Time to vent a little spleen...okay, there are lots of things I like to vent my spleen about (why is it the spleen, anyway? why don't we vent, say, our liver?), because I'm a cynic, fairly observant, and my view of humanity in general is fairly well expressed by the last line of Monty Python's Galaxy Song, or those bumper stickers which read "Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here." But today my target it is a local custom. For any strangers who by some chance might read this, I live in Taiwan, a small island country southeast of China and south of Japan. Overall, Taiwan's a pretty decent place to live in (otherwise I wouldn't be here), but like everywhere else in the world, there's still plenty of room for improvement. In Taiwan's case, one of the more obvious areas that needs work is people's attitude towards (and simple consciousness of) the environment, a fact that is particularly brought home to me every year about this time.
Why this time of year? Well, because on the traditional lunar Chinese calender (most Taiwanese are ethnic Chinese), this month, the seventh month of the lunar year, is "Ghost Month". It's a bit like the original All Hallow's Eve, when it was believed that the spirits of the dead roamed free on the Earth, but in this case it lasts all month. Now I don't believe in ghosts (or anything else supernatural, for that matter), but my particular problem with "Ghost Month" is not merely that I consider it nonsense. No, the problem is that to honor these spirits (or to bribe them to leave everyone alone), more traditionally-minded people (and even companies) have big worship ceremonies during this month. Again, I have no particular objection to worship ceremonies, whoever or whatever they are aimed at (though I may consider them silly), but as part of these ceremonies people burn what is sometimes called ghost money. The idea is that if they burn this money it goes to the ghosts, who are then happy and leave the worshipper alone (or even aid them in some way).
Even if it weren't for the very concrete objections I have to this, I'll have to admit I find the whole idea rather absurd. As I've pointed out to people, if ghosts use money, that means they have an economy, with ghost shops and restaurants. That would mean there are also jobs to be had, which in turn means the ghosts shouldn't need to sponge off the living. (Okay, that sounds a bit right-wing, but how do you know that the ghost that's getting your money is one who is really in need? Maybe they actually have a cushy job in some ghost business or something. I mean, if you are doing it as some sort of charity for ghosts, you should at least make sure it's going to the ones who really need it). But I stray....
The real objection, of course, is environmental. Here we are, living in a country which suffered terrible landslides following a typhoon a few weeks back, in part because people have been cutting down the original forest cover to plant cash crops, and people are burning large amounts of paper just so some imaginary ghosts can have a nice imaginary meal? We are profligate enough with paper as it is, considering all the documents, homework papers, test papers, newspapers, magazines, books, paper bags, and so forth that people in Taiwan go through every day. But at least most of those things have some kind of practical purpose, and they can be (and sometimes are) recycled. With ghost money, it all goes up in smoke, and doesn't accomplish anything at all, except maybe psychologically. What makes it even worse is that most ghost money is not pure paper (there are usually fancy coatings to make it look golden and glittery); it contains some highly polluting chemicals, which of course go straight into the air when it's burned. This is aside from the carbon that is released. Here it is, the hottest part of the year, in a world that's getting hotter all the time due to human-induced climate change, and when you walk around the city streets, you've got to walk past all these fires which are just making it worse.
Some might say, yes, but it's a tradition, and part of the religion, so we shouldn't interfere. To which I say...bullsh...er, nonsense (might as well avoid having this page blocked for bad language, at least for the time being). In ancient times, many religions had traditions of human sacrifice. Even in modern times, suttee (where the widow is expected to throw herself on her husband's funeral pyre) in parts of India or female circumcision in parts of Africa are also "tradition". Should we "respect" those traditions and allow them to continue? I am a firm believer in respecting other cultures, at least in that I don't think European culture is in any general sense superior to the cultures of other parts of the world, and I think an effort should be made to preserve most traditions. But if a tradition is harmful in a direct and obvious way, then it should go. Tradition is no excuse for ruining our environment.
