Question Everything.

"I never was aware of any other option but to question everything" - Noam Chomsky.

I find it very interesting when I get that glazed look from people who hear me say something like, "Now wait a minute, why is the West trying to topple the Syrian government when majority of Syrians elected them, and support them?" Or when I ponder out aloud: "Wouldn't it have been lovely if Jesus Christ had fathered children?" The facial expressions I get would make interesting pictures, if only one could pull off taking a shot without issue.

It is undeniable that most people DO NOT pause and question what they learn or are told. This is an unfortunate result of the strictly orchestrated limiting of our spectrum of acceptable opinion. You see it everywhere - in Churches, in the media and in TV shows. We are told how things are and are given packaged results. We are constantly being conditioned not to think, but to wait for the answers. Worse, we are herded together to swallow the "official accounts" as the "acceptable opinion". And it is a system so effective, we hardly notice it. Our governments do it by manipulating the news and information, and by working deals to usurp the power they have. Our religious institutions shape our opinions on how we should worship and what God expects from us - down to the smallest details. Our community leaders, likewise, hold us to be recalcitrant whenever we stand up in demand of their accounting or when we hold a different view. 

And by this, the world has been turned into a planet inhabited by robotic slaves. It was in the design - and they have achieved it. Almost. 

Not if you stop for a minute and question what they tell you. Not if you pause and reflect on the "account" you are given. Not if you stand up and say "hold on, I do not agree with that". Not if you take the position that until you have had the chance to examine the story from all angles will you give your consent or your acceptance. 

Question everything. 

This is not to say "doubt everything". The two could not be further apart. Let me ask you this: Did you know that the majority (and no small majority, but at least 70%) of Syrians actually support the regime of Bashar El-Assad? If you didn't don't beat yourself over it. It is not really your fault. You have been conditioned. You watch the mainstream media. You watch CNN. You watch BBC - the same BBC that reported Building 7 of the World Trade Center had fallen some 30 minutes before it actually did collapse (implode, to be more exact) during that fateful day when some 3,000 lives were lost in the 9/11 attacks. 

But you can start now. Question everything. Even the concept of God. It should not be a sin to wonder (silently or aloud and to others) if God actually exists. Does your church makes you feel it is wrong? Ask them why you cannot wonder if the existence of God can be empirically researched? If they come up with an intelligent answer I would love to read from you. And if you are afraid to ask, then this blog is no place for you, sadly. Go somewhere else and get your daily dose of "controlled opinion". My heart bleeds out to you, but I'm too busy holding hands with those who have had their eyes opened. 

Thorny Stalks.

It can take a while for it to sink in. Perhaps because it is in our nature, as humans, to deny the obvious when we seek it's alternative. But as time wears we should embrace the evident - even if we can only do so secretly - while clarity fights for focus.

Sometimes an altercation is but a diversion from what is really the case; the true reason for seeking alternatives. Our innate, almost spontaneous, inclination to hoodwink those who trust us the most derives from our fear of inflicting emotional hurt on them. Or, it may be the manifestation of a long running act of dishonesty, while professing to be in repair of our pride and dignity. Whatever the case, we humans are skilled in the art of concealing intentions - it is what separates us from other animals, almost.

But the truth does have a funny way of coming back to set us free. Even then, our nature is to deny the obvious, not less especially when it is between us and our alter ego. It is this that makes us human after all.

We may fall asleep with roses in our hands expecting the same empty feeling that accompanies waking up to find the other gone. In reality it is neither the act of dreaming with a broken heart nor the resultant discovery of emptiness that matters. What is important is how tightly we clutch those thorny stalks, the pricks of which usually result in a drawing of blood that washes our pain away.

Meltdown in Cairo

It's surreal how the walls of oppression and tyranny are literally just crumbling in less than a week of civil mutiny.

I will not pretend to be a political analyst - simply because I don't know how to dis-inform and kiss-ass that well, frankly. But I have endured a bitter taste of bile as I read the reports of the dire events unfolding online and seen the chaotic footage of the streets of Cairo and Alexandria on the 'canned' news channels (CNN and BBC). But what strikes me hardest after having seen it all is the shameful manner in which the self-professed (but much found-out) democratic pillars of Britain, Germany, and France have reacted to the people's revolt.

Consider the statements these disgraceful trio have released in an official communique (a joint one, it seems: they would rather do this together instead of individually so as to share the burden of hypocritical weight). The Sarkozy/Cameron/Merkel statement urged Mubarak to "engage in a process of transformation". Okay hang on for a minute! So now that the house is on fire, they want to remind Mubarak to implement a fire prevention policy? Cool.

Also according to the 3 stooges' statement, "there must be full respect for human rights and democratic freedoms, including freedom of expression and communication, including use of telephones and the internet, and the right of peaceful assembly". Well, 'F' you Merkel, Cameron and Sarkozy! Welcome back to the real world after extracting your heads from out of your asses for 30 years!

Where were these three clowns when the Egyptian dictatorship flouted every democratic principle in their persecution of journalists, bloggers, and politicians who expressed even a slightest difference of opinion?

And how did Mubarak seemingly respond to the European clarion call? He promised change in a nationally televised address and then proceeded to rub crap in everyone's faces in a series of contradictory actions, pinnacled by the appointment as Vice President of the very person who ran the US secret kidnapping/rendition program in Egypt.

