Its strange really, how man kind has always desired to be remembered. Its as if its our innate desire or rather something everyone has within them that has this longing for something about them to be remembered.
Of the great accomplishments that the ancients has done, one of them: The Temple of Artemis which was once a magnificent temple found in Greece was the object of arson due to a man's desire to achieve fame and an everlasting name throughout history. The Temple of Artemis as one would know is one of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world. So grand and magnificent was its structure that Antipater of Sidon gave a very bold statement when talking about the 7 wonders of the ancient world
"I have set my eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labor of the high pyramids, and the vast tombs of Mausolus; But when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other mavels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand"
Herostratus, the much famed or rather infamous arsonist destroyed this wonder in order to achieve everlasting fame. Sure enough, his name is remembered to this day but unfortunately his life ended quite abruptly thanks to the rightly outraged Ephesians.
Perhaps its vanity, perhaps its an innate thing that everyone has within them which trust me, no one who is true themselves can deny. Personally, I do desire to work in the background, I do not want to be known but there is a part of me that cries out to be remembered. This desire has caused many many many mistakes in history and at the same time so many more beautiful monuments. It has influenced the rise and falls of empires as well as the culture of people. It may not be self remembrance. Who has not heard of the Taj Mahal? The beautiful story which an Indian king built a magnificent monumental mausoleum in memory of his beloved one? This whole "Innate desire" may not always be bad in the sense of pride of wanting others to remember me kind of thing. But it could be something so heart warming as the Taj Mahal. We leave a mark in history, hoping that this golden sands of time would not bury us within the pages of history for what we hold dear, we wish to make it be everlasting in memory.
Sadly enough, that will never be true. Of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world, only 1 still exist and sadly for it, it has been kicked out of the list. Angkor Wat, Stonehenge, Colosseum, Petra, Machu Picchu are but a number of once famous and widely populated areas that has disappeared into the pages of history. Thankfully, mankind (not all a.k.a the tomb robbers etc) do try to preserve fragments of history here and there so that we will always remember who we truly are.
As a person who loves history, I am so thankful for those who has painstakingly preserved this important bits and pieces of history. But heres the question: How about the ordinary? The common folks? How about those who has lead mundane lives? What about them? Those that hold interest and importance to them? What happens to them? In the end, all it is is a touch in that person's life, something that leaves an impact but not in the history of the world. Though it does impact in a most seemingly negligible way as stated by the Chaos Theory (From which the saying "Does the flap of a butterfly's wing in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" comes from). This is known as the Butterfly Effect.
For me, I do not wish to make an everlasting remembrance of myself. But rather of people who I love. People like my sister. Perhaps this is my selfish desire to always want others to remember who she was, who she is till the light of her life extinguished but I know, with much sadness that that will never hold true. Of the Billions of human life in the planet, she is but one. As much as I want others to remember, its futile to fight it anymore. All I can do in the end, is to be like the many other billions out there, before me, with me and after me. To just leave that somewhat miniscule and trivial effect on the pages of man as the sands of time goes on. What has been a major impact of my life and surely, I know it a major impact in others too, I believe that the memory though it may fade as new generations come, this impact that my sister has left behind will never fade.
R.I.P
My dearest sister.
These 3 years has taught me much and I wish you were here next to me so I could share it with you.
Never a forgotten moment. Never a forgotten feeling. Always a remembered memory.
I love you and wish I could have said it to you before you left :)
R.I.P
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Great Firewall of China
The Art of War, Confucianism, Lion dance, Chinese opera and Kung Fu are all great symbols that simultaneously refer one's thinking back to China and its rich culture and history. Dating back to over 5000 years, this great nation has stood the test of time that many other cultures (e.g. Mayans, Olmecs, Persians & Egyptians) did not. I am in no way looking down on other cultures or other civilisations but what I'm trying to say is that China unlike most other ancient civilisations does not follow the trend of disappearing (the people may still exist but they will not reach the same peak of glory nor uphold the same traditions as before). Of course there are other civilisations that are able to boast of the same achievement (such as the India). Of all the national symbols and words that represents China, besides the very negative image (by the Western world) of Communism, another one is the Great Wall of China. Not needing to enter into this part of History about its function, purpose, date it was built etc etc because it has no connection to the topic I'm discussing besides the fact that it is used as a pun regarding China's decision on its internet policy.
