#what constitutes art is extremely hard to define. generative art has been a thing for a long time

[softspacecat]

i feel like if people stopped trying to argue that AI image generation is "not art" and instead just tried to draw attention to how it affects other artists under capitalism it would be a lot more effective

#i didn't even see a problem at all with it at first because everyone was just like 'its not art lol' which is stupid #what constitutes art is extremely hard to define. generative art has been a thing for a long time #a photo of a building is still art even if the photographer didn't design the building. etc etc #but since we unfortunately have capitalism the ease with which it lets you approximate ideas without much technical skill #causes problems for people who rely on being paid for their technical skill #especially when its easy to copy specific art styles #it's the good old automation taking over people's work #which we should be happy about because if we don't have to work we theoretically should have more time to do whatever we want to do #(such as making art just for the sake of making art and not to get paid) #except We Live In A Society that says you have to work to be allowed to survive #i guess people just didn't expect this to happen to artists as well

[comrade-meow]

Dawn had only just broken over the mountains. While most of the women and children on the camping grounds were still asleep, others were already wide awake, huddling together in the first rays of sunlight and drinking coffee.

To a casual observer, this place might have seemed similar to any mainstream festival campsite. A distinguishing factor, however, was that there wasn’t a single man in sight. The sign on the main entrance left no one in doubt that only women and children were welcome at this event: “Men not permitted to enter.”

Women’s participation in Mexico’s 25-year-old Zapatista National Liberation Army, or EZLN movement, has represented an incredible organizational achievement since its original uprising in 1994. On International Women’s Day, the female militants of the EZLN did not fail to meet expectations when welcoming 7,000 people to the “First International Political, Artistic, Sports, and Cultural Encounter for Women who Struggle.”

Two thousand indigenous Zapatista women from various parts of Chiapas state and 5,000 visitors from all over the world came to Caracol Morelia, near the northeastern town of Altamirano, to hear what they had to say.

Uniting women

The event was entirely initiated by women of the EZLN. They planned it from beginning to end, and made sure everyone who attended was allocated a sleeping place, had access to drinking water and was cared for in the case they fell sick during the three days the event took place. Zapatista events such as these have commonly been accessible via invitation only. This event differed from most of the EZLN’s previous “Escuelitas,” or “Little Schools,” summoning all women and children who were interested in the struggle to overcome misogynistic culture.

“What we wanted was to meet many women,” said Commander Jenny, who coordinated the event. “We thought that only a few women were going to come, so we are very happy to see how many of you have joined us here.” Although only her eyes were visible, a smile was detectable behind her black balaclava. “It has been hard work, but we are very pleased to see that there are many other women who are fighting patriarchy.”

The event was not only an opportunity to create educational or professional networks, but also a space to consider one’s health and well-being as a woman in the fight for justice. There were activities ranging from workshops, discussion panels and movie screenings to theater performances, art exhibitions and sports events, including basketball and soccer matches. Themes included gender violence, self-defense, self-care, sexism in the media, sexual rights, health and education, misogyny and childhood, discrimination against indigenous LGBTQ communities, women environmental rights defenders, and decolonization. All of the activities were led and held by women, and all of them were aimed at generating consciousness of gender inequality or the restoration of women’s self-confidence and autonomy.

“Capitalism is not only colonial, it is also patriarchal and racist,” said Fernanda Esquivel, a 20-year-old student from Guadalajara. “To come here and see that the Zapatistas are still resisting and have resisted for so many years is a huge inspiration for me. Being with so many women and feeling united also makes me feel hopeful about really creating a change. In academia there is nothing that can show you what it is like to come here, and to feel and share these experiences in practice.”

Young women like Esquivel have grown up watching the Zapatistas evolve and followed their fight through media reports, the Zapatista’s own communication channel, “Zapatista Connection,” and more recently a Facebook page and YouTube account. Women from a total of 42 different countries, some of whom were already familiar with women’s movements or other social, political or environmental activism, attended the event in hopes that they would gain skills and inspiration from the women’s Zapatista struggle.

“Apart from wanting to amplify my vision of how different fights against the extractive industries are developing,” said Katherin Cruz from the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras, which accompanies women human rights defenders involved in territorial conflicts. “I came here so I could recharge my batteries and take home experiences that strengthen me individually and prepare me for the work that I do, and for my political activism within the feminist movement in Honduras.”

The birth of the EZLN

In 1983, a group of indigenous peasants in Chiapas organized in secret, educating themselves politically and creating an entirely unique philosophy that insisted that “another world is possible,” one that focuses on collectivity, serving the Zapatista community and creating an autonomous social and economical environment for themselves within neoliberal and capitalist Mexico. Finally on January 1, 1994 the group went public, calling themselves the Zapatista National Liberation Army, named after the hero of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, Emiliano Zapata. That day, the EZLN launched an armed uprising, occupied seven towns in Chiapas, including San Cristóbal, and declared war on the Mexican government.

During their brief occupation, followed by a 12-day battle, the EZLN criticized the effects of global capitalism on local farmers and indigenous land. They drew attention in particular to the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, calling it a death sentence for the indigenous peasants of Mexico. NAFTA would be responsible for dismantling collective land rights secured by the Mexican constitution and prioritizing export manufacturing. The Zapatistas fought for a fairer distribution of wealth, as well as the right to political participation for indigenous people in Mexico.

After their initial uprising, in 1996 the Zapatista organization gained constitutional recognition from the state through the San Andres Accords and formed the National Indigenous Council. The Mexican government did not comply with the agreements and the Zapatistas continued to suffer from violent attacks, such as the Acteal Massacre in 1997, where 45 Zapatista sympathizers were killed in Chiapas. Since then, they have peacefully organized mass marches and protests, created their “caracoles,” or administrative headquarters, formed autonomous governance, justice, health and education systems and launched public campaigns drawing attention to continued racism and discrimination in Mexico. According to the Mexican newspaper El Universal, the EZLN now governs over 250,000 indigenous people living in the Autonomous Rebellious Zapatista Municipalities in Chiapas.

Today, the image of the Zapatista soldiers, clad in red scarves and balaclavas, has reached some of the most remote corners of the world. Their movement is now well known for its transition from armed struggle to nonviolent resistance to advance their demands for indigenous land rights and autonomy, which has triggered tremendous support and solidarity from anti-capitalist activists globally. However, many of the major issues for indigenous communities addressed by the Zapatistas, such as abandonment and marginalization, continue to exist in Chiapas and other parts of impoverished Mexico.

Women’s involvement and participation

During the gathering, Commander Marina took the stage to tell the story of the first female Zapatistas, their struggle for recognition in a male-dominated space and their experience of clandestine meetings prior to their public appearance in 1994. “We took our safety very seriously so that no one would realize where we were going. We had meetings in the mountains, these were very important. We had talks on politics, read books and watched films. We studied the situation of poverty our community was submerged in,” she said. “There was nothing to gain trying to demand things from our bad government.”

The backdrop of the women’s movement within the Zapatista struggle reveals extreme levels of violence against women, poverty and abandonment from any sort of federal health or educational institutions. Intersectional discrimination for being poor, indigenous and women was commonplace, and girls were often forced into marriages or sold by their fathers or families. During the opening ceremony of the encounter, the Zapatistas made it clear that women were sidelined and perceived by the community as second-class citizens. According to Commander Flor, even “midwives would charge less when girls were born.”

Their struggle has led the women in the ranks of the EZLN — which comprise about a third of the organization’s participants — to see themselves from a different perspective and shed light on the problematic behaviour caused by gender inequality. “At the beginning, we were not used to saying our opinions, or having discussions. We would all agree to everything and nod our heads,” Marina said. “We had to fight among our own compañeros, since it took a lot for them to understand the rights we have as women. There is a lot left to achieve but we are convinced that we will accomplish our ideals because we are organized, and we are strong as a collective. We have put fear and doubt aside.”

Many followers of the Zapatista revolution were not aware of the key elements that formed the movement before going public in 1994. Undeniably, one of the key characteristics that shaped the movement was the “Women’s Revolutionary Law,” passed by the Zapatista committees in 1992.

For Sylvia Marcos, a sociologist and expert on indigenous movements across the Americas, the emphasis on women’s rights is a defining factor for the organization. Furthermore, she indicates that these rights were claimed not solely for women as individuals, but were “fully linked and interwoven with collective rights.”

The unique transformations achieved by the Zapatista indigenous movement are manifest in its attempt to re-imagine gender and decolonize oppressive discourse for the sake of personal empowerment.

Enduring inspiration

Over the last three decades, the revolution continues to abide by laws made by the autonomous Zapatista government. With military strategist and spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos “resigning” from his activities, the Zapatistas have moved out of the media spotlight. However, the successful turnouts for their events prove that the Zapatistas are still an important source of inspiration for social mobilizations and women’s movements today.

Not simply an iconic reminder of what indigenous communities were up against in the past, the Zapatistas are engaging in great efforts to revise their strategies and continue to create networks of people who resist, especially among women. Though alternative visions of gender relations have flourished among the Zapatistas, women in the movement continue to suffer gender violence and are battling other issues not uncommon in Chiapas, such as malnutrition, and lack of access to health care and education.

The Zapatistas are addressing some of these issues through their own internal initiatives. Part of their collective work towards independence and sustainability relies on their agroecological farming projects, coffee sales, cooperative shops, community kitchens, traditional medicine and tortilla businesses. However, the fundamental purpose of the Zapatista movement is to promote their way of life and organize collective resistance to resource appropriation, historically-determined economic and social disadvantages and institutional neglect, which exacerbate poverty, sustain the governmental elite and destroy local traditions. Much of their work revolves around inspiring new generations to begin their own journey towards deconstructing norms in their respective societies.

The Zapatista movement currently functions like an organization that promotes constructive dialogue, communication and continued reflection on problems that affect their communities, as well as a support network for other national movements, including the water conflict affecting the indigenous Yaqui community, the 43 Ayotzinapa students missing since 2014 and the recent presidential campaign by the indigenous activist Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez.

Women’s participation within the EZLN has played a key role in their success and ideology. They have made it clear that there will be no democracy without them. What the event last month demonstrated to many of those who were present, was the need to create safe spaces for all women, which allow them to heal and inspire them to continue fighting their own battles in their own ways. “We made an agreement, and that agreement was to live!” Commander Marina said. “And since, for us, living is fighting, we agreed to fight — each of us according to our means, our place and our time.”

#Anglo.txt

[tanadrin]

Viktor Shklovsky and pals tried to define what constituted "literary" language way back when Formalism was still big, which is a very small part indeed of any project to define some sort of Objective Artistic Merit. And they failed, for several good reasons included that "literary" is neither a consistently nor a coherently defined category, and in order to include everything meant by "literary" you have to rope in 1) things which are the product of an elevated artistic sensibility, 2) things which were originally base, popular or folk works, which have acquired significant prestige over time because people like them, and 3) things which have no special technical merit in either of the first two categories but are ideologically useful to somebody and get smuggled into the canon as a result. There isn't a consistent phenomenology of Literariness (or Artisticness) because there isn't any such thing as a conistent definition of Literature to the first place, except "these are the things we like"--best case. Worst case it's "these are the things we like, and we use the construction of a canon to mock, belittle, and denigrate anything that doesn't belong to our social class and whose fans can't exhibit familiarity with our specific canon." This phenomenon exists, mutatis mutandis, across every kind of human cultural product, including other creative arts, language, manners, and for all I know frickin' flower arranging.

This doesn't mean "all art is equally good, and it doesn't matter if you like only Wagner and WoW." Meaningful discussions can still be had about what makes some works more successful at certain things than others; general principles can still be derived. But if you approach creative art in a spirit of genuine curiosity, not unlike a scientist who has *not* determined before they sit down to work what the result will be, but is genuinely interested in what the data has to say, I think you tend to find that the tools of analysis which provide worthwhile insight work on *anything* (that's what makes them good tools!), and pretty great stuff can be found in contexts that, from the perspective of a canon-builder, would be obviously overlooked and totally impossible to include.

And I speak against canon-building specifically, because canon-building is what leads us into the error of thinking there are simple categories which are obviously more meritorious, more worthy of our time, than others. German opera, Renaissance painting, ancient Greek history--these are all categories which some people might find intereting and elevating and useful, but categories which, from the outside, are and always have been *extremely* niche interests relevant to roughly zero percent of the general population; and if you express consternation that more people do not consume what feels like Great Art to you, perhaps a component of the problem is that our popular definition of Great Art as a culture is so narrow, we require people to consume shit that has approximately zero relevance to their actual lives and interests, and write off everything as as mere popular art, rather as if the only *Great* Physics were string theory, and anybody who wanted to know about stuff like springs and Newtonian forces or even relativity--you know, things that get used in the real world, that are felt to have some application to our lives--was derided as mere Popular Physics. It's not really a coincidence that these three categories are also especially prominent in the list of Arbitrary Shit The Upper Classes Have Used As Cultural Currency To Exclude All Other Classes From Their Society; there is an inescapable political component to *what* we have defined as Great Art, and I feel confident I can leave identifying the shape of that component as a fun lil exercise for the reader.

Where does that leave you as a practical matter, if you want to give advice on a friend on where to spend their energy consuming art, in a way that is perhaps more rewarding, more memorable, more likely to leave them feeling they have not wasted their time, as they might from binge-watching reality TV on Netflix? The solution here is the same as it has always been, even when the Western Canon was a heavily-guarded fortress: you must consume widely. You must read widely, and watch widely, and sing and study widely, you must be like Werner Herzog who is able to enjoy Wrestlemania and Star Wars and whatever other arcane shit he gets up to, because only then can you be open to genuine novelty and possibility. Canon and canon-building have outlived their usefulness, if they ever had one; they are straightjackets which limit the imagination and understanding, and if in the past they seemed to elevate it, it was only because we did not have such a vast quantity of information at our fingertips, and any education in the arts was better than none. Now, well, there could be a towering work of human genius out there on AO3 in the form of a Star Wars fanfic, and you won't know unless you're open to the possibility--and worse, if you're too limited in your understanding of what Art is, you'll ignore if even if somebody comes to you, someone whose opinions you like and trust, and says "I found a *towering work of human genius* on AO3, I'm serious, read this."

Be broadly open to new artistic experiences. This is in general a good idea: language and art are things we developed so that our monkey brains weren't limited to the immediate lessons of our lived experience, so having broad tastes and consuming a wide variety of media is, I think, very good for you as a person. It helps you understand the world, and understand people, in a way even hard-nosed materialists can appreciate. Don't let the cultural cachet and prestige and the You-Ought-To-Enjoy-This factor blind you to the flaws of things. And don't assume that because something holds little value to you, it holds little value, period. Understanding and inspiration can arise from extremely unlikely places.

[anhed-nia]

NOT BLOGTOBER: SUSPIRIA (2018)

(Thar be spoilers)

Luca Guadagnino's polarizing remake of the inimitable Argento classic is a beautiful mess. Technically refined and narratively disastrous, it seems to hold a mirror up to the audience, that shows you what kind of viewer you are. I've rarely seen a movie that so divides people, not only according to whether they think is good or bad, but even along lines of what they think it's about. I'm not even sure I can tell you what *I* think it's about, and I even have a hard time telling you whether or not I think it is ultimately good. But, I do think that this complicated experience has given me a better understanding of how I watch movies. I became vividly aware, for instance, that I don't have a real concept of perfection. I feel less concerned about whether a movie "works", than about what kind of job it can do for me personally. Let's say you're a plumber, and you have no idea where my pipes are supposed to go, but you produced a really beautiful set of clawfeet for my bathtub--I may go on to remember you as a pretty great plumber. Maybe you're a groundskeeper, and you absolutely murdered my lawn, but you were willing to come over and sing to my night-blooming flowers? That's a big deal for me. With this in mind, I feel a little embarrassed telling people how well SUSPIRIA 2018 worked for me, but more willing to describe why.

I hesitate to draw too many lines between the very different 1977 and 2018 editions, but I'd like to note that even though he's so often accused (inaccurately, I think) of "making no sense", Argento's SUSPIRIA is actually pretty tidy. An elite dance school is a front for a witches' coven whose administrators will kill anyone who uncovers their true identity. Witches are universally recognized as monsters, and the very fact that they'll kill to stay hidden underlines their basic evilness. No further explanation is necessary to understand the thrust of this story. Guadanigno's version, on the other hand, has lofty aspirations that would require the scope of a WORLD ON A WIRE to fully flesh out. It takes place during 1977's "German Autumn", the peak of the violence surrounding the anti-fascist Red Army Faction. The witches within the Helena Markos Tanz Akademie seem to have a similar leftwing bent--they offer free admission and boarding to their accepted students, respecting the importance of a woman's financial independence, and they denounce psychoanalysis, which has become notorious for victim-blaming in modern times. ("When women tell you the truth, you don't pity them. You tell them they have delusions!") However, these women also define themselves as mutually exclusive with the egalitarian Baader-Meinhof group whose Marxist activities protested the persisting Nazi influence within the contemporary government. The students are instructed to disown their biological mothers to fully accept the spiritual maternity of the academy, which I suppose could suggest the abuse of power by a dictator, or a revolutionary militia, or organized religion, or... There is also the power struggle within the academy itself, between its invisible, historic matriarch Helena Markos, and the younger and more directly involved Madame Blanc, but it is difficult to tell what divergent futures are represented by each woman. In any case, unbeknownst to the students, the dance taught in this institution is a form of spellcasting, in which the choreography projects the witches' will into the world--mainly violently, it seems--but their larger goals remain unclear. In the end, it turns out that the rightful heiress to the academy, the real Mater Suspiriorum, is a young Mennonite from America whose unwitting destiny has been to depose the fraudulent Helena Markos; but, how this functions metaphorically, I still cannot tell you. "This isn't vanity, this is art!" bellows the deathless old hag over an orgiastic final performance in the bowels of the school, and honestly, I find this extremely delightful...but I do not know what, in this story, constitutes vanity, and what constitutes art.

I admit that I find all this rhetoric about power teasingly interesting, even if it is ultimately diffuse and inconclusive. Fortunately, I'm the sort of viewer who is able to sift through the shifting contents of a film like this, and isolate what is most useful to me individually. I found quite a lot to like, slung over the osteoporotic bones of the narrative: It is, above all else, incredibly beautiful. (With the notable exception of Thom Yorke's intrusive pop songs, which took me out of the movie every time)  SUSPIRIA 2018 wisely avoids the Snow White-like palette of its ancestor, and the construction of architecture as its main character, focusing instead on fashion and dance. It takes the dusty brown and grey cast of 1970s Berlin and makes of it something ethereally lovely. The formal fabric of the film, composed of uneasy scenes of "realism" and excoriating surrealistic nightmares, is, pardon the term, spellbinding. What is really important for me about this movie is its physicality. Actually, the body itself is the final frontier of power dynamics--might, ethnicity, sex, age--and this is the angle from which the movie makes the most sense to me.

Most dancers will tell you that dance is one of the worst things you can do to your body. Dancers are always sick, always contorting themselves, always touching themselves in some bizarre way. Parts of their bodies are often permanently disfigured by their discipline. Dance is popularly thought of as a matter of beauty and elegance, but practitioners know it to be mortally brutal. SUSPIRIA 2018's focus on dance itself blends nicely with its extreme gore. The movie is outlandishly violent, even considering its origins, but it is important to differentiate gore from violence. Violence, regardless of whether it is in a cop drama or a slasher movie, is always about authority. It is combative, a matter of strength and weakness. Gore is a matter of vulnerability. It describes the fate of the body, the way the body betrays the will and refutes the ego. Extreme gore can reach heights of ecstasy that are conflatable with pornography, but gore carries a deep sadness due to its undeniable finality. It embarrasses the individual, reducing one to the same indeterminate matter as all other individuals in the animal kingdom--not unlike the writhing, interlocked group choreography that makes a chimera of the student body. This SUSPIRIA exposes the limiting nature of bodily identity, whether it is crumpling women up like candy wrappers, dismembering them, eviscerating them, or popping their heads like grapes. Although it is marred by occasional disconcerting camp, the film's perverted crimes against anatomy represent its greatest successes as a work of art.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Like it or not, gore is for girls. (I use "gore" as a general term for body horror here, for efficiency's sake) Women are defined by a special, involuntary relationship to our insides. A man may go a month without seeing his own blood, but not us. Many men will never welcome penetration, regardless of their sexual orientation, and men are less likely to be forced into this experience of their interiors, than are women. I hardly have to describe the business of pregnancy. So, when I think about the Grand Guignolesque excesses of SUSPIRIA, and in particular its flabbergasting finale, I can't think of this all as a self-indulgent stunt. It seems to me to be an absolute necessity of the story, and the only part of the story that makes perfect sense to me. Gore represents the defeat of vanity, and by that token, I'm happy to call it art.

(I gotta say, I wish the available internet images showed how much more anal than vaginal this goofy thing looked on the big screen, but ya can’t have everything!)

#suspiria #2018 #dario argento #luca guadagnino #dakota johnson #tilda swinton #remake #italo horror #euro horror #supernatural #witch #body horror #gore #blogtober

[sugoikawaiimiyafuji420]

My Life Can’t Be This Boring! (Level Design Thoughts)

Ah, level design…. What does that mean?

It is such a broad and complex component of game design, seemingly a subtle and overlooked element, yet critical to a game’s quality. I have a sneaking suspicion that level design is an unsung hero to a game’s success, it is a versatile tool capable of supporting different aspects of the game. Driving an emotional impact of the narrative with scenic beauty or perhaps enhancing the gameplay mechanics with tricky platform placements. Good level design can carry a game far and I’ve always wondered what is considered “good” level design?

I’m not a game developer, but a mere game hobbyist, so the topic of what is “good level design” is interesting to me since I pretty much know next to nothing. Well, what I set out to do for this blog post is to dive down and traverse through the ramblings of my labyrinth-like ponderings to hopefully dig out what I think is a good level design personally, and what I think level designers should aim to achieve.

Before I start, I should mention that like with art, good or bad level design is subjective in relation to the game’s core values. That being, I believe a game shouldn’t be solely praised or defined by a specific component, such as gameplay or music, for example. I like to think of each game aspect as a member of a ragtag orchestral band. Each [member] plays a role in constructing the overall composition and do their best to support each other for the core values of the game. Like with snazzy character art, or a technical battle system, or an eerie sound direction, level design is a member of this metaphorical game orchestra. Perhaps seemingly analogous to the drums by laying down the beat and pacing for the other members to play to. With that thinking established, if a game does not need a complex level design inherently, then it does not need a complex level design to succeed. A simple or perhaps even no level design will suffice if that’s all it needs to do to drive the game’s thematic vision home.

~/~Introduction to the Labyrinth~/~

Let’s first start off with the responsibilities of level design. Off the top of my head, level design should strive for the following:

-Provider of immersion and atmosphere

-Support story narratives

-Dictate game’s pacing

-Support gameplay

For the sake of laziness, I will only focus on level design supporting gameplay, namely in single player-focused games due to having no friends. Woe is me! But my self-deprecating blog post will be saved for another time. Back on track, time and time again, I have seen games with thoughtless map design. As a lurker and observer from afar, I remember the times when games used to be bogged down with map linearity during the Wii/PS3/360 gaming generation. Since then, many complaints were voiced and there was a paradigm shift from a linear world design to an open world trend. Examples being with The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Final Fantasy XV. But even as I played through these games, I can’t help but feel that something was amiss. It felt to me that the mainstream game developers went from one extreme end of the spectrum to the other extreme end. Expanding a linear world to a more open one does not automatically mean that the game has good level design fundamentally. It felt to me that game developers radically went shallow on the concept of open world that they forgot the basics of what a level design should uphold. I would dare say that a more “linear” game can have better level design than an open world game.

If the benefits of open world were supposedly to give a large quantity of choices and freedom to the player, and I feel that these attributes are not what constitutes for a good level design, then what does? Am I just being retarded?

~/~ Good questions, difficult answers ~/~

For this analysis, we should start with the basic of basics and try to see what are the building blocks into creating an interesting level. Yep, that’s right, we are going to start with a motherfucking corridor.

This level design is as crude as the quality of this drawing that was spent 234712394 hours in MS paint. There is nothing interesting to say about this level design. The player marches forward, encounters an enemy represented by the letter “E”, and then goes to fight a boss and exits the map. That’s it and you’re done with the game. If I were to start thinking about what could make this level more interesting, the most obvious and simple answer is to add a fork in the road.

A fork has an importance. The fork itself isn’t necessarily important, but what it conveys to the player is significant.

“Go left or go right”?

One of the pillars of level design is providing questions and forcing the player to come to a decision. The concept of asking questions through level design is such a complicated artform that many subtle details can impact the player’s choice in how to traverse through the map.

With that being established, let’s refer back to the fork picture again for a moment. So, obviously after defeating the enemy, the player reaches the fork and decides whether to go left or right. From the entrance of the fork, the player can see that by taking the right path, there is a treasure chest and it is a dead end. So, clearly to the player, the right path would be taken first to obtain the treasure, and then backtrack to the correct main route which is the left path towards the boss. This decision is very easily made and the player proceeds with the game...

…

… that’s it?! That’s all the fork did?! What the fork?!

These type of questions are painfully boring and not engaging to the player. In fact, there is hardly any difference from the straight corridor picture if you were to put the treasure chest just behind the enemy. Yet, I feel many games keep falling for this same mistake repeatedly. The illusion of the fork is dispelled and there was not a hard decision to be made in the first place. All that happened was padding the game time by 10 seconds longer to walk over to get the dumb scrubby 10 gold reward from a dumb treasure chest bought from Ikea.

Let’s change this bad boy up in a slightly different way.

Instead of placing the enemy in front of the fork, let’s place the enemy in front of the treasure chest. And just to make this decision harder, let’s also say that the player fought a few enemies prior to the start of this level so that the health bar is ‘less than perfect’. Already, we can see that the decision to go left or go right is a lot harder and needs to be heavily taken into consideration. There is a sense of risk management that the player needs to take. Attempt to fight the enemy and risk losing more health, or preserve what health is left and go toward the boss. But of course, the player can chalk it up to luck and hope to get a potion from the treasure chest if the enemy was successfully defeated. This is one of the few out of an infinite amount of interesting questions that the game can possibly give to the player through level design. Level design isn’t just about the layout of the map, but how the layout of the map interacts with enemy placements, how it interacts with gameplay mechanics, and how it makes the player analyze their skill and choices and perceive their current situation.

