The Big Durian

Here in the Big Durian, where 12 million people are piled on top of each other trying to beat the odds and get rich, no matter how many people they have to screw, life has made me rather morose lately.

Not only has the government gone on a robbery campaign (see yesterday's rant), but nearly all of the internet access providers - whether cell-based or cable - have all decided to crap out at the same time.  Out of 24 hours, they are usable about 8-12 hours a day.  No reasons given.

On top of that, the public water system, at least in my neighborhood, has also decided to crap out.  We have a 150-gallon reservoir in the house, which is only getting partially filled each day by a pitiful trickle from the city supply.  No reasons given.

Electricity in some parts of the city has been spotty.  This would be just an inconvenience in most cities, but in the Big Durian, there are only three stoplights in the whole mess, and one of them happens to be near the heart of the city.  When it craps out, it causes a ripple-down effect resulting in a traffic jumble of epic proportions.  And that's on top of the epic traffic situation already caused by the "odd-even" license plate scheme being implemented to try and ease the epic jams in the city center.

Jakarta - the Big Durian - is a mess.  It is a 2,000-year-old settlement with donkey trails for roads that has been paved over a hundred times to stuff more people into a tiny space.  You could put the entire city inside the Inner Loop area of Houston, with enough space left over for all the damn parks Jakarta doesn't have.  And Houston has three loops, with the outer one being about 75 miles from side to side, accommodating 4 million people.  Jakarta has 12 million crammed into what amounts to the inner city of Houston.

What's worse is that Jakarta is the political, commercial and financial center of the country.  All the jobs are here that amount to more than selling coffee and cigarettes in a warung.  Any good jobs outside the Big Durian were centered on minerals and energy, and in case you haven't noticed, those industries have been pounded for the past two years, forcing even more people to come here looking for scraps.

Imagine Washington, D.C. being the only place in the US where decent jobs could be found.  That's the problem here.

On top of all that, every day, millions of people migrate from the surrounding area, called Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tanggerang, Bekasi), raising the population to around 20 million daily, and all using trucks, cars, motorcycles, bajaj, angkot, trains, buses, bicycles, and push-carts on roads that are barely an improvement over dirt and gravel, with an incomprehensible toll system of freeways that require every - single - car - to - stop - and - pay.  There is no EZ Tag or automated payment system, since Indonesians would quickly find a way around it.

In fact, that is the nation pass-time - finding ways around the rules.  It starts with five lanes of traffic on roads barely wide enough to handle two.  Then there's the motorcycles, which flat refuse to follow ANY rules.  Oh, and let's not forget the aging city buses that like to race each other to the next stop to get the customers.  Top it all off with sidewalks that are so crammed with food stalls and warung that people walking are forced into the streets to get around - that is WHEN there are sidewalks at all.

The pièce de résistance is that the Big Durian is a city, a state and a national capital.  That means there are presidents, vice presidents, ministers, members of parliament, governors, vice governors, mayors and vice mayors all trying to plow through traffic with their police escorts, making an untenable mess even worse.  And, of course, being Indonesia, every company CEO and his brother hire police escorts to do the same thing, since their time is FAR more valuable than us peons.

The public transportation system here is a joke.  The TransJakarta busway is built at street level, and where it crosses U-turns and intersections, there is a gap in the barrier, so hundreds of cars, trucks and motorcycles jump in the bus lane to try and get around the traffic snarls, causing - naturally - more snarls that now include the mass transit system.

They are installing an MRT system, but of course, the construction causes more snarls and I frankly will never use it because the last place I want to be is trapped in a tunnel with thousands of panicky people during an earthquake or flood, both of which are part of the scene here.  Not to mention the fact that Indonesians are not especially known for their ability to maintain complex systems, and the national pass-time of trying to find ways around the rules.

One great example of finding ways around the rules was an earlier, abortive attempt to reduce congestion in the city center.  The then-governor created a 3-in-1 zone, requiring three passengers in every car during peak times of the day.  Well, since a great number of folk here use drivers (so their lives aren't frittered away behind the wheel), that left only one additional person to get round the rule.  An entire cottage industry sprang up of "jockeys" who would stand on the sides of roads at the 3-in-1 borders and get paid to ride along as the third head.  Result?  Absolutely no effect on congestion, and instead caused worse jams at the borders as people stopped to pick up jockeys.

Just yesterday, I noticed the new improved system to beat the "odd/even" system: electronic digital license places that can be changed at a moment's notice.