As all people who read the newspapers or kept up with current times should know, China, because of it's country's law and policy, is under fire from United States of America (US / USA) because of the internet giant: Google is pulling itself out of China due to China's censorship laws. Honestly, there is nothing more than to applaud Google regarding it's decision to withdraw if it clashes with its company's policy of no censorship. However, this has sparked into a worldwide news where political leaders of America has stepped in to criticize China's law and policy. Of course, like in many issues, there is more than what meets the eye. In this time of depression, America should just focus its attention on improving the economy first instead of diverting the focus and critics onto China.
Do onto others what you want others to do onto you
I'm sure America would not appreciate it if Vietnam, Iran, China, France or frankly any other country tries to change their law, tradition and policies. Instead of imposing their will and thoughts on others, they should analyse the concept that if another nation has pestered and intruded their laws on them e.g. being ruled by the Pope in Italy or having to conscript all 18 year old males into the army like Singapore what would they feel like? Its not like America is right in everything. That is probably why the 51 states of America is divided on many issues that plague the country. Firstly even IF you were right in all that you do, that does not give you the right in any way to push others around with ur policies. A well doing businessman should not go around telling everyone around him to follow his career. In the same way, America should not start being a critic on other country's policies and only offer constructive advice and help when the it is really needed or helpful. If America is right in what they do (freedom to surf anything etc), then they should just set an example and surely, other people will follow their lead.
Censorship that was politically motivated
Hillary Clinton mentioned in a press conference : "I hope that refusal to support politically-motivated censorship will become a trademark characteristic of American technology companies" - This was taken from a speech given at Newsuem journalism musuem regarding Internet freedom.
There is no doubt that the censorship in China is politically motivated. I have no qualms on that claim. But as a side note, China does censor other topics or issues such as Adult films. The question we should be asking is if politically motivated censorship is wrong then when is it right to censor information? Later I will give examples on information that was not released to the public and purposefully hidden by the Americans (which if you ask me is as good as censorship. At least with censorship, your honest with the public). Is it right to censor information when it bridges Moral values? Education Values? Religion issues? The word "censor" does have a negative tone to it, which to me is often linked to communist Russia for God knows what reason. Instead of stopping the flow of wrong information (this is why we have laws to prevent underaged sex as many of the victims do not understand the position they are in which can lead to future problems in their life), the encouragement to provide free access to information will bring about many problems in the future of the individual and society. The above statement regarding free access to information is again taken from Hillary Clinton's speech where she addressed that "Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century". Just to let you know, as of right now, China is still one of the most progressive countries in the world (especially economically).
It is a fact, America is the top producer of Adult films. Racism, sexism and whatever -ism is far more rampant in their country in comparison to any other country and statistics has shown that one in three people in America visit a psychologist/psychiatrist. This number is expected to go up to one in two people visiting psychologist. Problem that afflict America is probably primarily due to it's liberal access to information that allow individuals including children to watch and learn wrong values from a young age. This includes rebellious attitudes, violence, racism, sexism, lack of self-control and other myraid number of problems. So the question we should ask right now is, America is imposing a system that does not encourage the censorship of information that led to so many problems it itself cannot deal with. Should it allow another developing nation join in it's toil?
One of the consequences of free access of information
The American information-technology security firm Symantec released a startling statistic last month which featured the top keyword searches of 2009. It showed that the fourth most searched word for teens (ages between 13-18) and tween (8-12) is the word "sex". For children (ages 7 and under), the word "porn" ranks fourth. Again, the word "porn" is the sixth highest keyword searches by teens. This statistics is shocking. Even if we were to say it is normal for teens (which it should not be), for tweens and children ages 7 and below to be exposed to such sexually graphic content could have a possible detrimental effect. Psychiatrist Marcus Tan from Healthway Medical said "The danger is that some teens who are sexually curious might try out the acts they see on pornographic websites and view promiscuity as acceptable" (from My Paper). Though this only says teens, I believe that when Children are exposed to such content at a young age, this will lead to a characteristic that is very problematic to remove.