Harking back to the previous comment about open world, “If the benefits of open world were supposedly to give a large quantity of choices and freedom to the player, and I feel that these attributes are not what constitutes for a good level design, then what does?” It’s not about the quantity of the choices, but rather the quality of the choices. What are the consequences if I go to point A and do the potential benefits outweigh the consequences if I were to go to point B? It is fine to give the players freedom to go anywhere they like, but having a steady flow and pacing of interesting questions presented to the players makes for a more engaging experience on their journey.

~/~Brick by Brick~/~

As I walked farther into the maze-like wonderings about level design, I thought a lot about the techniques that can be used to implement a sauve level. One might say… (one being myself of course), that if it is all that it takes to create an interesting level design is player engagement, then supposedly we could just concatenate interesting “questions” together in a chain. Or go balls out and strap a multitude of interesting “questions” together at once!

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Technically, there is nothing wrong with these two designs, but there is something head-scratching and puke-inducing about them. Level design is not as simple as taking a box of lego bricks and stacking them up until you have a reasonable proper looking house. Rather, it is more about diversifying the types and shapes of the bricks and building a creative shape from them. Repeating the same “question” lessens the impact and critical thinking the player must undergo. By reinforcing the same question constantly, the player is being conditioned and their line of thinking would eventually become streamlined. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is dependent on the game’s goal in that current situation.

Let’s open up MS paint again to edit Figure 1 and see if we can diversify the types of questions to the player and apply what has been learnt so far.

Figure 1a.

Figure 1b.

Upon start in Figure 1a., the first half of the map, the player will see the 1st path to the right that there is a treasure chest miraculously unguarded. As stated previously, I frown seethingly upon this type of design, but I would want the level to make a clear statement in the 2nd fork that treasure chests would not come for free in the future. The 3rd fork serves to condition the player further emphasizing the risk & reward ordeal. Upon traversing onto the latter half of the map in Figure 1b., is where things start to become interesting. The 4th fork is not really a fork per se, but rather a body of water that the player cannot traverse through. Yet, from the gaping hole, the player is able to view a treasure chest just out of reach. There is significance in presenting a question with no immediate answer. One, it entices the player’s curiosity and two, it forces the player to make mental mappings about points of interests and be aware of their surroundings. Naturally, the level is highly encouraging the player to explore more of its design. With a sudden change in pattern from the 2nd & 3rd fork to the 4th fork, we conditioned and toyed with the player’s expectations, and in doing so, we are engaging the player’s mindset and thinking. A shift of mindset from a risk management type to more of an exploratory type.

Of course, the answer to this specific situation is not all that interesting, as the player simply has to walk a bit farther on the current path, go through the next path on the left, defeat a dumb enemy and walk straight downward. What to take away from this is an important one however : motivation. Level designs motivate players that there is something worthwhile exploring. View of a city in the distance beyond the obstacle mountains, or a bottle across the river bank. Introductions of reward with an unknown solution is a powerful idea. I would like to think that mankind are natural problem solvers, and if we are, rather than give the players a number, give them an equation, aka the “2+2 theory”.  Straying away from the metaphorical, what I mean is perhaps instead of a quest pointer that most games do, design the levels in a way that makes for an interesting yet complicated navigation towards their goal. Seemingly inaccessible locations tell the player that they most likely cannot go there, but a thoughtful placement of a viewable object tells the player that they can. And perhaps thoughtful placements of enemies and objects or interactable environments using gameplay mechanics can help lead the player to their destination like food crumbs leading a wet puppy. Establishing unique landmarks as a navigating relative beacon of distance and direction goes a long way as well.

In a more creative art perspective, the lighting and color contrast, flow and weight of lines in an architectural structure, path sizes, audio feedback and other clever environmental details can be easily utilized to direct the player’s eyes and feed crucial hints about questions with unknown solutions. Educating the player is powerful. Back to Figure 1b., allowing the player to not only see the treasure chest, but as well as the spatial layout of its relative area, helps formulate an estimated projection of the level’s interior design. The player can guess based on seeing the opening north of the chest, that from their current path, there eventually will be a route that will go in the opposite direction. Level previews give a sense of mystery, and I think because of that, the intrigue of the unknown gives a purpose to the journey. Because after all, it would be nice to see the full picture if you know what I mean.

~/~Layer by Layer~/~

I’ve wondered if increasing the number of choices in a game is a good thing. Now, this might sound weird.

“More choices? That should be great! Think of the number of possibilities! Are you dumb, Sugoi Kawaii Miyafuji 420?!”

You may laugh at me all you want, but you can’t hurt the feelings of a person with accepted low self-esteem! I want go in the opposite direction of this wondering path and think about the consequence of overwhelming the player with choices. A sudden B20 bombardment of decisions can lead to a paralysis-type effect onto a player. Like being given a restaurant menu and taking ten minutes to figure which among the hundred of choices you want to eat, only to end with a small bitter soup like an old grumpy man barking at a deli sandwich store.

Too many choices can lead to too many distractions, which can potentially lead the player down a path that the map does not actually want them to go yet. It’s important to let the player know of what is the overarching question that they should be answering. And from that high-level layer, sub-questions can be formed at a more granular layer that is encompassed by the journey for the higher answer.  This helps keep the adventure on a singular focus.

Referring back to puke-stained Figure 2:

If I was not lazy and actually made each branch to be more windy, obscuring the fact that there is a chest and an enemy at the end of each, the player might pause and ponder briefly which path to take first. In addition, the layout of this map could potentially give an unfulfilling sense of progress now that I think about it. As the player goes through each path and back to the main hub, he always end back at square 1, with less, but still a number of choices to make still. Is this map a lost cause and a failure? Is it impossible to stop the puking? Should I erase all those horrible crude branches instead?

And here is where I came with an orgasmic epiphany.

Rather than erasing, let’s bluntly not let the players go through the branches instead. Turn the choices into exploratory questions. But how do we do that?

..

….

…...with motherfucking locked doors....

Let’s take this map and apply all of the lessons that we have learned thus far.

Tada~! I present to you the new and improved Figure 2 map!

Let’s do a walkthrough of this bad boy and analyze a few of the steps. From the start, 5 out of the 7 branches are blocked, leaving the player to decide between 2 paths. A statue of a human is placed in the center of the main room, serving as a beacon of navigation. Immediately, if we look to the top left, the door leading to the boss room is unnaturally big and girthy (heh). The structural size indicates it is the overarching highest layered question that the player should seek the answer for. The open path to the left is optional and up to the player to decide if they want to risk fighting the enemy for the reward. The green and yellow door are smaller sub-questions for the player. An inaccessible chest to the top right is viewable from the statue’s location, beckoning yet an another sub-question and encourages the player to explore the top right area.

Traversing through the top right path, a lower layered question to the sub-question is formed, as the player needs to decide which fork path to take. And upon exploration of the top right area, there is yet another inaccessible chest in view as the player grabs the green key. New questions are being raised as old questions are being answered. After the acquirement of the green key, the player looks straight ahead across the body of the water, knowing his relative location based on the statue, and knowing the next question to answer with the new accessible green door just behind the statue.

Going back to the main hub is no longer an unfulfilling sense of progress. Accessing previous blocked paths gives a feeling of accomplishment, and reuses the same space for different questions. The way the questions and answers are presented one after another, overlaying each other, creates a dynamic, interconnecting, and polymorphic feel of the level. Questions should shuffle in and out of each other like a knitting stick weaving through fabrics of yarn, dancing with the player in a steady tempo and manner, in the hopes of reaching the end of a tightly formed level.

~/~The light at the end of the level~/~

Level design is a component that can be as creative as art and music. The art of directing a player through a location is a complicated topic, but a worthwhile one to explore. The endless possibilities are unimaginable and unbound. For example, in the new and improved Figure 2 map, instead of a body of water, I could have easily used lava. Instead of doors, I could have used huge difficult monsters as deterrence. Instead of keys, I could have used newfound abilities. Instead of being interior, I could have made the whole map be an exterior map, replacing walls with tall, tall mountains and replacing chests with towns. And what do you know? We have an “open world” design.

The principles of level design remain the same throughout the spectrum from small-scale linear maps to large-scale open maps. If gameplay mechanics was the hero, level design would be the trusty sidekick, covering the gameplay and providing opportunities where each unique aspect of the hero can resonate brighter in this melodic game symphony.

And I would like to think that one of the best gifts level design can give to the player is the sense of greatness. As the player crawls out of the dark menacing level and into the light, ragged and weary from all the ordeals within, it would be nice if the player can turn around and take one last look at the unsung and silent entity.

The joy of accomplishment from conquering a space of hardships, whether big or small...

...the grand scale of victory.

#blog #level design

[thatbrontide]

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest? Gene Wilder, Sam Cooke, Etta James, Sarah Silverman. All of my great-grandparents and my grandfather I never met. 

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way? I would probably love it. I would want Kristin Wiig’s career or to be a famous dancer of some sort. 

3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why? All the time. I have severe social anxiety.

4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you? Just being around people who  joke around well and getting good exercise, dancing to soul music. I love a strenuous workout. I would say being with someone I’m in love with, if that were available to me. 

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else? I sing nearly every day. I sang to my grandmother before she died. I think I sang Walkin’ After Midnight, or maybe Damn Shame by Jolie Holland, then remembered that she didn’t like country music and that these were sad songs, so I started doing sounding, when you stay in one syllable Enya-esquely. She seemed to like it. She was non-verbal with her eyes usually closed by that time, and raised her eyebrows and leaned into the sound. 

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? I would want to develop mentally past 30, since at 30, you have a lot to learn. So, body. 

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die? No, but most people in my family die around 90 with dementia. I likely will get some kind of cancer, and almost certainly with get dementia if I live past 75. For some reason, I feel I may die in my sleep or in a freak accident, but not particularly strongly. 

8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common. I don’t have a partner, but I dated someone who was so funny that they made me funnier and who loved to dance, someone who was as kind and kinky as I was with the same taste in the arts, and someone who was tied to land in a way that I respected. The latter was also intuitive, which I also am. 

9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful? Humor, kindness, and music. 

10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? My parents should have taught us to work hard and face fear, and spoken to us about our/their emotions. They also should have gotten divorced and recognized opportunities and potential rather than acted as though we didn’t have any. I wish my mom had stood up for herself and my dad had gone to therapy. I wish I’d been raised in a city that supported creativity and had options for the kind of success that doesn’t exist in the Midwest. 

11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible. ughuguughgughgughgugh

12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be? I would want to write the way I used to and to have an immaculate memory. 

Set II

13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know? Whether I will fall in love again, I suppose. Maybe what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. 

14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it? I was raised around a can’t-do attitude. High potential and low self-esteem... You have to pretend, but I’m exhausted by pretending. Which is a cop-out; I should allow myself to exhaust necessarily. 

15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life? Wisdom? I’ve never had a big accomplishment I was truly proud of, honestly. I’ve enjoyed transcending plateaus when learning drum set. I’ve liked that I treat people well even when people treat me poorly. Getting to a place at which I take things personally much less often has been good. I’ve done things I didn’t think I could do, just to do them. I’ve loved very hard, and very well. I was, at least at one time, really funny, which is important. I gained emotional maturity and a certain type of deep confidence that some people don’t die with, in high school. I cut shitty people out of my life when it was difficult. I culled parts of my personality when I wanted to. 

16. What do you value most in a friendship? kindness and humor

17. What is your most treasured memory? being in love with my first boyfriend, and the memory of my incredible friend Bud, who has passed away. 

18. What is your most terrible memory? My second-to-most-terrible memory, I suppose, is of being stalked/put in danger intentionally by my ex-boyfriend. I don’t like to talk about the most terrible thing. Or my parents just not being what I needed. They’re very different types of memories. 

19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why? I would transcribe my journals and try to get them published, lol. And travel. 

20. What does friendship mean to you? This is a difficult question, I’ve found. As a kid, I didn’t understand why people were friends with each other. I was liked and always had friends, but didn’t understand why people spent time together. I felt I needed it explained to me. I also didn’t know I had the power to hurt others, so I’d stop hanging out with people when they stopped inviting me, which hurt them. 

By 13, I was suicidal and thought I was doing people a favor by not being around them. So... as an adult, I’ve had to redefine friendship, or define it for the first time, perhaps. I think it means that you try to find respite in each other. You compliment each other in a world that is mean. You’re there if you’re needed. You have boundaries that are respected. You have fun, or at least share something that makes the friendship worth your time. I think it’s simple. 

But sometimes, I hear people talk about how they have friends who are their platonic soulmates. I have had one friend whom I adore. I think he’s perfect and such a great person. But I have what’s maybe a weird relationship to feeling a certain way about people. If I think you’re awesome, I often will feel the need to leave you alone to live your life, unless I’m romantically in love. I have fallen in love with a different friend, but I didn’t find that I could be just his friend. 

21. What roles do love and affection play in your life? In the pandemic, they’re missing. I have one friend I cuddle with like every few months. I hung out with a coworker yesterday and we shook hands at one point, and I joked that it was the most physical touch I’d experienced in months. I find affection verbally lately. Texting to see how someone is doing, complimenting them. Lack of touch makes me feel creepy. It makes me understand incels. Not defend them, but understand. 

I’ve had intense, incredible love in my life for years. I’ve felt love more deeply than, I’ve learned, many people do. I had sex much better than, it seems, most people ever do, regularly for nearly ten years. That this was all before age 26 has set me up for disappointment. I’ve been trying to recalibrate to the reality of both pandemic isolation and of just being a single adult. I don’t know how to be casual. Everything has to feel intense and meaningful because that’s how sex and dating started out for me, but I have ot accept that that’s not what’s going to happen, likely. 

I made out with a Tinder date during the pandemic, and I could not get myself to fuck him. I was so... I guess protective of myself. I’ve been so stressed and insular that I’m different. I used to be flirtatious and sexually confident. I don’t care for how I’ve changed, but I was single and new to town when lockdown started. There’s only so much I can do. I require sex pretty much every day. I love to cuddle. To be deprived like this is painful, but I try to channel it into other things. 

22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items. NA

23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s? 

Before adolescence, I was happy. I laughed all the time, but was extremely socially anxious. I was obsessed with gender bc it felt violent and inescapable, and had a social confusion that’s akin to ASD or BPD. I became suicidal when I was 12 or 13, tried to kill myself at 17. But as a teen, I played drums, fell deeply in love, had these wonderful, hilarious, brilliant friends. Hating myself and wanting to die was mostly environmental. Suicidal ideation is all about wanting life to change but feeling powerless to implement the change. 

The warmth in my family is perhaps not obvious, but I know exactly where it is. Every single person in my family, other than my racist aunt who made my mom’s brother into a racist curmudgeon, is the nicest person. They’d die of embarrassment for hurting your feelings. They live all day from the warmth of what seems to me to be a pure, inherent respect for others. But they would probably appear cold to you due to their quietude and timidity, which are often mistaken for aloofness or narcissism.  My family deals in invisibilization of themselves, I tend to think, and thus of each other.

My mom is warm in that she compliments freely. “You look gorgeous! That dress is to die for! Mark’s a very sweet man.” She’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, and humor is warmth if you ask me. Both of my parents are generous, my mom codependently. They both lack boundaries. I’ve always lacked emotional trust for my parents. As far as I’ve been able to tell, they mean well. We ate dinner in separate rooms. I felt like I had to pull teeth to eke out happiness for my parents. I felt triumphant when I made my dad laugh. I tried to teach my mom to be more confident, which never worked. That is cold, to be a kid who feels the need to parent those who are supposed to parent them. It’s hard to feel close to adults you don’t trust. I feel like I was provided for and taught manners and traditions, but not exactly raised.

My parents divorced when I was 28. I have no memory of them getting along. I barely remember them constantly bickering/avoiding each other. They slept in separate rooms. My mom never gets sick, but the one time I recall her having the flu, I was maybe 12 and it was bedtime. I thought, “I’m going to have to take care of her tomorrow.” Next day, I watched my dad bring her soup and a warm washcloth for her forehead. I was shocked. 

My dad would say "sweet dreams” every night, which was his way of saying he loved us. His brother, whom I adore, and my aunt would tell me they loved me, and I always felt that they did so specifically bc they knew my dad would never. My dad’s concerned with appearances mostly, but I have memories of him, e.g., buying me a sweatshirt when I was cold or getting me VHSes to watch when I was sick. He’s distant as fuck, just wants us to marry Jews and make money and look pretty. 

Both of my parents are unbelievably naive, and both unmistakably old-fashioned (while having socialist ideals); both traits aided in my distrust and didn’t jibe with my needs. So, you separate from those you feel don’t serve you, but you still need parenting, which develops an unhealthy relationship. 

I haven’t spoken to my dad in about 5 years. I limit contact with my mom. My brother has a life that I feel I have nothing to do with, which is fine. We’re cordial. 

But warmth is in moments. I was raised to respect the elderly. That’s warm. I was raised to respect Jewish tradition. That has warmth. Tikkun olam, Jewish humor, etc. My mom’s parents had a big Christmas party every year. They made us get in groups and pick a number in the 12 Days of Christmas song to sing together. But, since they’re all Dutch and Swedish and, from what I understand, from a bourgie tradition, it’s this type of fun that’s inhibited. Inhibition, is cold. But you focus on the effort. The food, the intention of getting together, the fact that I saw my great-uncles’ faces in my mom’s cousins’. I don’t know. Maybe I don’t know what warmth is? Maybe it confuses me. One side were traumatized, quiet Easter European Jews, and the other were stereotypically stoic Swedes and Dutch people. I think of another aunt, who married in and is Irish Catholic. She’s a sweetheart, but is also cold in a nunnish way. 

24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother? She’s difficult for me to be around bc she embodies powerlessness. She has a childlike joy to her, which I think she focuses on, but also sees herself as incapable. I’m positive that she has a genius IQ and could’ve been anything at all, but she drinks, smokes, and watches TV most of the time. When I was maybe 22, I took her horseback riding. She’d won horseback competitions growing up. I thought maybe it would inspire her to live life rather than sit watching bad TV. It didn’t work, but being around her makes me feel as powerless as she feels.

It feels dangerous to interact with her. I can’t be brought down to feel as though I’m nothing every time I hang out with someone. She’s also said awful things to me that have me question whether she intentionally has made feel badly about myself so that I’ll “need” her. Which... How dare any parent do that. How dare any parent be either that cruel or that ignorant. I have a lot of rage toward her and stay in touch out of guilt. I interact with her, hoping she’ll be different this time. It’s never going to happen. That’s why I stopped talking to my dad; I finally accepted him. 

Set III

25. Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ... “ NA

26. Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share ... “ respect for each other?

27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know. NA

28. Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met. NA

29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life. One of my most embarrassing moments was when I was sucking someone’s dick outside and was “caught” by my landlord/boss/friend at the exact time he came through that part of the yard every night. For some reason, I was certain that it was hours later than it was. I thought that he must have thought that I’d done it on purpose, and I was mortified. 

30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself? I cried in front of my friend Matt a few months ago bc of the stress of the pandemic and things I’d been through in the last few years. He was so sweet about it. I cry often, mostly while watching movies or videos. 

31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already. NA

32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about? Nothing is too serious to be joked about, but there are people who shouldn’t tell certain jokes/jokes in certain ways. Read the room and know your place. 

33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet? Well, I wish I’d told my friend I was in love with him before he died. Maybe I didn’t tell him bc I’m terrified of things going well. Other than that, I don’t think I have anything to tell anyone. Maybe I want people to “know me” through some kind of art. 

34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why? Old journals bc I was good at writing. 

35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why? I really, really will have no idea until it happens. Probably on of my parents because what is death for someone whose life they refused to, or felt they could not, make good? What promises did they break toward themselves, and am I doomed to break the same ones?

36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen. NA  

#gernil #deardiary #dear diary

[sethisrael]

right/wrong/neither

I recommend listening to this song while reading; it helps me focus and it might help you too. :)

When I began our class in public art in sound and listening, my way of thinking was very much rooted in discernible outcomes and notions of success. This was largely a product of the environments I had existed in growing up: intense, competitive academic spaces, playing sports, going to a well-regarded college. Even in my first year at Brown, the notion of comparative success was pushed forth; I was denied entry to classes due to a comparatively worse portfolio, writing sample, or application. Not only were opportunities to learn limited, once in class, creative assignments I submitted were deemed poor in quality because they were not up to par with the level of the rest of the class or did not meet expectations of a rigid rubric imposed by the professor. I questioned why the system existed in the way that promoted uniformity and rewarded following rigid instructions over organic growth and learning.

Even at a place like Brown University where a liberal education is championed, I felt limited in my ability to make choices for myself, questioning my every decision and my place on campus. Why did every decision I made feel “wrong”? Why did I constantly feel like I was in the “wrong” place, doing the “wrong” things? It was around this time of self-doubt that we read Miwon Kwon’s “The Wrong Place” and Judith Halberstam’s The Queer Art of Failure. For a long time, it had been explained to me that the greatest growth and discovery was made when I failed, when things didn’t work out, but I was still resistant. Halberstam’s writing expressed a similar sentiment in a way that spoke to me greatly. As Halberstam explains in the introduction, “Failure preserves some of the wondrous anarchy of childhood and disturbs the supposedly clean boundaries between adults and children, winners and losers,” and later points out that “[failure] provides the opportunity to use these negative affects to poke holes in the toxic positivity of contemporary life” (Halberstam 3). Halberstam’s argument recognizes the importance of positivity but also the ability for negativity to shift our perspective and view things through a different or critical scope.

In a similar vane, Kwon’s writing recognizes that objective rights/wrongs are nonexistent, but our relationship to objects, beings, and places is what defines our sense of right and wrong: “The determination of right and wrong is never derived from an innate quality of the object in question, even if some moral absolutes might seem to preside over the object. Rather, right and wrong are qualities that an object has in relation to something outside itself… The more important point here is that it is we who are wrong for this kind of ‘new’ space” (Kwon 38-39). Kwon explains that ending up in the “wrong” place can often lead us to new discoveries about ourselves that we would miss if we follow rigid, “correct” paths. I really love one of her closing statements in the piece:

“Often we are comforted by the thought that a place is ours, that we belong to it, perhaps even come from it, and therefore are tied to it in some fundamental way. Such places (‘right’ places) are thought to reaffirms our sense of self, reflecting back to us an unthreatening picture of a grounded identity. This kind of continuous relationship between a place and a person is what is deemed lost, and needed in contemporary society. In contrast, the wrong place is generally thought of as a place where one fells one does not belong—unfamiliar, disorienting, destabilizing, even threatening. This kind of stressful relationship to a place is, in turn, though to be detrimental to a subject’s capacity to constitute a coherent sense of self and the world” (Kwon 42).

Kwon and Halberstam’s discussion of failure and place bring me to one of the first posts I made on our class soundblog, a podcast profiling the artist Emily A. Sprague, a founding member of the band Florist and an independent artists as well, working primarily in ambient music and creating with Eurorack modular synthesizers. Hailing from a rural community in the Catskill Mountains, Sprague explains how space has shaped her processes of creation: “Every studio I’ve ever had has been in the place that I’ve been living in… You learn from that, being in spaces that aren’t ‘Studio Bs’… You just learn to work with what you have” (Sound + Process). On her origins, Sprague later explains, “Community has always been something that I’ve known to be incredibly hard to find and also the best and most rewarding and inspiring thing that you can experience. I’m from a small town in a pretty rural area; I didn’t really find people until I was older than I really felt a part of a community with, with making music” (Sound + Process). Like Halberstam’s argument, Sprague has repeatedly tried and experimented with space and technique, creating new ways to approach modular synth and pushing the boundaries of genre. Like Kwon explains, Sprague has made new discoveries in her process of making through the space she’s in—not that place is right or wrong, but just that they are different, and produce a different result.

With her process of making rooted in modular synthesis, it is hard to deny Sprague’s precedents. On June 7th, 2017, Sprague made an Instagram post of a single book on a hardwood table: Daphne Oram’s An Individual Note of Music Sound, and Electronics. Daphne Oram, born in 1925 and passed away in 2003, was one of the central figures in the development of British experimental electronic music (Anomie Publishing). Oram declined a place at the Royal College of Music to become a music balancer at the BBC, and she went on to become the co-founder and first director of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Anomie). Leaving the BBC in 1959 to pursue commercial work in television, advertising, film and theater, Oram also made her own music for recording and performance, continuing her personal research into sound technology. Sound technology was a passion Oram cultivated since her childhood in rural Wiltshire (Anomie). Eventually her home in Kent became an unorthodox studio and workshop, which she crafted on a minimal budget (Anomie). Additionally, Oram developed her pioneering equipment, sounds, and ideas at her home studio. A significant part of her personal research was the invention of a machine that offered a new form of sound synthesis – the Oramics machine (Anomie). Her biography further cements her as influential to contemporary electronic artists, with Oram’s contribution to electronic music receiving considerable attention from new generations of composers, sound engineers, musicians, musicologists and music lovers around the world (Anomie).

Like Wendy Carlos, Oram was a pioneer of synthesizer music and technology, definitively changing the ways her contemporaries approached synthesis, as well as generations for years to come. It seems as though Carlos, Oram, and Sprague are inextricably linked. As Carlos focuses intently on her studio in her website/primary form of external communication, it is evident that the artist considers her studio as a point of pride and importance (Wendy Carlos website). If Wendy Carlos’s studio is Persian rugs, felines, and the crackle of a fireplace on a frigid winter day and Oram’s is a quiet converted oasthouse, then Sprague’s studio is a surfboard leaned against a corner next to a human-sized floor plant as sun pours in through a skylight on a warm California morning (Kheshti). Like Kheshti’s relationship with Carlos, I feel connected to Sprague in a similar way. I do not mean to equate our relationships or interpolate myself in the discussion of electronic musicians, but I do find great joy in listening to electronic music and feel that it is an important part of my life, similar to the way Kheshti describes.

There is something extremely childlike, imaginative, and fantastical about home studios. They are places for experimentation and imagination, mostly unbounded by judgement or criticism, creating a place to take risks and make new discoveries. In many ways a home studio allows for a democratic education of sorts, a place where a creator can speak their own language and have internal dialogue, unrestricted by rigid constraints that may be imposed externally otherwise, and even explore the inherent fun in learning (hooks 43-44).

