Us and them

After dinner I walked into my room and closed the door behind me. It’s a small room, and in the corner sits my keyboard, hunched by a makeshift microphone-stand clothes rack, with just enough room for a cheap chair to sit amongst the scramble of cables. I sit. I reach to pick up a jumble of papers, sheet music I printed off yesterday, and lay the first page on my lap, as I don’t have a music stand.

The air of fading daylight is with me, the winding clock and spinning earth migrates the sun away, allowing the darkness to creep in earlier. The air of the cold is with me, no longer with company of the warm summer, suddenely aware of how easily the revered seasons are taken from us. And also with me, is the solemn air of this strange disease the has left me stranded in limbo, far more aware of the thoughts that dwell inside than I am comfortable with.

I flick on the keyboard and amp, listening to the buzz of the speaker for a moment. It’s suddenely a little less cold.

Fumbling through the first verse, I make it to the chorus, the part I specifically wanted to learn. It begins with a Bm, a sort of crashing sound after a mellow start. Two bars in, my right hand moves down to A, but it’s only a tease, as it moves back to the Bm while my left drops down a note. A heart tearing dissonance, the low end builds emotion, while the proud right stands as it is, creating irresolvable tension. Then swiftly yet gently, it resolves to a C, as if giving up hope, letting it’s last breath go just to find peace, in harmony and spirit.

I run through it again and again.

Just like the chords, the man was born out of the silence. The life he lived was subdued and idyllic, as was his youth. But as it neared the end, a truth of his existence came before him, that harsh honest Bm. Fighting for his life, upon the strength of his past, he tries to hold steadfast as the chords below his feet slip lower. But alas, he can fight no more and hence accepts his fate at the middle C, the note we all came from.

So strange it is that such a sorrowful piece of music can be so beautiful. Even more strange it is that one would willingly listen through this pain. Madness.

I run through it again.

It feels so wrong that musicians may die. Even after death, their songs still belong to them and we are just keeping them warm until they get back. But they won’t come back. They said goodbye to this earth and forgot to take something with them, their memories encapsulated in a melody. I guess nothing in this life really belonged to us in the first place.

I play it one last time.

“For want of the price or tea and a slice
The old man died”

Sympathy for the right

Lately I’ve been brushing up on my politics and economics. No, I still haven’t gotten around to reading a whole book or journal articles on the topic, but I’ve been making my way through a fair share of opinion articles, wikipedia pages and online lectures. I think this recent spur of interest could be attributed to our recent elections, occupy wall street or more likely, Reddit. Either way, it’s been enjoyable and enlightening.

Interestingly during this time I’ve changed my mind on a lot of issues. While not too long ago I would have considered myself a so called “liberal”, taking any opportunity to make remarks that stick it to the man, I’ve realised how uneducated I was regarding how things actually work in the real world.  That is to say, I haven’t changed what I value in society, but rather think differently on how we are to achieve them.

The terms capitalism and free market are, for me,  no longer synonymous with “greed” and “exploitation”. I no longer believe that the best way to solve our problems is via socialist regulations. In fact, I’ve realised that government interference sometimes poses a greater threat to the well being of a nation than corporations do. But more importantly, I’ve realised that people on the right are not evil scum.

There is a knee jerk reaction from the blue collar or liberal section towards right wing policies. One that assumes a self interest, elitism or even heartlessness within the maker. As if there is always some grand New World Order scheme churning below their million dollar mansions. Or could it be that they are simply trying to achieve the same goal as us but via a method they perceive as more effective?

Maybe foreign investment in New Zealand land will actually benefit all of us. Maybe discarding the minimum wage will produce more jobs. The sustainable extraction of our natural resources may just be a perfectly safe way to increase our exports. Suppose privatization does sometimes lead to better public services.  And maybe John Bank’s  depiction of the average Polynesian male has a valid basis (only kidding).

I’m not saying I support any of these claims. I just think that we could all try to understand the other side properly before we jump on the angry protest wagon and release the ad hominem remarks. Who knows, maybe we could even read a book on economics…

Soma

Let me present to you the man (or woman) of the future…

No longer burdened with the efforts of cooking, exercising, thinking or slugging away to find happiness, the man of the future is free to experience all the pleasures of reality from within the confines of their own home. He may seek the greatest highs, most exhilarating adventures and sensual pleasures at his whim. Gone will be the days of effort. Gone will be the days of consequences. The man of the future is finally liberated from the struggles of reality and thrust into the sensory heavens.