Yes, living in the Big Durian is a true adventure, one I have never experienced before.  There are days when it is extremely difficult to keep laughing at it, and today is one of them,

It's a good thing I am producing a musical comedy right now.  I need the laughs.

It's A Dog's Life

There are surprising things to be learned everywhere and in everything.  The key to learning is to look at it all from as many different perspectives as you can imagine.  I believe there is a solution to every problem.  If you cannot find a solution, it is because you haven't looked at the problem from the proper angle.  You must throw out assumptions and examine all possible causes.  You must roll a problem over and look at the sides no one else has considered.  And while this sounds easy, even obvious, it's not, or else everyone would be doing it.

Finding a solution is only a fraction of the battle, though.  Once you've found the solution, especially by unconventional means, you have the new and even less enviable task of convincing others to follow you.

We are limited by our languages.  Trying to teach an Indonesian about fine wines is very difficult, because the language has only one word - rasa - for both the act of smelling and the act of tasting.  However, trying to teach an American to completely integrate the two is just as impossible, even though as kids we all know that holding you nose while eating something disagreeable reduces the experience of the flavor.

Even more difficult is teaching someone to roll a problem around in their head and examine it from different angles.  It is quite amazing how few people can do this, even though it is a learnable skill.  It is very difficult for most people to fill in the parts of something that they cannot experience with their senses and create a 3-D model in their heads that they can manipulate.

Here's a really fine example.  Lately, there's been a lot of hew and cry in Western media about the annual Chinese dog meat festival.  Just to be clear, this is NOT meat for dogs, but rather dogs AS meat.

To the average American, this seems abhorrent.  How dare those nasty Chinese eat dogs?  They must be crazy.  Bomb them!

In reality, Americans are prejudiced by the fact that they have vast amounts of range land where huge herds of cows can roam and create a massive industry for cow meat that Americans take for granted. How many folks would freak out if they walked into a grocery store and there was no meat counter stacked with piles of delicious beef waiting for them?

Now, expand your mind a bit.  Take a fraction of the space available in the US, fill it with more than a billion hungry people who also like red meat, but don't have vast ranches full of Angus cows waiting to be eaten?  What animal with red meat is small enough to raise on tiny plots of land, even a porch, provides a number of services, like eating left-overs, and can fill the dinner pot a couple of times over with one carcass?  Hey!  Dogs!

Frankly, dog meat is pretty good.  A bit chewy, but tastes just like chick...er, red meat.

The people hollering about this are culturally isolated and insensitive to the various unique issues of feeding a billion folks with limited land resources.  They haven't looked at the issue from all sides, especially the sides they don't usually see.

And for those who are screaming because dogs are pets?  Well, I grew up on a farm in Texas and I had cows, sheep and horses for pets, and they are still delicious.  So what?  Your dog is a pet.  Other dogs are dinner.  Get over it.

And for the veggie folks who think eating animals is cruel?  That's only because your cultural prejudices make you think plants don't suffer and scream and die like all other life on Earth.  You eat the reproductive organs, lungs, bones and bodies.  Just because plants don't react like you doesn't mean a thing - except that you are insensitive to things you don't understand or consider important.

There is nothing different between the Yulin Dog Meat Festival and the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo chili cook-off, except maybe a bunch of drunk, armed cowboys that would get a tad upset if a bunch of Hollywood numbnuts tried to free their cows.

Life and learning is all about seeing things from other points of view.  That is true tolerance, ture genius and true art.

Try it sometime.  You'll like it.

The Cacophony of Cultures

I tend to write a whole week's worth of columns on Sunday afternoon, so if you notice particular themes running through them, then much of it has to do with the mood I am in on Sunday afternoon.  But, since my lovely bride just brought me a bunch of chocolate chip cookies, perhaps my mood will lighten up a bit going forward.

My habit is to scan through the news and look for things that set me off.  I use Drudge for the right-wingnut view, the New York Times for the left-wingnut view, and Rense for the pure-wingnut view. For seasoning, I throw in the Financial Times, the Strait Times, the Allgemeine Zeitung, and the Times of India (aka the Bombay Bombast).  Stir in Russia Today and Xinhua, boil till thick and aromatic. Then I create a mental picture of the state of the world.  And this week, that state is a pretty sad one.

What I came across, though, was an article in the Gray Lady (New York Times) about a Chinese surgeon that wants to perform a full-body transplant on a paralyzed man.  That triggered a memory about an article from Newsweek about an Italian surgeon that wanted to perform a head transplant.