The ability for these artists to create in unexpected places and to push the boundaries of their genre and craft remind me of Fluxus artists like Yoko Ono or Alison Knowles. There is an ambiguity in place and correctness of a Fluxus score. They are not defined by doing things in a certain way or a certain place or for a certain outcome, but doing for the sake of doing, trying, experimenting, learning, and moving forward. I recently watched a film that referenced Yoko Ono’s “Ceiling Painting, Yes Painting” (1966), where the person interacting climbs a ladder to a magnifying glass in order to discern a tiny speck on the ceiling that reads “YES” (Guggenheim Bilbao). I think this piece is beautifully poetic in a number of ways, but specifically for its affirmation in discovery, and doing so in a playful, almost childlike and imaginative manner. On this note, I want to include some scores I wrote throughout the course of the semester for consideration, reflection, and response (dots indicate separate scores):

sit on a bench and be the last to break eye contact with a stranger • collect fallen leaves from the ground into a paper bag and deliver to someone • learn the language of a Tree and have a conversation • ask a loved one (or a complete stranger) to name a favorite song and listen to it in full • listen to your breath as you run up a steep hill and walk down slowly; listen to your breath as you walk up a steep hill and run down slowly • cut holes in an umbrella during a rainstorm and listen to the irony pour through • get a bicycle and ride across America • hold your palms and fingers gently over the tips of grass at dawn and wipe the dew across your cheeks • do nothing • sitting cross-legged on the floor, recount in detail to an audience (of any or no size) the most recent dream that you can remember • make a friend • look at the Atlantic Ocean; turn 180 degrees; walk; look at the Pacific Ocean • grab a cactus / smash a guitar • move fast so that wind becomes music

Through all these artists, authors, activists, and beyond, like Ono, Knowles, Carlos, Oram, Halberstam, Kwon, hooks, Kheshti, it is clear that approaching things not with notions of right or wrong, but with the intention of discovery, experimentation, and playful imagination is a valuable way of living. In the inscription to hook’s Teaching Community, the author quotes Paulo Freire: “It is imperative that we maintain hope even when the harshness of reality may suggest the opposite.” In many ways, these figures stand for just that: a rejection of the harshness of reality through creativity, experimentation, discovery, and a love for learning.

Bibliography

“Ceiling Painting, Yes Painting (1966).” Guggenheim Bilbao, http://yokoono.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/artworks/ceiling-painting-yes-painting.html.

“Daphne Oram – An Individual Note of Music, Sound and Electronics.” Anomie Publishing, Anomie Publishing and The Daphne Oram Trust.

“Emily Sprague: SOUND PROCESS #8.” SoundCloud, 2017, https://soundcloud.com/sound-and-process/es_ep8.

Halberstam, Judith. The Queer Art of Failure. Duke University Press, 2011.

Hooks, Bell. Teaching Community. Routledge, 2003.

Kheshti, Roshanak. Swithced-on Bach. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.

Kwon, Miwon. “The Wrong Place.” Art Journal, vol. 59, no. 1, 2000, pp. 33–43. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/778080.

“Wendy Carlos.” Wendy Carlos, http://www.wendycarlos.com/.

[turklingua]

Turkish Translation and Becoming a Turkish Translator http://bit.ly/2Se1ryT

Translating is the situation of “articulating” the entire emotional and intellectual activities in the chaotic soul structure of human being. In the heart of this complexity or chaos, translator is the person who analyzes all these perception processes with the emotional-intellectual power of the author and his or her language of expression, and fulfills “articulating” in his own language. There are three essential main essential components in the translation action: Our first essential is knowledge accumulation; we mean that the translator is culturally equipped . Our second essential is the ability of emotion-dream transfer; we can call it creative ability. Our the third and last essential is that the source and target language knowledge is at the certain level of translating. It is faced with human nature and human beings who acts different from what they say and do, and who can be defined in thousands of characters. Humans have a curiosity and passion to deal with invisible and unknown areas. When we begin to write this curiosity and passion out, the thing what we call literature arises. The author who has the ability of making invisible ones visible, the unknown ones known, only needs expert translators to spread out his discoveries to the world.

The way to be an expert translator is to built multiple relationships with life and to articulate the other lives far away or the lives right besides us, with the emotional and intellectual accumulation that is gained from the totality of these multiple relationships which is not possible to be known without translating action. Translation action is not a simple, mechanical or ordinary interposition, but requires to constitute a common language with the author and the editor. Creating a common language is one of the hardest act and the translator does one of those hard work. Translator is the person who shows the success of integrating with the heart and brain of the author. In other words, he is the soul mate of the author not someone else based upon the work that he translates. Interpreting, except your native language, is the act of transferring, analyzing and perception of any knowledge at any language what it means in your native language. It is necessary to have an objective and moral stance when carrying out this action. You can not say a word that is not said in the original text; you can not construe a sentence or word you do not know! There is the importance of translating profession: we need to learn what we do not know and communication for the flow of life, that information in foreign languages should be translated into our native language to get the information, assimilate and reproduce.

It is impossible to communicate with other countries and lives without translation, the power and the importance of the translation profession emerges here. There are dozens of occupational areas within the definition of translator. For example, people who will translate literary and commercial areas must have different qualities. When we think that there are different fields within these two fields, I can say that the qualifications of the translator should be determined according to the area selection. However, it is essential to have the ability of writing, analytical thinking, creativity, and language skills both the native and foreign language. The perception of interpreting in Turkey is based on the perception of “a job that anyone who knows a foreign language can do”. This is extremely wrong generalization! We have to break this perception and generalization; because knowing foreign languages is just one of the most important elements of translation. If I express within the context of literary translation, interpreting is not a job that can be done without the intellectual accumulation and authorship ability. The translator has a changing relationship according to each book, but if there are topic concerning sentimentality and justice in it, you will unintentionally take a side but you will have to conceal…

The translation should remain as good as the original text. The translator does not have a mission of making the original text better! There are physical, mental effort and energy of the editor, translator, proofreader and other people in any book that has been translated. The quality of the translation excels in when these energies are in harmony with each other. To be a translator in Turkey means to work under aggravated circumstances with low wages, without having any social security. We have no choice other than to be organized to stop this. If you are not economically dependent on to translate; if you say I can not stand the pressure of the boss or manager; translating for sure seems to be attractive in this sense, but words and sentences that we can not figure out and meet a lot of difficulties when deciphering, takes the place of pressure of the boss or manager… Setting many experienced difficulties aside I would say: you look at yourself with the eye of a creator when your translation gets credit and becomes a book that takes its place in bookcase or shelves.

You are that creator! Could it be a greater happiness than that? You contribute to yourself and others and to life by translating every work you do. There is no training required to become a translator; however I recommend you to place training in somewhere of your life to become a good translator. A translator who does not have translation training can do successful translations; however these translations are usually coincidence. An educated translator can explain what, how and why he translated. Expert knowledge is important. Do not expect the time you will translate to have knowledge about the topic you will be translating. Research, learn, get ready for the translation as you are studying lesson. You should also improve yourself out of school. Make the translation a part of your life. Try to translate what you listen, watch, read in your daily life. Repeat the exercises every day in this way. Pay attention to develop your general culture, accumulation of your popular culture. Follow the news, current events. Be informed of economics, literature, politics, etc. Prepare a CV to yourself, accumulate things to add to your CV until you graduate. Participate to seminars, conferences, volunteer projects, attend courses. Try to build connections with benificial people. Do not underestimate the written translation.

Making a written translation is also a part of providing sufficient accumulation for interpreting. Your character may be suitable to verbal translation; however instead of running away from the translation by pleading, go over your problems. Develop yourself regarding the issues such as enduring and continuous focusing, long working time, meeting the deadlines. We often don’t choose to work as a full-time or freelance translator. Working freelance chooses us. If it chooses you, get your home environment well organized. A large table, a fridge full of tertiary processed meals and a high speed computer can be a good idea for a proper working environment. When we enter the sector, usually the things may not go as planned. You are interested in art; but you can face always with an automotive translation. Suddenly, you can find yourself as a specialized translator in the automotive sector. Interest, curiosity and enthusiasm are good. But do not worry if you can not get jobs in the areas you want, learn to love the fields where you work. Go ahead with preliminary preparation whatever you will interpret; never interpret by yourself, especially when you are new graduate. Do not go alone for more than one or two hours interpretations after you gain a certain experience. There can be anything during interpreting, you may face with unexpected problems. Make confidentiality and impartiality your first principle. Do not share the contents of any meetings with third parties. Never do a biased translation. The conference interpreter is the headliner of the translation cabin.

When you get on the stage, do not let anyone to interfere which song you will sing. Translation is a creation. It is a product that you entirely produce; so all rights are yours. If your voice is recorded, demand copyright for your product. Translator interprets in oral translation jobs. Do not try to solve technical problems. Do not fall back upon the organization. We live in the global world. Speakers from all over the world can speak English at international meetings. Be prepared to hear different accents. Include speakers with different accents among your oral translation exercises. Interpreting is an enjoyable activity; however the market we try to survive, requires you to have nerves of steel. Be gentle, smile and learn to look in the bright side of everything. He who gets up in anger, sits down with a loss. Do not allow to suffer from the competitive feelings and ambition. Your colleagues may be your friends or turn into your competitors according to your attitude. Try to built good relationships with everyone. Interpreting is already difficult; doing this without breaking any heart and having fun, is completely in your hands. You should continue to built up your language training that you get at school with your personal studies. Area selection is difficult, on the way of this selection do not be hurry to decide, it will settle in time. The most important point is to know your own language first, please often read books. Be reminded that it is not expected to make healthy translations from someone, who has no command of his native language. Appearance and attitude are quite important in the field of interpreting. People are ready to judge you, even with your appearance, the way of sitting. When you get in a platform, if you show a profile that is lack of confidence, people try to abuse you and pile extra work to you in every sense. So take a tough stance and try to recover your mistakes instantly, and the most important thing is to trust yourself and be proud of your work.

The post Turkish Translation and Becoming a Turkish Translator appeared first on Turkish Translation Service Company for Businesses & Individuals, Professional, Fast and Easy.

#IFTTT #Turkish Translation Service Company for Businesses & Individuals #Professional #Fast and Easy

[growingirons]

There is a very particular mathematical relationship between will and power. Power is always kept less than will, which means that most of the time, we can want something but not get it. This is incredibly valuable for us, in fact it's one of the basic ingredients for the possibility of any kind of freedom, compatible or otherwise. The reason for this is that if there was no chance to want something, and not get it, there would never be a chance to want anything other than what you want. The origin of the decision is tied to this exact fact. Decisions would be impossible if there was never any time between wanting and getting, only the first option even makes it in the door. Sex, food, survival; between these all the earliest decisions to ever be made were decided. Survival actually came later, it was eventually used to explain, how we decided at all, it was a concept designed for explaining the whole process of how our decisions get refined. In other words, nothing tries to survive, survival is simply the result of what happened. So the real choices were between sex, food, warmth, dryness, safety from pain, safety from being killed, etc. What human intelligence shows, is that at some point, another choice got added, which was thinking, and especially noticing thinking and thinking about thinking. When this happened, we got totally consumed by this ability and it's possibilities. We don't know much about what the world was like then, we only know what stuff is like now, and what we can infer backwards by how much things change now. Half our knowledge is about how rapidly and likely things are to change, to be unpredictable or to suddenly cease to be predictable. And we use this knowledge to make predictions about how stable or predictable things have been for sooooo much longer than we've been around. We know things have been pretty predictable since we first measured the speed of light! It hasn't changed, since then of course, we have measured it, but all differences observed have been measurement errors. In fact, to avoid the problem of measurement, we defined light as having a certain speed, based on certain theoretical ideas, so even if it changes, it's not the speed of light that changed, it was the length of the meter. Because time never changes, it just moves through rigidly, unlike the other dimensions of space which all bend this way and that. Time is stiff, it marches while all the space dimensions dance, and swell and distort and create the stuff of our world. When I'm high, I spend much less time so long back I double back less often, I spend much less TIME doubling back, we charge forward, blindly, if we were terrified and maybe we are but we just don't know why, and so it almost feels like excitement. You can get in a flow, when you're high, because you just go, always, diving into something else, getting distracted. But you don't spell check yourself. You don't go back and see all the ways what you wrote didn't help you say what you were trying to say. Because your doubling back is actually still helping you go forward. To me that's all reincarnation is, doubling back, on earth, because it still helps you go forward, the trick is hiding your memory from yourself, so you can authentically still experience the moment, and let it flow from you, and through you, without being tempered by your other memories. Somehow experience has to be protected from becoming what we expect from it. The other trick is what to even remember, across lives, maybe only changing it between lives, or maybe whenever you go to sleep if your real good. Sometimes you might even make yourself something, a piece of art, a dream, to remember bits of pieces when you wake up, to live something totally new into your world. Or maybe it's not you up there, its your ancestors, whispering to you, and you can hear them best when you are asleep, but you can never remember talking to them in the morning, but then you learn to, you learn to listen to them even during the day, and when you die you join them, and stand by the sidelines, whispering to others. Or maybe you double back, and live again, maybe you have a best friend who doubles back with you, you dive into new life, in the same city, if your skill level is low, or across the world if it's on high, and then you forget everything, (or rather greatly distance yourself from everything, because forgetting is impossible) but you try to find them again, and remember who you were together, and and remember who you were even before you were born, and all the lives you'd lived together, and through this knowledge learn more about how the world works, and the ways that it learns about itself, and realize you are part of that learning. And learning to balance between what you project and what you receive and being able to receive from what the world but also constitute and project into the world. Modern technology generally fails in this balance, although some misses by a much narrower margin. There are also ancient relationships with technology that far superior than most today, though certain traditions have been preserved and provide knowledge unavailable (?) elsewhere. Modes, attributes, substance. Numbers as modes. Irrational numbers as attributes, and substance as math, the essence, summed up in a single word, of math is numbers, their relationships to each other, and their relationship to attributes, and the relationship of attributes and each other, and the relationships of all these things to substance. You might understand this last bit if you've read Spinoza. But I'm probably talking about a lot of things very differently. Partly because I'm bad at listening, and that's a big benefit for me, I don't listen, or rather I listen to other things, often many things at once. Sometimes I listen to my teacher, but I also listen to myself, sometimes to the point of literally ignoring the teacher. I've gotten frighteningly good at pretending to listen, even when I'm not, but I am working extremely hard to never do that to people I love, although it's possible an exception could arises, especially for people who can't stop talking, sometimes ignoring people while not offending them is a very necessary skill. One thing about that is almost cruel, or a post like this even, is that it just talks at you, the only difference is you decide exactly how long you listen. That's the invention of writing right there. You can listen to me if you ever want to. I put everything in my best words, or at least the best ones I could write, or the best ones i felt I could share. But it's great to be able to not listen, that's basically what freedom is. If you don't have to listen, you suddenly go to the open space where all the sounds are, and you can hear anything. But we have habits of what we hear, usually we hear something we've heard before, or something we understand. We are more likely to hear birds tweeting if we know birds exist. In fact that's the only condition under which we will. We might hear high pitches sounds, but it won't be birds tweeting until later, when we know about birds. Then, whenever we hear those sounds they are easier to notice, we've already heard them, we even have a word for them and an explanation. The world gets more and more populated for us. But eventually, the open space gets full, and we mostly only go between a few different things to listen to: other people, our thoughts, our feelings, our bodily sensations, and that's it, we stop going to the open space, or spend much less time there. Well that's not true, we all sleep and spend time there that way, but never during he day, rarely consciously, except when we pray or meditate or experience art really deliberately, or think about existence or find yourself in some sort of state of wonder, only then are we listening. Even if we are listening to something close to what we've already heard, sensed, felt. But we aren't listening to what's there, we are listening to what's behind it, it's depth, its infinite nuance, its eternal capacity to surprise. That's what we lose sight of, and just go back and forth, spend all our time doubling back, never going off the track you've already made, same trail out to the middle of nowhere, same way back. Look over the fences, see where others have already gone before you, and manicured and experience. Ignore the ways this experience is totally unique for you. Sounds like a vacay. A vacation ought be nothing else. Time is how a single attribute splits itself into many attributes. Each 'time' is a duration, many of which are happening simultaneously. All a self is is 'a time'. If times can be deivided you get individual selves, if times can get divided and they know it, you get self consciousness, and if selves divide and combine seamlessly you have some next level shit that we are already learning how to do. Sharing music does this for us. Creates a single self, maybe eventually a self consciousness, if everyone participating was thinking about 'the self' (rather than them-self) that way. But think about it, we experience time the same way through rhythm, the same emotions through melody and chords, the same concepts through lyrics. The song falls apart after a while though, 'the self' dies, and people return to 'them' selves. Not sure if any song has become self conscious yet, maybe at a greatful dead concert, or more likely dancing around a fire, looking into the fire, for once, rather than the shadows they project outwards into the world. Not the shadows, the fire itself.

[ehentha]

A collection of Yameen Rasheed's writings on Maldives, Secularism, Standing up for Maldivian Minorities, and Fighting Religious Radicalism #WeAreYaamyn #FindMoyameehaa

Yameen Rasheed, Blogger and IT Specialist, was murdered on 23rd April 2017 inside the entrance of his own home. Stay up to date at - https://weareyaamyn.com/.   

I initially began this post as an interactive timeline of Yameen Rasheed's best tweets, but it soon became too inaccessible due to the sheer amount of relevant posts that he was putting out. 

So instead, here is a collection of some of his best writings. He deals with topics that very few people in the Maldives have the courage to openly write about. More importantly, the fact that he talked about these issues is being erased from the conversation about his murder.

Furthermore, the dangers and threats that he faced were not a characteristic unique to the current administration. He faced these same threats under Mohamed Nasheed's government as well, who is arguably the best and worst president that the Maldives has ever had. Nasheed promised freedom, but ended up granting those liberties only to religious extremists; and in the process condemned those who opposed those extremists to their fate. In an open letter to Nasheed written in March 2009, Yameen says that he was under investigation by the Maldives Police Service, and accused the president of failing to protect the rights of secular liberal minded Muslims like himself. 

He was not your average journalist, blogger, or rights activist. He was of the rare breed that promoted secularism and actively acknowledged the existence of minorities within the Maldives such as LGBTQI people and apostates. There is absolutely no way that the work he was doing was comparable to the output of people who to this day deny the existence of such minorities. 

He was a staunch opposer of the Maldivian constitution, which he called intolerant, for it's lack of the basic right of freedom of conscience. There is absolutely no way that he is comparable to the people who, even in their articles about his death, have failed to mention this extremely important fact of life in the Maldives. 

Challenging religious radicalism was not some one off thing for Yameen. It was his bread and butter. His mashuni and roshi. To say Yameen didn't write a lot about religion is like saying Stephen King doesn't write a lot of horror. Post after post on his blog deals with these issues directly. Yameen was also the founder of the Facebook group "Ban The Adhaalath" - arguably one of the first ever online groups formed to directly tackle religious extremism within the Maldives. 

How can there be a genuine democracy in the Maldives, how can there be genuine freedom, if the right to think differently is illegal?

The posts are all from his blog uglyy.blogspot.com (his main blog up until he created The Daily Panic) and are presented in chronological order except for the first, which is the last post he made on his original blog doubtengine.blogspot.com. I thought it would be appropriate for our starting point to be about his thoughts on moving to the country that would end up killing him. 

From March 2011, his blog contains a lot of excerpts of articles of which the full version was available on Minivannews.com, which is now defunct as they changed their name to Maldives Independent. These links no longer work. To make them work, change the minivannews.com to minivannewsarchive.com. For example http://minivannews.com/society/comment-doublethink-culture-18600 goes nowhere but http://minivannewsarchive.com/society/comment-doublethink-culture-18600 works just fine. I have no idea why Minivannews decided to change their URL in that manner. For each of these posts I have also provided an archived version that does contain the full article.  For most articles, I have only added a small section. I highly recommend reading the full versions which are available through the links in the titles.

This is not a complete timeline and ends in December 2011 - the month when Mohamed Nasheed could have ended it all. Instead, the perpetrators of the now infamous cowardly attack walked free. If the violence faced by those minority activists had been acknowledged that early on, especially by the so called progressive regime of Mohamed Nasheed, perhaps Yameen Rasheed would still be with us today. 

By continuing to spread his work, we can make sure that his voice lives on.  We are Yameen, and you will never silence us. Take one of us down and another will take our place. 

November 22nd 2009

Hello. ;-) (Original / Archive)

"So, where were we? Ah, yes. Let me apologize for the post blackout. Stuff happened. My course got over; College ended; and I have long since moved out of Bangalore. After a lifetime of living in India, I have returned to the Maldives. Returned home, to be precise. Somehow, I don't feel as much at home as I felt in India. But that should change soon. Job, career and perhaps a larger circle of Maldivian friends should help. Meanwhile, I haven't really been keeping a tab on the latest in Indian politics, nor have I been able to read any of my favorite Indian blogs. Apologies for that too. But I see I'm still getting hits on this blog. Thanks for coming back. Once I feel a little more settled down, I intend to resume my comments again, and read all the blogs I've been missing out on. Long live Secularism! ~Peace P.S. -> You might want to read my more regularly updated blog. More in a Maldivian context than this blog, but deals with the same issues I usually pick on. Secularism, Reason and Tolerance. And good ole' fundie bashing. ;-)"  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 11th 2008

The Republic of Whatever! (Original / Archived)

"On the surface of it, we Maldivians appear to have no roots. We're drifters who define success as having two mobile phones. We’re so materialistic, so self-centered and individualistic. Hard to imagine that we Maldivians are a 2500 old culture – a people who lived in these islands thousands of years before America was even discovered, before Jesus walked the Earth. Before the days of the Prophet. Before the Qur’an was revealed! It irks me how Maldivians are - partly by govt. design, partly by own stupidity - so COMPLETELY unaware of their identity or history. The Maldivian schools churn out thousands of students who have no idea about our captivating history and colourful culture. How many of us have visited a museum or know about the ancient Buddhist temples and art in the Maldives? What of our poetry that is now lost to history thanks to our collective apathy? How many Maldivians can recite an original raaivaru? Who among us Dhivehin knows the eveyla akuru and dives akuru or olden literature we have in these scripts? The records our ancestors carefully preserved on palm leaves and tablets FOR US, have for some reason been omitted from our lives. Their efforts all in vain. Have we forgotten about the fantastic Maldivian legends and the Fanditha magic? The grisly, captivating stories of Djinnis and evil spirits who come from the dark seas or live in trees? The Maldivian child today knows little beyond Pooh Bear and Red Riding Hood.. The entire magical world of the sea faring Djinnis and Maldivian handi stories seem closed to them. What about the history of our Dhivehi Raajje?! The land that exported precious cowry shells used as currency in ancient lands as far away as China! The Maldives of exquisite tortoise shells!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

January 2nd 2009

War on Haabees! (Original / Archived)

"When the bearded desert vermin arrived from somewhere and started Talibanizing the Maldives - I discovered that we don't really have any 'liberal leaders' in our country. Sure, our former Information Minister Mohammed Nasheed HAS BEEN making a couple of statements in the last two days. But where was he when they turned us into a cartoon state with a funny constitution that decides our religion for us? Today I have the bloody Taliban telling me I can't celebrate my New Years Day. Today I say. Fuck them all. I've heard one comment too many on my last couple of posts - from morons who ASSUMED that I was unaware of Islam - just because I don't troll on random sites trying hard to prove my stupendous devotion to somebody, my copy pasting Qur'anic quotes and random Arabic phrases. I've had one too many comment that smacks of bullshit and - well, honestly - IS bullshit. Today, I shall answer them beyond their dreams."  -- Yameen Rasheed

January 14th 2009

Notes on Islam - Part 1. (Original / Archived)

"There's a lot going wrong in the world of Islam these days. The vast majority of the Muslim countries are backward and forms a great chunk of the most impoverished countries. The large majority of the Muslim countries rank low on all known development Indices - literacy, health care, GDP, education.. Former Pakistani President, General Musharraf was absolutely right when he said about Muslims: "Today we are the poorest, the most illiterate, the most backward, the most unhealthy, the most un-enlightened, the most deprived, and the weakest of all the human race" On the other hand.. take any statistic of corruption, instability, poverty, conflict or violence - and you'll invariably find Muslim countries jostling for space at the top. Islam normally lies broken and fragmented - with the Sunnis fighting the Shias.. the Kurds fighting the Sunnis.. the Sunnis and Shias BOTH fighting the Ahmadiyyas.. everyone itching to declare the others 'infidel'. But when it comes to doing something totally retarded, like issuing a Death note over a silly newspaper cartoon or banning a stupid novel, they all stick together as if with Velcro. Thanks to Islamist extremism, today the one-point-something billion strong Muslim population is identified by bearded radicals - radicals who vow to reverse every known progress achieved by mankind in the last 1500 years."  -- Yameen Rasheed

January 15th 2009

Notes on Islam - Part 2. (Original / Archived)

"All good things come to an end. The Crusades happened. The Mongols arrived. The Plague struck. The Empire hurt. The Crusaders and Mongols (The Chengiz Khan himself!) burnt down those Libraries and Universities and Hospitals. The invasions and weakened the Empire. AND SURPRISE! That's when the Islamists struck! No kidding. Even in that Golden, intellectual age, there was no dearth of morons or Enemies of reason. Just like our modern day Maldive-Arab "scholars" who declared the Tsunami to be 'God's Punishment', those Islamists declared the invasions to be 'God's Punishment' for pursuit of polemic (read: UnIslamic) thinking. Certain "scholars" and philosophers like Al-Ghazali (The Abdul Majeed Abdul Baree of his day) declared free thought to be against the scriptures (ie. 'against Islam') in his book 'The Incoherence of Philosophers'. Ijtihad was "against Islam". Bid'ah (innovation) was 'against Islam'. The list of things 'against Islam' kept growing. Sure enough, a lack of tolerance for intellectual debate kicked in. Freedom of thought got restricted. Innovation ended. Arts Perished. Punishments started. By the 14th Century, the pipe had completely shut. The Fundies won. The Golden Age ended."  -- Yameen Rasheed

January 9th 2009

Wow! I attacked Islam! (Original / Archived)

"Blame it on 'too much reading', as one comment put it. One of my readers, Jasmine, appears to be gathering an army of Haabees to take my 'attack on Islam' head on. Now I really don't mind that. Bring on all the Haabees on the planet! I'm ready. I've declared war long ago. But pray which sentence of mine constituted an 'attack' on Islam? :-/"  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 1st 2009

The mvblogs "issue" : My 2 cents (Original / Archived)

