A Handful of Pratchett

I try not to buy novels too often, for I seem to go through them like rats through cheese, and then I have no idea what to do with them. So generally I tend to look around for a victim friend, from whom I borrow books, read ‘em and return ‘em. But recently there has been a lack of paper-back-endowed friends, and I had no access to a proper library, so I went book hunting.

There is this little row of second hand bookstores where you can get a book for approximately 300 to 400 Rs, and so I ransacked a few shops and happened to find very many nearly new Terry Pratchett books. Now I love Terry Pratchett’s work, though I wouldn’t call it strictly fantasy. Rather he writes a caricature of fantasy, like Tolkien taken and twisted almost beyond recognition but done so humorously that you generally burst out laughing at odd moments, and with Crunchy Bits of ethics, politics, activism and feminism sprinkled liberally on top. Initially, it upset me to see fantasy twisted so, but the guy is so bloody brilliant that you cant help loving his Discworld series. He writes in so many different layers. On the outer surface, you have the quite obvious puns, but underneath you find him taking pot shots at systems of belief, historical figures, ideas, and even his characters themselves. You actually have to read them carefully to make sure you don’t miss any of his little jokes. For example, in Soul Music, the dwarf tells the young man that he looks elvish. (dwarves don’t have a good relationship with elves. But since the man was a musician also who played ‘music with rocks in’, he probably looked Elvisish as well)

His books amuse me no end.. Her’s an extract from Thief of Time

Supposing an emperor was persuaded to wear a new suit of clothes whose material was so fine that, to the common eye, the clothes weren’t there. And suppose a little boy pointed out this fact in a loud, clear voice..

Then you have The Story of the Emperor Who Had No Clothes.

But if you knew a bit more, it would be The Story of the Boy Who Got a Well-Deserved Thrashing from His Dad for Being Rude to Royalty, and Was Locked Up.

Or The Story of the Whole Crowd Who Were Rounded Up by the Guards and Told ‘This Didn’t Happen, OK? Does Anyone Want to Argue?’

So, as I was starting to say before I got carried away, I bought 5 books of his. 4 were Discworld novels and one, Strata, was a pre-Discworld novel which I found quite interesting, though not in the same school at the DW novels.

I have finished three of them in four days, am on the fourth right now while also having borrowed Masters at Arms from a victim  friend. Ah! I am in seventh heaven with the Great Om himself! What a wonderful life.. For now..

P.S.

I probably wont lend you any of the books.. Unless you are REALLY nice..

We Are All Monkeys..

Millions and millions of exuberant monkeys … are creating an endless digital forest of mediocrity

And that is us! according to Andrew Keen in his book titled The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing our Culture. You can read an article about it here.

In a way, Keen does make some sense. It is all to easy to copy and paste any bit of some one else’s work and make your self seem smarter than you are. Bloggers and web tabloids would probably be the main target of this tirade. And being a blogger myself, I am not really happy being referred to as a monkey, but yes, there is a lot of cut n’ paste going on. We have intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals all debating against each other through their blogs, and rarely, if ever is there a winner. And that is all because of Google. If you cannot answer a question or accusation, hell, google it. Surely someone has an answer. I for one, would love to see some bloggers face to face, and see how they stand up to a debate without their beloved search engines.

But no matter how much Keen complains, this ‘pajama army’ is here to stay. The internet is the ultimate virtual democracy.  It is where everyone can be what they are. can be what they make themselves out to be. It may not be perfect, but it’s here to stay. And it’s also the only way some of us can have our voices heard.

The pajamas are here to stay!

Shmibertarians

Evidently, according to John Quiggin, Alan Dershowitz is a Shmibertarian. A Shmibertarian seems to be a libertarian who also supports torture and detention without trial.

Sri Lanka seems to be quite full of these characters. They popped up like mushrooms during the Tamil eviction fiasco, each with their own rationale for violence and their venting of spleen for Human Rights. It can be quite frustrating, but I think we should follow Quiggin, as he succinctly states:

But shmibertarians of this kind are so common I didn’t pay him much mind.

