Acceptance, or Doing Nothing

Muse

I was out with the parental units the other day. There's a new Italian restaurant in town, and the food is good. So I decided to take them out.

On the way we got stopped at the Wellawatte checkpoint. Since I was the one not driving, I gave my driver's licence.

Yes, my driver's licence. It is what I show at checkpoints.

Of course the copette who was there - rather cute too I might add - asked me for my ID. I said ,That is a valid ID.

At which point she insisted on seeing my National Identity Card. I kept on telling her the same thing.

That is a valid ID. Issued by the government.

The law does not state that you have to show your ID. It merely states that you have to establish your identity. In fact, there is no law that states that all people should have National Identity Cards.

So, if a government-issued document with your picture on it - and lets face it, all ID cards have old and unrecognisable pictures - is not good enough to establish your identity? Then what is?

Things were getting heated, when my parents started yelling at me to just show your damned ID card!

So I did. Not because of anything, but I was taking my parents out for dinner, and I really didn't need the bad blood this creates in my family. On the way, my parents were haranguing me about my actions. Why do I borrow trouble? Why don't I just show my ID? Why not just follow the status quo and move on?

Simple. I don't like the status quo.

I don't like giving powers they don't have to people.

I don;t like my freedoms being taken away from me.

Since I was a kid I have seen what happens to people who get power, especially the little people. To quite the (often misquoted) Baron Acton ,All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The problem is, we have been taught from a young age to bow to power, to not upset the apple-cart, to unquestioningly accept what is said. And this is being used against us. The rights we have are being taken away from us not de jure but de facto. Not by law, but by the simple fact of it. Things that are not against the law are being punished because people believe that it is against the law.

Let's take a few examples. A long time back, the cops used to raid guest houses and take the couple they found there away. They would be harassed, mocked, and finally released after a bribe was paid. One couple among the many taken in like this, on a raid that was done under the Prevention of Terrorism Act decided to fight it. They were both adults, and were not doing anything illegal. They had just come there to have a good time. When they were arrested, they went to court and fought. And won. This gave the cops the message that they cannot harass the couples who were in a guest room if they prove that they are not part of the terrorists. So if you ever have to go for a dirty weekend (or day, or night, or afternoon, or one-hour quickie) they are the people you should thank for making it possible.

Another example. A good friend of mine was having a post-prandial at Green Cabin in the outside area. You know the place. It has a roof on it, some tables, but not much else. Some guy comes up to him and says that it is illegal to smoke in public areas. So my friend, who is a visitor to dotelkay, puts away his cigarette. He tells me this later, and I explain to him that the law says that you can't smoke in enclosed public spaces. The place he was smoking in was not enclosed, and he could have told the guy to fuck off and die. But he's a nice guy who doesn't know the laws.

Buy us unquestioningly accepting the supposed laws they have, we are not just destroying our rights, but those of the people around us. And these rights were fought for by our forefathers. If we are willing to fight tooth, nail, and claw for the dining set that our great-uncle left us in his will. why are we not fighting for these?

So that is why I go out of my way to make life difficult for the cops and anyone else in power who wants to exert that power on me. I want to know what rights we have and what we don't have. I want to know the strength of the law that we have on the side of the people.

But there are many people who are willing to fight the creeping removal of our rights. One example is a guy who got arrested for not showing his ID in the US. Go, read the story, I'll wait.

But the issue in that story is not what happened. It is what happened after the event. He decided to fight it. He decided to fight for what was undeniably his right. And he would have won it too. Admittedly it may have been a long battle, but he would have won. The problem was his family. His family put pressure on him to not fight the case. To accept a lower charge and plead guilty. His family wanted him to plead guilty because they didn't like the inconvenience.

It is easy for my family to do the same thing. To say give up. Give in. Let them do their thing as long as you're not inconvenienced. But that is not the point is it?

The point is that we should always fight for our rights. If we don't, they get used to eroding them and the courts get used to fining us and punishing us for something that isn't wrong in the first place.

Let me leave you with another quote, this one attributed to Edmund Burke.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

I am.. You are.. He is..

Muse

You've all heard the triple standard. I am one thing.. You are a slightly less acceptable way of looking at the same thing.. He is acting in a way that is completely unacceptable. We are all doing the same thing.

Want an illustration? Here's one. I have reconsidered my options. You have changed your mind. He has gone back on his word.

We can get sexual too. I am experimentative. You are kinky. He's a fucking pervert.

Nice isn't it. The acceptability of an action is based on who is doing it. It is acceptable for certain groups to act in one way. It is unacceptable for another group to act in the same way.

I was at a seminar yesterday, organised by the Mad Monk. The famous half of the duo known as The Monk and The Punk. I'm the infamous half.

The event had a speech/presentation by a apparently well-known media personality. An announcer, and presenter. At least everyone else there seemed to know him. I am not quite so knowing. But that's just me. He was talking about the ethics of being a media presenter. About being a socially conscious media person.

All well and good I guess.