In fact, there are plenty of Taiwanese who feel the same way. Buddhist organizations in Taiwan often speak out against the burning of ghost money (though admittedly that's because the whole ghost money concept is Daoist, not Buddhist), and I personally know many Taiwanese who agree that it's not a good thing. Even the government has indirectly acknowledged the problem (I think not so much the environmental destruction, but because it's a fire hazard) by providing websites where people can burn virtual money. And why not? If you really believe that ghosts use money, then why shouldn't virtual money be just as good? After all, in the real world, most money is virtual money that only exists in computers, rather than physically in the form of cash. If it works for us, it should work for the ghosts too.
The upshot is, I hope that some day in the future, I'll be able to walk the streets of Taipei during ghost month without seeing anyone burning any ghost money at all. Rather than spending so much effort on dead ancestors, who don't even notice, let's think more about our descendants, who won't thank us for ruining their world for them. Toast the dead in your heart, or if you insist "burn" some virtual money online, but leave clean air and living trees for yourself and your children.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Memories of a Strange Dream
My, how time flies. It's been over two weeks since I last posted here, which is hardly the pace I would prefer to be setting. Since the latest essay I've started is incomplete (in fact I haven't gotten past the introducory paragraph), I'm posting something completely different. The following is a brief recounting of a vivid (though imperfectly remembered) dream that I had. Both the dream and the description of it date back to 2001. I have left it in its original form.
The other night I had a strange dream. I dreamed that the world was completely covered with water. Whether it had happened suddenly or was a gradual process I'm not sure, though my impression is that it was sudden. As I recall, I myself was suddenly underwater, a deep blue-green sea covering me and all the surrounding land. I barely had time to feel short of breath, however, before an unknown force lifted me clear out of the water.
I broke the surface of the ocean with a great splash. As I rose high into the air, I felt my fear of heights rising up within me. But I also felt a feeling of exhilaration as I sped through the air above the waves, carried still by the unknown force. And I was distracted from my fear by what I saw. I realized that not everything had been covered by water after all. There was a mountain range rising out of the ocean, covered still by green grass and trees, though all around was blue water. How high the mountains had been before the waters rose I had no idea, but they still were of considerable height, and I flew at their feet. Yet the air around me was warm, and my impression is that even at the peaks, the mountains themselves were not cold. The feeling was almost like a summer day, with green and blue below me and a blue sky with white clouds above.
Even the mountains were forgotten, however, after I saw what lay at their feet near the water's edge, just below me as I flew. There was a city, or at least some tall buildings, still standing. There were half a dozen or more skyscrapers, but they were scattered about on a level grassy area, with no immediate sign of paved streets (or people) between them. Furthermore, the buildings themselves had an otherworldly appearance. Though they resembled in form the steel and glass structures I was familiar with, they were of a reddish brown color and indeed looked as if they were made of stucco or some similar substance. It was as if they had been transformed completely into what looked like life-sized models of skyscrapers, made by some giant out of red clay. It occurs to me now that it was a little like they had been rusted through, but there was no sign of the crumbling appearance that goes with rusted metal. In fact, they were perfect and whole in appearance, and even now I can see in my mind the architecture of the building I was closest to (it resembled somewhat the Chrysler Building in New York, having a pointed top and arched, ornamental windows).
Still feeling the fear and exhilaration of flying with no visible means of support, I neared the ground at the feet of the buildings. I have some memory of seeing something on the grassy space below me as I descended, perhaps an overgrown fountain or statue or something of that sort. But before I reached it I woke up.
What if anything this dream means I'll probably never know. I don't believe that dreams are predictive, but perhaps what I saw was what subconsciously I imagine as the fate of a world overtaken by global warming. No doubt what images I still retain will soon fade. This is unfortunate, because together those strange stucco skyscrapers on those green mountains surrounded by that endless blue ocean make up one of the most dramatic scenes I've ever laid eyes on, asleep or awake.
The other night I had a strange dream. I dreamed that the world was completely covered with water. Whether it had happened suddenly or was a gradual process I'm not sure, though my impression is that it was sudden. As I recall, I myself was suddenly underwater, a deep blue-green sea covering me and all the surrounding land. I barely had time to feel short of breath, however, before an unknown force lifted me clear out of the water.