The first thing that struck me is the underlying philosophical differences.  From the descriptions of what is being done, they sound more or less the same thing.  The difference is that the Italians (westerners) are changing the head, and the Chinese (easterners) wanted to swap out the body.

Not sure why, but this difference intrigued me.

Even beyond the Frankenstein movie horror images (the book used an alchemical process to create an homunculus), these articles revealed a very deep division in points of view.

On the one hand, the Westerners were transferring a head to a new host body, while the Easterners were giving a body a new head.  Do you see what I see?  The Westerners place the center of being in the head, while the Easterners view the head in context of the whole body.

What does this have to do with the price of tea in China?  Probably not much, but it does highlight something that I often go on about here, and that is the fundamental assumptions that we all have and that are culturally induced.

In the West, we have generally come to assume that the head is the center of the body.  This is neither right nor wrong, though I tend to see it as incomplete.  The Eastern culture sees the entire body as a unified whole.  Again, neither right nor wrong, just incomplete.  They are complimentary assumptions and lead to a whole host of viewpoints that are completely in opposition to each other.

A great example is the Indo/Malay word hati.  Now if you ask a schoolchild how this translates into English, they will tell you "heart," and in a sense, they are right...and wrong.  In fact, hati strictly means liver, while jantung means heart - at least when it comes to physical organs.

However, in English we use the word "heart" for a much more intangible and philosophical thing: the seat of the emotions and wisdom.  In the Indo/Malay languages, this concept in located in the liver.  Don't ask me why, I haven't gotten that far in my ponderings, but the fundamental cultural divide is there.

Indonesians will tell you hati-hati (be careful), and perhatian (attention), or memperhatikan (take note of something).  Maybe they will say someone has berhati busuk, or evil intent, or berhati baik, a heart of gold.  In a book, when a character thinks to himself, he is speaking didalam hati, inside his heart.  But, if someone drinks too much alcohol, they will get sirosis hati.  There is no mistake that hati is liver, and it is quite apparent that the language embeds all of the aspects of the Western "heart" in the liver.

In this same vein, the Westerners will transplant a head and the Easterners will transplant a body.  Same basic procedure, completely different philosophies.

To me, and admittedly I'm a bit of a geek, this is one of the most fascinating parts of learning new cultures.  Oh sure, we all have our unique costumes and dances, architecture and food, but the most interesting part is the profound differences in the assumptions we make about the Universe as part of our cultural underpinnings.

Many people go through life without ever having questioned the very foundations of how and why we think that way we do.  They never experience completely different viewpoints or rotate around a problem and attack it from an angle that we are culturally blind to.

It's like religion.  Take Judaism and Islam.  They both abhor pork.  They both practice mutilation of male genitalia.  They both have stylistically similar languages with dozens of cognate words.  Yet, one claims to be descended from the legitimate child of a mythical character (Abraham), and the other claims to be descended from the illegitimate child of the same character.  For this, they have warred for centuries, laying claim to the same lands, when in fact, they are hardly separated philosophically.

Little differences that underlie big things.

That's why - and readers here seem to agree - my scribblings tend to take unusual tacks.  I tend to look at problems and issues from non-standard points of view, and even to create new ones by synthesizing alternative viewpoints.  I like to view the world as both a head transplant and a body transplant, because that one simple change can lead to all sorts of new ideas down the line.

The people I know who can do this all have one thing in common: they speak multiple languages.  The thinkers I tend to gravitate towards all speak at least two or three languages.  The people I most admire are polyglots.  And the things that sets them apart from others is their ability to examine the world as if through multi-faceted eyes, seeing angles that others cannot.

It's a valuable tool not to be locked into a single cultural perspective.

I went to school with the son of the guy who invented the Weed-Eater.  He kept the original in a glass case in his living room.  He got tired of the trouble and expense of sharpening and replacing blades on lawn edgers, so one day he tied a bunch of heavy-duty fishing line to a popcorn snack can and bolted in on to his machine.

My grandfather, trying to figure out a way to clean tanker cars on trains after hauling oil or chemicals, was inspired by the heating coil he used to keep his coffee warm on his desk.

They both became a multi-millionaires because he looked at a problem from a wildly different point of view, and that fact made an impression on me.

Of course, my solution is to wonder why I need to edge, or even have a yard, at all.

Report From The Eye Of The Storm

Return with us now to the thrilling theme of "traveler versus tourist," a metaphor we here at the Far Side Global Headquarters - deep in the jungles of Borneo - have adopted for our worldview.