Then he started talking about protecting our culture. When people start talking like that, I tend to switch off. After all, things like culture and values and morals are not static things. They change. They are modified. And anyone who tries to say that they want to go back to the old culture is simply trying to create an excuse for repressing you. he just wants an excuse to fuck you up. The culture/morals/values he espouses are at best outdated, and usually made up from a rose-coloured glasses view of what the culture used to be.

He starts talking about a Valentine's day demonstration that was supposedly held at Victoria Park. Apparently it was sponsored by the big media organisations and had teenagers and schoolchildren walking around with posters, banners and placards saying things like set us free to love. The quote is not directly from the supposed demonstration, but from the speaker's memory of it. Personally, I am not sure this demonstration even happened. I used to read the papers those days, but I don't remember it. It's not showing up on any google searches. If someone can tell me that this happened, and point me to the relevant pages I would be happy to give that link a place in this article. So far, to quote something that is popularly said on the forums - pics, or it didn't happen. Or to put it more succinctly - prove it!

The point he makes is that the corporations made use of teenagers to promote Valentines Day. He spoke long and loud about the evil done to these kids by utilising them for the nefarious purposes of the corporations.

Then he goes on to say that the following year, the monks got together and on ValDay took a bunch of teenagers all dressed in white around Victoria Park with white lotuses in their hands, praising the dhamma etc etc etc. You get the idea.

I had the urge to ask him, didn't the monks do the same thing that the corporations did. Didn't they use the kids to further their own agenda. Were the kids on both occasions not used as simple promotional items? I didn't. I wasn't officially part of the event, and I didn't want to screw things up for the Mad Monk. So I kept my mouth shut. But I that told me what kind of a person I am listening to. And that means that the person lost a lot of credibility as far as I am concerned. The lack of proof of any pro-ValDay promotional events of the sort he has mentioned, drops his credibility even further.

But the main thing I took from this is his double standard. Possibly even hypocrisy.

This double standard is everywhere. There are people like that all around us. They may even be us. Look around you. Listen to those around you. Listen to yourself. Look in the mirror.

One of the Litmus tests for this in Sri Lanka is the war. The standards people apply to the LTTE are not the ones that they apply to the LKGOV. The LTTE bombs a civilian target, it is screamed at, shouted, condemned. The LKGOV bombs civilians, no one says a word. After all, it is a war. It is accepted, even lauded. Of course, the LKGOV, being in charge of all the media, whether officially or through various legal and illegal forms of Chilling Effects, can lie to us.

But war and conflict is where a lot of such things happen. People are willing to accept things on the part of their supported side that they self-righteously condemn in their opposition. If it was bad for the Germans and Japanese to run Concentration camps, then why was it OK for the American Government to do the same thing to Americans of German and Japanese descent during the First and Second World Wars respectively? While the American camps were not the Death camps of the Germans and Japanese, but the conditions were horrific. Why do we condemn the war criminals of the Nazis, while Bomber Harris who orchestrated indiscriminate and large scale bombings of German cities is given a knighthood and a peerage.

The LTTE holds a Heroes Day, which is derided by the LKGOV as well as many people, and when the LKGOV holds a similar event, the soldiers and veterans are féted. Are the soldiers of the LTTE not heroes in their own right? Have they not also fought for something they believe in? But the double standards remain.

The point of all this is here. If we are going to apply certain standards, they must be applied across the board. Equally. Totally. Impartially.

There are few who can do that. Most of us are willing to followed the clichéd I am.. you are.. he is.. formula. I try to do otherwise. I am not good at it, but I try.

What about you?

ABBA goes metal..

Rave

Yes, you heard me right.

ABBA. Goes. Metal.

What. The. Figgedy. Fuck!!!

I grew up to ABBA. I'm sure a lot of you guys did too. And no matter what you listen to, whether you love them or hate them, you've probably heard them.

It is a standard of this wild and weird thing we call the internet that there is always something out there. Stuff that you don't expect to see. Stuff that you never thought you'd see. Stuff that you hope/pray/beg/plead that you'd never see. The Goatse Guy, TubGirl, 2 Girls 1 Cup and many others we wish we never saw. So many examples of Rule 34, some bad, some horrible.

And I ran into this. A bittorrent file that points to A Tribute to ABBA. Sounds good. After all, it's a tribute, to ABBA! But then comes the kicker. It's all done by metal bands. No, not bands of metal. Metal Bands. This scares me. This scares me. Disturbs me. Freaks me the fuck out. Kinda like a Groucho Marx glasses and mustache on the Mona Lisa.

But it arouses me. It calls to me. It makes me wonder ,what the fuck!!

So I put it on my download queue and pull it down. I listen to it.

I like it.

Really.

There. I said it. I like the metal bands singing ABBA.

For you purists out there. This may not be really metal. Or this may not be really ABBA.

But this tribute really is that. A tribute. Done with love and respect.

The songs are pretty much the same. Not many changes. Maybe a word or two. The musical theme pretty much the same. But there is a metalness about it. Stronger guitars and basslines. A slightly more strident vocal line. While the music was thematically the same, there was enough of a difference to make it worth listening to. Enough ABBA to seem familiar and bubblegum enjoyable. Enough metal to headbang.

Yes, I said headbang.