"I've been going through some comments on the blogosphere since the shitstorm raised over the mvblogs 'censorship' of a gay photo blog. Not that I care much for gay porno, but when it comes to freedom of expression I take it religiously. To make my position clear, I don't believe mvblogs is being 'anti-gay'. There are other blogs by gay Maldivians listed on the site. The issue here seems to be nudity. Nudity is not an issue for me. But the people who run mvblogs seem to have a problem - that mvblogs is also accessed by minors. I think mvblogs should clarify what it considers unsuitable to minors - is it just the porno? Or is it also the rather graphic, violent images employed by both the Islamophobic sites as well as the 'west-bashing' sites? What about the foul language on some comment threads that is definitely too offensive for minors? Do these qualify to be on the front-page of mvblogs? And if they do, what purpose does it serve by filtering certain offensive sites but letting through others? I think mvblogs should thus question itself whether it is within its scope to define and regulate all the Maldivian blogs listed on it. I believe it's not. Some retards will take offense to anything. Let them be. And let's leave freedom of expression the way it should be. Free. Those Haabees who have 'vile bile rise in their throat' because the warning page didn't provide 'adequate notice' (Well, what did he expect to find on a website that's called 'Cute Nude Dudes'?) can just avoid the exercise of visiting mvblogs. Cut the middle man."  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 3rd 2009

No Jokes In Islam! (Original / Archived)

"Q. How many Muslims does it take to change a light bulb? A. None. They prefer to stay in the dark and then blame it on the Jews."  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 6th 2009

Annoying Fan Mail! (Original / Archived)

"Stop sending me emails already! All right. I'm kidding. Well, a couple of readers have emailed me asking for the third installment of my 'Notes on Islam' series, as a part of my War on the Haabees. Now, I assure you all that it WILL be put up. I have collected enough material for a book - and how I'm going to narrow it all down to just 5 posts is completely beyond me. What do I write about next? The pathetic state of women in Islamic countries? The paranoia over 'Zionist media'? The Adhaalath and its epic stupidity? The growing intolerance in our traditionally liberal Maldives? The mindless zombies controlled by the Mullahs? The possibilities are endless. But right now, I'm a bit demotivated. As it happens, Jasmine's army of Haabees never showed up. The death threats have trickled down to zero. The anonymous 'you kaaffir pig!' kind of comments also seem to have reduced dramatically. In short, the Haabees don't seem to have much firepower after all. Just an imaginary sense of virtue and victory. The delusional 'warriors of Allah' seem to have fled when I decided to respond with facts."  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 11th 2009

Don't Even Think of Messing With My Freedom! (Original / Archived)

"I finally came across a named Fundie. Mauroof Hussain, a VP of the Adhaalath coterie, has put up a post warning against 'messing with Article 9 (Or any other article that he thinks 'safeguards' Islam) To say that his article was revolting, is to put it mildly. And apparently, only Heavenly ordained 'members' can post a comment on his blog. So I decided to post my views here. The first paragraph of his post read: Maldives is a Muslim country where every citizen is a Muslim by legal definition and Maldivians intend to keep it that way. There may be a few loonies who refuse to be citizens of Maldives by going out of the pale of Islam. It is their problem and 95% of Maldivians can’t care less if these people lose their ‘ rights’ (something they have voluntarily given up themselves!) WTF?! Who are these 95% of Maldivians that Mauroof is speaking for? His party, the Adhaalath, was given a humiliating defeat in the Elections by the Maldivians - and that DESPITE having a widely regarded person like Gasim running. The sad part of the statement is that the Maldives is a "Muslim" country where every citizen is a Muslim ONLY by legal definition. Then, he goes on to say about the new President, Anni that : It is reported that his election campaign was run by a former aide to London mayor Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party was also instrumental in securing funding for his campaign.’’ This is news to some of us. Very disturbing news if it is true. Disturbing news? The MDP taking help from people who actually KNOW a thing or two about Democracy is 'disturbing news'? You know what I think is disturbing news? The fact that the Adhaalath luna-fanatics are collecting OUR money (despite the severe shortage) and instead of handing them to an organization like the UN or IRCS that actually does humanitarian work, decide to hand them over to Hamas terrorists to buy weapons! OUR MONEY! To Terrorists! And there's not even a BAN ON THIS GROUP?!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 14th 2009

Dear God, Protect Me From Thy Followers! (Original / Archived)

"Every single religion has its own share of remarkable ingenuity and implausible scenarios, if we're to take them literally. Each man convinced that his own God is Supreme. Each faith strong in its belief that it alone is 'THE TRUTH'. Each religion with its own blood soaked history. Each with fanatics ready to kill and murder and maim in the name of what he believes is the 'true God'. Religion, with its associated violence, has resulted in more deaths than any famine or World War could manage. Every major strife, problem and chaos on Earth has its roots in religion - and its fanatic followers. How does one find so much belief in Religion so as to firmly accept one God and outright reject the other? So once again. Here's my Question : How do you KNOW for certain that your God is TRUE and the other is NOT? How does one know for certain that, say Yahweh is NOT God? How does one know that Allah is God?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 25th 2009

Have I renounced Islam? (Original / Archived)

"I'm getting more fan mail from the Haabees. Pieces of shit want to know if I'm an atheist. They inform me that I'm going to rot and burn in Hell not too long from now, when their ridiculous death threats are actually implemented. (Or when I 'burst into flames' just like that sinful Danish cartoonist guy. Perhaps I should start wearing flame-retardant clothing. Oh dear. :p ) Oh. And yes, have I 'renounced' Islam? Well. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it's really none of your goddamn business. I believe my readers (Yes. All three of you!) can go on leading perfectly normal lives without needing to be reassured whether this blogger subscribes to one religion or another. I shall not answer that question. I'm under no obligation to anyone to prove my faith or the lack of it. Keep guessing. But I do believe these are clear signs that the repressed-Gay Haabees (Thanks, DCJ) trolling the net these days suffer from a hideous inferiority complex. Their cowardice and absolutely pathetic insecurity about their own faith is precisely what drives them to go that extra hundred miles to 'prove' their devotion to God - by littering the blogosphere with junk comments and threats. Wonder when they'll get it. Most of us Maldivians don't give a shit about the opinions of the Adhaalath beardies or their terrorist brothers in Arabia."  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 17th 2009

Ban This. (Original / Archived)

"I don't think I can be disgusted anymore than I am right now. After a couple of hectic weeks of college work and personal tragedy, I returned to the blogosphere - only to find that the Taliban, under the supreme authority of prophet Abdul Baaree, seems to have finally taken over what used to be a free, liberal country called the Maldives. The Ministry of Jehadi Affairs has censored several Maldivian websites - including what appears to be an Islamic website - www.raajjeislam.com, some Maldivian Christian websites the highly readable Simon's blog (probably one of the most widely read blogs in the country) and a website probably run by schoolkids. Today, I've finally learned that Maldivians simply DO NOT DESERVE anything along the lines of democracy, freedom or rights. They demand to simply be kept in mental prisons, ruled by fear and intimidation. I thoroughly regret the election of Anni as the president of the Maldives. I regret ever having nursed a desire of living in a liberal, free democracy. I regret every minute of the entire 8 year long struggle that started in the guise of a 'democracy movement. I severely condemn the banning of the websites and the clampdown on free thought by the Adhaalath vermin. I condemn the president for subverting democracy by letting an extremist mob of terrorists like the Adhaalath (who, if I remember correctly, were given a thorough whipping by the Maldivian public in the first round of elections) clamp down on personal freedoms of my countrymen and women. To think that just a week ago, the President had made grand offers of making the Maldives a 'safe haven' for dissident writers. Which probably makes him the laughing stock of the world right now. And I'm ashamed of the mainstream Maldivian media and citizens for NOT finding the courage to stand up for justice as the bearded Mullahs trample all over our liberties with the impunity reserved for unthinking beasts. Yes, it was always clear to me that some bearded Arabs could sodomize the entire Maldivian population, and get away with it by doing it in the name of 'Islam'. That's exactly what has happened and it will continue to happen unless the Maldivians finally decide to overthrow the Taliban and return to the league of civilized countries. The Maldives days as a free country are numbered."  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 18th 2009

Ban the Adhaalath! (Original / Archived)

"I have just created a Facebook group called 'Ban the Adhaalath'. Freedom loving Maldivians, and Friends and well-wishers of Maldivians, may join this group to discuss ways of eliminating this medieval menace masquerading as 'religious sheikhs'. First off, how about a proper protest?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 28th 2009

One Religious Leader I DO approve of! (Original / Archived)

"Watching the Dalai Lama speak makes me wonder. It's easy to understand why my friends are the admirable human beings they are - they have such an inspiring figure to emulate and constantly reminding them to remain humble and smiling. (Equally, it explains the increasingly irritable, humor-less Maldivians. The recent spike in cases of pedophilia, terrorism and extremism also makes sense now, considering that we live under constant fear of Islam's copyright holders) All the Mullah beardies on TV, who constantly threaten us Dhivehin and 'Muslimun' with eternal damnation and hell-fire, really need to change their tactics and try get a sense of Humor before they can expect me to tune into their bullshit. I give the Dalai Lama a perfect 10 for humor! And he earns my respect and the well-deserved epithet 'His Holiness'."  -- Yameen Rasheed

April 28th 2009

'Islamic Culture' (Original / Archived)

"Then I've heard that Maldivians can no longer name their kids Dhivehi names. It has to be 'Arabic'. Of course, the local Mullah doesn't mind names like Salman or Firdaus - which aren't quite as Arabic as they are Persian. As long as it's not Dhivehi. How much more stupidity will the Mullahs shove down our throats in the name of religion? And how much more will gullible Dhivehin swallow willingly?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

May 14th 2009

The mandatory Elections post (Original / Archived)

"One would think that at the end of the Parliamentary elections in this "100% Muslim" country, the divine prophets of the Adhaalath party would have swept the polls with unbeatable margins of All to Nil. Unfortunately, the heretics in our country have rejected the Mullahs outright, denying them a single measly seat. This means only one thing. We are all going to hell. (And the parliament can function without at least one hairy camel-hugger occupying a chair. Ah!) I just hope Mullah Baaree bans the Elections Commission, and hopefully the Elections too. We didn't have none of these fancy Elections Commissions mumbo-jumbo back in the good ole' Prophet's era now, did we? How long before the Sheikhs pack their bags and leave our country? :p Even these thick-headed Mullahs ought to have realized by now that they have no clout in this country. Too bad they have their overgrown beards to hide their face... I'd like to have seen them now! ;-) Now, if only we could hold elections to decide who gets to give Friday sermons! [p.s. - I really need to get out of my Mullah fixation! Am giving them much too importance than they deserve... ouch. By next post! I promise!]"  -- Yameen Rasheed

May 15th 2009

Aargh! (Original / Archived)

"You know that thing I once wrote about really smart people being depressed all the time? Well, I've been smarting a lot lately - excuse the pun. I know all the crap about how it's important to 'fight' and 'struggle' to make a name for oneself in society. The No-Pain-No-Gain-A-Stitch-In-Time-Healthy-Wealthy-and-Wise bullshit. What's the whole point? I flip through TV channels and see all these politicians counting their numbers, pimping themselves for allies, lying through their teeth, haggling, arguing.. and trading in their own hypocrisy. For what? They're all just going to end up as wormfood... or just burn and mix in the air. Religion annoys me for the same reason. This Mullah, that priest... this community, that community.. majority, minority.. the whole goddamn politics stinks to the high heavens - if indeed, there is such a thing. Why can't the Ayatollahs and the Popes and the various sermon givers and holier-than-thou preachers just frikking SHUT UP and the world will be a much better place. The mundane routines, pointless existence, the petty 'issues' that people get worked up over.. the egos, the hypocrites.. the rules and restrictions and 'fights' and 'races' and 'struggles'... I'm just sick of 'em all. Aarrgh!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

June 17th 2009

I stink? YOU stink! (Original / Archived)

"The fundies in the Maldives have had a hard time lately. Their chosen prophets have suffered one humiliation after the other; They are being bombarded daily with examples of their utter backwardness and regressive mindset. Their feeble attempts at a defence do not pass the common sense stage. Their overt support for various terrorist groups across the middle east is being tested - with even Pakistan now pledging to wipe out the Taliban from their frontier provinces. Ridiculed, humiliated and forced into a corner, what do they do? That's right. Throw it right back at us, like immature kindergarteners. "  -- Yameen Rasheed

June 25th 2009

Maldivian Terrorists (Original / Archived)

"In a much welcome relief, after having to deal with a bunch of anonymous cowards (who issue equally anonymous Death Note fatwas to my inbox), I've finally found a proactive Islamist bigot. ;-) This one is not only bigoted and radical, but is proud of it. His sympathies lie entirely with terrorists and his justification lies solely in Islam - Exactly the kind of dude who wouldn't mind if you sodomized him, as long as you can find a relevant 'quote' from the Sunnah or Hadith. I guess it gives a thrill to people like these to somehow be associated with a 'war' waged by foreigners in a foreign country - a break from their otherwise mundane and meaningless existence in an idyllic place like the Maldives. Anyhow, are the Taliban, Al Qaeda and its associated terror network banned in the Maldives? If so, then DJ Majeed had better get his act together and try track track down the Terrorist sympathizers amongst the Maldivians. Wait. That'd be ironic."  -- Yameen Rasheed

July 9th 2009

Barely Maldivian: The First Day! (Original / Archived)

"Anyhow, the plane apparently ran out of fuel at some point just before it landed - and dropped almost vertically onto the runway, making for a not so comfortable landing. Later that night, my smarting ass was sitting in a smoke-filled coffee shop with a bunch of Dhivehi speaking chums. Here's the darnedest part about Dhivehi - I don't speak it. So there I was looking like a total retard/snob, frantically struggling to just keep up with the thread of conversation while maintaining an enviably serene, composed pose. (I would like to thank the academy.. ) In the end, I think I contributed about 4 sentences, that may or may not have anything to do with what my friends were talking. *Sigh* Some Maldivian I am. Oh, and I can't swim. Anyhow, first day in the Maldives was spent walking around the rather abandoned streets of the Capital. Second day, I'm out of things to do. What am I DOING HERE?!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

July 10th 2009

From Inside the Mosque (Original / Archived)

"A Friday in the Maldives is a funny thing. The entire male population of a country wakes up on this day to the sounds of Qur'anic recitations on TV and radio, and is somehow morally obliged to visit the local mosque to shake off the guilt of not having prayed the whole week. As for me, it had been quite some time since I'd been to a mosque. And I had absolutely nothing better to do. So I went. Lo! It was a sight to behold! The sparkling, clean mosque was crowded with newly rejuvenated Friday Muslims! A handful were dutifully attired in flowing white clothes, sure to attract the maximum sawaab in the 'Best-dressed worshipers' category. Others apparently couldn't care less and decided to show up in infidel attire (Surely, wearing an Iron Maiden bandana instead of a skull cap must irk someone up there?) I sat eagerly waiting for the sermon to begin, just to see who else has been lately forbidden from entering the kingdom of heaven. Just then I saw a most ghastly sight. A gentlemen in denim pants arrived with his little boy and sat right in front of me. The man started his ritual prayer, but his 4 year old - oh the devil incarnate! - was apparently mocking the whole sacred process! He stood up, knelt down, bowed and then - wait for it - lay down on the carpet! Then he rolled around, stood up, knelt and bowed again. Finally, he looked at his dad standing next to him and figured he was not doing it right after all. The he probably thought 'what the heck?' and went on doing right darn whatever he felt like. His ritual included pointing and gaping awestruck at the interior of the huge dome, swinging sideways and stretching both his hands over his head. It was by far the most spectacular display of bid'ah (innovation) I've ever seen. A couple of bearded men in my row were giving the little brat undisguised contemptuous looks, while the rest of us humans were quite amused. Then the sermon began. It was delivered in an unintelligible language that seemed to be neither Dhivehi nor Arabic. As a kid, I heard that during the sermon one must clear his/her mind of all impure thoughts. But looking around, I just saw people either yawning or nodding off. Some were twiddling their thumbs, others carefully observing their toes. "  -- Yameen Rasheed

July 14th 2009

Bipolar World (original / Archived)

"Oh! To live with the conflicting rages of Bipolarity! One moment you're happy as a bird, and the next minute reality changes. Nothing has changed, of course. Just your perception. It's the difference between night and day. The same earth - the same room - seems brighter, friendlier and more cheerful in the day. An inexplicable joy in everything. A song in the air. But then the night arrives, and fear and suspicion creep in. Monsters appear in the closet. The forgotten roaches and insects that have been there all along creep out of the woodwork. Everyone's out to get you. There's just no joy. The night is blackest, and the silence is just a muffled cry and pounding heart. Far far away scream. It's not a pleasant feeling to be numb and emotionally detached from your surroundings. All around you people are living happy lives. Lovers love. Builders build. Traders and Doctors and Lawyers and Engineers doing their routines.. acting their parts as bricks in a society you don't care about. One you want to tear down. If this is your world, why don't you feel a part of it? Why does everyone move on but you? Where are the others finding the satisfaction and joy that you don't feel? Why does everyone else get to define society? Why do you have to change - and adjust - and kill your identity to suit their wishes? Why is everyone strangling you? And then, the day breaks again.. the roaches hide, the questions disappear once more. Bliss and Happiness all over! Bless the bipolarity! Dammit."  -- Yameen Rasheed

July 26th 2009

A Note. (Original / Archived)

"Apologies to the Maldivian girl who got flogged and fainted, the women half-citizens, the non-Muslim Maldivians, the journalists, secularists, and the homosexual community of the Maldives. To the rest of you, Happy Independence Day! :-) Actually. Never mind."  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 3rd 2009

The Customs Scam (Original / Archived)

"A friend of mine had a difficult time recently when he arrived in the Maldives. Apparently, the Customs officials at the airport found some CDs in his bag and confiscated them.When he inquired, they told him it was to check the CDs for 'inappropriate content' (read: pornography). One would think they would be happy just confiscating dangerous items like weapons, drugs and bibles. But, clearly, that's not the case. He was told to collect his items from the 'censor board' office on a said date by producing a receipt. When no amount of protests worked, he finally gave in and left. Then, for whatever reasons, he was unable to collect his CDs from the office on the mentioned date and afterwards forgot about the whole thing for some time. Now here's the really messed up part. When he eventually remembered and showed up at the office with the receipt, they demanded that he pay a certain fine amount per CD, in order to get back his own CDs!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 6th 2009

Spare our Children from this Quack! (Original / Archived)

"I just had the misfortune of reading 'Dr' Mauroof Hussain's website. What is it with religious nuts and condoms? The pope and the christian Right in America are notoriously anti-abortionist and anti-condoms. In India, Hindu fanatics typically react with unhinged fury over condom adverts and sex education in schools. That's right. They have a one billion+ population and think sex is against their culture. But what really takes the biscuit is when, in a country with the world's largest HIV+ population, some religious loons dictate that sex-education and condoms are a bad idea. And in the Maldives, we now have "doctor" Mauroof Hussein, an Adhaalath politician, who's crapping his pants worrying that his children might get enlightened about safe sex. [I'm actually more concerned about what his son would gather from his father's website. It contains all sorts of blood-soaked war pictures and links to anti-Christian propaganda, and pro-Hamas webpages - but not a single useful or informative medical article] Clearly, the one thing that unites religious extremists of all faiths and denominations is their common universal arch-enemy: Reason. On what grounds do they oppose Safe sex, contraception, abortion, gay rights and sex education? Do they really think that keeping children steeped in ignorance is helping the situation?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 6th 2009

God Hates Women (Original / Archived)

"I'm a non-scholar, non-religious, non-sheikh nonentity, but I couldn't help thinking. a) God forbids women from seeking medical help from male doctors. b) God also forbids women from getting a basic education, thereby denying them any chance of ever becoming doctors themselves. c) If, by the evil infidels' satanic charms, they did somehow become doctors, God forbids them from working. [God should really just send down a woman-specific virus instead. But I'm guessing the black tent-cloth acts as a rather effective transmission barrier] d) In conclusion: God really, really hates Women. _ P.S.: Think I'll complete the Notes on Islam series after all. Come back later. Peace! And DIE, Women!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 11th 2009

Notes on Islam - 3 (Original / Archived)

"[I have received over a hundred comments, emails, praise, suggestions and death threats over this series. Which can only mean one thing - SOMEBODY is reading these long posts. That's a relief. Also, a lot of people wouldn't stop pestering me to write the next part. So finally, here it is. Another long summary] The Predicament Last November, "Sheikh" Fareed declared in a Friday sermon that women end up in hell for being inherently sinful. According to government statistics, out of 184 people sentenced to lashing for 'fornication', 146 were women. Either a disproportionately large section of our sexually-active population are promiscuous lesbians, or God just hates women. When a female reporter, Mariyam Omidi, wrote an article in Minivan News regarding this, the Adhaalath Ministry promptly issued her a custom-made threat warning 'outsiders' like her to 'respect the constitution' or face deportation. Recently, a Maldivian 'Imam' was arrested in Trivandrum, while trying to marry a minor girl. When 4 axe-wielding men gang-raped a minor in an island, the Mullah judge decided that it must have been consensual. (Minors cannot obtain driving licenses or vote in this country. But they can apparently consent to rape, according to mullah Islam) After announcing his verdict in a criminal court in June 2005, the chief Judge further enlightened us that "according to the Qur'an" women are 'deceptive' creatures.. The Maldivian woman continues to be far more literate, aware, socially active, educated, healthy and modern than her counterparts in say, India. But that is set to change soon, however, thanks to the arrival of Arab-Islamism and the advent of the 'Sheikhs'. Needless to say, women in other Muslim countries are even worse off. Recently, a woman was prosecuted in Sudan for detonating a nuk- sorry, err.. I mean WEARING PANTS. There isn't a more humiliating sight than seeing women in tents forced to walk 10 paces behind men on the streets in the middle east. Actually, there is. The images of the Taliban flogging hapless women in public is even more humiliating. And how do they defend this gender apartheid? That's right. Islam. The Mullah screams 'Islam!!' and *poof!* all dissent instantly vaporizes."  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 16th 2009

Important Declaration (Original / Archived)

"This is a notice for all the readers of this blog (especially those who disagree with me and are therefore clearly wrong) This isn't just a notice. This is hereby the LAW. I'm hereby announcing that - me being a liberal secularist - only liberal secularists will be henceforth allowed to disapprove, dissent or argue any issues raised in this blog with me. Others just aren't qualified. Also, since I don't have a beard (but only a small goatee) ONLY those commentators who don't have a beard but only a small goatee will be allowed to disagree with me. Anyone who doesn't agree with me is hereby banned from disagreeing with me - or bringing such a non-existent disagreement to public notice via comments or emails. This blogger also hereby announces that he agrees, in principle, that only drug abusers should be permitted to discuss drug abuse, only murderers must have an opinion on murder, only terrorists can debate on terror and only scholars can challenge scholars. That'll be all. ~Peace! Screw you."  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 17th 2009

Analysing Heaven (Original / Archived)

"By all accounts, heaven is the most wholly remarkable place to spend your after-life in. You'll be young forever, have endless sex and rivers of booze - not to mention the slutty babes. (Which means that either God listens to hip-hop, or heaven was designed by Snoop Dogg) I'll admit it sounds grand. But I, for one, am not going suicide bombin' the Jews just yet. Think about it. It ain't as sweet a deal as the brochure makes it out to be. Take the 72 virgins, for instance. 72 sure seems like awesome LOTS, considering how hard it is to land even one here on Earth. Except, you've been short-changed. How? Well, just assume you're going to live for a million years in the hereafter. Now divide that by 72. That's right. You'd be screwing the same damn wide-eyed houri for 14,000 years. (And she stops being a virgin after the first time!) Now multiply 14,000 by all eternity, and you'll realize you've got yourself a shitty deal. All the best spending your eternal life in monotonous misery. The whole 'virgin' thing creeps me out. What good is it if you're a 'hundred times more virile', if the hourlin are totally incompetent, awkward first timers? Remember all the dirty thoughts and fantasies you had about group orgies, pet fetishes and kinky sex? Good. Now write them all down neatly on a clean sheet of paper. Don't forget to number them! Done? Nice. Now rip it all to shreds and weep tears of blood. What you're holding is a list of things that are clearly forbidden in Heaven. (That's right. You'll never get to do any of those things! Ever!) If Ibn Khattab is to be believed, calling nicknames pisses off god. So you can also forget about getting her to call you 'Daddy'. Just when you think it cannot get any worse, it does. Ever wondered what it would be like when, every time you're just about to reach a massive climax, you hear a boner-shrinking, thunderous response 'Yes, my child?' Count me out."  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 26th 2009

Screw Zakat. We need MORE TV. (Original / Archived)

"The Adhaalath ministry has just stolen 2 millions of zakat money (meant for the poor and needy) - to start their own propaganda TV station devoted to religious bullshit. Fi Sabeelillah, my ass. Is there anything more shameful? Have Maldivians absolutely no self-respect left? Where is all the outrage? Where are the banners? Where are the protesters and those loudspeakers? On one hand, the government is NOT able to make ends meet. It has announced drastic pay cuts. By 2011, it intends to cut down its civil servants by HALF. Forget schools and infrastructure, the present government DOES NOT have the money to pay salaries. Faced with astronomic food prices, reduced salaries and a bleak economic future with no immediate respite, the average Maldivian is scraping the very bottom of his hand-to-mouth existence. And then this? 2 MILLION? Of zakat money? On a TV channel? Not on an orphanage, or a free kitchen, or other charity - but a self promoting TV channel? Really, Maldivians? Is there any clearer, more articulate way that Abdul Baaree could have said 'I PISS ON THE FACE OF GOD AND HIS PROPHET' during the holy month? Something tells me we deserve this humiliation. Have a nice time watching TVM2, when you're sitting home penniless and hungry by the end of the year. Screw Aneh Dhivehi Raajje. I'm renouncing my citizenship."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 1st 2009

Comment on Anni's Pledge (Original / Archived)

"I'm no Paul Krugman, but I feel I MUST make a comment here. I don't know which genius thought of this, but I'm concerned about the proposed downsizing of the civil service from the present 32,000 employees to about 18,000 over the next year. The government believes this will save about 2 billions every year, with which it intends to form a social security scheme 'to cater to the poor'. Their logic is this: Instead of spending 2 billions on those 16,000 employees, they could funnel the money towards taking care of the remaining 200,000 or so citizens. Just a minor problem there. 2 billions never "took care of" 200,000 citizens. Besides, the government seems to be assuming that these 16,000 employees dig a hole in the ground and bury their salaries in it every month. That's not how economies work."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 9th 2009