The reader may think of this column as a follow-on to our last screed called, "Who Is More The Fool?"  In today's edition, we will explore "traveler versus tourist" as it applies to "diversity."

As we have developed our metaphor, we have shown that a traveler enters new realms of culture and experience as an observer and reporter.  The traveler attempts to meld as much as possible into the surroundings and taste the sweet and bitter of the foreign world.  The traveler does not judge nor discriminate.  The traveler understands that the surrounding culture has developed over spans of time and he seeks to understand why.

The tourist, on the other hand, brings his culture with him.  He seeks to impose his own norms and standards on the surrounding land.  He is the evangelist, the one who thinks his way is better, or at least more comfortable, and so forces conformity in order to feel less threatened.

In terms of mainstream labels, we may think of travelers as conservatives (seeking to conserve), while tourists are liberals (seeking to liberate).  The conservative wishes to conserve what is found in any given place, while the liberal wishes to change everything to suit some "greater good."

A traveler is conscious of his tracks and tries to minimize his impact on the surroundings.  Instead, he absorbs the local flora and fauna, making deep mental records and spending great amounts of time pondering and examining the context in which he finds himself.

This is not to say the traveler accepts everything at face value or is naive.  If he finds himself in a land where ritual cannibalism and human sacrifice are the norm, he does not wait around to examine the roots of these beliefs, he simply steps quietly but quickly to the exit.

On the other hand, we have the tourist.  The tourist is deathly afraid of having any experience that is outside his zone of comfort.  He is convinced that local cuisine is filthy and infested, and so brings his comfortable McFoods with him.  He is convinced that local accommodations are rat-eaten and sub-standard, and so brings his Holiday-Innian experience with him.  He believes the locals are heathens that must be converted to whatever system of belief he holds dear.  He criticizes the local customs and beliefs as ridiculous and beneath his consideration.  To a tourist, everything is wrong but his own standards.

In the past three years, I have found myself in a very curious position, straddling the traveler-tourist paradigm.

I have been deeply involved in building a "western" style arts center in Jakarta, where the owner has wanted to bring "western" style shows to the city.  On the other hand, I have been dealing with "western" companies wanting to break into the Indonesian market with their wares.  On both sides of the equation, I have run head-long into the tourist mentality.  The locals want international shows, but are not willing to learn and accommodate international standards.  The foreign companies want to enter the local market without accommodating local styles of doing business.  The locals think that "international standard" is the way something looks, and the outsiders think that "international standard" means the way we do it back home.

It is the perfect storm with your humble traveler standing at precisely the geodetic center of the storm.

On the one hand, I want to help the locals bring these massive foreign shows, and want to teach them the styles and methods of doing it.  On the other hand, I know the mentality of the foreign shows, who expect a certain modus operandi on the receiving end.

It is a delicate situation in which your humble traveler finds himself.  I believe both sides are right.  I know how these mass-market shows operate - god knows I've helped create enough of them.  On the other hand, I know the the locals have developed their style of doing business over centuries of physical isolation from the rest of the world, being a chain of islands fairly remote from any mainland.

For your humble reporter, it is both gleefully fun and infinitely frustrating.  On the one hand, I want to help the locals fit into the international market they so desperately want to join, and on the other hand, I want to help the foreigners fit into the market they do desperately want to join.

The immovable object meets the irresistible force.  It is not an enviable position, since I have had my share of both sides railing against me.  Both sides expect me to be able to change the other, yet my personal mentality is that both sides are completely right.

Such is the life of a traveler.

It would be so easy to be a tourist.  I could force whichever side I chose onto the other.  What I have chosen, however, is to find some way to blend the two, in the hopes of making both better for the experience.

In point of fact, I am in the position of believing that the "western" way of doing shows is the right way - in its context.  And I believe that the Indonesian way of doing business is right - in its context.  When the two contexts meet, one can begin to appreciate the fun I have had for the past three years.

I must become a travelist or a tourer, but in either case I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.

Centuries ago, Marco Polo was the first Westerner to record his travels in Indonesia - specifically in the area of central Sumatera around the modern city of Medan - where he met the Batak people.  In his wake, Lutheran missionaries followed and were slaughtered and occasionally eaten by the Batak.  That is, until a fellow by the name of Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen showed up and converted a large number of Batak to Lutheranism.  To this day, the Batak have a unique church (HKBP) that separates them from all other Indonesians.  In simplistic terms, the church is western Lutheranism blended with the Batak language and sensibilities.  A new culture created from the blending of two otherwise clashing ones.