The man of the future will have the latest extra-sensory head apparatus sending waves of stimulation directly into their brain. Through this break through device, the user can experience any sensation he wishes: sight, smell, taste, touch or sound. One minute, he may be sitting atop a Tibetan mountain top, blissfully relaxing against the trickle of water and breathing in the cool high altitude air. The next minute he may be sitting at a great banquet, indulging in the rarest treats from the corners of the world. And then finally finding themselves in the arms of a loved one experiencing a heartfelt euphoria.

Sex, food, beauty or simply pure blissful slumber will appear at the pulse of a neuron. Our team at the Uber Man Technology Works have produced sensations indistinguishable from the real thing. So why put yourself through the risks and trials of real life when you can achieve the same result with no effort?

This is more than just a virtual reality system, however, it is a complete sensory reality system. Through it you can manipulate the crux of your perception as if you held a customizable drug. Upon reaching a temporary boredom with your usual virtual escapades, you may choose to wipe your slate clean and relive these experiences as if they were your first, over and over again. And moreover, you may send direct waves of dopamine to your brain leaving you in a catatonic state of pleasure for as long as you wish.

The man of the future sits comfortably upon the softest sofas in the security of his own home. A drip feeds to him all his his nutritional requirements, relieving him of the onerous need to cook, clean and expend energy that could be used for enjoyment. Robot cleaners sanitise the room and keep pesky intruders out, allowing the resident to meditate in his manner of choosing. Your remaining physical body, our dear customer, friend and brother, will be well looked after.

Soon, we will have achieved the pinnacle of what all human technology has strived for. A life of pure convenience and and eternal pleasure until the day we die. This is the future, an utter perfect existence. We all may now live our lives as the bourgeois of our own reality. No, the GODS of our reality. What more could we ask for?

Nazis and dishwashers

There are two kitchens that I use at work, one on my floor and a common one on the ground floor. At the ground floor kitchen, people tend to place their dishes into the the dishwasher after using them. Whenever I go there, I follow suite. But at the kitchen on my floor, the dishes are always pile up on the bench top, so again I follow suite and leave them on the bench top.

Both kitchens are roughly identical. There is no relevant difference that justifies my differing choice of dish placement between the two. In fact, whenever I do leave my dishes out on the kitchen on my floor, I feel slightly resentful knowing that I am just making more work for the cleaners. At the end of the day, I’m just basing my actions on whatever is considered the social norm of the given kitchen.

It kind of makes you understand how people could be Nazis doesn’t it…

To be fed or free

Aside from exploding bottles of silly string in the bonfire, chalking borderline offensive images on our fence and generally not being sure what was happening around me, I managed to sneak in an interesting conversation with one of my flat mates friends at our recent Halloween barbeque. The discussion was over the balance between economics and ethics in his home country of China. While my ability to criticise economic policy is embarrassingly poor, the conversation did prod my western democratic leanings.

I was actually lucky enough to visit China a number of years ago on a holiday with my folks. Unfortunately my younger self took little interest in making sociological observations and instead spent most of his time buying paintings of dragons (totally worth it) and stealing my little cousin’s gameboy to play a ninja turtles video game (also, mostly worth it). Probably the most significant observation I made was being startled at a black guy ordering KFC in mandarin, talk about globalization epitomised.

China, while being a beautiful and culturally mosaic country, has been under scrutiny for various practices that appear abhorrent to us in the west. The repression of freedom of expression, the unjustified occupation of Tibet, the stringent nature of it’s government and struggling human rights record. At surface value, to a laymen observer such as myself, these are repugnant actions. But while my newly acquainted Halloween buddy shared in my frustration, he proposed to me an interesting take on such situations.

What he said was this. China is on a journey. Right now it is incapable of moving forward in it’s economic interests without neglecting human rights and a more democratic approach. Once the country stabilises itself, moves more of it’s population into the middle class through economic improvements, only then can it transform into a democratic country and establish the levels of human rights as declared by the UN. In other words, such actions are necessary evils to bring about a fruitful future for it’s entire population.

That is an interesting utilitarian thought which is quite at odds with the western ways of thinking. We value the right to individual autonomy and egalitarian participation in public government. Whereas submission to the greater good is a concept more easily accepted by the east. The idea that individuals must sacrifice for the greater good of the state. In other words, fascism versus democracy.

Now I’m not sure if things will play out this way for China. Marginalisation of human values and over-centralisation of power has a terrible track record in history. But maybe sometimes the end does justify or at least necessitate the means. In an overpopulous country of scarcity, maybe we can’t give everyone complete liberty. Maybe rights and democracy are a utopian luxury that a country needs to sacrifice to attain rather than simply being a given.