Book-lovers of the Maldives... Unite! (Original / Archived)

"Everytime I visit a bookshop in Malé, a little bit of me dies a horrid, painful death. The 'collection' available is usually smaller than what I have at home, and to top that, the prices are simply outrageous. (Your faith in humanity all but disappears when someone tries to sell you an year-old copy of the Reader's Digest at 4 times its cover price) The booksellers in the Maldives simply don't know how to please us book-lovers. So kids, let me give you some tips on what a REAL bookshop should look like."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 9th 2009

Recession Proof Maldivians (Original / Archived)

"Steamed fish, fried chicken, puddings, scented rice, watermelons, fresh juice, custards, pies, pizzas, sandwiches, dumplings, breads, vegetables, fruits, melons, short eats, cakes, pasta, salads, ice creams, sweet meats.. 'Fasting' in the Maldives is the equivalent of having massive wild orgies to celebrate abstinence. As Borat would say.. Niice! I like! So why doesn't the Divinity of Islamic Affairs raise a stink about the 30 days of binge-eating during what is supposed to be, "Islamically" at least, a month of abstinence? Oh no no. They know Maldivians too well to touch this with a 10 foot pole. Well. One aspect of our free-spending culture survives the Arab onslaught. Fi Sabeelillah!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 13th 2009

Some Mosques are more Equal (Original / Archived)

" Coming back to the sermon; It was a pleasure to listen. The Imam's one of those rare geniuses who seem to realize that the purpose of speaking into a microphone is that you don't have to shout anymore. He spoke calmly and clearly - showing remarkable confidence in amplifier technology and the mosque's sound system. I also appreciated that he didn't threaten me with hell-fire. Neither did he claim that women were going to hell, nor did he advise them to break their marriages. In fact, during the entire 40 minute sermon, he said absolutely nothing to piss me off. Instead, he was talking about piety, and concern for the poor. The importance of humility and living in harmony with one another. Love. Peace. Understanding... I half-suspect he was a hippie at some time. After the prayers, he welcomed everyone to break their fast at the mosque. I also learned from the Imam that the mosque also runs schools and colleges."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 14th 2009

Maldivians ARE True Christians! (original / Archived)

"No doubt about it, Maldivians are the world's truest Christians. We're far ahead of any western country; far ahead of even the Vatican. Heck, we Maldivians leave even the Pope in the pale when it comes to moving to passion and raptures at the mere sight of the Holy Cross. If only the Vatican knew... they'd probably anoint us all Catholics. Why am I uttering these blasphemies? Well, ask the Maldivian authorities who sincerely believe in the majestic sway of the Cross over Maldivians' fickle minds. A Maldivian teenager can wear offensive slogans, pornographic images and Satanist symbols on their T-shirts and walk freely in the Capital. (You've seen them too) But try walking in the streets wearing a Cross, and you'll make it about 10 steps before the Star-Force pounces on you and hauls away your Christian ass to jail. That's how much we believe in the power of the Crucifix. The mere sight of one can make us Christian."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 16th 2009

God Hates Vaccination. (Original / Archived)

"I recently learnt that some Maldivians are refusing to accept vaccinations, due to 'religious reasons'. To be more specific, they don't want to 'play God'. When God infects them with a virus or pox, they believe it's their religious duty to simply die. Nice. As Borat would say... "Hi Five!" :p I totally approve - and hereby openly proclaim my enthusiastic support of this viewpoint. Through this post, I also whole-heartedly endorse every Haabee's inalienable right to die and/or suffer for prolonged periods after contracting otherwise completely curable mild diseases. ;-) Anything else would be throwing a spanner into God's plan. It solves many of our problems at once, and it makes a darn lot of sense. After all, since religious folk so vehemently deny Evolution, it naturally follows that they absolutely should NOT take drugs for recently evolved strains of Influenza, like Swine Flu. Absolutely not. I demand that they should PRAY it away. That way, God's say in these matters is preserved, while his fastidious plans don't get foiled by those meddling western scientists and their inoculations. But why stop there? Along with vaccines, I demand a complete ban on all Aircraft and Ferry-boats. If God wanted us to fly, he would have given us wings."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 19th 2009

Sarcasm 101: How to spell IRONY. (Original / Archived)

"The other day I wrote a post about our national Cross fixation, and the Maldivian media's reverential fear of an old man in white hat. The post was meant to highlight what should have been common sense - that looking at a Cross does not make you a Christian anymore than looking at a stethoscope makes you a doctor. In other words, if just hearing the word "Christian" gets your knickers in a twist, then you're just a racist, insecure little twit who clearly didn't have enough oxygen during birth. I don't know if they were always that stupid, or made a special effort that day, but it appears at least one local Maldivian news site promptly 'banned' my 'Christian' blog feed from their website."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 20th 2009

Eid Message: Don't Tolerate. Accept. (Original / Archive) 

"If you ever find yourself at Connemara market in Trivandrum, do take the time to look around. There's the beautiful old St. Joseph's Cathedral with its red brick tower. Just a few meters away is the city's biggest mosque, the Juma Masjid. Sharing a compound wall with the Mosque is a Hindu temple dedicated to ganesha (a hindu god) The confluence of these three major Indian religions at that spot is steeped in in-your-face secular symbolism. Dig further, and you'll learn that the beautiful mosque, with all its huge domes and arabic calligraphy was designed by a devout hindu architect (who has incidentally built another 80 odd mosques) You'll also find that the Hindus bring offerings on Thursdays, the Muslims attend prayers on Fridays and the Christians congregate on Sundays - and the place has never seen a riot. The entire place feels like a giant One finger salute to the intolerant fanatics of the world."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 23rd 2009

Hiatus (Original / Archived)

"Remember that scene in Forrest Gump where Tom Hanks just starts running for no reason at all? He runs out of his frontyard and to the end of his street.. and then he runs some more."  -- Yameen Rasheed

October 14th 2009

Gayyoom (pbuh) (Original / Archived)

"Remember what they said about great Caesar? "Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?". But all that he got in his memory was the silly salad named after him. The Maldives - in its entire 100% Muslim glory - must do better to honor its greatest child. There simply shouldn't be any limit to what our glorious ex-president is entitled to. Some 300,000 in monthly income, immunity from the law, the right to remain (adamantly-) silent about his various misdemeanors apart, I believe there is much more that we can do to truly honor this living legend and dictator - even if we have to starve for it. It's not that we love Maldives less, but we love Gayyoom more."  -- Yameen Rasheed

October 20th 2009

Death Penalty for Justice (original / Archived)

"The point is that the outdated, impractical Shariah law system absolutely SHOULD NOT be implemented in the Maldives because: a) No matter what DJ Majeed thinks, this is no longer 650 AD, and we Maldivians are not medieval desert tribes. b) It is bullshit. There are always a handful of nutjobs who'll read my blog and scream 'Anti-Islam!' and 'deviating from God's Law!!'. Also, I bet my left nut that at least ONE of you is smirking to yourself right now thinking, 'YOU HERETIC PIG! EVEN UR AMERICAN GEORGE BUSH EXECUTED PEOPLE! READ WIKIPEDIA!! CHECK YOUR FACTS! LOL!' To be very sure - I'm not talking to them. I'm appealing to the rest of you who still have mildly functioning thinking faculties. Laws and legal systems are aimed at people and society, and must reflect the accepted social norms and realities of the day. Religious apologists would do well to stop acting as if the modern legal system condones rape, murder and theft. It does not. Modern law also prescribes a variety of well-defined punishments for the crimes of rape, murder, theft, etc. More importantly, Modern law recognizes and demands scientific, fool-proof evidence - making it possible to nail convicts even 20 and 30 years after a crime is committed."  -- Yameen Rasheed

October 28th 2009

The Dangerous Cat & Mouse Game. (Original / Archive)

"Has anybody ever wondered why extremists are so addicted to violence? Surely, there must be something that explains all that fascination for dynamite, guns, beheading and all sorts of explosions, right? Well, guess what. Uncle yaamyn has finally arrived at the ultimate answer to all that apparently inexplicable violence. Tom & Jerry. If my theory is right, then Tom cat and Jerry mouse are responsible for half the death and destruction in the world today. Sounds a little too far-fetched? Well, you're clearly not watching your religious advice on TV regularly. In the last week alone, at least three wise bearded men on one of TVM's many new religious advice programmes have explicitly mentioned the grave dangers posed by Tom & Jerry. Apparently, the cat-and-mouse duo can brainwash your impressionable kids into believing a whole lot of make-believe nonsense, unless you sit and spoil the cartoon for them by critically dissecting it in real time."  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 5th 2009

Speak Arabic or Die! (Original / Archived)

"Ever wondered how some of these 'scholars' seem to make so much sense even when they're talking utter rubbish? The other day, I was flipping through channels on my TV, when I came across something called a Peace TV. On it, the televangelist Zakir Naik was addressing what appeared to be a billion of his followers. Now, anybody who's heard of Zakir Naik knows of his penchant for using 'logical arguments'. Well, this time, he was 'logically' arguing why everyone should refer to the almighty as 'Allah' rather than the English word 'god'. The problem with using 'god' is this: you can apparently add letters to it -and doing this would completely change its meaning. For example, intoned the wise Zakir Naik, you could append the word 'god' with 'father'. Then it would read 'godfather', which is completely unacceptable, as it conveys a whole different meaning. Also, you could add 'dess' and make it 'goddess'. This would clearly be an epic disaster of tragic proportions. Furthermore, you could add 'less' to the word, and end up with another exceedingly scandalous abomination."  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 19th 2009

Deport the Islamic Foundation. Now. (Original / Archived)

"Now let's put things in perspective. Some group that calls themselves the 'Islamic Foundation' has called for the deportation of Mariyam Omidi, the Editor of Minivan News. And for some reason, this even made the news. It's surprising isn't it? On one hand, we have a journalist and editor of Minivan News (a news website that I admire for its position on religious extremism, the biggest cancer eating away at the Maldives today) On the other hand we have the extremists. This "Islamic Foundation", as the name makes quite obvious, is just another publicity-starved mob - out to milk the 'religion' thing for all its worth. They do no discernible service to Maldivians, do not promote any democratic values, do not approve of Dhivehin's social freedoms and now, they have just made clear their stance on our people's press freedom too. In short, they cannot stand the Maldivian way of life, hate our liberty and oppose our rights to express our thoughts in our own country. In doing so, they appear to be working more in the interests of their Arab cultural masters than of Maldivians. In other words, they're yet another group working overtime to turn our proud, free country into an Arab satellite state, just like the Adhaalathu and Jamiyyathul Salaf. As The Shadowrunner would say: Traitors! If it was upto you, who would you rather see deported? A lady who continues to do good work of bringing up issues that directly concern Maldivian's freedoms and society? Or a traitorous band of sexually-repressed Arab wannabes?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 23rd 2009

MPs: Enemies of the State. (Original / Archived)

"Our constitution already breaks a number of International covenants on Human Rights by denying non-Muslim Maldivians their most basic rights; the right to exist being most prominent among them. It's quite obvious that any such place of worship built in the Maldives would be exclusively for foreigners working and residing in the Maldives. This would seem like a basic courtesy, seeing as how we enjoy the same rights in THEIR countries. Every other 'Muslim' country in the world, after all, has churches, temples and synagogues in them. But we Maldivians have this slight problem of being more catholic than the Pope. So what if the Prophet himself allowed non-Muslims to live in peace? We gonna outdo him! Yet another ingenious move by our Mullah MPs to make us Maldivians look like dogs in a manger is the bill that sought to stop giving Ramzan bonuses and entitlements to non-Muslim workers (who work just as hard as anyone else) What message exactly are they trying to send the guests, laborers, workers and teachers who do good work in our country, and on whose hard work and money our people subsist on?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 27th 2009

Hitting the Blind Spot (Original / Archived)

"A cursory look around the blogosphere, and I see my reputation among religious nuts hasn't improved much. I'm accused, among other things, of 'blind hatred' towards Muslims and Islam. Of all the things one can honestly accuse me of, I can safely assure you that blindness isn't one of them. If I hate something, I have fully justified reasons behind it. If anything, I believe it's precisely because I refuse to play the Ostrich that I get accused of being 'blind'. I realize it's quite easy to be happy in the Maldives. The secret lies in being completely selfish and putting all your faith in God (read: blame everything on God) The secret is to be blind to others sufferings and to consider it 'Somebody Else's Problem'. I could, for instance, PRETEND that the Maldives is a 100% Sunni Muslim nation. But unfortunately, I cannot so blatantly lie to myself. I'm not blind. I have SEEN - and have MET - atheists, Christians and Buddhists among us Dhivehin. I KNOW these people exist. And seeing how our country doesn't grant its own children their most basic, legitimate rights, I could also very easily pretend that it's 'THEIR problem', not mine. But sadly, I cannot. My heart goes out to them. I refuse to accept that they - or anyone else - must align their thinking with the three top Adhaalathu clerics of the day just to continue living as citizens in their own country. In my mind that is grossly unfair and outrageous. This country belongs to ALL Dhivehin, not just those people who have meekly surrendered to the pseudo-Arab sheikhs. Then there's the gay fixation of the local Mullahs. It's amusing to me that they get so worked up over a letter written by someone else in somebody else's newspaper. (Put it this way: we all eat food everyday. But it's only the anorexics and the absolute gluttons who'd go nuts thinking about it.) Try as I might, my mind refuses to accept that gays are an abomination of God. I could try and PRETEND that all homosexuals are evil sodomites intentionally out to spite God. But I cannot. You see, I cannot be so intentionally blind. I have had gay and lesbian friends in college, including one girl who has since converted to Islam. Having lived among them, I found that homosexual people are as good or as bad as any of us. In fact, their sexual orientation didn't trouble me at all during all the time I have been with them. Sexual repression, of course, has been documented to lead to frustration and violence. "  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 1st 2009

Minarets Exposed! Nuts revealed! (Original / Archived)

"So there it is. Swiss right-wing lunatics waste money on an entire election campaign to ban an architectural appendage in the hopes of forever ending Islamist extremism (but which, as any brain-dead anesthetized jellyfish could point out, will do just the opposite) On the the other hand, Islamic extremists have connected this with the banning of the burqa in France, and declared the whole thing a western CIA jewspiracy to kill Islam and tarnish its peaceful image, thus requiring all peaceful Muslims to behead, burn and blow themselves up in protest. And thus, the intolerance cycle continues feeding off each other. Just WHO puts these incompetent, lunatic, religious extremists in charge of running the world? *sigh* If I were to read anything positive in all this, it is that fact that we liberals can still breathe easy in the knowledge that we don't hold the shit end of the IQ stick. ~Peace!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 8th 2009

Oh Crap. Yaamyn's blog is 4 years. (Original / Archived)

"Holy Effing F! My blog is 4 years old. Shit. Shit. Shit. Here's the story until now. My name is Yaamyn. I can barely speak Dhivehi. I cannot swim, do not smoke, do not have a girlfriend, do not like the taste of betel nuts, do not ride a motor bike, do not play football, do not sport an Afro, no longer own a fancy phone and have never caught a fish in my entire life. Nevertheless, through some obvious cock-up on sombody's part, I still proudly retain a Maldivian passport. Today marks 57 days since I arrived in the Maldives, making it the longest that I've ever been here. I'm trying hard to get used to the place and convince myself that THIS is home. (It's not easy, but I'm determined to get there) I started this blog at a time when the internet was a dark, hollow bark in a tree into which I could scream my thoughts and secrets and never hear about them ever again. It was a marvelous plan, and worked like a charm for 3 years. Then, almost overnight, some curious Maldivians stumbled on to my blog. And in turn, I was introduced to the vibrant Maldivian blogosphere. The internet stopped being the mysterious hollow in the bark, and became a loud drum that echoed my thoughts everywhere. And to everyone. Sometimes that's a great thing. And then, sometimes I see the sheer number of visitors going through my old, extremely personal posts where - as a reckless teenager - I ranted rants and named names. No good could possibly come out it. I'd originally vowed never to modify or delete any post on this blog - no matter how godawful and embarrassing they were. The blog was to act like an honest mirror of my thoughts that I could go back and read when I was 50 and extremely bored. But then, I never thought I'd get a thousand hits on a page either. It became a matter of protecting other people's privacy. It was a wrenching decision but, so long old posts, I'll never see you again. I hate myself. But as they say. C'est la vie! In the bargain, I have been labeled 'anti-Islamic', 'kafir', 'atheist pig' and so on. I have also got myself a fair share of death notes for being a liberal secularist. On this marvelous anniversary of supermassive cosmic significance, I would like to reiterate my stand. It's a wonderful thing to be a liberal. It's a wonderful thing to respect the rights of all humans to live with dignity in our country. It is a worthy cause to fight for the rights of the OTHER. It is a worthy fight to speak up for those who have no voice. It is a worthy dream to believe our country would one day grant all its citizens these rights. Finally, it makes a lot of sense in showing respect to earn respect. Doesn't it? Four Years. *sigh* Die, blog. Die! ~Peace!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 17th 2009

Small Fish in the Ocean (Original / Archived)

"Small Fish : Hello, Mr. Ocean! I've heard so much about y- Ocean: Shut up, roll up your sleeve and get to work. .. And so starts my career."  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 27th 2009

The Final Push

"Arrest me officer! For I have thunk! Well. It's finally happening. The much delayed climax; the final Arab push for a takeover of what was once a free, liberal and happy country known as the Maldives. It began innocuously enough - with some Egypt-educated Sheikhs coming and asserting their "knowledge" on an ancient country that had perfected its traditional folk Islam and island culture. Then, before we knew it, Maldivians started turning up in all sorts of vile places - in radical madrassas in Pakistan. In Al-Qaeda forums and videos. In terror attacks and 'martyrdom' and jihad camps. Our once free and liberated women have been sinking into mental slavery - slowly being pushed out of the picture and forced into seclusion behind a black veil as shameful objects to be kept hidden away from beastly male desires. Concubines. Female Genital Mutilation. Polygamy. Jihad. Fatwas. Death threats. Murder. Bomb blasts. Black veils. Camel meat. Big beards. Censorship. Intolerance. Fanaticism. And now this. The Jamiyyathul Salaf, a registered NGO (oh, who are we kidding?! Yet another hydra-head of the same pseudo-Arab monster that also includes the Adhaalathu party) has had a 6-month long intercourse with our beloved Ministry of Divine Affairs and produced their love child. The "Religious Unity Act" - the single most perverted and petty piece of legislation the Maldives has ever seen. It has been designed with the single-minded intention of permanently castrating all rational thinking in our country, and forever enslave its people to the merest whims of this band of traitorous, ignorant fools with self-proclaimed fanciful titles. The Bill, if passed (and it is likely to), will give the already too-powerful MoIA the powers to swoop on printing presses and bookshops and remove anything that is in conflict with their intellectually-handicapped version of Islam. The Bill, when passed, will give them the ‘authority’ to pluck out all scientific and rational pursuit from our school curriculum and replace them with rigid conformity to their narrow-minded backward ideology. This Bill, when passed, will give them overriding powers to BAN any voices in the media, print or online forums that still defend our basic social freedoms against their mindless bulldozing of anything that might displease their Arab cultural masters. It's shameful that this mental slavery is going to be imposed on a 3000-year old Dhivehi culture. It would be the ultimate tool to prey on foreign teachers, dissident bloggers, progressives, liberals and all thinkers who dare challenge the half divine God-sent passport-holders of Seykustan. The Bill also wants 'sentences' to be handed to those who "challenge God and Shariah". Well, you know what? That's ME they're talking about."  -- Yameen Rasheed

January 6th 2010

The Handsom Prophet (Original / Archived)

"It's official. Peace TV is fast replacing Maumoon-era TVM as my all-time favorite non-stop comedy channel. Remember those times when you surf through channels for hours, just *hoping* to come across something remotely entertaining? Well, I hit jackpot the other day. Apparently, what used to be a monotheistic faith called Islam has found a new God. I learnt this from Yasir Qadhi, a salafist televangelist, who was on air preaching about the Seerah (biography) of the Prophet. More specifically, he was trying to communicate what the prophet looked like 'physically'. Now, I don't want to reiterate my earlier suspicions about some of these beardies being repressed gays, but you just HAD to see this guy! He was half-bursting out of his pants in barely-concealed excitement while describing the Prophet's physical features. Now comes the really messed up part. The Prophet, as it turns out, was designed entirely in Goldilocks mode. i.e., He "wasn't too tall, but he wasn't too short either", also he "wasn't too fair, but then he wasn't too dark either". His hair "wasn't straight, but it wasn't too curly in any case". The way he was going, one would imagine that when it came to overall looks, the Prophet would be 'not quite a lady-killer, but not too shabby either. Fine chap, really' sort of guy. But no. As it turns out, the Prophet's apparently the 'most handsome man' to have ever walked the Earth. Um.. literally. The most handsome on Earth. Ever."  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 13th 2010

Rolling the Maldivian way! (Original / Archived)

"It's been 3 months and 27 days since I arrived in the Holy Islamic Sheikhdom of al-Maldives. If you can survive the nerve-grating sermons, warnings, and outright threats to your life and physical security (the wahhabi's idea of charming skeptics into their intellectually-handicapped version of Islam) - on every TV and radio station in town, then the lifestyle can actually grow on you. Having grown up in a free, secular country, I sometimes find the relentless indoctrination rather overwhelming. To be very clear, I have lived all my life in a free country, sharing a society with over 150 million other faithful Muslims, but never before have I come across the sort of inanity that is being promoted here."  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 15th 2010

The Maldives Guide: Fitting in. (Original / Archived)

"This is highly unusual, but I'm yet to receive my paycheck from either Mossad or CIA this week. So rest assured, this post will decidedly avoid all attempts to steal your faith, or change your sexual preferences. (Screw you CIA! I told you. No Pay, No Gay) No. I'll just take the time to spit out a few things about the Maldives. Things I learnt during my short stay here. Things I want you to know about. "  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 21st 2010

Who are the traitors? (Original / Archived)

"Today, Professor Yaamyn is going to teach you the difference between 'Opinion' and 'Treason'. This is in response to the oft-repeated comments made by a certain tribe, that the Maldivian constitution 'does not allow other religions', and thus, whoever 'tries to "impose" freedom of religion in this 100% Muslim country' should be convicted for treason. a. You cannot 'impose' freedom, douchebags. b. No, you cannot be convicted of treason for it, either. Let me prove it to you."  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 1st 2010

Alcohol (Original / Archived)

"Maldivians need to decide WHAT exactly it is they want. Now. I'm posting this one day after the government (once again) threw away a plan that would have helped our economy. Why? Because the Adhaalathu - a political prostitute of a party, with no support base, no seat in the parliament, nor any mandate of the Maldivian people, didn't feel like it. One wonders HOW, in a 'democratic' country, could such a thing happen. How does an elected government headed by the largest political party in the country spend so much time, money and effort on formulating an economic plan - and then just flush it down the toilet because some (unelected-) fanatic fools started grumbling? How does one Ministry of the government take up arms against another - and get away with it? Also, I would like to know WHAT exactly is the Adhaalathu party's economic plan? You see, if you call yourself a party, you also need to have some fiscal policies for the people. What is the Adhaalathu party's alternative plan to fix our economy and increase jobs and feed our people? Organizing a mass, ritual prayer? Throwing around leaflets? Blowing hot air into a megaphone? Blaming the Jews? More importantly, do they even HAVE a plan? I doubt it."  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 5th 2010

Contempt of the Court (Original / Archived)

"A man was found with 6 million under his pillow, and drugs in his backyard. The Maldivian court found nothing odd about the situation, and let him free. (Essentially telling the Police Intelligence unit, who has been on his trail for 6 patient months, to go screw itself upside down) In June 2005, a judge in a criminal court announced his verdict, but took the time to enlighten everyone in the court-room that Women-kind were 'deceptive' creatures. Says right there in the Holy Book, said the wise Owl. Another time, when a 12 year-old girl was gang-raped by four ax-wielding men, the supremely-wise judge ruled that it was 'consensual' sex. (FYI, your honor, in the rest of the civilized world, 'consensual' sex with 12-year olds automatically qualifies as statutory rape) On another occasion, a man was dragged to the court for 'blasphemy'. The judge apparently got him to recite the kalimah and - since the esteemed Court of law couldn't be burdened with such mundane tasks as deciding lawsuits - ordered that all further cases be taken to the newest arm of the Judiciary - the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. *sigh* I'm not saying that our appointed judges are morons.. no, wait. That's precisely what I'm saying. Once again, WHO appointed these clowns to the courts? I wouldn't let them judge a baking contest, much less hand over to them the critical responsibility of running the country's entire judiciary. As of now, the Maldivian judiciary is an embarrassment, and completely deserves not only our contempt, but also the strongest condemnation. If there's indeed such a pitiful lack of judges with minimal common sense, I suggest it's time we bring in a few more-capable (or at least, less-dysfunctional) judges from abroad. And if there aren't enough wise judges to go around, get Australia on the line and tell them to bring in some kangaroos to occupy our judicial high chairs. That way, at least, we could blame it on ACTUAL kangaroos. ~Peace!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 12th 2010

Adhaalathu pimps itself again (Original / Archived)

"The Adhaalathu party has always had a proven track record of prostituting itself for cheap publicity, but now it appears to be besting itself in its own game. If I remember correctly, this "party" of shrill monkeys was handed power on a plate by an overly generous MDP. The only good that came out of it is that we know for certain now that Evolution is a hoax. Furthermore, the un-evolved primates in the Ministry of Islamic Affairs have also made abundantly clear the consequences of handing over democratic power to people who have trouble grasping the most basic concepts of democracy, rights or freedom. The MoIA had a truly adventurous year of banning DJs, censoring websites, bringing in pedophilia-promoting 'scholars', revolting against its own government, trying to abuse funds for the poor to start a self-promoting 'Fi Sabeelillahi TV", indoctrinating the traditionally liberal Dhivehi people with their morally bankrupt, misogynist, pseudo-arab ideology.. .. and apparently, getting to do all this with total impunity has done wonders for the party's already massively-inflated ego. With the smugness of a Pharaoh at the end of an orgy, the Adhaalathu party has released a statement saying that it now believes that "no political party can run a government" without its support. Erm. Excuse me? The dairy farm called. It wants its bullshit back. Do the mighty Sheikhs need to be reminded that their joke of a "party" is still struggling to maintain minimum membership?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 18th 2009

An Open Letter to the President (Original / Archived)