It is possible to make a hybrid culture without surrendering the more profound elements of the progenitors.  However, it is not an enviable position to be at the crux of the effort.  It is akin to hanging on to the blades of a blender, trying to maintain one's identity while at the same time trying to make the rest of the mix into a homogeneous mass.  All sides want what the other has without surrendering any part of what they bring, or accepting any part of what they want.

Your humble traveler stands at the center of the plains of Geddon, amidst the final conflagration, and tries to maintain enough individuality to report on the destruction of both sides.  Perhaps I will be slaughtered and eaten, perhaps I will find that happy medium and become a patron saint.  Either way, I will destroy something and build something else.

History is yet to be written.

But one thing I am assured of...I am a traveler.

Post Scriptum - when I first arrived in Indonesia, I had a Batak girlfriend.  One Christmas, I followed her family to the HKBP church.  When it came time for Communion, I went to the front with her.  The first priest looked at me, then asked her (in Batak language), "Does he understand (this)?"  I responded (in the Batak language), "Yes, I do."  He shot a glance at me and his jaw went slack.  Then he passed me down the line without being slaughtered.

That is what travelers do.

Believe Only What We Tell You

Stand by for rant..

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released previously unseen USDA videos revealing a compulsory “Cultural Sensitivity Training” program. A whistleblower reported to Judicial Watch that employees were required to bang on tables, chanting in unison “The pilgrims were illegal aliens” while being instructed to no longer use the word “minorities,” but to replace it with “emerging majorities.” Judicial Watch received the videos pursuant to a May 18, 2012, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Are you weak-minded and insecure?  Join us!

I've had it with mealy-mouthed, touchy-feely psycho-babble mind control.  Granted, this particular incident is with US government employees, and they deserve all the psychological abuse being heaped on them for being part of the problem, but this kind of crap goes on in work places all over America, and it's spreading.

One of the most evil curses ever unleashed on humanity are these creatures called 'social workers'.  These are the 25-year-old childless busy-bodies that tell people how to raise their children because they read it in a book.  These are the mental midgets that tell us pilgrims were illegal aliens because they've never read a f*^&ing history book.  These are the people who unleash 'consensus building' and 'sensitivity training' on normal human beings.

These people need to be eradicated from the list of job types available, along with people who have 'education' degrees.  They are not only useless, they are dangerous.

You see, here's how it works...if you have to make laws and threaten paychecks to get people to adopt your point of view, then it is your opinion that is wrong, not mine.  I have the right to hold any opinion and/or prejudice I want, and you don't have the right to force me otherwise.  If your opinion is so freakin' great, then convince me with a decent argument.

Since these people are incapable of developing arguments in favor of their opinions, they must force people under color of law to adopt their beliefs.  All this 'sensitivity training' and 'cultural diversity' bullshit just smacks of fascist mind control.  What's worse, when a normal human being gets angry at these numb-nuts for forcing their namby-pamby horse-hocky on him, they start with the crap about controlling one's emotions, while at the same time telling him to 'get in touch with his emotions'.

I'm sick of it!

Every truly painful episode in my life has been at the hands of 'social workers'.  If you remember the old TeeVee series "Bewitched", these idiots are Mrs. Cravitz with licenses to forcibly enter your home and your life and start dictating how you should be living.

What's worse than these weasly pieces of human refuse feeling like they can force their point of view on people is that us normal human beings don't stand up to them en masse and heave them out the door.

You see, I have never given an inch to these a--holes, and it just sets them into a tizzy.  They can't deal with it when someone won't roll over and participate in group-think sessions.

That's when they pull out the, "Don't act like that.  You should participate like everyone else," routine.  And that just sets me off.

"Oh, so by your argument, I should have joined the Nazi party or asked for an extra helping of Jonestown Kool-Aid."

"This is just a trust-building/consensus-building exercise.  It's not the same thing."

"Yes it is.  It is training individuals to be part of the hive mentality.  Today it's your lame, useless exercises, but later it's the 'follow or die' commands from evil bastards like your employer."

Once in a while, I can get one or two others to see the light, but mostly people just 'go along to get along'.  And that is the most dangerous mentality ever adopted by the bovine masses.  It is the single most lethal thought process devised by the Controllers.  They shame and cajole people into following whadoatever unholy actions they take by 'bulding consensus'.