I understand it is very difficult to justify such repression and oppression. After all, Ghandi is often cited as saying that an end can only truly be reached via a means that maintains the values of the end. But I’ve often read that everyone in China is now better off than they were before. So maybe, just maybe, it is sometimes better to be fed than to be free.

Anti-apathy

Our enemies were once the coldness of nature, the predatory beasts and the never ending hunt for nourishment. For these, we evolved our able bodies, our wits and the co-operation one another. Then came the enemy of tribes. Against this we learned how to fight and craft weapons to defend ourselves. Shortly after, we began to face our own existentialism, for which we developed our study of thought, and against the complexities of the world which hold us we developed science.

As time went by, our enemies began changing from ones of the inherent phenomena of the universe, to be ones of the greater organisation of people. Against oppression we learned to unite and revolt. Against violence and war we learned to march for peace. And against the thought control of the public system, we learned to communicate via the internet.

We have over come many enemies in our past, some of which still haunt us today. But nevertheless, for our sake and for the sake of those around us we continue to fight against them so that we may be free. But the ones that we each face today are far more subtle and complex than ever. We face the enemy of fervent corporate, political and economic growth. And against this, our only weapon is knowledge.

While you may be apathetic towards the progress of civilization or the defense of the disenfranchised, you cannot ignore the forces that threaten your very self. For as an individual awakened in this oligarchic society, your liberties and well being are never guaranteed. And while you may be safe now, it is for that moment you will need to have your arms prepared.

So read, listen, write, question and think. Travel, talk, perform and yearn. Because one day, you’ll need everything you can muster from your mind to defend your wages, your liberties, the forests you visit, the air which you breathe, the peace within you neighborhood, the future of those you love and most importantly, the control of your own mind and body. And that moment may in fact be now.

Baking with happy ingredients

Ok, so you’re quite not on the vegan train. You just haven’t been dazzled by my ostensibly persuasive arguments or you are strong believer of meh-ism. Or maybe, you aren’t yet ready to part ways with your beloved blueberry muffins, pancakes and puddings. Well, do I have a solution for you!

I present…(triplet timing, obnoxious freeform jazz drum roll please)….baking with happy ingredients!

I purport to you today that all your cherished baked goods can in fact be made just as well without any animal products. Not only will you be able to create delicious treats without having to use products that involve mistreatment of animals (ooooh yes…just look at what goes on in those dairy farms little Jimmy), you’ll be able to make them healthier, cheaper and with just common household ingredients. It’s a win-win situation for you and Daisy. (I wish I could sound less like an infomercial but I’m resentfully diggin’ my oratory groove right now)

Here are a few recipes that have been tested and approved by yours truly.

Blue Berry Muffins
Straight up good muffins. No fats or cholesterol and a lot of the sweetness just comes from fruit.

Link

Pancakes
These are really easy to make. The banana gives a natural sweetness to the pancakes so you might not even need to add sugar. Oh, and you can top it with the left-over half of the banana.

Link

Pumpkin Pie
With the goodness of pumpkin and the awesomeness of pie. But seriously, you get nutrients from the pumpkin, dates and it’s a really nice dessert.

Link

“Ice Cream”
If you blend frozen bananas with a few goodies you get ice cream. Just add your choice of flavour and you’re sorted eg, berries, cocoa and vanilla.

Link

These are just a few examples of how to bake with vegan ingredients. You can find many great recipes for cakes, puddings, dessert pies, slices etc, with just a few clicks on the internet. Here’s a quick run-down on how you replace your usual ingredients:

Milk: Soy-milk, Rice-milk (for the love of Vishnu this stuff is heavenly), Oat-milk
Cream: Coconut milk, Coconut cream, Soy cream, Cashew cream, Silken tofu
Eggs: Mashed fruits eg, banana, apples, pumpkin etc, Flax seeds ground in water, Commercial Egg replacer
Butter: You don’t actually need butter, especially if you used mashed fruit. ‘Sigh’, if you really want there are vegan alternatives to butter, or just use oil…but think of your poor arteries!

Why are these healthier? First of all, you are adding much less fats when you use these ingredients (aside from coconut products). Next, these products generally have no cholesterol unlike eggs, milk and butter. Thirdly, because you are replacing some of the dairy products with mashed fruit, you are using more of the natural sweetness of the fruit, hence relying less on refined sugars as well as gaining all the nutrients from the fruit itself. And finally, by using wholemeal and oat flours you are adding more fiber and more than enough protein.

So next time you get the urge to bake or whip up a dessert (which I’m sure you all do), check to see if you can make your dessert healthier, cheaper and free from animal exploitation. And if that doesn’t convince you, then go watch Bambi again after reading this.