I broke the surface of the ocean with a great splash. As I rose high into the air, I felt my fear of heights rising up within me. But I also felt a feeling of exhilaration as I sped through the air above the waves, carried still by the unknown force. And I was distracted from my fear by what I saw. I realized that not everything had been covered by water after all. There was a mountain range rising out of the ocean, covered still by green grass and trees, though all around was blue water. How high the mountains had been before the waters rose I had no idea, but they still were of considerable height, and I flew at their feet. Yet the air around me was warm, and my impression is that even at the peaks, the mountains themselves were not cold. The feeling was almost like a summer day, with green and blue below me and a blue sky with white clouds above.
Even the mountains were forgotten, however, after I saw what lay at their feet near the water's edge, just below me as I flew. There was a city, or at least some tall buildings, still standing. There were half a dozen or more skyscrapers, but they were scattered about on a level grassy area, with no immediate sign of paved streets (or people) between them. Furthermore, the buildings themselves had an otherworldly appearance. Though they resembled in form the steel and glass structures I was familiar with, they were of a reddish brown color and indeed looked as if they were made of stucco or some similar substance. It was as if they had been transformed completely into what looked like life-sized models of skyscrapers, made by some giant out of red clay. It occurs to me now that it was a little like they had been rusted through, but there was no sign of the crumbling appearance that goes with rusted metal. In fact, they were perfect and whole in appearance, and even now I can see in my mind the architecture of the building I was closest to (it resembled somewhat the Chrysler Building in New York, having a pointed top and arched, ornamental windows).
Still feeling the fear and exhilaration of flying with no visible means of support, I neared the ground at the feet of the buildings. I have some memory of seeing something on the grassy space below me as I descended, perhaps an overgrown fountain or statue or something of that sort. But before I reached it I woke up.
What if anything this dream means I'll probably never know. I don't believe that dreams are predictive, but perhaps what I saw was what subconsciously I imagine as the fate of a world overtaken by global warming. No doubt what images I still retain will soon fade. This is unfortunate, because together those strange stucco skyscrapers on those green mountains surrounded by that endless blue ocean make up one of the most dramatic scenes I've ever laid eyes on, asleep or awake.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
'Terrorists' in US prisons
For this post, I decided to try something different. Instead of a standard prose essay, I offer for the perusal of any adventurous types who manage to find their way to this far corner of the Internet a Socratic dialogue. If it's good enough for Plato, it's good enough for me.
"Hey, did you read this? That socialist president of ours wants to move all these terrorists from Guantanamo to the US!"
"Hmmm. I see what you mean. It's not clear whether all of them will go to court any time soon, and so we still might end up detaining some people indefinitely without trial. That would seem to violate the spirit of Obama's pledge to end the violations of human rights that Guantanamo represents. But at least we aren't torturing people any more."
"What are you talking about? We never tortured anybody. We just interrogated them for vital information necessary to protect America."
"Oh? That waterboarding stuff sounds a lot like torture to me. And didn't I read that some poor guy got sodomized with a broom handle?"
"I don't know anything about that. Anyway, these are all terrorist scum we're talking about. I'm not going to cry for them. We need to do what it takes to beat the evil they are part of."
"But why do you say they're evil?"
"Because they blow people up and want to impose their radical ideology on everyone!"
"So they are evil for blowing people up but we aren't evil if we torture them?"
"We're just trying to protect ourselves from them! They're the ones who started coming here and killing our people!"
"Hmm. I thought the US was involved in the Middle East long before Al-Qaeda attacked us. But anyway, what you are saying is that since they attacked us, they are the bad guys, and since we are defending ourselves against them, whatever we do is okay?"
"That's about right, yeah."
"So if they grab one of our soldiers or civilians and chop his head off, they are evil, but if we waterboard some guy we think is one of them, that's not evil?"
"Something like that. But I wasn't talking about that. Some whiny bleeding heart fools may want to treat these scum like babies, but my point is that they want to bring them here to the US. I mean, can you believe that Obama's insane enough to actually bring terrorists to American soil?"
"Well, if he closes down Guantanamo and doesn't want to let them go, he's got to put them somewhere, right?"
"But he can't put them here! These people are dangerous! You see from the article that at least the Republican from Michigan is sensible enough to see it's a bad idea. I also read that the Republican congressman representing that district in Kansas is against it, and he said 95% of his constituents don't want them there."