"Mr. President, you are a man who has experienced police abuse, a man who has campaigned long and hard for our freedom, a man who has been incarcerated for being outspoken. You're a man who has faced political abuse of the worst kind. I believe, as many others believe, that this is the primary reason why you were elected. You were the face of rebellion. You were the face of OUR rebellion; the face of Maldivian people's desire for change. The Maldivian people overwhelmingly voted for you with the hopes that we would no longer have to cower in fear again when speaking our mind. Then why is it, Mr. President, that my country is still in shackles of fear? Imagine my dismay, Mr. President, when a source confided to me this morning that I'm 'being watched closely' by your police intelligence, as the writings on this blog offend the Taliban in your government. I want to know why you have embraced religious extremists in your government and abandoned us - the voters - who gave you your job in the first place? More seriously, why have you allowed political mullahs to abuse the police service to keep track of political dissidents and bloggers? Why am I still living in a sinister surveillance state, instead of that dream of a free 'Aneh Dhivehi Raajje' that you promised all of us? It irks me, as I'm sure it would many Maldivians, to think that there is a cop (probably reading this) who's being paid taxpayer's money to sit in a room and go through - and keep track of - random blogs that criticize the Mullahs in your government - and this, while there are violent criminals let loose on the street, stabbing journalists or anyone else at will. Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, whatever happened to your promise of making the Maldives a safe haven for dissident writers? You have openly welcomed Ms. Aung San Su Kyi to the Maldives, how about first allowing us Maldivians to express our views in our own country without being snooped upon? I want to know what you're doing against the spread of extremism in the country (not without a little help from your government), and the fact that today they are openly demanding that your wife, the First Lady Laila, be beheaded. That's right, Mr. President. These 'pious', 'religious', 'god-fearing' people want your wife's head. And my friend, Hilath's head. And Sappe's head. And soon, perhaps my head. And then, when the heads start rolling (I assure you, your Ministry of Islamic Affairs is fully equipped to do this) there'll be a lot of headless Maldivians pointing fingers at you. I have always been aware of the risks of speaking out against extremist clerics in a country that is rapidly, and forcibly, being made to bow down to their ideology - an ideology completely at odds with the traditional Maldivian way of life. It's a risk I chose to take. Beheadings and butchery. Bomb blasts and terrorism. Jihad.. violence.. bloodshed - these were not things we Maldivians were known for once, Mr. President. Dhivehin used to be a lot more liberal, easy going folk than this. We were never an intolerant nation, or a violent nation. But we're changing. A lot of secular minded, liberal Maldivians take offense at this, Mr. President. We do not wish to see our country listed among the terrorist breeding grounds of the world. Yet, our voices refuse to be heard, being drowned out by the voices on TV and Radio that call out for 'hanguraan' and 'jehad' and 'war'. The voice of reason and peace is being drowned in the cacophony of intolerance and the intimidation. But I'm proud to say, Mr. President, that today, fewer Maldivians are willing to keeping quiet. More and more Maldivians are coming out and openly challenging the Mullahs that you have so lovingly placed on a pedestal. More and more people are coming alive to the fact that the Mullahs - the so-called 'Sheikhs' - can be criticized, just like the time we realized that former President Gayyoom could also be criticized. Where there was once silence, I can hear a growing rumble of voices. Where there was once fear, I see a growing sense of rebellion. I am used to death threats, Mr. President. I have received them right from the time I first posted an article critical of fanatical extremists. When the Taliban in your government banned DJs in the capital, I found myself speaking out almost alone. Today, there are dozens of voices joining me. Tomorrow there'll be hundreds more speaking out against your regime's attempts to Talibanize this country. And some day, the resistance will be too much to bear - even with the surveillance, and spying, and intimidation from your government. You would know this, Mr. President. You are a living example of victory against all odds, and against the entire machinery of the state. The very fact that you're in power speaks volumes for the Maldivian desire for freedom. Of course, things might get much worse before they become better."  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 18th 2010

Conversation with Extremists (Original / Archived)

"Amusing as it sounds, there are actually people defending the recent death threats against certain people, including the First Lady. Here are the basic facts that can't be disputed. 1. An extremist blogger who swears by an ideology (which he thinks is Islam) has issued death threats against Hilath, Sappe and the First Lady of the Maldives. 2. The threats have been issued for religious reasons, meaning 'jibue' is a person who considers killing and murder as his religion. Now, there are two ways one could react to this. The first of course, is to condemn the threats and demand action against an obviously deranged blogger. The second, more unfortunate approach, is the one that several extremists in our country have chosen to take. Unable to swallow the bitter pill, they chose to invent a whole another universe in their head where Hilath did it all himself. (Yes, in their mildly conducting brains, Hilath apparently posted the threats on muraasil HIMSELF for reasons of popularity (?). The CIA may or may not be involved. In other words, the typical Zionist plot to blame the 'poor innocent Muslims', as usual. yawn.) The capability of extremists to delude themselves is stuff of legend. And hilarity."  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 24th 2010

Feminists. (Original / Archived)

"They HATE atheists, jews, christians, scientists, secularists, liberals, progressives etc. as an integral part of their 'faith'. Here's one more to add to the list: - Feminists."  -- Yameen Rasheed

April 13th 2010

A Crash Course in Women's Sexuality (Original / Archived)

"Ok. Unfortunately, I'm not a woman - But it's about time someone said this. Women have sex. Women enjoy sex. Women are sexual creatures. According to a wide-ranging survey I haven't carried out, 100% of all consensual (heterosexual-) sex involves a horny woman and a horny man. 100% of all pre-marital and extra-marital affairs, and orgies also involve sexually-willing women. Sex is not something a man does to a woman. It is something a man and a woman participates in together. Girls and women have carnal desires much like men do; and this is something one should have picked up from just EXISTING in a world full of sexual beings. Unfortunately, the hopelessly lost tribe of fake-Arabs currently wandering around in our coral islands seem unaware of this seemingly obvious fact. For them, sex is entirely a male thing. Women are just mere catalysts and sexual-aids designed miraculously to fulfill his physical urges. From the 4 wives on Earth to the 72 Hooraleen in Heaven, the fake-Arab's sexual yearnings seem to form the core of his existence, around which the Universe revolves - including women, food, prayer and society. For instance, Women need to pray at home, or in a curtained-off section in the rear basement of a mosque, so that the all-important Male doesn't get aroused, or be otherwise sexually inconvenienced during his prayer. The Woman needs to put up with polygamy so that the Male 'doesn't have to divorce her' after she has lost her looks and virginity. (It is a well known fact in the Arabian Desert that despite the protruding beer bellies and ugly baldness, men ALWAYS retain their good looks well into their deaths and after-lives. Only women lose their looks, apparently) His Naikness, the holy Naik brings sex into food as well. Apparently, if you eat pork, you swap sexual partners just like Pigs. (This is, of course, neither a Koranic nor scientific explanation. In fact, it is a blatant lie. But, if the beardie 'scholar' says so - facts and common sense be damned - he MUST be right!) Most importantly, Women need to be shrouded alive so that the Male can walk around without being 'forced' to rape anyone. (Elementary, my dear Watson. If chicken walked around in hijabs, there would be no KFC) What a load of misogynist crap!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

April 16th 2010

Ban the Adhaalath (Original / Archived)

"Zakir Naik : "All Muslims should be terrorists!" Ministry of Islamic Affairs : "Brilliant! Give this guy a medal! No! Invite him to the 'largest ever' program on Earth! TV spots! Radio! State funds! Give him anything he wants! What's that? Attention-whore, did you say? Call TVM dammit! Book the entire week's time slots at state expense! If he likes the Taliban, he is our friend! Boy! This is going to be *sweeet*! Now.. excuse me while I go pour some cold water over my privates!" Maldivian: "This is yet another reason to.. If you needed any more evidence that the extremists in the MoIA are determined to recruit terrorists for their masters, this is it. Join the call for peace. Click to visit the FB group -> Ban the Adhaalath. ~Peace!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 1st 2010

The Victim Complex (Original / Archived)

"Today's sermon was another stark reminder why Muslims will never make progress. I don't know if you heard it, but today's Friday Mullah Rant focused entirely on how 'some people' were spreading 'laadheenee' thoughts in public [Note: Criticizing Mullah = Laadheenee] - and how this was something that every 'true Muslim' must be worrying and fretting about. The rest of the sermon was translated by my brain as 'Oh noes! Poor Islam under attack again! Will nobody weep for us?! Boo hoo hoo!' ...which brings us to Professor Yaamyn's Topic-of-the-Day. ;-) Today, class, we shall discuss the biggest disease afflicting Muslim society today - the all-pervading, debilitating, Mullah-generating, utterly useless and omnipresent Persecution Complex. The other day, a weepy willow on Facebook asked me "Are you Muslim?!! If so, are you proud to belong to this great people?' It's the kind of pointless question that I normally refuse to answer - but in this case, the rider was irresistible. 'Are you proud to belong to this great people?' Frankly? No. I am not. Also, I refuse to accept that today's lethargic, unproductive mass of global Muslim population can be referred to as 'a great people'."  -- Yameen Rasheed

May 7th 2010

The Last Rites of Democracy (Original / Archived)

"So it finally happens. The Adhaalathu and Salaf's wet dream and bastard child of a 'religious unity' bill is upon us. The bill is exactly what one would expect from desert dwelling bedouins; a total clampdown on free thought, explicit restrictions on press-freedom, crushing of any chances of popular dissent, consolidation of all power in a single 'Ministry' run by medieval bigots, and of course - absolute, unfettered power to condemn and persecute any citizen of this country at their will. In short, it is a bill carefully crafted to turn this newly-formed democratic state into a thought-controlled theocracy run by simpletons. Just look at the provisions of the bill. The same retarded 'Ministry' that brings in quacks like Zakir Naik - and champions of pedophilia like Bilal Philips - will have the absolute authority to decide which foreign 'scholars' will be allowed to indoctrinate the Maldivian public. The Ministry will put together an 'advisory board' of its choice - and they will, in turn, 'advise' the Ministry on religious fatwas. (Brilliant plan, eh? The last time this happened was when the last dictator to rule us put together a parliament of his choice, and the parliament bolstered the President in return. That sure worked out for us, didn't it?) A 'Ministry' that repeatedly bastardizes our culture with their imported Arab bullcrap will now assume the role of 'protecting traditional values' of the Maldives. Right. Might as well hand over the Vatican to the Ayatollah. Then comes the part where the bill tramples all over the concept of human rights and free speech. To quote Minivan News: "it will be illegal to promote personal views on matters where there is a difference of opinion among scholars." Really? It will be ILLEGAL to promote personal views? The Ministry of Arabistan now is going to tell us Maldivians to shut up?! Now THEY are going to tell us what to think and what opinions to possess?! Opinions, by their very definition, always differ. That's why they're called 'Opinons'. If they didn't differ, they'd be called 'facts'. And FACTS state that neither Shaheem, nor Baaree, nor any other Mullah in the Arabistan Ministry is the Prophet or even the most pre-eminent scholars of Islam in the World."  -- Yameen Rasheed

May 9th 2010

All Honorable Men (Original / Archived)

"Free speech was my friend, faithful and just to me: My blog is ample evidence of how much the concept means to me. I shall miss the enlightenment and discussion that the freedom to blog brought to me. But Shaheem says the discussions on my blog are shaking Dhivehin's faith - and threatening his religion.. (and Shaheem is an honorable man) Freedom to criticize authority brought Dhivehin Human Rights; It brought a free media, Aneh Dhivehi Raajje, and democracy to the Maldives.. whose fruits Dhivehin enjoy today. Freedom to protest allowed us to beat back police oppression, and make them accountable.. and thus, today we no longer live in terror of them. When our rights were being trampled, and the constitution and law and government had united to oppress us, in Adduvas and Minivan did we protest, criticize and fight back. Did, at the time, criticism seem bad? But today Shaheem says that criticism leads to lack of unity - and Shaheem is an honorable man. When the masses were oppressed, when Anni was jailed, When Naraka Fareed's holy beard was being plucked out hair by hair, When pepper spray and shock batons broke our bones, We criticized. We rebelled. We aired our thoughts against every law in the country. Did it lead to disunity and evil back then? Yet Shaheem says differences in opinion is bad, and Shaheem is an honorable man."  -- Yameen Rasheed

May 14th 2010

The End. (Original / Archived)

"In a few days, the Maldives will embrace Adhalathism. It appears to me that Maldivians have given up their own rights - and willingly so. In the best, democratic spirit - I must say that I do vehemently disagree, but nevertheless I accept this decision. As a country, and as a people we have gotten exactly what we deserve. For the proponents of freedom, liberalism and national pride who have supported me throughout, THANK YOU. Thank you for the thousands of emails, comments, and all the encouragement you have given me. To the 3000 odd people who read all my posts regularly, I apologize for leaving the field. This is a battle for someone else. To the supporters of extremism in this country, congratulations. You have got what you wanted. May your grandchildren look back and lament on what you have "achieved". That should be punishment enough. I have no desire to be a martyr for free speech anymore. Until this country allows free speech, I am retiring this blog. ~Peace."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 26th 2010

Is it? (Original / Archived)

"Copy-pasted garbage. Nonsensical posts. A sea of salafi blogs that constantly regurgitates the same hateful jihadi horse-shit with nauseating frequency. Tired DRP-MDP cat-fights... The Maldivian blogosphere is dead, isn't it?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 28th 2010

Towards Secularism (Original / Archived)

"Hi. Those of you who follow this blog will remember that I had vowed to 'retire this blog'. In fact, my exact words were "I have no desire to be a martyr for free speech anymore. Until this country allows free speech, I am retiring this blog." Lamentably, the Maldives is yet to provide its citizens free speech, and yet here I am with another post. A lot has happened since the last post I made. a) First, the incident that shook me the most. A young Dhivehi man, endlessly harassed by his 'devout' family and "friends", decided to take the horrifying step of taking his own life. Words have a disappointing habit of cushioning the blow.. of diminishing the horror of the moment with mundane phrases like 'taking his own life'. Words cannot describe my feelings every time I see the ATC tower standing tall in the brightly lit airport island, across the black, gloomy sea. The young air traffic controller spent almost seven years of his life working there. And an eternity of seven excruciating minutes until his death. I can't help but retrace his last steps. It was early dawn and still very dark. He must have been reliving the terrible taunting. The harassment from colleagues. The forced 'counseling' by a certain "sheikh" Illiyaas of the 72 virgins fame. Any happy memories of his friends, girlfriend.. family a faded past that cannot be relived ever again. He must have looked up on the Internet how to make a noose. He must have spent a dazed evening finding a suitable rope to carry out the ghastly act. I shudder to think of his final thoughts, as he put his head through the garland of death.. and in one horrifying moment, kicked the chair. It's not that he didn't try to live. He tried desperately. "  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 7th 2010

Sheikhs, Lies and Videotapes (Original / Archived)

"Just last week, the state Minister for Islamic Affairs said that he 'does not believe' there are any Al-Qaeda terrorists in the country. To quote Minivan News: "Although stressing his belief that the country has no Al Qaeda-style organisations, the State Minister said it was important to counter and not give any opportunity for more radical, extreme forms of Islam to take root in the country." Aren't we glad to hear that? Not only are there no terrorist groups in the country, but this brave defender of the faith is right there on the frontlines to prevent radicals and extremists from ever taking root. In other words, Relax citizens! Everything is under control. Bruce Shaheem Wayne is on the job. But wait. What's this? Oh no. Wikileaks reports that in fact.., Al Qaeda IS very much active in the Maldives."  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 9th 2010

Attn: Maldives Police Service (Original / Archived)

"Dear Maldives Police Service, I know we have a love-hate relationship. And I know things have been hard recently for both of us. I sometimes find it hard to acknowledge it, but I do realize it is not your fault that your government is controlled by the Taliban. I understand it is your job to keep a tab on critics of your Wahhabi Ministry. So believe me. I absolutely, totally understand your need to snoop on my blog. Having said that, there are some lines that should never be crossed, and today you crossed it. I got a comment in my inbox today from a certain '[email protected]'. ""It is my right as a citizen to demand a secular state" go brother go! so finally the words are coming out from you. the real reason why you are back is clear. you write everything openly but you deny to your family saying that you're not against religion but against politicians. huh!! must salute your humanitarian.. you never raised concerns for victims of rapists or in fact no any other issue beyond the beard and sheiks. what a pity!" Now, that's a perfectly valid comment. I am charged with not raising concern for victims of rapists. (Unfortunately, this allegation is not true at all because I consider all sexual activities with children as rape of the worst kind - a rape of innocence. I have strongly condemned all pedophiles / pedophilia-promoting sheikhs in the past. One Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips comes strongly to my mind) I also understand that msathyh is probably not the most technically competent person alive. Being a police media official, however, she should ideally be familiar with the concept of a Google search. I understand that the Police Service has better things to do with its funds (like snooping on bloggers, for instance) than to train its officials in basic life skills. So, me being the kindly nice person I am, let me present a Free Tutorial for msathyh, and any other police official denied such basic training."  -- Yameen Rasheed

January 26th 2011

Before you kill me... (Original / Archived)

"My anonymous death threat count went up again. The latest one follows an article published on Minivan News. (By God, the best article written in the history of random chance, repeated mutations and brutal genetic selection! Do read it.) The sinister comments were, as usual, characterized by trademark hilarity and merciless rape of logic. Islam-Hasan on Sun, 23rd Jan 2011 8:17 PM "He is a real atheist he should be head chop. His main aim in this article is very clear that he trying to convenience Christian religion." Let’s go over that statement one more time: I'm a "real atheist" who's trying to "convenience Christian religion" (?!!) and therefore, naturally, I "should be head chop". You can't make this stuff up. Also, "head chop" has instantly shot to the top of my all-time favourite rib-tickling fundie phrases right after "do gay with hilath"."  -- Yameen Rasheed

February 19th 2011

Comparative Religion (Original / Archived)

"My old friend Shaheem gave an interesting interview today. It seems the former State Minister of Islamic Affairs wants the recently instituted Maldives National University to teach 'comparative religion' - i.e., the study of religions other than Islam. In what would certainly have come as shocking news to many of his followers, he said that the mere knowledge of other religions doesn't automatically make one a non-Muslim. That is all very well and good - You all know how enthusiastic I am about opening up broader avenues of information for all Maldivians. Understanding other faiths, religions and customs would go a long way in reducing the terrible national paranoia that grips the Maldives today. You might remember Shaheem as the guy pushing to enforce the Religious Unity Regulations drafted by his ministry some months ago. So pardon me when I say I'm more than a little bit skeptical when he mentions 'Freedom of Expression' and 'Human Rights'. To recollect some of the clauses of those regulations: (27) (Prohibited Activities) Talking about religions other than Islam in Maldives, and propagating such religions. (27) (Prohibited Activities) Talking about the culture and traditions of other religions in a way that aims to coerce a person’s mind to favour those religions; or any attempts to create such a spirit amongst the people. (30) - It is illegal in Maldives to use any kind of medium to propagate any religion other than Islam; such media shall not be used to share or exchange information that may stir interest in any other religion. (31) - In Maldives, it is illegal to translate into Dhivehi, books or various other sources of information on other religions, and print, distribute or spread such material. (36) (a) It is illegal to provide education on any religion other than Islam anywhere in Maldives. In fact, it is hard to find a single clause in the entire document that wasn't a clear clampdown on independent thinking, research, free inquiry or free thought - all of which are absolutely crucial for any meaningful pursuit of knowledge."  -- Yameen Rasheed

March 30th 2011

Politics and Religion (Original / Archived / Archived full article on Minivannews)

"On the walls of Cairo, posters signed by the Muslim Brotherhood were put up declaring that it was the ‘spiritual obligation’ for all Muslims to vote in favour of the referendum, which many believe gives the Brotherhood – the only organised opposition – a strong edge in short term elections. It is an outcome that many secular Egyptians, and the large Coptic Christian minority in Egypt are loathe to see. In each of those posters lies one of the most crucial questions of our times – can democracy survive under the shadow of Islamism?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

April 11th 2011

Doublethink Culture (Original / Archived / Archived Full Article on Minivannews)

"The national doublethink is no doubt helped by the country’s dramatic swing from a heady, westernised disco-era to a rigidly conservative religious society almost overnight. The 2008 Maldivian constitution forbids any law or regulation that contradicts loosely defined ‘tenets of Islam’. In May 2010, the Maldivian government invited salafi preacher Zakir Naik who, during a heavily promoted lecture televised on prime-time national television, proclaimed to a gathered audience of ten-thousand, that income made from tourism was ‘haraam’. But as recently as last week, the President of the Republic, Mohamed Nasheed, reiterated that the tourism industry – fueled by alcohol and, as the Mullah prefers to put it, ‘fornication’ – is the mainstay of the country’s economy that must be safeguarded at all costs. The easily inflammable pseudo-religious groups that assemble on the streets at a moment’s notice to protest against everything from news editors to co-education, gathered in in late 2009 to protest against the restricted sale of alcohol in ‘inhabited’ islands. Nevertheless, their screeching rhetoric against the sale of alcohol in the capital was in stark contrast to their meek acceptance of the availability of alcohol on the adjacent airport just five minutes away. It could also be contrasted with their monk-like silence on the widespread child abuse and pedophilia, reports of which have hit local media with alarming frequency throughout the past year. The same government alternatively claims that tourism is haraam and absolutely vital. The same television channel that plays music throughout the day also airs religious programs that proclaim music is forbidden. The same school that teaches that bank interest is forbidden in Islam also teaches students modern banking, and how to calculate interest. The effect of this national doublethink on the young Maldivian democracy is a cause for concern. Citizens who have given up the intellectual tools of reasoning have also inadvertently given up their ability to choose, leaving the country vulnerable to either sliding back into a dictatorship, or morphing into a theocracy."  -- Yameen Rasheed

May 2nd 2011

Shariah not a solution (Original / Archived / Archived full article on Minivannews)

"Yesterday, the Adhaalath party organised a large rally at the tsunami monument in Male’, to demand the implementation of Islamic Shariah in the Maldives. The party was joined by “hundreds” of pseudo-religious NGOs whi lent their collective voice to the clamour for Shariah, supposedly an antidote to ‘murder, violent assaults, robbery, rape and drug abuse’ in the country. “The whole nation is threatened and institutions have failed,” the party said in a statement. The ‘only solution’, according to large banners put up across Male’, is Islamic Shariah. What the Adhaalath Party and its friends fail to mention here is that by ‘Islamic Shariah’, they’re referring to a single interpretation of Shariah suitable to their rigid world-view – a minority opinion among the world’s many Muslim schools of thought that all hold different views of Shariah."  -- Yameen Rasheed

May 25th 2011

Dead babies do not like (ORIGINAL / ARCHIVED / ARCHIVED FULL ARTICLE ON MINIVANNEWS)

"The decomposing corpse of a dead baby was found in a polythene bag, in the park near the mosque in Hulhumale’ yesterday. The baby was possibly strangled to death by an underwear wrung tightly around its frail neck. Two days ago, a three month old foetus was found discarded in a tin can, hidden in the bushes on the adjacent island of Vilingili. Earlier this month, the corpse of another foetus was found underwater at the swimming track in Male’, with cuts and wounds to its head and limbs. Just a few months ago, yet another baby was found – still breathing – abandoned near a cell phone tower in Hulhumale. Much has been written about the apparent increase in such cases, and the need to bring the perpetrators to justice. But even as the tide of outrage swells and recedes with each breaking story of a dead or mutilated baby found abandoned in the islands, there is the issue at the heart of the matter that the worthy, indignant citizens have yet to address. Dhivehi social attitudes, dictated by religious mores that lay greater stress on appearances and labels than on any visible code of conduct or value system, have created a society where pre-marital and extra-marital sex is widely prevalent and tolerated, but open discussions on contraception and sex-education is still taboo."  -- Yameen Rasheed

May 27th 2011

It's going to be fine! (Original / Archived)

"Meanwhile, the woman didn't seem to notice that her younger hunter-gatherer son had crawled into the tiny, dark and dirty space between the legs of a tetrapod near the edge of the water, with a wave rapidly approaching from the distance. Or more likely, she didn't give a damn – because the lady then proceeded to place her two year old girl over the wall, to play by herself on the hard, reclaimed sand full of sharp pebbles and broken coral stones. My friend and I watched astonished (she could barely get past the first sentence of her sorrowful narrative thanks to the boys, and had long given up trying) as the five year old miraculously avoided drowning by emerging from his tiny, dirty alcove in just the nick of time, holding a large crab. The mom gazed serenely in the golden sunset, as her three little children trampled all over Nature's carefully laid plans, cheating death and defying disability as they frolicked around on slippery concrete slopes, clawed creatures and razor sharp stones. Only once did she flinch and let the word escape her lips, “Careful!” The young girl giggled. The eldest boy waved charmingly to his mother, reassuring her with his most sincere, pleading eyes. “It's all right, Mum!”, he said, “I'm going to be fine!” “Really! I'm going to be fine!”"  -- Yameen Rasheed

June 6th 2011

Escape (Original / Archived)

"More than anything, a man craves inner peace and shelter. After nearly two years in the Maldives, I don't feel I'm closer to either. Often, there's the urge to leave it all behind - and reduce life to its lowest terms: No possessions, no property, no trivial pursuits of pointless material pleasures and to free oneself from the burdens of relationships and social entanglement. Maybe it'd suck, maybe it won't. But that's beside the point. Nobody has managed to capture this thought quite like Henry Thoreau: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." I have a few things to see to, before I can actually jump ship. But every time I feel lonely or alone, I find a bit of me dreaming of the moment."  -- Yameen

June 11th 2011

The Israel Hypocrisy (ORIGINAL / ARCHIVED / ARCHIVED FULL ARTICLE ON MINIVANNEWS)

"On Monday June 6 the Adhaalath Party released an ominous statement claiming that allowing the Israeli national carrier El Al to fly to the Maldives is “a threat” to the country’s economy and statehood. Maldivian authorities have announced that the airline could begin operations in December this year. In a valiant effort to shoulder the unwieldy burden of speaking for the 1400-year old Islamic faith, the Adhaalath Party has responded to the news by threatening “nationwide protests”, exhorting citizens “who love their religion” to join them. It has become absurd theatre to watch the Mullah reach for the raw teats of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and milk the tragedy for all it is worth."  -- Yameen Rasheed

June 20th 2011

No, you don't. (ORIGINAL / ARCHIVED)