I ache for the souls of those who have died so far.

My heart goes out to the common people in Egypt who have struggled to put one or two decent meals on their tables for decades and must now endure even further suffering. All of this will come to pass - but, sadly, not before hundreds (if not thousands) lose their lives as a result of the relentless pursuit of a new world order by those that have our very lives almost under their evil control.

As anarchy sweeps over Egypt, Barak Obama and the other fecal orifices for European heads of states will twiddle their thumbs and wank away trying to help Mubarak buy time to either quell the revolts and retain his unwanted strangle-hold on the country, or make an face-saving exit if it all fails.

And it WILL fail. Nothing can stop the tide of a people's desire for freedom. History has left us with too many lessons to showcase this truth.

No such thing as the real world....

You must have experienced this before: you hear a song and then for days on end you can't help playing it over and over again, in your head. Often, such a phenomenon can be frustratingly annoying. Unless, of course, the song means something more than just lyrics and melody.

John Mayer's song, "No such thing" is a feature of this amazingly talented singer's 2009 release, Battle Studies. This song has haunted me bad! And after uncontrollably humming the tune for what felt like an eternity, I began to question just what it was about the song that gripped me so.

Conclusively, it can only be this: that the lyrics and the energy with which John Mayer executes this masterpiece on his guitar, embodies the putsch mentality I have about the made-up structures of our collective socio-cultural systems. Let me explain: society dictates (God! What I would give for a stronger word) rules, norms and regulations, which, like sheep to the slaughter, we follow blindly. Mayer's song, for me, is a clarion-call-type-reminder warning of the lines (read: confined borders) within which society expects us to stay. It is no longer required to be proved that societal structures and the religions of this world are for the singular purpose of controlling the thoughts of man; keeping them marching to a beat of a new world order (if you will). And Mayer, perfectly puts it in the lyrics: "no such thing as the real world, just a lie we have to rise above."

In today's society we are being brainwashed to follow more and question less; to accept half-truths, and not doubt the motive behind the preachers; to acknowledge so-called facts, and pretend they must be empirical.

Go figure, people!

By the way, if you haven't heard John Mayer perform, you must see him. He is truly an amazingly talented artist.

When do two fingers not mean peace?

A friend sent me an email with pictures of Palestinian youth depicting scenes of the Israeli State's agenda of persecution and ethnic cleansing. Thanks for sharing, Rami.

I have posted just one of them here.

The picture of a child clearly not more than 5 or 6 years old, standing behind the bars of what seems to be a metal gate raising a defiant gesture, caused me painful reflection.

Two fingers raised to form a 'V' - can mean peace. During the offering of peace at mass in the Philippines worshipers will flash the 'V' sign at each other, offering the gesture of peace. During this part of the ceremony the 'V' sign is symbolic of God's love for his children and the symbolism is intended for worshipers of the catholic faith to radiate this love towards each other.

But, when does the 'V' sign NOT MEAN peace at all? In an environment where generations have known nothing but persecution, violence and a destruction of integrity and identity, the will to offer love/peace to another can be a commodity scarce to find.

In Palestine 'V' means one thing only - 'Victory'. And while that may be an irony of the highest order - considering that militarily Palestine could never achieve battle victory over Israel - readers should understand that Palestinians have never lost the will to survive else they would have already been already exterminated by the effective machinery of the Israeli Army. Palestinians in general believe it's only a matter of time (many more generations, if that is what it will take) until they achieve Victory. And here is a most painful fact: Palestinians view Victory as the times when Israel will no longer persecute, destroy and exterminate their people.

So when you sit in the comfort of your home, after a hearty meal, in your air-conditioned and comfortable environment, whinging and bickering about this or other, imagine the plight of the children of Palestine. Then, ponder your life again. Shame on us all!

Victory to the children of Palestine is but a matter of time.

National Service - a crock of the brown stuff

In my country, graduating students are obliged to give about one year of their lives in service to the nation. So, aptly, it is called 'national service' and involves an intricate and excruciating process that is bedeviled with typical quasi governmental red-tape bureaucracy at the Ghana National Service Secretariat (NSS) - the body that manages placement of students in positions with the view to using this raw human resource to fuel economic development.

Notwithstanding the good intentions of the national service program, insofar as organization is concerned, it is such a crock of the brown stuff. Why? Students, I am told, have to endure the worst kind of the typical third world organizational inefficiency at the NSS as they wade through the limbo of not knowing where they will be posted and if their budding skill-sets fit the posting at all. Worse, whether you are the product of a government subsidized education or have laboured your way through private school because your sponsor could afford it, all MUST give one year of their lives to the service. There is no logical structure or machinery that profiles students in a way to benefit both country and young citizen, the former getting the right people in the right place, while the later gets the opportunity to nurture the budding skills and/or talents within the right environment - let alone to talk about students giving their time commensurate to how much they benefited, or not, from government scholarship.

I therefore have no regrets whatsoever, for dodging the effing draft way back in 1989. I am not ashamed in any manner whatsoever, because I know I have served my country irrespective since then. And as for our national service scheme, me thinks what we really need is a revolution. One of those Cuban-style radical approachs where all students go to the sugar plantations for three months. This way we can, at the very least, turn the otherwise wasted expanses of arable land to good use.

Great weekend, everyone!