"Yes, I see. But I also see that they already have prisons in those places, and they're maximum security. Surely those prisons already have some murderers and rapists in them?"
"Yeah, but these are terrorists! They're a danger to the whole nation! Look what they did in New York!"
"Well, I don't know that all of them are terrorists; maybe some just got caught by accident. But anyway, are you saying that just by being near us they are somehow deadly? Like terrorists give off some infectious disease or something?"
"Yeah, well, maybe not, but think, man! What if they got out?"
"But these people in Kansas or wherever already live next to a prison full of violent criminals. Why don't they worry about them getting out?"
"I'm sure they don't want that to happen, but anyway those are just ordinary criminals. These are foreign terrorists."
"But look, that's the point. Aren't the criminals they've already got in these prisons Americans?"
"Yeah, so while I'm sure these people don't like living near criminals, it could be worse. Obama could stick them with these foreign scum."
"Okay, but these criminals they've got now, they speak English and know their way around, so if they got out, they'd be able to hide out and maybe start committing new crimes. But these guys from Guantanamo, they're all like, what, Saudis and Yemenis and Pakistanis and whatever. I'll bet half of them barely speak English. What would they do if they did get out?"
"Are you kidding? They'd probably go straight to the nearest big city and blow something up! These guys are all crazy suicide bombers. Don't you watch the news?"
"How would they get the bombs? I doubt they'd even be able to find their way to any targets if they got out. Like I said, half of them probably don't even speak decent English. If they are fugitives who just got out of prison in a strange country, how are they going to even get around, let alone get the ingredients for a bomb?"
"Okay, some of them might have a little trouble, but some of them speak English, and some of them have been to the US before. And even the others would probably manage."
"So you think some English-speaking Pakistani guy is going to manage to break out of prison in Kansas and walk into stores and start buying bomb ingredients when everyone's out looking for him? I mean, I don't think much of racial profiling, but how many Pakistanis are there in Kansas? And everyone would be looking out for him, right?"
"He wouldn't have to stay in Kansas. He could go to New York or somewhere like that. There's all kinds of weird foreign types there."
"'Weird foreign types', right. So you think he could get all the way across the country -- a country he's not likely to be that familiar with, unless he's one of the few who has lived here -- with everybody looking for him, build a bomb, and blow a bunch of people up?"
"Yeah, sure. I mean, these guys are terrorists! They'd find a way. Look what they did to the World Trade Center!"
"But they spent months planning that, and they weren't all on the run when they did it. Not to mention there were a bunch of them."
"Okay, they might not be able to do something that big, but you can bet they'd do something. They're definitely too dangerous to be let into the country."
"I see. So your point is that people shouldn't worry too much about living next to a prison overflowing with murderers, rapists and other violent criminals, who if they escaped could go straight back to doing what got them put away in the first place, but we should worry about having some foreign people with lousy English who'd probably get lost on the way to the Greyhound station in our prisons, because they are 'terrorists'?"
"Right, that's what I'm saying."
"Okay, I get it. These guys are scary, 'cause they're foreign and they are called terrorists, as in 'terror'. Got you."
"Glad we got that straight. Now let's go get a beer. All this talking has made me thirsty."
"Hey, did you read this? That socialist president of ours wants to move all these terrorists from Guantanamo to the US!"
"Hmmm. I see what you mean. It's not clear whether all of them will go to court any time soon, and so we still might end up detaining some people indefinitely without trial. That would seem to violate the spirit of Obama's pledge to end the violations of human rights that Guantanamo represents. But at least we aren't torturing people any more."
"What are you talking about? We never tortured anybody. We just interrogated them for vital information necessary to protect America."
"Oh? That waterboarding stuff sounds a lot like torture to me. And didn't I read that some poor guy got sodomized with a broom handle?"
"I don't know anything about that. Anyway, these are all terrorist scum we're talking about. I'm not going to cry for them. We need to do what it takes to beat the evil they are part of."
"But why do you say they're evil?"
"Because they blow people up and want to impose their radical ideology on everyone!"
"So they are evil for blowing people up but we aren't evil if we torture them?"