US govenment stepping in
Interesting to note, the US government stepped into an issue where it did not affect national security. Though Hillary Clinton again claimed that "In an interconnected world, an attack on one nation's networks can be an attack on all". Well of course we do know that the world is not just connected by the digital online network of course (though it is the easiest and more convenient). The hacking of humanist activity does not in any way implicate China's government is at fault. The most China can do is find the hackers and issue a warning. Of course again, Google company which is not related to the US government at all and humanist who MAY be related to the US government (though it should not be at all. In almost every case I've seen they are at most minimally related) does not give US the right to assault China with words directed at it's regulations and rules. So in this case, if the government stepped in for the sake of Google which is a MNC (multi-national company), would it step in for a small business too?
Google was already in trouble with the law
Google was being sued by a number of Chinese writers for scanning a large number of books into their google library without seeking the approval of the writers or checking the copyright laws. This is without a doubt a backslap to Google. Not only has this occured before the censorship issue was rised up but it showed the clear ignorance Google has for the copyright law. This copyright law is obviously not some communist made up law as its an international law abided by every nation. As a MNC (multi-national company) that has crossed every continent, it should have known better. This is an obvious flouting of law that got them in trouble. Perhaps this could be the real reason why Google wants to leave China, due to its bad image and reputation there.
China and America's unstable relationship
It is clear by this point that Hillary Clinton has made some very bold and unwise statements that has worsened the relationship between China and America. Obama too (Yes we can!) has demanded answers from China. As leaders of America, both Obama and Clinton should be very careful over what they say and how they handle the situation. Instead of trying to curry flavour with the people/crowd, like what George Bush did with the Iraqi War that lead to his eventual downfall, Obama and his team should just focus on improving America in its economy & medical welfare (which Obama is now reviewing). Of course, with the recent elections that shocked Obama when the opposition won, Obama claimed that he is not in touch with the people. Pointing fingers and asking questions from China is not the right thing to do if he just wants to re-direct the people's attention onto outside matters and gain favour through it .
Motivation behind the political involvment
Not in favour of starting any conspiracy theory or anything, I'm not going to state any reasons such as Google being a pawn of the American government in order to research on people (thus the government wants to protect their research) etc because that is just plain silly honestly. What I have to ask though is the motivation behind this "attacks" by the American government. Is it not because of their great pride? America has always been trying to protray itself as the "Big brother of the world" or the "defender of justice" etc. This of course extends to its ardent decision in interfering in another country's politics. For example, America was involved in the Vietnam war which as we all know, had diasterous results. Not just the Vietname war but also the Korean war, the Gulf war (the recent one in Iraq thanks to Bush) etc. America views itself as the world's standard, the perfection of systems and the liberator of tyranny. Thus it wants China to conform to America's standard. Whether it is free speech or politics or culture or acceptance etc. If China gives in to America's demands, sooner or later America would once again request for further change. This is a never ending pattern that would deprive us of a culture so unique and a country of great possibilities. I personally think its time for America to realise this is reality. Not some man-made fantasy where they can just intrude into any culture and country and impose their believes and yet fit into their culture. It is nonsensical to even have the fleeting thought that a person or country will be able to join another culture (be part of it) and yet at the same time be different. The earlier statement does not make sense because it is an oxymoron. By now, some of you intellects will probably realise that is possible, but if one is sincere, you will admit that it is nothing more than a dream because it is something unacheivable by man-kind. Only by the intervention by a God can we do that. I liken this thought to the GREAT and OP movie Avatar (it is one of the greatest films of all times), where a white man/ang moh/ caucasian who is superior in thought and technology will always be accepted by those who are supposedly beneath him such as oriental and afro cultures (even if its blatant that they do not fit in at all).