It's frightening when I see normally intelligent people group-think because they have deluded themselves into believing their own thoughts and opinions are wrong because they go against the majority.  They fail to see that the majority is a very dangerous thing.  They also fail to comprehend that true individuals have unique thoughts and beliefs, based on their unique set of experiences.

Just because in a group of 30 people, 28 don't agree with you does not make you wrong.  According to your past and your education, your opinions are right for you, and that's all that is needed to make you right.  If someone wants to try and change your mind by arguing a different point of view, then you have the choice to participate in the argument or not.  It does not negate your opinion when you refuse to argue it, though it may imply that you are insecure in your position.

But that's my opinion.  You don't have to adopt it.

You see, in the free marketplace of ideas, a billion people are allowed to have a billion opinions and compete to convince others of the soundness of the reasoning behind them.  If others find a certain opinion worthwhile, based on the completeness of the argument, then others may adopt that opinion, as well.

The general consensus among the masses of humanity is that walking in the rain will get you wet.  However, there are a few who believe that a person can learn to walk between the rain drops.  The few can choose to believe their view is correct, possibly based on experience.  They may also choose to teach others the trick, or not.  They can choose to demonstrate the trick, or not.  It doesn't negate their belief if they don't choose to prove it to others.  After all, do we reject a magician's illusions just because he won't tell us how he did it?

"judas" goat

The fact of the matter is that there is no single right way to think or believe.  If I choose to believe that people with plaid skin are evil low-lifes and I don't want to live or socialize around them, that is my right.  I don't have the right to force you to believe the way I do any more than you have the right to force me not to believe.  If you don't like my beliefs, then you don't have to hang around me.  It's that simple.

In the cited article, the people (granted they are useless eaters living off of others' tax money) were forced to sit around chanting, "The pilgrims were illegal aliens."

First of all, when the pilgrims came to North America, there were no immigration laws, so it is impossible for them to have been illegal immigrants.  Second, I am willing to bet not one of those bucket-heads was American Indian, so they have no logical position to believe that statement.  Third, if they truly believe that statement, then they must immediately pack their bags and return to whatever country from which their ancestors came (assuming they can comply with the immigration laws of said country).  And fourth, the group-think 'facilitators' at those meetings should be rounded up and placed in lead-lined boxes so their stupidity doesn't infect the rest of polite society.

Forcing people to change their vocabulary so that an appropriate adjective, 'minority' is replaced with the ridiculously non-sensical phrase 'emerging majority' just smacks of Orwellian fascism.  It assumes a false premise - that some group or another is becoming a majority.  A group either IS a majority, or it is a minority.  It is a logical absurdity to be an 'emerging majority'.  A group may be rising in numbers and/or influence, but it is not a majority until it has attained that status by head-count.

But really, that is the point of all these 'social workers' and 'consensus builders'.  Their sole purpose in this world is to confuse clear thinking, or in fact, to shut down all thinking.  They are unleashed upon us to tell us what to think and believe so that we become incapable of gain-saying the supposed masters of this world.  In fact, the fascist change agents, a more apt description of 'social workers', are the final result of what we are to become.  We will no longer have our own ideas, we will only be capable of convincing/forcing others to believe whatever slogan is inserted in the gap where our brains used to be.

I am sick to the point of physical dis-ease with all the psycho-babble and the intellectual dishonesty and absurdity that it entails.  The sheer stupidity of things like 'sensitivity training' and 'consensus building' disgusts me.  What's worse are the thinking people who go along with this crap so that they can be thought of as 'team players'.

All of this nonsense is enforced by the implanted need for 'self-esteem'.  Apparently, we can only achieve self-esteem by being part of the group and playing well with others.  Real people, though, derive self-esteem from intellectual integrity in the face of overwhelming pressure to adopt group-think.  To stand alone against peer pressure in order to defend one's opinions is the true source of personal power.

Any idiot can be cajoled into following the crowd.  It takes real inner strength and fortitude to stand against the crowd for what one knows to be the truth.

Fascist change agents are trained in methods of shaming others into following the crowd.  It takes both a strong will and knowledge of how change agents work to fight the urge to 'go along'.  Success in fighting such things not only brings with it true self-esteem, but it strengths the one thing that the supposed masters fear the most: strong, self-assured individuals.