"We're just trying to protect ourselves from them! They're the ones who started coming here and killing our people!"
"Hmm. I thought the US was involved in the Middle East long before Al-Qaeda attacked us. But anyway, what you are saying is that since they attacked us, they are the bad guys, and since we are defending ourselves against them, whatever we do is okay?"
"That's about right, yeah."
"So if they grab one of our soldiers or civilians and chop his head off, they are evil, but if we waterboard some guy we think is one of them, that's not evil?"
"Something like that. But I wasn't talking about that. Some whiny bleeding heart fools may want to treat these scum like babies, but my point is that they want to bring them here to the US. I mean, can you believe that Obama's insane enough to actually bring terrorists to American soil?"
"Well, if he closes down Guantanamo and doesn't want to let them go, he's got to put them somewhere, right?"
"But he can't put them here! These people are dangerous! You see from the article that at least the Republican from Michigan is sensible enough to see it's a bad idea. I also read that the Republican congressman representing that district in Kansas is against it, and he said 95% of his constituents don't want them there."
"Yes, I see. But I also see that they already have prisons in those places, and they're maximum security. Surely those prisons already have some murderers and rapists in them?"
"Yeah, but these are terrorists! They're a danger to the whole nation! Look what they did in New York!"
"Well, I don't know that all of them are terrorists; maybe some just got caught by accident. But anyway, are you saying that just by being near us they are somehow deadly? Like terrorists give off some infectious disease or something?"
"Yeah, well, maybe not, but think, man! What if they got out?"
"But these people in Kansas or wherever already live next to a prison full of violent criminals. Why don't they worry about them getting out?"
"I'm sure they don't want that to happen, but anyway those are just ordinary criminals. These are foreign terrorists."
"But look, that's the point. Aren't the criminals they've already got in these prisons Americans?"
"Yeah, so while I'm sure these people don't like living near criminals, it could be worse. Obama could stick them with these foreign scum."
"Okay, but these criminals they've got now, they speak English and know their way around, so if they got out, they'd be able to hide out and maybe start committing new crimes. But these guys from Guantanamo, they're all like, what, Saudis and Yemenis and Pakistanis and whatever. I'll bet half of them barely speak English. What would they do if they did get out?"
"Are you kidding? They'd probably go straight to the nearest big city and blow something up! These guys are all crazy suicide bombers. Don't you watch the news?"
"How would they get the bombs? I doubt they'd even be able to find their way to any targets if they got out. Like I said, half of them probably don't even speak decent English. If they are fugitives who just got out of prison in a strange country, how are they going to even get around, let alone get the ingredients for a bomb?"
"Okay, some of them might have a little trouble, but some of them speak English, and some of them have been to the US before. And even the others would probably manage."
"So you think some English-speaking Pakistani guy is going to manage to break out of prison in Kansas and walk into stores and start buying bomb ingredients when everyone's out looking for him? I mean, I don't think much of racial profiling, but how many Pakistanis are there in Kansas? And everyone would be looking out for him, right?"
"He wouldn't have to stay in Kansas. He could go to New York or somewhere like that. There's all kinds of weird foreign types there."
"'Weird foreign types', right. So you think he could get all the way across the country -- a country he's not likely to be that familiar with, unless he's one of the few who has lived here -- with everybody looking for him, build a bomb, and blow a bunch of people up?"
"Yeah, sure. I mean, these guys are terrorists! They'd find a way. Look what they did to the World Trade Center!"
"But they spent months planning that, and they weren't all on the run when they did it. Not to mention there were a bunch of them."
"Okay, they might not be able to do something that big, but you can bet they'd do something. They're definitely too dangerous to be let into the country."
"I see. So your point is that people shouldn't worry too much about living next to a prison overflowing with murderers, rapists and other violent criminals, who if they escaped could go straight back to doing what got them put away in the first place, but we should worry about having some foreign people with lousy English who'd probably get lost on the way to the Greyhound station in our prisons, because they are 'terrorists'?"
"Right, that's what I'm saying."
"Okay, I get it. These guys are scary, 'cause they're foreign and they are called terrorists, as in 'terror'. Got you."
"Glad we got that straight. Now let's go get a beer. All this talking has made me thirsty."
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