"There's a strange phenomenon occurring in the Maldive inter-webs that I cannot explain. For some reason, a lot of people appear to be commenting on the Internet lately, brimming with “inside information” about me. They usually start off right away with “I know him very well” - thus establishing that they're intimately familiar with me personally – then, with all the credibility of an anonymous Internet comment, proceed to narrate fascinating trivia about me that I'm often yet to discover myself. This isn't exactly new, of course. After all, people have in the past mysteriously recollected having coffee with me where I was “openly” dissing their religion - along with a bunch of other people. The problem is, I've never even met some of these alleged co-conspirators in real life. Another time, I got a panic-stricken call from a relative who'd just heard that I was "taken away" the previous night for “interrogation”. Just go over that in your head. Someone somewhere felt an inexplicable compulsion to invent a story that went something like “yaamyn was taken to the cops last night for interrogation”. It boggles the mind. Much more recently, I received information that I have also been busy hacking into Police servers.(WTF?) Then there's the guy with the anonymous “News” website, ("adducommunity", was it?) who is privy to “inside information” that I mingle with the upper echelons of the ruling party – and considered this worth publishing as a story as well. An anonymous commentator on Minivan News, who also miraculously “knows me”, confirmed that I am actually 'an innocent boy' – it was, in fact, “evil” Minivan News Corp that was at fault. Apparently, they were 'tricking' me into writing. Oh, poor me, then. In another anonymous comment published by Minivan, one genius “knew” that I was yaamyn the blogger who, apart from his day job as programmer (and night time crime fighting duties-), also finds the time to write, produce and animate an entire TV series - resulting in the Maakana show producer, my namesake, complaining of getting harassed. Detective “heck” then appeared on the scene to connect the dots and add 2+2 to end up with an absolutely fascinating conspiracy, and unearthed the unholy nexus connecting me straight to the President of the Republic. "  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 5th 2011

Maldivian Journalists. Screw you. (Original / Archived)

"I have always believed there are two things that'll ultimately bring about the downfall of our hard-won democracy - a broken education system, and an utterly incompetent media. Reading Dhona's blog today about her harrowing experience at MNBC brings back this old lament - why oh why can't the Maldives have proper journalists? Dhona writes about the MNBC, "...most journalists highlighted facts only to give some structure to their own opinions. One thing I was clear of that most Mnbc journalists could not separate opinions from facts" - which sounds exactly right. It corroborates perfectly with anecdotes I've heard from my friends in the media. Now, the media's lack of spine was understandable during the Gayoom regime, where the occasional publication that strayed into any controversy found itself shut down, and their editorial team behind bars. But given the constitutionally guaranteed press freedom in the last few years, the media's pitiful performance is plainly unforgivable. It appears that a lot of this has to do with the old guard retaining their place - the same lackeys who were subservient propagandists for the Gayoom regime now occupy power positions in media organizations, and keep crowing about their new found love for journalism. I am told that even when newbie journalists attempt to put out a decent, balanced story - the higher ups in the established media rewrite/censor it in a manner most conducive to their present interests. Misinformation is rampant - even if it is done by subtle tricks of omission. For instance, one former Haveeru journalist revealed to me the practice of the paper dutifully reporting news wire stories of dead Palestinians, but simultaneously ignoring cables about Israeli casualties - presumably because it didn't neatly fit into the narrative that has been presented to Maldivians for decades. Even a deaf, blind man would gag on the nauseating commentary on DhiTV - a TV channel that exists purely for opposition propaganda purposes, while pretending to be a "news" station."  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 7th 2011

On Patriotism. And cheap footwear. (Original / Archived)

"As it turns out, it isn't 1995 anymore, and wearing cheap, nylon/rubber slippers is no longer considered 'cool'. Now, I don't usually mind appearing uncool. I even carry a heavily scratched Nokia flashlight with an antenna and a number pad as a 'phone' - this, in a town where every high-school dropout who can spell his name insists on carrying the latest iPhone. But the resistance to my choice of footwear was simply overwhelming. Everyone, from relatives to people I'd just met on the street, seemed to want to comment on it. "What happened to your sandals?" Um. I broke the last one. A couple of weeks ago. "So... why are you in a 'fen faaivaan'? Er. What about them? "Well, it's a fen faaivaan, to begin with" "What. they're comfortable!" "Maybe, but nobody wears those things, you know." But.. I. [defeat] Apparently, it was so noticeable that people would identify me in a small crowd as 'that guy wearing a fen faaivaan', instead of something seemingly far more obvious like "that guy in a grey T-Shirt', or 'that guy who's two heads taller than everybody else in the vicinity'. The constant nagging was admittedly a heavy price to pay for my cheap footwear."  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 15th 2011

Hate-mongering in Maldivian mosques (Original / Archive)

""Never! Not today! Not even on Judgment day! Never will the treacherous Jews or Christians have any goodwill towards you; having relations with them can never benefit a single Muslim!" This piece of anti-semitic trash was playing from the loud speakers of the Islamic Center in Malé - the country's largest mosque - while I was passing by it recently after work. It was one of those daily 'religious sermons' organized for Ramadan - unless I'm mistaken and it was simply an innocent gathering trying to translate a Bin Laden tape for some reason. The mullah's message for the holy month seems to be the same as always."  -- Yameen Rasheed

August 17th 2011

Religious Persecution in the Maldives (Original / Archived)

"Woah, lookie here what I found! Once again, a delegation from the Maldives had to face a UN Panel regarding the government's efforts to eliminate racial and religious discrimination. And once again, the spin masters in the Government have resorted to the same old, time-tested, two-faced approach of white-washing the institutionalized racism and repression of minorities at home, and presenting a sunshine and daffodils picture to the outside world. For years, the Maldives has officially pleaded that we are a 'special' case, and therefore rampant persecution of religious minorities in the Maldives should not matter to anyone, and open abuse of basic human rights in this country can be safely ignored. From the initial UN report: "the position of the Government had been to deny the existence of racial discrimination in the country as the Maldives has a small homogenous population.. and the people are of the same origin, pursue the same religion (Islam) and speak the same language (Dhivehi)... We enjoy the same songs, order the same soup, have the same DNA, share the same shoe size.. This argument is extremely offensive, because it suggests that Ismail Mohamed Didi, the young atheist Maldivian, who was driven to suicide last year after long-term harassment by family, friends, workplace and State religious authorities, was not really discriminated against, per se. Heavens no! He just randomly chose to hang himself by the neck from the ATC tower early one dawn. It is disgraceful that the MDP government is also resorting to this bizarre 'we're special and therefore exempt from practicing human rights' argument, by perpetuating the tired old Gayoom myth of a 'unique 100% Muslim society'. Let's be very clear on one thing. The Maldives is NOT a 100% Muslim country. It never was, and never will be. There's no nation in the history of civilization that has achieved a '100%' uniformity in any ideology - simply because it is statistically impossible for a sizable society of thinking humans to all agree on the same idea at any given point. In fact, the very concept of democracy firmly rests on this basic assumption that humans inherently have differences of opinion, and possess the ability to freely change this opinion. Without this free will and the right to an independent opinion, democracy is utterly meaningless. Forget democracy. Free will is the reason why Islam itself has so many schools of thought - because thinking people at various points of history arrived at different conclusions regarding religion and morality, and other thinking people chose to agree or disagree with them."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 15th 2011

Self-hating Maldivian (Original / Archived)

"I usually try to avoid speaking ill of Maldivians – in case I come across as some kind of elitist snob who’s too good for his own country. As it happens, I love my country. I’m absolutely fascinated by its culture, love the sound of bodu beru, curse myself for my inability to speak, read and write perfect Dhivehi (yet), and am exceedingly proud of my identity as a mahl. In fact, I tend to think of myself as just slightly on the ultra-nationalistic side - and have on occasion quite literally considered adopting the traditional Maldivian sarong as my chosen attire. Regular readers would also know of my love for the traditional fen faivaan. They would also recollect that my first ever Op-Ed piece for a newspaper was titled ‘An Identity for Maldivians’ – lamenting the lack of respect we have for our own cultural heritage. While I quite agree with most of my humanist friends that land borders that divide us into countries are often mere, meaningless imaginary lines - I also think that nationhood is decided more than by just imaginary geographical boundaries, but by a sum of a lot of shared history, values and unique cultural traits that bind us together, and I love that. I appreciate it when some restaurants make their waiters adopt traditional Maldivian style clothing. I love to see women in the traditional, floral dhigu hedhun and libaas; love to see the giant National flag proudly unfurled in the Republican square on a windy day, and I have an insatiable appetite for traditional Maldivian folklore. And I assure you, there’s not a single soul in the country prouder than I am when our President gives a giant one-finger salute to the Mullahs, and goes ahead with his bodu beru dance routine."  -- Yameen Rasheed

September 18th 2011

The Right to Remain Silent (Original / Archived / Archived full article on Minivannews )

"When a non-Muslim man publicly declared his disbelief in religion at a well-attended public lecture by Dr Zakir Naik in May 2010, the preacher on stage reacted with wide-eyed surprise and told his audience he was told the Maldives was a ‘100% Muslim’ society. Now that he knew better, he corrected the statistic to “100% minus 1”. The new statistic did not sit well with certain local Islamist NGOs and by day break there was already a press release demanding the man’s death, failing immediate repentance. After a couple of days of national pandemonium, with multiple online groups demanding the apostate’s murder, order was finally restored when the man publicly declared his faith in Islam and apologised for the “agony” he had caused. However, this delicate balance would be upset again less than two months later when another non-Muslim Maldivian, 25 year old Ismail Mohamed Didi, was discovered hanging from the ATC tower of Male’ International airport. There was a swell of outrage – not because a young man was driven to suicide – but because news websites had published emails he’d sent to aid agencies shortly before his death. Other reactions were even more confounding, with some even suggesting that the whole thing was a devious plot by “enemies of Islam” to undermine National Security – what other motive could possibly have led him to choose to so publicly hang himself from an airport tower? Maybe it was because he had worked there for seven years? Maybe he was unable to handle the combined stigma of an internal workplace investigation, and ostracism by friends and family after he – in his own words – ‘foolishly admitted’ his non-religious views to his friends? Perhaps he thought his life in the Maldives was worthless and devoid of any value if he did not keep paying lip service to a belief he did not feel? Perhaps he should have just exercised his right to remain silent. But he didn’t, and the sacred statistic tragically changed to ‘100% Muslim minus one dead man’. Then in August 2011, reports emerged of a Maldivian girl in a southern atoll who professed to be non-Muslim, once again changing the statistic to ‘100% Muslim minus one dead man, and one deviant girl’."  -- Yameen Rasheed

October 6th 2011

The Humiliation of Fareed (Original / Archived)

"When the Religious Unity regulations turned out to be an anti-climax - with what was supposed to be the Adhalaath party's grand strategy to forever rule the country becoming, instead, a restraining order of sorts - the Mullahs reacted with fury. The Islamic Foundation of the Maldives's favorite speaker, the Jew-bashing, misogynist Mullah Fareed bravely stepped on a prime time MNBC One TV debate show to tear down the regulations, armed with his usual theatrics and bravado... ... only to have his ass handed to him by Ibra, who was defending the regulations. The lesson to IFM is this: Never send a fanatic to debate an academic, or he'll end up looking as ridiculous as Fareed in the below videos."  -- Yameen Rasheed

October 17th 2011

DhiTV fails at Science, Reporting (Original / Archived)

"Misinformation is a plague. Tonight, DhiTV reported that a Swedish "scientist" had made an announcement at a conference in India that suggests Anni was lying about climate change and the threat of sea-level rise. The reporter then plunged into a long report about how 'scientists' now claimed that it is proven beyond doubt that sea-levels are not rising in the Indian Ocean, and if anything, it was actually receding causing islands to grow in size. Resorting to the time tested use of clever weasel words, the report also helpfully added that "some people" were now claiming that President Nasheed was only making these tall claims abroad to boost his personal image. What DhiTV failed to mention was that Nils-Axel Mörner, the said "Swedish Scientist", is a known climate-change denialist - and has been thoroughly discredited by the mainstream scientific community."  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 9th 2011

Sun Online feels threatened by Jesus (Original / Archived)

"A Sun Online magazine report I read today suggests that at least one of its reporters has begun seeing Jesus Christ in SAARC promotional posters hung at airports and other public spots around the country. According to the report, images of Jesus were accompanied by the slogan "building burijus", which is no doubt some kind of secret, subliminal Zionist code for leading pious Maldivians astray. Being a responsible news media, Sun Online protects its readers from Jesus by publishing a poor quality photograph of the offending banner clumsily placed on one side (which I have reproduced here cropped and rotated 90° in Paint, out of concern for your necks) This might seem funny to my average reader, but I assure you this is no laughing matter. As I have previously pointed out on this blog, Maldivians are perhaps the world's truest Christians - being the only population in the world that is seemingly just one visual stimulus away from dropping their Islamic pretenses and following in the path of Jesus, their Lord and Saviour."  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 19th 2011 

Censorship again. (Original / Archived)

"The other day, I alerted Hilath that his website was not accessible. He wasn't in Male' at the time and sounded surprised, and said he would check with his webmaster and respond to me. Sure enough I got the following SMS the next day: "Dhiraagu has sent an e-mail to my webmaster saying my website has been officially blocked due to an offical request from Telecommunication Authority of Maldives" According to him, the email sent by his hosting provider gave no reasons for the ban, nor any word on who originally demanded the censorship. A Sun Online report the next day, however, carried a statement from TAM saying that the ban was carried out at the behest of the Islamic Ministry, which is run by the same Adhaalath party mullahs who are often heavily criticized by Hilath in his posts. This is worrying for several reasons. When a so-called democratic government assumes the power to unilaterally silence its critics without any notice, then you know that tyranny has taken hold. It is even more alarming when you realize that this was no formal media organization or news website. It was a citizen's personal blog that has been shut down by the self-appointed gatekeepers of Islam. Now, Hilath's blog needs no introduction. The man has been pushing the boundaries of free expression in the Maldives, speaking openly about fanatic wahhabism, gay rights, and the all-round hypocrisy of the Maldivian state - a country that has in recent weeks virtually become unadulterated pornography for anyone who gets off on intolerance and bigotry. At least the burnt, smashed and petrol bombed remains of the SAARC monuments in Addu could be explained away as the actions of crazy fundie idiots who are incapable of reasoning, and whose hatred and paranoia is known to explode into all-too-familiar violence and destruction. But when a government run by the Maldivian "Democratic" Party, led by President Nasheed who was once a condemned journalist himself, goes about censoring websites and silencing critics, then it is time to sit up and take notice. This isn't, after all, the first time this government has clamped down on free speech. In the first few months after coming to power, the government shut down a dhivehi language Christian website and several other websites critical of the Adhaalath party mullahs. Apart from this, the government intelligence agencies continue to spy on citizens' personal communications and police personnel have been discovered to anonymously harass ordinary citizen bloggers, including me. Today, the hollowness of Anni's promises of making the Maldives 'a haven for dissident writers' lies exposed. Instead, the message is quite clear: kneel down before the Islamists in the government, or they will gag you and force you into submission. If anyone still has any illusions that we're living in a democratic state, they can lose them now. ~Peace!"  -- Yameen Rasheed

November 26 2011

A toll on liberal voices (Original / Archived / Archived full article on Himal SouthAsian)

"A recent ban on a blog site is just the tip of growing religious intolerance in the Maldives. As the Arab Spring continues to bloom, with Syria and Yemen on the verge of democracy – after Libya, Egypt and Tunisia – there are some who propose that the Arab world can take its inspiration from the tiny island nation of the Maldives. On the surface, the idea is perfect: The Maldives is a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation which successfully toppled a 30-year-old dictatorial regime through a democratic uprising, and peacefully voted in a new government in the country’s first multi-party elections in 2008. The Maldives is also hailed as an example of a Muslim nation which enjoys close relations with the West, including strengthened ties with Israel since 2009. And thanks to its young, charismatic and media-savvy president raising awareness about climate change, the country has been basking in the international spotlight. A series of events in the past months, however, have left deep gashes in that picture-postcard perfection. Behind the façade of democracy, a culture of censorship and intimidation appears to be taking root in the young democracy. On 19 November 2011, the Maldivian government ordered a ban on the personal blog of independent journalist and freelance writer, Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed (www.hilath.com) for allegedly publishing material in contradiction to Islam. One of the Maldives’s most well-known bloggers, Hilath has been critical of Islamic radicalism that has gripped the country in the past decade. By writing frequently about freedom of religion, gay rights and religious intolerance, he had been pushing the envelope in a society where the mainstream media exercises strict self-censorship, and where open discussions on religion are still taboo. According to a statement issued by the Communications Authority of the Maldives, Hilath’s website was blocked at the behest of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The Ministry cited Article 10 of the recently introduced regulations under the Religious Unity Act of 1994 which forbids the circulation of any content that is deemed insulting to Allah, the prophet, the Quran, the Sunnah, or Islam, as the legal backing for its move to ban the blog. Hilath believes that the conservative fringe put the ban in place because it could not digest criticism. In 2009, his blog broke a story about male religious extremists keeping underage concubines, which was later confirmed and gained national prominence. ‘I have also been targeted for my liberal Sufi Muslim views,’ says Hilath, ‘because these beliefs go against the mainstream conservative Sunni ideology promoted by the government.’ In response to the ban, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) issued a statement demanding that the ban be overturned, and adding that ‘the government should not give in to the fanatical minority but must do all it can to ensure that the media are free to tackle any subjects they choose. The Religious Unity Act should be changed to allow this.’ "  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 11th 2009

A cowardly attack (Original / Archived)

"Here's how it happened: A group of non-anonymous, vocally liberal, secular-minded Maldivians reached out to each other on Facebook. (And no. I promise I was not involved this time) They had the same concerns as any other thinking, humane and considerate human being in the world would have about the lack of religious freedom and the oppression of minorities in the Maldives. In particular, they took the example of Ismail Mohamed Didi, the young non-Muslim air traffic controller who was driven to suicide in July 2010 after facing immense social pressure from the Maldivian society. Knowing full well the dangers of standing up for something in a society as pig-headed as the Maldives, they nevertheless went ahead and decided to stage a silent protest on the Human Rights day, demanding Freedom of Religion. One of them, Dhona, made a short video to publicize the event, which of course caught the attention of intolerant nitwits, too many of whom have an internet connection. It also caught the eye of 2 of our honourable MPs, who I shall not yet name. Let's just say they both belong to this certain political party that is run by a certain former autocratic ruler. (Yes, I can be very vague.) Anyways. These 2 honorable MPs summoned Dhona via a mutual contact to a 'meeting' on Thursday to discuss what this planned protest was about. By the time she went, however, there was only one of them there. Dhona told the MP exactly what had been planned - a group of Maldivians were going to gather at the Artificial beach, and sit in silent protest for the cause of freedom. The MP, for reasons not entirely clear to me, tried to dissuade her from "organizing" the event, going so far as to quote scripture. It didn't work. On her way back, however, the mutual contact who had been present throughout the conversation told Dhona to avoid going to the assembly, as things could get ugly. He also told her, about 2 days in advance, that they would target Hilath. Oh yeah. When I said the bearded thugs were sent, I did mean they were sent. By who, I do not know. Anyway, the group wasnt' intimidated by the threat and went ahead with the plans. They assembled outside a fast food restaurant near the beach, as the main stage had been booked by a certain political party run by a former dictator. Hilath called me at a few minutes past 4 to say there was a group meeting up and if I was joining. I would have, but I was busy working, so I didn't. Less than 25 minutes later, I'm informed that he's seriously hurt. The hired pseudo-religious thugs arrived out of the blue. Without any provocation or notice, they went straight to attack Hilath, kicking him on the chest and aiming for the head with stones. Dhona had the presence of mind to whip out her phone camera and start taking pictures, even as she was being threatened. Hilath bled a lot, as seen in the pictures. In the struggle that ensued, some others suffered minor injuries. The Police arrived, but by then the thugs had apparently left, but not before issuing more threats. One guy in particular, didn't like the fact that he was being photographed. In fact, he didn't like it to the extent that he has threatened to kill anyone who leaked his photograph. So naturally, here's his photograph."  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 12th 2011

Sun, Sand and Intolerance(original / Archived / Archived full article on Minivannews)

"Saturday’s attack on a group of people silently protesting against religious intolerance is just the latest in a series of orchestrated, well-choreographed acts of violence, hatred and intolerance sweeping across the nation in recent months. Independent journalist and blogger, Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed, whose personal blog was censored by the Maldivian government last month, was among those attacked, sustaining serious injuries to the head. Others who attempted to intervene also suffered minor injuries. Ahmed Hassan, one of the protesters, said, “We planned a silent sit down protest in order to make a statement over the lack of religious freedom for minorities, especially those who aren’t Sunni Muslims.” “We are entering the fourth year of democracy but unfortunately, many basic freedoms and rights have yet to be achieved for all Maldivians. It is unacceptable in this day and age that non-Muslim Maldivians are discriminated against in their own country,” he said. “This is their country as much as ours.” He further added “I would like to say to those that attacked us today that violence is not a part of Islam. Islam is a religion of love, peace and shura (consultation). The unprovoked attack is clearly an act of intimidation. We realize that as our movement grows, we could face many more such attacks, but we will not be backing out. We will not be intimidated into silence.” Local writer and blogger, Aminath Sulthona, who was also among the protesters said, “These are not people worthy of being termed ‘religious’, but they are misguided thugs spreading terror and violence in the name of religion.” Sulthona complained that the police at the scene failed to carry out their duties. “I was being openly threatened and verbally abused in the presence of a police officer who paid no heed to the man… I managed to take pictures of the attackers, but as soon as I got home I started receiving calls saying I would be attacked on the streets if the pictures were leaked.” The injured protester, Hilath, has also previously faced death-threats over his vocal criticism of Islamic radicalism on his personal blog."  -- Yameen Rasheed

December 25th 2011

The Intolerant Constitution (original / Archived / Archived full article on Minivannews)

"12th century copper plate grants found in the Maldives reveal the blood-soaked, painful process of conversion of the Maldives to Islam. The Sultans of the day went through the trouble of bringing in Buddhist monks and beheading them in the capital. The modern day Maldives takes a much simpler route. The 2008 Constitution unilaterally declares all Maldivians to be Sunni Muslim without the courtesy of so much as an opinion poll. Maldivians in general are quite proud of the ‘100% Muslim’ statistic that is frequently bandied about. But it raises a few fundamental questions that are nevertheless extremely taboo in the Maldivian society. At what point of Maldivian history has there ever been a public census on religion? Does the Maldivian state even have the right to unilaterally declare a citizen’s beliefs? Which other Islamic State or Empire in Islam’s 1400 year old history has taken this liberty – and under whose authority?"  -- Yameen Rasheed

#Maldives #findmoyameehaa #WeAreYaamyn #maldivian culture #islam

[nigeloharris]