It is possible that headbanging to ABBA is a sign of the Apocalypse. Kind of like Pat Boone singing Metal. But I did it. There are tracks there, that coupled with the fact that it is ABBA made me headbang.

So yes Sri Lanka, there is a Metal album of ABBA tracks.

An yes, it's interestingly good, and, if you're an ABBA fan. worth listening to.

Non-lossy FLAC format - http://www.torrentz.com/534b4366404773f6f936202557f5a5e730887010

Lossy MP3 format - http://www.torrentz.com/752e4eefd3beeeb60241bcb84d467d5664a7dd0b

Not a Sri Lankan

Muse

Something very interesting happened to me. I was told by a friend of mine that she doesn't consider me a real Sri Lankan.

What do I say to that? I have been called that, and many other things before. Including the famous kalu sudda or dark white man or, for any of you who understand American cultural references, an Oreo. Like the cookie/biscuit I am supposedly black on the outside and white on the inside. Yes, it's an insult. Yes I have been called that many times in my life. Even by people who I thought loved me. Actually that time hurt.

But here I am. Being told by someone, that she doesn't consider me a real Sri Lankan. But it wasn't an insult. She's not from Sri Lanka and doesn't have the cultural insult power of a Sri Lankan telling me that. And - Eris help me - I agree with her.

I am not a Sri Lankan any more. At least not in the sense that people who claim to be real Sri Lankans are.

I don't believe in all the bullshit patriotic shit that we do. I don't stand up for the national anthem. I don't believe it is a bad thing to burn the flag. I don't give up my seat on buses to priests. I don't say my country, love it or get out. I disagree with all politicians. I believe in things like freedom, and libertarianism. The right to do what you want as long as you don't mess with someone else.

I sing mainly English songs, and listen to them. I read in English. I speak English more than I speak Sinhala. I don't speak Tamil at all. What few words I know, are like most guys, basically swearing and obscenity. I don't like tea, I prefer coffee, or, better than that, Mountain Dew. I think and dream in English. I know Western popular culture better than I know Sri Lankan.

I gave up the label Sinhala a long time ago. I used to identify myself as Sri Lankan but I am one only in name. It's the only passport I have, so I guess I'm stuck with that label.

But I am not Sri Lankan, not anymore.

There, I said it. I accepted it. I live it.

So what am I then? What does this mean to me?

I still love this country, I think it's a great place to live. I love the fact that I can hang at Mount beach on Sunday evenings - or go further south if I feel the desire. I love that I can buy cheap weed, that the people are more or less friendly. That we still know how to have fun.

But I am not a Sri Lankan any more. I am a stranger in my own land.

I am Suchetha. I am a human being.

A rave for CommBank

Rave

This blog is called Rants, Raves, and Miscellaneous Musings. I've been ranting for a while (though not often enough) and I have been miscellaneously musing. But I find that I have not been raving. Or in short I haven't been handing out kudos.

Maybe its because there are so few kudos to hand out. And no you stupid freak, I do not mean the bar/pub/babejoint in Colombo.

I decided to go AirTel. Hey, if it was good for Sanga, or was it Mahela, well.. one of them anyway.. its good for me. Not AirTel, but the freedom to switch. And lets face it, they did make a good offer. So I do a switch.

So here I am in the AirTel office. The one on Duplication Road, right opposite the British Council. I'm waiting to get a connection, postpaid of course. And they say they want a proof of residence. Fair enough, I say.

What would you like? Yours Truly asks.

They want a light bill (don't have one), a water bill (ditto), pay slip (freelance? pay slip? pay???), cellphone bill (hold on, I thought I was switching from a prepaid to postpaid) or bank statement (in this day and age of electronic banking who actually has time to read bank statements. And in this economy, who has money to have bank accounts?)

So looks like I'm fucked. And not in a good way with peanut butter and chocolate sauce. Did I just say that out loud?

Then I remember, I have a bank account, albeit slightly used with somewhere between zero to, well, zero rupees in it. And its at the Commercial Bank. Over in Kohuwala. But they have a branch right opposite the AirTel office.

So I cruise on in. Speak to a teller and ask him if I can get a statement.

Sure, the guy says. And I smile. Looks like the new phone link will be mine.

Oh, he says, and my smile sinks to my bellybutton and points south.

Apparently I have an account. Good. I have asked to not have statements sent to me. Of course I did that. I do not want my house cluttered with envelopes I don't bother reading. And since all it would say is opening balance 0.00/closing balance 0.00 I think I'm not missing much. Maybe that's just me. But this is, apparently, a Bad Thing. This means that they can't give me a bank statement.

Then the teller, he comes up with an idea. Since all I need is something showing my address, he can print out the account details screen. Print it on CommBank paper, and get it stamped.

Do it, say I. And he does.

He takes it to the manager, gets it signed, and has it to me in 15 minutes.

I take it to AirTel, and am waiting for my connection to go active. That took time. But that is another story.

So a big rave out to the guys at Commercial Bank. Sure they don't have front office tellers in short skirts like HSBC, or fancy drawings and lotteries (like almost anyone else). But really. who needs it? CommBank does the job, and give great service. Nothing more, and nothing less. Definitely the place I like keeping my non-existent money in.