freedom.
“How much they are free is how much they are allowed to be free”
This one line, supposedly talking about the inhabitants of World State in Brave New World really struck me. Why? Because I realise that this very sentence could have very easily been talking about me, or anyone I know.
The original meaning of this line was to describe how the inhabitants of World State, a seemingly perfect world in the future, “get what they want and never want what they cannot get”. This is in the context of social and physical conditioning of the people since they were young. These people are trained to be like robots, being grouped in castes according to their functionality. Yet, they are given easily access to drugs and sex, leading them to believe in their perceived freedom.
What about us? We are also conditioned from young to study hard, get good results in school aren’t we? We are also separated into different groups according to our learning ability aren’t we? Doesn’t our education train us to function in certain ways? In this case, are we not just a less serious version of World State?
Another line from Brave New World that particularly struck me was “That was one of the hypopaedic prejudices he had (so he imagined) totally gotten rid of”. This line was describing Bernard Marx in the Directors room, listening to the Director recounting something. However, in World State, “history” is treated as junk. Bernard was shocked at someone as high up as the director committing such “atrocities”, which was a result of his sleep conditioning, yet he imagined himself to see nothing wrong with that. In the end, all his perceived acts of resistance come to nothing and he finds himself pleading not to be exiled.
I also subconsciously drew the parallel between Bernard and some of us. Don’t we all complain about the system? Don’t we all want to rebel somehow? And yet in the end, we are forced back into our place by the system. All our “rebellious actions” are but a small prick to the big system. The so-called resistance which we do offer is actually quite futile. It is always easier to change yourself than to change the world to fit yourself.
But then again, this led me to think about the publicity tagline of the movie “The Motorcycle Diaries”
“Let the world change you. And you can change the world”
This line for me, is one of hope. The Motorcycle Diaries, in case anyone doesn’t know, is actually a journal written by Ernesto “Che” Guevara as he takes a journey across South America as a medical student, to “get laid in every country across South America”. As he takes the trip, he is slowly changed by the sights he sees as he goes below the surface of everything. This effectively is the line “Let the world change you”. I realise South America is not the world but lets not dwell on that.
“And you can change the world”. Now “El Che” is one of the most famous faces in the world. Guevara might have been an enemy of Capitalism, which means he is basically not in our “camp”. He might have used brutal measures while fighting the war for Cuba. But change the world he did. Holding the surgeons needle one day and a machine gun the next, he could be one of the strangest (for lack of a better word) people I have read about.
Yet, essentially, that trip, which started out as one to see the world and get laid eventually turned him into a charismatic freedom fighter. He faces the world with no fear, fighting against the “Big brother” of Capitalism. A red bean against the universe, just to exaggerate it. Rumour says that when he faced execution in front of a firing squad, his last words were “Shoot. Cowards.” Fearless in the face of death.
Perhaps that is the mentality we should adopt. We might not have the physical freedom. But we can fight for it or die trying. Fight with the hope of realizing our dreams. Of course by fight I do not mean physically fight. I mean sticking to your beliefs and your principles, doing what you believe to be right. And then we might find the freedom within ourselves.
justin.
Wha's goin on?
I dunno. I am bored and I cannot think. I should not be bored because I should have things to do. Which I do. Something like studying. But I do not want to do it. Which is why I am blogging. But this post is not interesting at all. Because I do not have anything interesting to talk about. Which brings me to something which I might find interesting but you might not.
Why do people call Bigfoot "Bigfoot"? I believe it has two feet. Does it have one small foot and one big foot, therefore the name "Bigfoot"?
justin.
The Byzantine Academy
For as long as I can remember, I have been serving my time in this Academy. It has probably been around eleven years since, and I am still running strong, or at least I am made to believe so. Just a year back, they were telling me, "One more obstacle son, and you'll be on your way to greatness". I took their words seriously, and now a year later I hear those same words thrown at me. This is supposedly my 'last' obstacle
again. If I make it through, I will be on my way to greatness, else, I face the gallows. After all, the Kulliye motto was "Praestantia et perscitus". Those who did not fit into the category were shipped to the regions we read about in our texts, regions such as those inhabited by the "Children of the Ham" (Margaret Atwood). This highly efficient nation of Kulliye is run by the best and only the best, and flaws are not tolerated.