On the Aftermath of the Eviction and Being a Moderate

It finally seems that all the protests and the public outcry against the eviction have caused the Government to do something about it:

In a new turn of events to the drama surrounding the eviction of Tamil lodge dwellers from Colombo last week, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake yesterday expressed regrets to the hundreds of Tamils for their eviction from the city, saying it was a ‘big mistake’ by the government.

This ‘apology’ is one that I am heartily glad for, though we still wait for the release of arbitrarily remanded individuals.

Plenty of bloggers in our little Kottu community were quite disturbed about the evictions, which was quite heartening. It shows that there are people who still have not been deadened by this protracted conflict. But surprisingly and sadly, a few bloggers were angered by our stand. Angered so in fact, as to point fingers at bloggers and accuse others of ltte propaganda. Since when has the act of getting upset at unfair treatment been a bad thing?

Everyone knows that the LTTE is doing wrong. They are quite obviously a terrorist group. They commit acts of destruction, instigate armed conflict, kidnappings and so on. But the democratically elected Government has different responsibilities. Using the tactics of a terrorist organization against its citizens is not an option.

As RD says in a comment:

In theory the GOSL is a democratically elected government and the fundamental pillars of democracy are supposed to be liberty and freedom. That’s where I think the big difference lies between its actions and those committed by the LTTE.

The reason why the eviction caused so much commotion was because it happened in the heart of Colombo, and at our door steps as it were. If it were a security procedure to ensure the safety of Colombo, then it should have been focused on all lodgers staying in Colombo without a reason and not simply Tamils. Here is where the crux of the matter lies. A forced eviction of only Tamils for vague security reasons.

It is strange how people jump on your back when you state that peace is better than war. It makes one scratch one’s head and wonder if peace means something different in different languages. Being a moderate seems to be a new bad word too.

A comment by ‘Goran’ states sarcastically  :

A lot of the posts were hurried ones jotted up so that the authors could claim with shrill voices “look at me! I am a “moderate” too! Yay! Pat me on the back and **** me off!”

In a Buddhist country, moderate has become an insult? What ever happened to the middle path? What ever happened to conciliation? Buddhism is a religion that advocates peace and moderation, and yet those who try and practice moderation become a target.

Despite what anyone says, I don’t believe violence can be legitimate or justified. If a ‘peacenik’ is one for peace, then hell, I will become a ‘peacenik’. If a moderate advocates moderation and detests war, then I will be a moderate.  Peace is never easy, but that does not mean we will give up on it.

Colombo Being Cleansed by the Filthy??

Opening Kottu this morning, I come across no less than 8 posts about the eviction of Tamils from Colombo, besides the emails i receive. Clearly it has upset a lot of people and quite understandably at that. The question on all of our minds now, is “bloody hell, what’s next?”  Burghers next maybe? You got to speak the language to live in Colombo? You have to have the right skin tone? Maybe scratch your groin and laugh a certain way? I wouldn’t go so far as Ranil and liken this situation to the one that effected the Jews in WW2, but it is an exceedingly stupid move. (Did I say exceedingly?)

As Indi.ca puts it,

This government is corrupt, inept, and mindless.

The government’s ineptitude maybe debated by nationalists and certain individuals may state that it is logistically impossible  to properly secure Colombo, yet I wonder what sense such persons could make out of such an inhumane move. It is such an obvious move of desperation that I wonder if we might have to conduct tuition classes in diplomacy for our politicians. It is like stubbing your toe on a rock and then kicking the rock because you are mad at it. No terrorist is going to base himself in such obvious locations for instance, and you can’t abuse bus loads of people solely because you might assume one of them is dangerous.

A lot of you bloggers are upset about this incident. And it is a scary situation. Respected Tamil families are selling  their property and leaving the country in fear of the government. I used to think we could do something about the situation in this country. I no longer think so. The PM himself states that military operations will continue till the LTTE is wiped out. And in addition to that, comes the statement:

Prime Minister Wickramanyake also said the government will continue the peace process together with the military operations. 

Now I wonder just how you carry on a peace process while actively attacking the other party. It’s like peeing with your zipper closed (pardon the expression), all you do is cause damage.

Living here saddens me now. Selfishness ruins our country and there is nothing that we could do about it. All that remains of our serendipity is simply… pity.