Hypocrite
The very idiom "Pot calling the kettle black" really applies to America. Is America really a country of freedom? Does it really allow absolute free speech and not censor any information? This is obviously not true! Veterans of the Vietnam war can all testify against the absolute lie regarding no more Prisoners of War (POWs) in Vietnam when America disgracefully pulled out when it's defeat was imminent. The government repeatedly gave out statements that no more American soldiers were left behind in Vietnam and purposefully ignored the constant cry from families to investigate the disappearance of their lost ones or from veterans who still claim their comrade in arms were left behind. In the middle of 2009, Obama was under the spot light for planting questions within a press conference in order to avoid sensitive topics and to stir the conference in a specific direction. This my friends, are just mere examples on how America is a hypocrite when it is asking other countries to have free speech.
Hacking Issue
Hacking into someone's computer and data is never a good thing. What we have to ask however is whether this warrants the US government to take a step into this matter. Afterall, the one that was hacked were not the US government, why should it take such a preceded step into this affair when its not even paying such attention to its country's own hackers. Yes, I have to agree, we should always try to crack down on problems and try to address it. China has hired thousands of people regarding this matter though some are for politically motivated reasons. We have to understand that by surfing the internet, as Hillary Clinton put it, is "joining a digital world" where one is connected to everyone else through a network that is not limited by continents or distance. As I mentioned before (because I find it paramount to make this clear), it is in no way good to have hackers at all. We should all play a part to stop hackers and create a safe environment for everyone. By joining a digital online world, one has to be careful for any attacks and it is your own responsibility to ensure your safety. There is no such thing as absolute safety, that is just a myth and if you believe that, you live in some deluded world. Even in reality, just taking a step out of your house and walking down the street puts one into a possibility of being mugged and murdered. This does not account or promote for anyone to just stay at home out of fear. Rather it is important to take preventive measures such as do not dress up in overly expensive clothings that begs people to rob you or to even stay fit so one can make an escape. I'm currently digressing from the topic and I apologize. There is no such thing as absolute safety and besides, its not like Americans have never hacked before. If you ask me, I believe the world's first hackers came from America and they have a large number of hackers that have not been caught or even been given any attention. How about cracking down on your own people before starting on others?
As all people who read the newspapers or kept up with current times should know, China, because of it's country's law and policy, is under fire from United States of America (US / USA) because of the internet giant: Google is pulling itself out of China due to China's censorship laws. Honestly, there is nothing more than to applaud Google regarding it's decision to withdraw if it clashes with its company's policy of no censorship. However, this has sparked into a worldwide news where political leaders of America has stepped in to criticize China's law and policy. Of course, like in many issues, there is more than what meets the eye. In this time of depression, America should just focus its attention on improving the economy first instead of diverting the focus and critics onto China.
Do onto others what you want others to do onto you
I'm sure America would not appreciate it if Vietnam, Iran, China, France or frankly any other country tries to change their law, tradition and policies. Instead of imposing their will and thoughts on others, they should analyse the concept that if another nation has pestered and intruded their laws on them e.g. being ruled by the Pope in Italy or having to conscript all 18 year old males into the army like Singapore what would they feel like? Its not like America is right in everything. That is probably why the 51 states of America is divided on many issues that plague the country. Firstly even IF you were right in all that you do, that does not give you the right in any way to push others around with ur policies. A well doing businessman should not go around telling everyone around him to follow his career. In the same way, America should not start being a critic on other country's policies and only offer constructive advice and help when the it is really needed or helpful. If America is right in what they do (freedom to surf anything etc), then they should just set an example and surely, other people will follow their lead.
Censorship that was politically motivated
Hillary Clinton mentioned in a press conference : "I hope that refusal to support politically-motivated censorship will become a trademark characteristic of American technology companies" - This was taken from a speech given at Newsuem journalism musuem regarding Internet freedom.