The Academy plays host to a population of 1000 students aged 17 to 20. Each student is given 2 years to get through the 'obstacle'. However, every year, there are a few who have requested for an additional year after failing to meet the Academy's requirements in their first year. The Byzantine Academy is one of the many Academies in Kulliye that would conduct the 'obstacle' at the end of the year. Everyone trains hard to partake in this 'obstacle' in hopes of achieving a good enough result. Now you might ask where do I come in. Well, I am just another participant in this rat race that all of us have been conscripted into.
Perhaps I was too blatant in saying I was "just another participant", because I am not. I am a participant, but I wish to part-icipate from this system. Unfortunately, that is out of the question. There is no such option, or at least not here in Kulliye. Furthermore, the Byzantine Academy seems somewhat at odds with my own beliefs and I often find myself in trouble with the
ijazats, or what one would consider the educators of the Academy. It is even worse when there is no room for debate and when the
ijazats are adament on their jurisdiction. Just one more offence and I might be looking into the eyes of a child of the Ham.
A memory. I am suddenly haunted by the image of a sea of faces. Faces, faces and more faces. Faces attached to a calm blue sea.
Abusurdity. It must be the sun taking its toll on me. This image, I sense some familiarity, perhaps on a newsletter I read before. I was so alluring,
then.
A few weeks ago, I committed my first offence. I was late for a lesson and I was not in-sync with the rest of the population. 'In-sync' seems to be the 'in'-thing nowadays. After all, it is what the Academy preaches. "In-sync," I whisper to myself, it does have a nice ring to it. I was eventually made to skip the lesson and undergo a 'counsel' session. It was in an extremely dark room. Or at least it seemed extremely dark. The
ijazat boomed into my ears questioning my morals and my qualifications. Without expecting any answers from the questioning, he immediately turned to the wall on my left where there was a trap door. The extreme heat of the Sun immediately hit my face as the trap door fell open with the press of a button. That was my punishment.
If only I could tell the
ijazat what really was the case. It would not matter much to him either way, I suppose.
Today was my second offence, also my second last offence. I wrote outside of the circle. Ever since the introduction of the phrase "outside the box", a miniscule few have overstepped the boundary and caused chaos in Kulliye. Perhaps they were not aware of the implicit, "but within the circle on the outside the box". So now they have made it explicit for all of us. Now, the Academy preaches "thinking outside the box, but within the circle on the outside of the box". It allows us to establish constructive imagination without ruining our future. It appears to be working extremely well with
everybody. Else.
So I wrote an essay and it was deemed outside the circle. It had serious implications. The Academy has had preceedingly excellent results at the 'obstacle' and they were expectant of my year. Supposedly a better year than the many years before. If I were to do the same and write out of the circle during the 'obstacle', it would spell disaster for the Byzantine Academy. The Academy would suffer huge losses and the
ijazats will be under fire. The Academy just want what is best for her students. I was told, "if everyone can follow this formula, start each paragraph with a topic sentence, counter argue, end with a proper conclusion, then you will receive the bounties awaiting you after overcoming the 'obstacle'".
I am not too sure how long I have left in the Academy. Even if I can persevere for another 6 months and successfully tackle the 'obstacle', would I be capable of being in-sync with the Kulliye system. After all, I live in a world of structures. High-rise buildings, underground offices, circular observatories, structures. This world of systems, structures, is one you would never comprehend.
Zixiang's attempt at a literary construction of an 'other world', inclusive of literary techniques we learn in lit class (e.g. satire, irony, parallelism).
Inspiration drawn from The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood), Brave New World (Alduous Huxley), Wikipedia.
A meaningless conversation. And don't bother looking for hidden meanings.
Guy 1: Damn sian man.
Guy 2: Char siew bao.
justin.
what?!
I had a splitting headache today. So I went to sleep. But who on earth coined the term splitting headache. How does a headache split? Does it split into 2 pieces or a billion pieces? And who on earth coined the term “coin the term” anyway?! How do you “coin” a term. I thought one “came up with” or “invented” a term. Coin? This is just strange.