Courage Over Boldness

The Spartans were courageous, whereas the Athenians were merely bold. There are many examples we could use to prove this difference. In society, economics, and political life. But let us focus on the differences of these qualities, and how they can be seen in our own lives. Quotes will come from The Art of Manliness blog writer. I will expound on those words. Lysander, a Spartan commander says, “We, Spartans and Peloponnesians, possess courage. Our enemies possess boldness. They own thrasytes, we andreia. Pay attention, brothers. Here is a profound and irreconcilable division.” Boldness, “thrasytes”, is a boyish quality, a confused loudness that tries to present itself as real confidence. Courage, “andreia”, on the other hand is calm, God-fearing and steady. It is real bravery. What exposes the boyishness of thrasytes is a disregard and underestimation of the opponent. The courageous man on the other hand must be calm, as he prepares not only his body but his wits to fight the enemy. There is a lot of boldness, pride, ambition in our men today. But not much courage. Not much wit. Not much quietness, and not much preparation. Not much humility, and not much skill. Of course boldness has its virtue. To secure fleeting opportunities and push oneself to a limit often requires it. But courage must be the main quality of a man. “Be bold and very courageous.” Bold, yes. But VERY courageous. Predominantly courageous. Boldness is impatient and fickle, while courage is steady and enduring. Endurance takes courage. “Many men today often approach their own battles with an Athenian mindset. They get a great idea for a business or feel fired up about tackling a new goal. For a few weeks they feel a burning passion and excitement to do what it takes to make their new venture a reality. At first there’s lots of “sexy” stuff to do — pick a band name, choose a weight lifting plan, design their new website. They may find a little initial success, and feel as though they’re skimming through the water, the foam from the waves flying in their face. It’s exhilarating. Victory seems just around the corner. Then setbacks arrive. Their initial success reaches a plateau. It starts taking a lot longer for things to get going than they anticipated. And there’s a lot more work than they expected. Hard work. Boring work. Time goes on. They start working on their project less and less. Then they start ignoring it altogether. They make excuses. It feels like a slog, and shouldn’t something you’re passionate about be fun? They decide the problem isn’t their work ethic but simply that they’re pursuing the wrong thing and need to do something else. They get another burning idea; the excitement returns. For awhile. And then the cycle repeats itself. These guys have thrastyes but not andreia; they have the boldness to start things but not the courage to finish them. When the hot sun of hardship and doubt rises over their project, their motivation evaporates. They have not developed the patience to stick with something when the initial excitement fades — the grit to push through difficult plateaus. They ravenously feed on newness and instant success, but have not learned how to sustain themselves on the sustenance of incremental progress — to switch from the fuel of beginning to that of building.” What an awesome quote this is. It speaks for itself. It shows us our weaknesses, and what real strength is. Endurance takes courage. And is of supreme value to other virtues. What are the areas in our lives where we have been bold but not courageous? Is it that new business that we have been making excuses to why we can’t keep going? Is it that song you’ve been saying you will record but haven’t followed through? Is it that confrontation that you know needs to happen but you haven’t been proactive? I’m not saying that priorities don’t get in the way of what we would often like to do for leisure, but I do know that there are things we have been called to, that it will take courage to follow through with them. Do not put these things aside, but bring them to the front, and pray and fight for the courage to do it. If it doesn’t mean much to you, then get rid of it. If you know it has meaning to you, then start following through. Don’t let a divine chastening or interruption be necessary for you to walk in your purpose. Boldness is impulsive and reckless. Courage is prudent and prepared. Is it wise always to plunge into a challenge knowing that we have weakness, and that the opponent has strength? Only the foolish man will do that. A wise and courageous man will exploit the weaknesses of his enemy. Yet today manliness and courage is defined by the unrealistic delusional idea that men can with ease conquer anything they face. How silly. How unmanly. How dishonest. “Men say I fear to face [Athenian general] Alcibiades; they taunt me for want of intrepidity. I do fear him, brothers. This is not cowardice but prudence. Nor would it constitute bravery to confront him ship for ship, but recklessness. For I reckon our enemy’s skill and observe that ours is yet unequal. The sagacious commander honors his enemy’s might. His skill is to strike not at the foe’s strength, but at his weakness, not where and when he is ready, but where he is lax and when he least expects it. Courage is born of obedience. It is the issue of selflessness, brotherhood, and love of freedom…This is why we train, men. Not to sweat for sweat’s sake or row for rowing’s sake, but by this practice of cohesion to inculcate andreia, to lade the reservoirs of our hearts with confidence in ourselves, our shipmates, and our commanders.” Knowing when to strike is a virtue. Knowing when your enemy will strike is of great importance. Only a boy will want to charge into battle unprepared. “The cowardly man overestimates the risk of an endeavor and either won’t even attempt it, or endlessly delays it. He’s always got to do just a little more research on the competition, read a few more books on the subject, get in a little more practice before he gets started. The reckless man underestimates the challenges he’ll have to face, and blindly and impulsively rushes into things. As a result of this impulsivity, his idea isn’t ready and flops, he doesn’t have the skill and confidence needed to find success, or he outright quits after realizing the kind of sacrifice victory will demand.” What are the areas in our lives where we have been cowardly? We are saying, I need to do a little more research and read a few more books before starting that business, when in fact we are scared. We are saying, I need to read a few more Bible verses before I believe in the strength that I have in God. I need to do a few more things before I can be prepared for that confrontation, or have the courage and shamelessness to evangelize or ask a woman on a date. Are you being cowardly? On the other hand, are you being boyish? Are you charging into every battle with flailing false confidence? Do you have any real strength and endurance? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves to be able to be the men of courage God has called us to be. You have what it takes. You have enough. That doesn’t mean stop preparing. That doesn’t mean there aren’t certain skills God wants you to commit to developing. It just simply means you have the heart and the soul and the mind of Christ, and you are to battle as though you have that. “The courageous man avoids those extremes. He knows there’s a time for boldness, and a time for restraint. His hones the skills and confidence he’ll need for the fight ahead, but also realizes that sometimes you simply have to take action and learn as you go. He actively trains and prepares himself for the arrival of the right opening, but also knows there’s no such thing as the perfect opportunity. He neither dithers nor hastily surges; he uses practical wisdom to decide when the time is right to strike. Spartan warriors thought it dishonorable to fight with rage or berserker-y, as such frenzied emotions are usually an emotional crutch, a cover for fear and deficiency of skill; instead, they went into battle with calm determination, full of the confidence of preparation, and the courage of control.” Man, do I love this quote. We think that battling and fighting are emotional events, when in fact they are matters of fact. The victories are determined by preplanning and preparation, not emotion. As we battle, let us remember to train to be objectively great. Men train for a lifetime. Boys think they can enter the battle and win because of an emotional epiphany. The epiphany came long ago. The men are now preparing for the battle. Boldness is covetous. Courage is content. “The bold man covets; he sues his neighbor in law court, he intrigues, he dissembles. The brave man is content with his lot; he respects that portion the gods have granted and husbands it, comporting himself with humility as heaven’s stewards.” The Athenians, in their lust to expand their empire, and their insecurity with what they had, not only morally degraded themselves, but also plundered their citizens of money to finance fancy building projects and lavish lifestyles. This leads to a people being cynical of their government, losing respect for their government, and then to the disassembling of their society. Their growth killed themselves, just like cancer. The Spartans society on the other hand lasted 580 years, the longest standing government with a democratic component in human history. That means that the people respected their government and worked together. They had the courage to be content with what they had, and so they did not drown themselves in luxury. “We’ll all face moments in our life when we’ll be tempted to go for more. More money, more prestige, more status. But it’s a hunger that can never be satisfied, and only grows the more you feed it. The siren call of power and wealth wafts with the promise of greater freedom, but ends up shackling your liberty. The more you crave status, the more likely you are to compromise your principles to get it. The more you buy stuff you can’t afford, the more you get into debt, and the fewer choices you can make in regards to your career and lifestyle. The more you take other people’s money, the more they own you. Being content with little gives you the courage to say no to marketing propaganda, to ignore the Joneses, to keep your personal principles, to act when you wish and not from compulsion. In living, well, Spartanly, you gain true power, independence, and freedom.” Boldness is prideful. Courage is humble. “Athenians do not fear God; they seek to be God. They believe that heaven reigns not by might, but by glory. The gods rule by acclaim, they say, by that supremacy which strikes mortals with awe and compels emulation. Believing this, Athenians seek to please heaven by making clay gods of themselves. Athenians reject modesty and self-effacement as unworthy of man made in the image of the gods. Our deficiencies may be overcome by practice and self-discipline.” Indeed we may not overcome our deficiencies by just believing we are superior. Indeed we may not grant ourselves a position which only men with might hold by simply naming it to ourselves. We must fight and work to gain our position, knowing that we have it in us, but are seeking to have it outside of us. Spartan warriors “were the only men in the world with whom war brought a respite in the training for war.” Wow. Indeed they lived a life of training and battle, even before the battle. What would our lives be like if we did so? What is the courage of discipline that we display every day in the small tasks that make us tougher? Do we know that these things are the small pieces without which we will have no fortification and no strength at all? “Aristotle argued that courage “holds fast to the orders of reason about what he ought or ought not to fear in spite of pleasure and pain.” As another philosopher put it, courage is “the power to face a disagreeable present in the interest of desirable permanent ends.” Courage then is not only the will to keep going during big moments of threat, but also the ability to delay gratification, to put off short-term pleasures for long-term gains, to do hard and boring work in pursuit of the personal and greater good. This kind of courage, the courage of discipline and self-mastery, requires humility. Men who lead with audacity, rather than courage, who think they are special and entitled, who believe success comes more from inherent talent than effort, want to do fame-garnering and heroic deeds right off the bat. They feel they were born ready for glorious exploits. Grunt work is beneath them. Practice is unnecessary. They want success without sacrifice. They want to hack their way to the top. They see the spectacle of the stage, without grasping the behind-the-scenes work it takes to put on the show. They want to experience the satisfaction of fullness, without the pangs of hunger. They are gods, and why should a deity bother getting down in the lowly muck of mastering fundamentals? Why should a god have to take an entry-level job? Why should attaining wealth require any more than four hours a week? Why should someone as special as themselves take things step-by-step instead of jumping right upon the throne? In the rush to crown themselves, the bold stumble over their hubris, and forget that courage in the quiet and dullness of doing our “everyday duty” is the prerequisite to ascending to the clouds.” How dare we believe that we are anything that we have not worked for, anything that we have not given the world, yet we think it should come back to us, yet we think we are deserving of it. This alone shows the pity of the souls who think this way. “In seeking to honor, support, and protect their brothers, the Spartans lived for a purpose higher than self. In contrast, they felt their enemies lived only for their own interests. Boldness, Lysander argues, is marked by personal ambition — the desire to gain wealth and do deeds that will redound to one’s own glory. Many modern men center their lives on this kind of personal ambition, and care nothing for how their exploits and foibles affect other people, and their country. They do whatever they want — whatever is best for themselves, gratifies their desires, and flatters their flaws. If cheating will get them to their goal, they cheat even if it hurts innocent bystanders. If the standards and ideals of manliness are too difficult for them to reach, they disparage them, or move the yardsticks in order to include themselves. If they feel like collapsing in self-indulgent pity when their friends and loved ones need them, they indulge this urge, bringing others down with them. Such men have boldness, in the sense they “audaciously” do whatever they feel like doing. But they lack the courage of honor — the commitment to strengthen and uplift their fellows, celebrate a code of ideals, and respect others enough to do the right thing, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.” So we see that honor is about your brothers. Anyone can live for himself. Who can live for others? Who can choose honor and integrity over passion and glory? Eat with your brothers. Honor them. Personal ambition is boyish. Seeing yourself as part of a whole, a bigger picture is manly. Sacrificing, knowing that your life is but a vapor is realy. The courageous man sees himself as equal with his human peer. That there’s nothing that intrinsically makes him better than the next man. That they are made from the same material. Boldness is blasphemous. Courage is reverent. Not just reverent to God, but all his creations, and all his people, and all his gifts to us. Reverent and in awe of the world in general. Learning, seeing, loving what’s around him. Respecting and revering it. “In my father’s house I was taught that heaven reigns, and to fear and honor her mandates. This is the Spartan, Dorian, and Peloponnesian way. Our race does not presume to dictate to God, but seeks to discover His will and adhere to it. Our ideal man is pious, modest, self-effacing. Boldness…is spawned of defiance and disrespect; it is the bastard brat of irreverence and outlawry. Thrasytes presumes to command heaven; it forces God’s hand and calls this virtue. Andreia reveres the immortals; it seeks heaven’s guidance and acts only to enforce God’s will.” A man honors and reveres destiny, his lack of control in the divine grand scheme of things, and even loves whatever fate comes about him. He is okay with the supernatural and relies on it when his human strength has no more to give. Those who think they are greater than God will be humbled by God. If the American state falls, it will be because we were more like the Athenians than the Spartans. It will be because our individual freedom and liberty to do whatever we want with our money, has overcome honor and respect for brothers. The working class will rebel against this moral rot, and we will have a revolution, the result of which will require even more selflessness and honor than we first had at the inception of our republic. In the name of personal “freedom” and “liberty”, the rich are dishonoring and committing moral injustices to the rest of society. Despite your views on socialism vs capitalism, the idea is clear: we are letting go of the morals that hold a society together. And when these evils are fully exposed, a revolution will insue. Either another country will see an opportunity to exploit our divided nation, or we will have a civil war which will be rooted not in economics, or politics, but in morals: honor, courage. Every rich businessman has the same story: I don’t owe anyone anything. Well if your morals don’t apply to your business, then what’s the point of your morals? They do apply to your business. You are required to exercise honor, bravery, humility, charity, and hard work. Corporate greed will be the downfall of our society, and we will realize that it was a spiritual issue that took us down. No one can get away with greed in the name of neoliberalism and “fair” market. We’ll realize there was nothing fair about or society at all. “Courage is deciding to stay home and work on your side business when your friends are going out; courage is eating a chicken breast and broccoli when you really want a Big Mac; courage is keeping your junky car instead of getting an upgrade, and using the money saved to pay down your debt and become financially independent. Courage is digging deeper into pat media narratives instead of coasting with the masses to form a political opinion; courage is taking on small ways to serve in your community instead of deciding that if you can’t make a big difference, it isn’t worth trying at all; courage is choosing sincerity and earnestness over cynicism and apathy. Courage is deciding to live virtuously in your day-to-day life, even when those who lack integrity seem to be the ones getting ahead. Courage is a man’s bulwark against physical cowardice and weakness. Courage is a country’s firewall against civic and moral decadence. Boldness produces hubris. Hubris calls forth nemesis. And nemesis brings boldness low. We are nemesis brothers…and no force between sea and sky may prevail against us.” What strikes me most about these quotes from Lysander is this: he speaks matter of factly, as though he knows he will win the war he faces. He believes in an idea, a superior truth that will cause him to prevail. Though he speaks of work ethic and patience and training, he also has faith. Faith that one worldview shall not prevail over another of lower integrity and morals. It may not prevail over God in the end.

[universeinform-blog]

Boston-Based Blogger Shares Prime Travel Tips

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Boston-Based Blogger Shares Prime Travel Tips

Boston-primarily based Brittany Stopa is dwelling the life the majority dream approximately. She’s a travel blogger who has observed a way to tour 12 months-spherical

“I just love to tour and being tied all the way down to one region is simply too limiting,” stated Brittany. Superstar Chef Opens Pop-up Restaurant at Eataly Boston In 2015, the 26-yr-old cease her table process, bought her assets, and used her savings to undertake a new lifestyle. Over the last yr, she’s visited 19 international locations and stocks her trips through her weblog. Real lifestyles Fishing Boat Featured in “Manchester via the ocean” The weblog now receives enough clicks to make a profit, which pays for her travels. On her weblog, she also faculties followers on wherein to journey, and the way to accomplish that frugally. She stated, “Visiting for an extended time period makes your money stretch longer.” “Going to cheaper motels, now not flying between locations, and taking buses” also allows, defined Brittany. For Individuals, Brittany advises vacationers to start with South us. She stated one flight can get you to the place, after which you may cheaply journey thru nations. She says she’s met many people who live this lifestyle distant places, everybody from unmarried people to entire families. If you need to adopt the entire time Travelling lifestyle, Brittany supplied this advice: 1. Start saving, locate approaches to storing money on the whole thing and put the ones financial savings away. Brittany did this for years, stored $15,000 and used that for her first six months of the journey. 2. Discover a way to paintings remotely. Brittany started out a blog, however many careers have faraway alternatives. In case you chose to start a blog- get a loose domain name and start running a blog proper away. It could Begin as an interest until it’s profitable sufficient to live off its earnings. 3. Exchange your concept of journey. It’s no longer a holiday as lots as it’s far experiencing a brand new us of a and living in it because the locals do. Select frugal options over inns, but live inside the united states longer so that you can revel in it absolutely over the years.

A way to Take Amazing Tour Images

Journey Pictures is a career for a few. The general public although just want to deliver returned nice images to expose their pals and circle of relatives. No photo will update the moment of being there, it really is why human beings still Tour in place of browsing Google Photographs! Expert or novice, the first aspect you want is a camera. Sure, a digicam, and a real one, no longer a smartphone or something you connect on your helmet.

Choosing the great digicam to buy calls for a very good quantity of research. But, maximum contemporary cameras will do an awesome enough task, especially in case you do now not need to get technical. Nowadays, in case you purchase any mirrorless or DSLR, you’ll get a superb camera. simply bypass the package lens and buy an amazing popular motive one but no longer an awesome zoom as the ones compromise in image high-quality and occasional light performance.

For just making exceptional photographers, you could get a smaller constant-lens camera. There are lots of top rate models offering 1″ sensors that are a big bounce in image exceptional from the every day extremely compact and mobile phone camera

Still, better picture first-class simplest lets in a photographer to reveal the Pix bigger. It does now not enhance a photo itself. Even a low-cease digicam now gives plenty higher photograph satisfactory than what 35mm was once like twenty years ago and plenty of such Snapshots graced covers of Countrywide Geographic. So, make certain you have got a camera and permit’s get commenced on How to make Terrific pix!

Virtually, the second one step to create lovely Pix starts without the digicam! What your Photos want to do is percentage your amazement of an area. So what you want to do is search for what amazes you and check out it properly.

Say you simply arrived in downtown Lima on the Plaza de Armas. The plaza is massive, it is surrounded via imposing historic homes on three sides, there is a massive fountain in the middle, lighting fixtures, flora arranged in patterns and hordes of human beings passing via

Overcoming Writer’s Block for the Beginner Blogger

Running a blog is something I have been enthusiastic about for quite a while, and people that recognize me well have witnessed me start and end many blogs over time. My adventure to turning into a blogger has been a limitless adventure of trial and error, and to be quite sincere, it nevertheless is.

Once I first began Running a blog, I notion all I needed to do turned into choosing a topic to write down about, sit down at my pic and let the phrases flow freely from my mind all the way down to my fingertips. I quickly learned that wasn’t how Running a blog labored. I struggled with my writing, because I didn’t understand what I desired to write approximately, and eventually I misplaced the momentum to continue Blogging.

I might say to myself “Why is that this so hard for me? I really like to put in writing, so this has to be a breeze. Plus there are such a lot of blogs obtainable if different humans can do it easily, why the hell cannot I?”

Join emotionally & cope with your audience’s goal/desire

In no way underestimate the power of emotions – the more potent the emotional want, the more likely human beings will want to study your paintings.

I use my very own emotions and desires as equipment to writing my weblog posts. let’s use this unique put up for instance:

As an aspiring Creator who has begun many no longer-so-successful blogs – and is in the system of starting yet any other new weblog – I need to be able to conquer the struggle and stress of writing a brand new blog submit. Most significantly, I wanted to tap into the feelings of different aspiring writers/bloggers who also conflict with this issue

I took into consideration what the desire of an aspiring blogger might be, which is in an effort to write a weblog put up without problems. I then provided the fee to my readers, by using suggesting the use of a weblog writing method to help them assemble and write a brand new put up with ease. So as you could see, I have related emotionally by way of sharing my non-public struggling with starting to weblog and addressed their ordinary purpose/desire – truly being capable of the blog.

Provide a method to a problem with actionable recommendation

People are usually searching the net for content and advice as a way to assist clear up their troubles; why now not tap into that and focus your blog post on solving a problem, or addressing a want? As an example, this very weblog submit is ready how Beginner bloggers can write a weblog submit without difficulty and triumph over their Writer’s block. humans studying this are possibly new to Blogging

Offer value for your content material

Give your readers something well worth analyzing approximately. Your work isn’t always over after you’ve got completed writing your modern submit, there are lots extra to be performed. Your readers need to be confident that you continually have their hobby in thoughts, and that you are devoted to helping them resolve a trouble. Allow them to understand what else they will be gaining knowledge of from you in destiny, or what different assets are to be had that they can get right of entry to; you could even Give them unfastened resources which you’ve created yourself to help them. For example, I plan on sharing my journey into expert writing with my readers,

five Precise Activities in Boston

Visit the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway

In case you are visiting Boston each time in the spring or summer time, on foot alongside the Kennedy Greenway through downtown Boston is the right place to spend a sunny afternoon. Right here you may locate rows upon rows of plant life in order to enchant the senses. The lawn is constituted of numerous small parks with each containing Unique flora and trees like sweetbay magnolia or marsh blazing star. That is an exceptional possibility to educate your kids approximately horticulture and the significance of sustainability and retaining the natural global. Dad and mom also can take their youngsters to the Greenway Carousel, where kids can journey for $3. The greenway is devoted to Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, former president John F. Kennedy’s mom. The greenway opened in 2008 after Boston sought to demolish the aging John F. Fitzgerald Limited-access highway.

Institute of Present day Art (ICA)

Modern-day Art is not for everybody, and the Art Right here is the way you say, ‘superior’. But that does not mean each person can’t discover a piece that fascinates them in the event that they method the Art with open thoughts. Perhaps the ICA fine characteristic is the beautiful view it provides of the Boston skyline on the cantilevered glass wing, which stretches over the Boston Harbor.

Artwork Here isn’t always just constrained among frames. ICA is a hotbed for big-scale interactive Artwork pieces that absolutely immerse audiences. Do not come looking ahead to understand every piece you spot. Be careworn, be appalled, deliver yourself the opportunity to look the leaders of the avant-garde Art motion on the complete show.

Old City Trolley Tours

Nights aren’t just for sleeping, in particular on a trip to Boston. Like any Vintage towns, Beantown is home to its share of creepy websites and darkish records. In case you discover yourself inside the town between April and October, taking one of the Vintage Town Trolley Tours will offer you with a glimpse of the city’s darker side. With a seventeenth century gravedigger as your guide, the Ghosts & Gravestones Excursion of Boston offers a midnight trolley ride across the metropolis.

Go to the Mapparium

Maximum vacationers would not Visit a library while in Boston, But there is a good cause to Visit the Mary Baker Eddy Library’s ‘Mapparium’. It is a massive globe made of 608 glass sections, reaching a top of three testimonies, 30-toes extensive! Built in the Nineteen Thirties, the Mapparium is the primary of its type. In case you aren’t dazzled with the aid of its sheer length, then the lights machine and acoustics will. There are 206 LED light fixtures capable of producing almost sixteen million color mixtures.

[turklingua]

Getting Smart With: Professional Turkish Translation Services http://ift.tt/2DNDTWe Translating is the situation of “articulating” the entire emotional and intellectual activities in the chaotic soul structure of human being. In the heart of this complexity or chaos, translator is the person who analyzes all these perception processes with the emotional-intellectual power of the author and his or her language of expression, and fulfills “articulating” in his own language. There are three essential main essential components in the translation action: Our first essential is knowledge accumulation; we mean that the translator is culturally equipped . Our second essential is the ability of emotion-dream transfer; we can call it creative ability. Our the third and last essential is that the source and target language knowledge is at the certain level of translating. It is faced with human nature and human beings who acts different from what they say and do, and who can be defined in thousands of characters. Humans have a curiosity and passion to deal with invisible and unknown areas. When we begin to write this curiosity and passion out, the thing what we call literature arises. The author who has the ability of making invisible ones visible, the unknown ones known, only needs expert translators to spread out his discoveries to the world. The way to be an expert Turkish translator is to built multiple relationships with life and to articulate the other lives far away or the lives right besides us, with the emotional and intellectual accumulation that is gained from the totality of these multiple relationships which is not possible to be known without translating action. Translation action is not a simple, mechanical or ordinary interposition, but requires to constitute a common language with the author and the editor. Creating a common language is one of the hardest act and the translator does one of those hard work. Translator is the person who shows the success of integrating with the heart and brain of the author. In other words, he is the soul mate of the author not someone else based upon the work that he translates. Interpreting, except your native language, is the act of transferring, analyzing and perception of any knowledge at any language what it means in your native language. It is necessary to have an objective and moral stance when carrying out this action. You can not say a word that is not said in the original text; you can not construe a sentence or word you do not know! There is the importance of translating profession: we need to learn what we do not know and communication for the flow of life, that information in foreign languages should be translated into our native language to get the information, assimilate and reproduce. It is impossible to communicate with other countries and lives without translation, the power and the importance of the translation profession emerges here. There are dozens of occupational areas within the definition of translator. For example, people who will translate literary and commercial areas must have different qualities. When we think that there are different fields within these two fields, I can say that the qualifications of the translator should be determined according to the area selection. However, it is essential to have the ability of writing, analytical thinking, creativity, and language skills both the native and foreign language. The perception of interpreting in Turkey is based on the perception of “a job that anyone who knows a foreign language can do”. This is extremely wrong generalization! We have to break this perception and generalization; because knowing foreign languages is just one of the most important elements of translation. If I express within the context of literary translation, interpreting is not a job that can be done without the intellectual accumulation and authorship ability. The translator has a changing relationship according to each book, but if there are topic concerning sentimentality and justice in it, you will unintentionally take a side but you will have to conceal… The translation should remain as good as the original text. The translator does not have a mission of making the original text better! There are physical, mental effort and energy of the editor, translator, proofreader and other people in any book that has been translated. The quality of the translation excels in when these energies are in harmony with each other. To be a translator in Turkey means to work under aggravated circumstances with low wages, without having any social security. We have no choice other than to be organized to stop this. If you are not economically dependent on to translate; if you say I can not stand the pressure of the boss or manager; translating for sure seems to be attractive in this sense, but words and sentences that we can not figure out and meet a lot of difficulties when deciphering, takes the place of pressure of the boss or manager… Setting many experienced difficulties aside I would say: you look at yourself with the eye of a creator when your translation gets credit and becomes a book that takes its place in bookcase or shelves. You are that creator! Could it be a greater happiness than that? You contribute to yourself and others and to life by translating every work you do. There is no training required to become a translator; however I recommend you to place training in somewhere of your life to become a good translator. A translator who does not have translation training can do successful translations; however these translations are usually coincidence. An educated translator can explain what, how and why he translated. Expert knowledge is important. Do not expect the time you will translate to have knowledge about the topic you will be translating. Research, learn, get ready for the translation as you are studying lesson. You should also improve yourself out of school. Make the translation a part of your life. Try to translate what you listen, watch, read in your daily life. Repeat the exercises every day in this way. Pay attention to develop your general culture, accumulation of your popular culture. Follow the news, current events. Be informed of economics, literature, politics, etc. Prepare a CV to yourself, accumulate things to add to your CV until you graduate. Participate to seminars, conferences, volunteer projects, attend courses. Try to build connections with benificial people. Do not underestimate the written translation. Making a written translation is also a part of providing sufficient accumulation for interpreting. Your character may be suitable to verbal translation; however instead of running away from the translation by pleading, go over your problems. Develop yourself regarding the issues such as enduring and continuous focusing, long working time, meeting the deadlines. We often don’t choose to work as a full-time or freelance translator. Working freelance chooses us. If it chooses you, get your home environment well organized. A large table, a fridge full of tertiary processed meals and a high speed computer can be a good idea for a proper working environment. When we enter the sector, usually the things may not go as planned. You are interested in art; but you can face always with an automotive translation. Suddenly, you can find yourself as a specialized Turkish translator in the automotive sector. Interest, curiosity and enthusiasm are good. But do not worry if you can not get jobs in the areas you want, learn to love the fields where you work. Go ahead with preliminary preparation whatever you will interpret; never interpret by yourself, especially when you are new graduate. Do not go alone for more than one or two hours interpretations after you gain a certain experience. There can be anything during interpreting, you may face with unexpected problems. Make confidentiality and impartiality your first principle. Do not share the contents of any meetings with third parties. Never do a biased translation. The conference interpreter is the headliner of the translation cabin. When you get on the stage, do not let anyone to interfere which song you will sing. Translation is a creation. It is a product that you entirely produce; so all rights are yours. If your voice is recorded, demand copyright for your product. Translator interprets in oral translation jobs. Do not try to solve technical problems. Do not fall back upon the organization. We live in the global world. Speakers from all over the world can speak English at international meetings. Be prepared to hear different accents. Include speakers with different accents among your oral translation exercises. Interpreting is an enjoyable activity; however the market we try to survive, requires you to have nerves of steel. Be gentle, smile and learn to look in the bright side of everything. He who gets up in anger, sits down with a loss. Do not allow to suffer from the competitive feelings and ambition. Your colleagues may be your friends or turn into your competitors according to your attitude. Try to built good relationships with everyone. Interpreting is already difficult; doing this without breaking any heart and having fun, is completely in your hands. You should continue to built up your language training that you get at school with your personal studies. Area selection is difficult, on the way of this selection do not be hurry to decide, it will settle in time. The most important point is to know your own language first, please often read books. Be reminded that it is not expected to make healthy translations from someone, who has no command of his native language. Appearance and attitude are quite important in the field of interpreting. People are ready to judge you, even with your appearance, the way of sitting. When you get in a platform, if you show a profile that is lack of confidence, people try to abuse you and pile extra work to you in every sense. So take a tough stance and try to recover your mistakes instantly, and the most important thing is to trust yourself and be proud of your work.

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