There is no doubt that the censorship in China is politically motivated. I have no qualms on that claim. But as a side note, China does censor other topics or issues such as Adult films. The question we should be asking is if politically motivated censorship is wrong then when is it right to censor information? Later I will give examples on information that was not released to the public and purposefully hidden by the Americans (which if you ask me is as good as censorship. At least with censorship, your honest with the public). Is it right to censor information when it bridges Moral values? Education Values? Religion issues? The word "censor" does have a negative tone to it, which to me is often linked to communist Russia for God knows what reason. Instead of stopping the flow of wrong information (this is why we have laws to prevent underaged sex as many of the victims do not understand the position they are in which can lead to future problems in their life), the encouragement to provide free access to information will bring about many problems in the future of the individual and society. The above statement regarding free access to information is again taken from Hillary Clinton's speech where she addressed that "Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century". Just to let you know, as of right now, China is still one of the most progressive countries in the world (especially economically).
It is a fact, America is the top producer of Adult films. Racism, sexism and whatever -ism is far more rampant in their country in comparison to any other country and statistics has shown that one in three people in America visit a psychologist/psychiatrist. This number is expected to go up to one in two people visiting psychologist. Problem that afflict America is probably primarily due to it's liberal access to information that allow individuals including children to watch and learn wrong values from a young age. This includes rebellious attitudes, violence, racism, sexism, lack of self-control and other myraid number of problems. So the question we should ask right now is, America is imposing a system that does not encourage the censorship of information that led to so many problems it itself cannot deal with. Should it allow another developing nation join in it's toil?
One of the consequences of free access of information
The American information-technology security firm Symantec released a startling statistic last month which featured the top keyword searches of 2009. It showed that the fourth most searched word for teens (ages between 13-18) and tween (8-12) is the word "sex". For children (ages 7 and under), the word "porn" ranks fourth. Again, the word "porn" is the sixth highest keyword searches by teens. This statistics is shocking. Even if we were to say it is normal for teens (which it should not be), for tweens and children ages 7 and below to be exposed to such sexually graphic content could have a possible detrimental effect. Psychiatrist Marcus Tan from Healthway Medical said "The danger is that some teens who are sexually curious might try out the acts they see on pornographic websites and view promiscuity as acceptable" (from My Paper). Though this only says teens, I believe that when Children are exposed to such content at a young age, this will lead to a characteristic that is very problematic to remove.
US govenment stepping in
Interesting to note, the US government stepped into an issue where it did not affect national security. Though Hillary Clinton again claimed that "In an interconnected world, an attack on one nation's networks can be an attack on all". Well of course we do know that the world is not just connected by the digital online network of course (though it is the easiest and more convenient). The hacking of humanist activity does not in any way implicate China's government is at fault. The most China can do is find the hackers and issue a warning. Of course again, Google company which is not related to the US government at all and humanist who MAY be related to the US government (though it should not be at all. In almost every case I've seen they are at most minimally related) does not give US the right to assault China with words directed at it's regulations and rules. So in this case, if the government stepped in for the sake of Google which is a MNC (multi-national company), would it step in for a small business too?
Google was already in trouble with the law
Google was being sued by a number of Chinese writers for scanning a large number of books into their google library without seeking the approval of the writers or checking the copyright laws. This is without a doubt a backslap to Google. Not only has this occured before the censorship issue was rised up but it showed the clear ignorance Google has for the copyright law. This copyright law is obviously not some communist made up law as its an international law abided by every nation. As a MNC (multi-national company) that has crossed every continent, it should have known better. This is an obvious flouting of law that got them in trouble. Perhaps this could be the real reason why Google wants to leave China, due to its bad image and reputation there.
China and America's unstable relationship
It is clear by this point that Hillary Clinton has made some very bold and unwise statements that has worsened the relationship between China and America. Obama too (Yes we can!) has demanded answers from China. As leaders of America, both Obama and Clinton should be very careful over what they say and how they handle the situation. Instead of trying to curry flavour with the people/crowd, like what George Bush did with the Iraqi War that lead to his eventual downfall, Obama and his team should just focus on improving America in its economy & medical welfare (which Obama is now reviewing). Of course, with the recent elections that shocked Obama when the opposition won, Obama claimed that he is not in touch with the people. Pointing fingers and asking questions from China is not the right thing to do if he just wants to re-direct the people's attention onto outside matters and gain favour through it .