Every child should be shown the behavior patterns of cattle as a means of demonstrating weak-minded group-thinkers.  Cows simply stick their nose up the butt of the one in front of them and mindlessly wander in herds.  They wear paths across fields because not one will stray outside the bounds of herd action.  They will, in fact, follow a judas goat to their certain death because they cannot think beyond the butt in front of them.

And 'judas goat' is an appropriate metaphor for fascist change agents.  They are specifically trained to lead the herd to certain doom, and do it cheerfully and with certainty that they are doing the right thing.  These weak-minded, insecure vacuum-brains are the perfect tools of the supposed masters.

I hate figs.  Can't stand the sight of them, and even the word 'fig' sounds disgusting.  Nothing you say or do will get me to eat or like figs.  It is a personal prejudice I have developed from experience and I refuse to change it.

All people have prejudices developed from personal experience and there is no reason to change those prejudices except that it serves the needs of a supposed master who enjoys making people do, say or think things that they would otherwise abhor.  It's nothing more than a control mechanism for the masses and entertainment for those who fancy themselves as masters of men.

Need a real-life example?  I think the GLBT (gay/lesbian/bi/trannie) movement is populated by idiots and intellectual midgets.  I base my opinion on the fact that these people define themselves and their socio-political agendas solely on the basis of with whom they have sex.  People I choose to associate with are much more diverse in their thinking and able to define themselves based on ideas and achievements, not their sex partners.  No amount of sensitivity training will change my mind on this.

Does that mean I won't associate with homosexuals?  Of course not.  I take each individual at face value.  However, if they try to convince me of some belief based on who they have sex with, I will put up an irrefutable argument that they have a very narrow view of the world - much like a cow - in that they cannot see the world beyond the confines of their beds.

They should have more self-respect and allow themselves to be seen as more than just sex objects.

The only appropriate response to 'social workers' and 'sensitivity training' is to shun the people and events involved.  By acquiescing in any way, we empower and entertain the supposed masters who like to watch us jump through their hoops on command.  If forced to warm a chair in one of these inane 'workshops', do not participate despite any attempt to shame you.

Males are 50% of the population, but only 25% of diversity drones.

What you will find, as I have, is that others in the group feel the same as you, they just don't have the integrity and strength to act alone.  The more you resist, the more others will come to your side of the argument.  The one thing the fascist change agents cannot deal with is obstinate refusal to be bought out.  You can literally see the synapses in their brain-gaps burning out.  You will probably be asked to leave so you don't infect the rest of the herd with independent thought.

In order to save society, it is absolutely necessary to put an end to this touchy-feely crap before it destroys the last vestiges of true humanity.  Real diversity is a thriving marketplace of competing opinions, not lock-step spouting of platitudes and slogans.  In fact, if 'social workers' are made pariahs in the way smokers have been, we would see the profession die out - as well it should - because these weak, insecure individuals require social acceptance for their self-esteem.  Remove that carrot and they will quickly find something productive to do.

The next time you are confronted by a 'social worker' in a 'diversity workshop', tell them that they are being very insensitive to your diverse point of view and that they should immediately resign and seek gainful employment.

On The Cusp

I was in Prague the year after the Velvet Revolution. I stood in front of the John Lennon wall and looked at all the rebuilding and cleaning up after decades of Soviet decay. The excitement was palpable and you could feel the energy of the nation as it surveyed the future and liked what it saw.

It was a heady time there and then, with bursts of creativity and limitless horizons. The arts exploded and a poet, Vaclav Havel, had taken the reigns of power. The dead wood had been cleared away, and now the garden could florish and the vital middle class would thrive.

I arrived in Indonesia ten years after the fall of Soeharto. It was a mean and ugly time back then. I have listened to first-hand accounts of fear and rage, stories of riots and looting. But the result has been another clearing of dead wood, and a great awakening of fresh blood and energy. Indonesia sees itself now standing at the threshold of global prominance, and likes what it sees.

There is a boom in the middle class here and a vital energy that infuses the culture. People are finding a new experience called self-determination and they are excited by its possibilities.

Imagine you live in the early 1900s in America. The nation is primarily rural and agricultural. There are pockets of electrified wonders and cars are a new and wonderous thing.

Now imagine that you leap-frog to the 1950s, where suddenly America stands at the head of nations as an economic powerhouse, with a vast and growing middle class full of vitality and creativity, yet struggling to hold on to conservative values and traditions.

If you can conjure that mental image and allow the feeling of that kind of sea-state change within your neighbors and society, then you can start to imagine what it feels like to be here now.