And why do people say “A penny for your thoughts”? Are thoughts worth that little? What if they asked Einstein that? Would he tell them all the science theories he was thinking about, like relativity. What if they stole his ideas? All they would pay for it is one penny. And what if that person was thinking something bad about you? So you paid a penny to hear someone to tell you “Fuck off you wanker!” or something like that. What if there was someone named Penny? Then you would have to give that person to the person you are directing your question at? What if someone was thinking about food – wanton mee, chicken rice, bak chor mee, prata, duck rice, kway chap, char kueh teow etc. Would that become “Food for thought” instead?
Also, since young, I have been taught not to lie. I was caught a few times and was asked this question. “Where did you learn to lie?” I’m afraid lying is not “learnt” in that sense. I feel it’s a natural human instinct to lie. Some people lie because they want to save their own skin, some people tell a white lie to make others happy, some others lie for their own person advantage and some lie because they do not feel like standing or sitting.
I realize this post lacks a sort of flow. This is because it is not liquid, therefore cannot flow. It is not because I am building castles in the air either. Because that’s not quite possible is it?
justin.
MAJIAM left-foot theory ah…
One day, 5 young men of age 18-19 were sitting at the void deck, talking cock, practicing what they would do about 40 years later. Which is sit at the void deck and talk cock. It was after they had played a game of football.
The conversation was an ego boosting session, where each person talked about their own “achievements”. Nice flicks, nice finishes, good teamwork, good headers etc. Noone was listening and everyone was talking but each person felt good. This was after all a feel good session so it was normal for everyone to feel good.
Then one guy goes “Eh today my left foot goal nice ah. Left foot leh.” Another guy goes “Majiam 1/20 accuracy.” Another guy goes “Wah left foot ah.” And another guy goes “Wah MAJIAM ah.” Another guy is still talking about how he can dribble in a wide open space when noone is marking him and how his long passes are very accurate.
So after leading you through this quite true but meaningless story, what is the left foot theory anyway? It is a theory made up of excuses. It is a theory that allows a win-win situation on whoever uses it. Let’s use football as an example.
Some kid who idolizes Cristiano Ronaldo(diving cunt) is on the left flank. He does an okay imitation of the cunt, stumbling through 3 defenders somehow. The ball ends up in a shooting position but there is no time to take it onto his preferred right foot. So he takes a wild swing with his left foot. The slightest contact is made, the ball rolls 5mm forwards and the kid ends up on his butt. He calls for a foul at first but since noone is within a 5m radius of him, he thick-skinnedly looks back, shrugs and says “left foot”. His teammates look at him with an understanding look, repeatedly hitting his back and saying “It’s ok.” The game goes on….
10minutes later, this same kid is running down the right flank. With a bit of trickery, he feints and shifts the ball to his left foot. The goalkeeper was still sitting down and drinking coffee and reading a copy of last month’s FHM because the ball is on the left foot. Kid smashes the ball with his left foot. Or tries to anyway. He makes better contact. The ball trickles in because the goalkeeper is still ogling at hot bikini girls, trying to coax his brother not to stand up. “GOOAALL!!! LEFT FOOT!!” shouts kid. And they celebrate….
So the left foot theory, all in all, is an excuse of not giving it your all. And thus failure is expected. However, if somehow, failure is avoided, one can use it as a cause for celebration. However, to all natural left footers, it does not apply. You have to come up with your own “right foot theory”. And for Angle-Lo-Komotive, you have to come up with a feet theory. As Darren did say. The conversation would go something like.
Boy 1 “Eh ma de, pass where.”
Boy 2 “Sorry man, I using legs.”
Boy 1 “It’s okay la.”
And then, just for a piece of useless information, it is April Fool’s today. Why couldn’t it be tomorrow? Then I would skip school and tell me teacher it was an April Fool’s joke. Just in case, I would get an MC. And “It’s ok la” actually has some significance for it to appear twice in my post.
As Darren would say “Majiam significance ah…”
And Ah Bia would reply “Majiam ah…”
justin.