Motivation behind the political involvment
Not in favour of starting any conspiracy theory or anything, I'm not going to state any reasons such as Google being a pawn of the American government in order to research on people (thus the government wants to protect their research) etc because that is just plain silly honestly. What I have to ask though is the motivation behind this "attacks" by the American government. Is it not because of their great pride? America has always been trying to protray itself as the "Big brother of the world" or the "defender of justice" etc. This of course extends to its ardent decision in interfering in another country's politics. For example, America was involved in the Vietnam war which as we all know, had diasterous results. Not just the Vietname war but also the Korean war, the Gulf war (the recent one in Iraq thanks to Bush) etc. America views itself as the world's standard, the perfection of systems and the liberator of tyranny. Thus it wants China to conform to America's standard. Whether it is free speech or politics or culture or acceptance etc. If China gives in to America's demands, sooner or later America would once again request for further change. This is a never ending pattern that would deprive us of a culture so unique and a country of great possibilities. I personally think its time for America to realise this is reality. Not some man-made fantasy where they can just intrude into any culture and country and impose their believes and yet fit into their culture. It is nonsensical to even have the fleeting thought that a person or country will be able to join another culture (be part of it) and yet at the same time be different. The earlier statement does not make sense because it is an oxymoron. By now, some of you intellects will probably realise that is possible, but if one is sincere, you will admit that it is nothing more than a dream because it is something unacheivable by man-kind. Only by the intervention by a God can we do that. I liken this thought to the GREAT and OP movie Avatar (it is one of the greatest films of all times), where a white man/ang moh/ caucasian who is superior in thought and technology will always be accepted by those who are supposedly beneath him such as oriental and afro cultures (even if its blatant that they do not fit in at all).
Hypocrite
The very idiom "Pot calling the kettle black" really applies to America. Is America really a country of freedom? Does it really allow absolute free speech and not censor any information? This is obviously not true! Veterans of the Vietnam war can all testify against the absolute lie regarding no more Prisoners of War (POWs) in Vietnam when America disgracefully pulled out when it's defeat was imminent. The government repeatedly gave out statements that no more American soldiers were left behind in Vietnam and purposefully ignored the constant cry from families to investigate the disappearance of their lost ones or from veterans who still claim their comrade in arms were left behind. In the middle of 2009, Obama was under the spot light for planting questions within a press conference in order to avoid sensitive topics and to stir the conference in a specific direction. This my friends, are just mere examples on how America is a hypocrite when it is asking other countries to have free speech.
Hacking Issue
Hacking into someone's computer and data is never a good thing. What we have to ask however is whether this warrants the US government to take a step into this matter. Afterall, the one that was hacked were not the US government, why should it take such a preceded step into this affair when its not even paying such attention to its country's own hackers. Yes, I have to agree, we should always try to crack down on problems and try to address it. China has hired thousands of people regarding this matter though some are for politically motivated reasons. We have to understand that by surfing the internet, as Hillary Clinton put it, is "joining a digital world" where one is connected to everyone else through a network that is not limited by continents or distance. As I mentioned before (because I find it paramount to make this clear), it is in no way good to have hackers at all. We should all play a part to stop hackers and create a safe environment for everyone. By joining a digital online world, one has to be careful for any attacks and it is your own responsibility to ensure your safety. There is no such thing as absolute safety, that is just a myth and if you believe that, you live in some deluded world. Even in reality, just taking a step out of your house and walking down the street puts one into a possibility of being mugged and murdered. This does not account or promote for anyone to just stay at home out of fear. Rather it is important to take preventive measures such as do not dress up in overly expensive clothings that begs people to rob you or to even stay fit so one can make an escape. I'm currently digressing from the topic and I apologize. There is no such thing as absolute safety and besides, its not like Americans have never hacked before. If you ask me, I believe the world's first hackers came from America and they have a large number of hackers that have not been caught or even been given any attention. How about cracking down on your own people before starting on others?
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