Leap-frog is fun and exciting, but there is an element of danger. Once you have catapulted into the air, you are committed to whatever vector you were on when you left the ground. It is extremely difficult to change direction once you are unbounded. Where you land is entirely dependent on where you took off, and should you realize new hazards mid-flight that were invisible when you leaped, you must decide quickly what must be done before making contact with the ground again.

Indonesia is at the precise moment when it had hit full stride, placed its hands on the hips of the 'frog,' and is just at the cusp of going into full flight. The country has one last, albeit brief, moment to adjust course before launching into the rare air of the world stage. Now is the moment to look ahead and see what other players have done, both right and wrong.

Indonesia is a unique case, in that it contains cultures of vastly differrent wants and needs. There are peoples here who literally span the course of human development, from just at the brink of Stone Age up to ultra-high tech virtual reality. All of these cultures are struggling to maintain their traditions while looking to join the properity that is infusing the country as a whole.

It is at this precise moment that Indonesia must look at where the previous players have landed, and decide whether it wishes to go that way, or adjust its vector.

Europe went the way of moral decay and spiritual disease, which has eaten its heart and left a hollow carcass. America went the way of unbridled greed and consumeristic self-absorption. The German and Soviet reichs collapsed under the weight of power-lust and overly centralized concentration of it.

Indonesia must ask itself what outcome it wants. It must look carefully at the global history of the West and of its immediate neighbor China. The people must steer a course between greed and me-too-ism, and outright political despotism. It must walk the delicate balance of regional autonomy and national interests.

If Indonesia allows the severe concentration of wealth and power that is found in America and Russia, then it will dissolve into a fascist oligarchy of control freaks. If it abandons its rich traditions and cultural heritage, then it will become another Europe without moral compass. And if it creates a society that chases things rather than ideas, then it will be at the mercy of those who dangle the things in front of them.

The ongoing Gayus case here illustrates perfectly Ovid's haunting admonition:

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?"

Who watches the watchers?

For those unfamiliar with the Gayus case, imagine Eliot Ness has just bagged the tax accountant of Al Capone. While the accountant is in protective custody awaiting trial, he is able to use his great resources to bribe Eliot to let him out on weekend furlogh to go meet Al in Atlantic City for gun and games before the legal proceedings begin.

Centralized government and corporate power can not and must not be trusted. The only authority able to judge what is best for the individual is the individual. If the individual cedes too much power and authority to others, then one day the individual will wake up and find he has no power and no authority. A profound distrust of other men and their institutions is healthy and necessary to prevent such abberations as Stalin, Hitler or the gross situation in America now.

As the Founders of the united States realized, power is best kept at the local and regional level, where it can be monitored and controlled. If it is allowed to leak into a central pool, it will someday drown you in your sleep.

Indonesia has placed its hands on the hips of the 'frog.' It is poised to leap into the air to experience the joy of boundless flight, like the garuda soaring on updrafts, effortlessly gliding over the land. But, the wise man remembers that even the garuda must land sometime, and having a clear idea of where that landing will be can mean the difference between success and miserable failure.

It is not enough to wish and dream. In Western culture, we speak of the ant and the grasshopper. The ant labors while the sun shines and builds its nest and reserves, so when the winter comes, it is ready. The grasshopper plays and doesn't have a care for what the future holds, and so when the snow comes, it dies.

Consider this:

When a pilot or sailor is preparing to let go of the ground, he makes a detailed plan, checks the weather reports, checks the charts for known obstacles, and has a firm idea of where he wants to go before slipping the surly gonds of Earth.

Now is the time for Indonesia to use its schools and institutions, not to parrot globalist propaganda, like warming and other rubbish, but to explore with a clear eye what has come before, and plot a course to avoid the graveyards of ships. That's not to say there won't be new hazards, but at least the known ones will be in focus.

It's an exciting time to live here. The future is wide open and Indonesia has the talent and the materials it needs to become a global economic player in its own right, not as the colony of some distant force. It must take care, adn the people must educate themselves, and not trust others to lead. Remember, if the outside world had done such a great job, why would the world be in such a mess now?

Indonesia must decide what it wants for itself, and that decision should enrich and empower all the people, not just a priviledged few. This country has been blessed with natual wealth and intuitive creativity. Use is wisely and carefully.

Leap-frog was one of my favorite games as a kid. We'd all spend hours playing it on a warm summer afternoon. But, I quickly learned that it was not just me who controlled my launch, but the 'frog' on whose back I broke free of Earth.

Do you trust your 'frog?'