about the fact that the increased search and arrest powers were only in the security zone (the place to which no protester had access to) so much for the Miranda rights or anything similar to that here in Canada. We are not allowed to know our rights, and the full extent of the police's jurisdiction cause that would impede their ability to prey on us.

Well I just bloody love it how we are a democracy at all times except when it matters most, then we revert to being a police state.

Socratic Tradition will return soon

I am currently away on official relaxation business, I should have posted this sooner but I shall return to blogging by the end of the month. Until then the place might be like a ghost town.

Shoot him, he's Smart!

Society... it's like this haircut on a much grander scale

In Western society a war has been declared, no this is not the war on terror which in itself is a recent war, this is a different war, it is rather a war where the casualty is far greater. The casualty of this war is in itself Western culture, the future of the West and considering the power of that is currently concentrated in the West, quite possible the future of the whole planet. It is a war on intelligence, not the type of intelligence that agencies like the CIA deal with, but intelligence of the individual people.

Before we discuss the war on intelligence, it is important to establish the place of this trait on the spectrum of value to our world. That value is of immense importance, but diminishing its value is a crucial part of the game to controlling people. To put it bluntly the dumber the people are the easier it is to control them, the easier to manipulate them and the easier it is to keep them apathetic about the system as a whole. Recently I read Archie Brown’s history on the Rise and Fall of Communism where he mentions that the greatest achievement of the USSR was in the field of education, particularly higher education. He reminds us, however, that this highly educated class, the intelligentsia, thirsty for knowledge and the world beyond the closed communist world helped to destroy the Communist system, albeit in places completely unintentionally. This is the power of intelligence, to bring down governments and oppressive states and to change the very face of the world.