The Pure Innocent Happy Natives

I already stated my opinion about the "pure innocent natives" myth when I reviewed "James Cameron's Avatar" in my "Most Disappointing Movies" article. In that review, basically I said the natives is not really innocent, they could be as nasty as modern people and more. 

But recently one of my facebook friend shared the photo on the right. That brings another Luddite argument: 

"They are happier than us!"

What a joke. 

I could start by saying "Ignorance is a bliss." Other than that I could list another "NOs".

Another List of NOs

No philosophers to point out the flaws of these societies.

No books to improve your knowledge.

No method to spread knowledge widely and quickly.

No way to communicate with people on the other side of the planet.

No food from other regions/countries, only the same old boring food that your ancestor cook.

No cure for tons of nasty diseases.

No police to defend you. That makes "No crime or prisons" means "might is right," or "law of the jungle." What do you expect?

No defense against modern army. The "No stress No Bombs" become no longer true once these people meet some psychopaths with automatic weapons and gunship. By the way, I need to restate my previous argument: primitive people can and have mutilate each other just fine with their bows and arrows.

Here is a concrete example for the last 2 NOs, taken from Jared Diamond's book Guns Germs and Steel page 277. Diamond interviewed the women from Iyau Tribe in Papua. When asked about their husband their typical answer is: "Which one? I had 3 husbands. The first one died after another tribe attacked us. The second one died after my third husband killed him. The third one died after the brother of my 2nd husband avenged his brother." No wonder Diamond mocked the myth of "innocent natives" in that same page!

I could go on, but I am sure you got the point. What? You still think their way of life is more advanced?

Tell you what, talk is cheap. Put your money where your mouth is. Lenin once said "people vote with their feet." If you think that their way of life is so "advance," just give away all your belongings, go back to the jungle and join them. Come again? You prefer the comfortable modern life? That means you're "No Action Talk Only" in this matter.

Disrespect

Oh yeah, I also get some response that I have to respect them, and telling that they are primitive is a form of disrespect.

Err ... I respect them by treated them like an adult who can take criticism well. I respect them by NOT suggesting them to emulate an ostrich, avoiding all contact with modern civilization. Contact between those people and us is INEVITABLE, so better let them prepared for it.

Oh yeah, I also NEVER stated that we can't learn anything from them. I am sure we can learn many things from them, but learning from them IS NOT THE SAME with saying that their way of life is superior to ours. And I am sure, they can even learn MORE from us, since our ancestors already experienced their way of life, while theirs haven't experienced our current way of life.

I also showing respect by expecting them to progress, not to be static, locked in hunter-gatherer way of life forever, totally dependent on us to defend themselves. If that is not respect, I don't know what is.

Multiculturalism
This kind of argument usually made by "Multiculturalist" who thought that all cultures are equal, and we have to put each culture in a bubble to make sure they remain unchanged forever. No they are not. Some culture generally is more primitive from the others. Culture is also dynamic, evolving and changing, not static.  Sometimes it is not the whole culture itself that is primitive, but only some aspect of it. But a multiculturalist doesn't want to hear that. They perceived cultures as museum exhibitions where each exhibition has to be "static." They never perceive human as human, who are always changing, can do wrong, and have to be scrutinized and corrected.  Hopefully this article debunk the dangerous tenet of "multiculturalism."

So what are you waiting for? Start respecting them by helping them to overcome the 3000 years of lack of scientific and technological progress! You could start by NOT glorifying their current way of life.

Amerika, HAM, dan RRC

Sebelumnya saya sudah bilang, demokrasi bukan panacea semua masalah tapi absennya demokrasi hampir pasti membunuh kemajuan. Demokrasi adalah sine qua non kemajuan.

Lalu, saya membaca sebuah berita dari detik.com tentang RRC tak senang mendengarkan pernyataan Hillary Clinton soal demokrasi. Lagu lama. Biar saya terjemahkan beberapa hal dari artikel tsb.

Ditulis:

"Siapa yang memberi Amerika hak untuk secara arogan mengkritik status demokrasi di Asia?"

"Amerika bukan hakim soal HAM untuk dunia dan Asia. Tak ada sistem umum yang cocok untuk semua negara,"

Dibaca:

"Hei, biarkan kami membungkam semua kritik di negara kami! Biarkan kami menindas rakyat kami! Kamu orang luar tak punya hak untuk mengritik kami!"

Dan makin lucunya artikel itu ditutup dengan:

"Benar bahwa memberantas ekspresi politik atau mempertahankan kontrol ketat atas apa yang dibaca orang atau dikatakan atau dilihat orang bisa menciptakan ilusi keamanan. Namun ilusi akan pudar, karena kerinduan orang untuk kebebasan tidak akan pudar," kata Hillary beberapa hari lalu.

Saat itu Hillary memang tidak menyebut nama China, namun menurut People's Daily, komentar tersebut jelas-jelas ditujukan ke para pemimpin China."

Komentar saya:

BERASA NIH YEEE!!

Gini deh para pemimpin RRC ... siapa yang memberikan kalian hak secara arogan untuk mengontrol segenap birokrasi, hukum, dan rakyat kalian? Siapa yang memberikan kalian status "Kebal kritik"? Hmm? Jawaban paling pro pemerintah RRC yang bisa saya pikirkan, yang tidak melibatkan ngarang² adalah "Rakyat Cina di akhir 1940an." Itu 60 tahunan yang lalu. 2-3 generasi yang lalu. Basi banget. Di sekolah, seorang siswa diuji setiap tahunnya apakah dia pantas naik kelas atau tidak. Di perusahaan, seorang karyawan terus menerus di evaluasi oleh bosnya. Terus, di RRC ini ada sebuah partai politik yang menguasai semua lapisan birokrasinya selama 60 tahun lebih tanpa di evaluasi oleh pihak lain dan mereka bicara soal arogansi?

Amerika tidak sempurna. Amerika juga sering memberlakukan standard ganda, kemunafikan, kesalahan, dll. Namun, bukan berarti omongan menteri luar negerinya bisa langsung diasumsikan "arogan" atau salah.

Apa? Masih menganggap Amerika arogan karena mereka "mencampuri urusan negara lain" karena mereka "meng-injak² kedaulatan nasional"?? News flash: kedaulatan nasional itu OVERRATED.

The Most Disappointing Movies

After listing the most badass movies, now I want to list the most disappointing movies I have ever watched chronologically. WARNING, this page is very political, if you are a sensitive who can't stand strong words or different opinions LEAVE NOW! You have been warned:

Pearl Harbor (2001)

Directed by: Michael Bay.

I am a history buff with soft spot for World War II and battleships. That's why I LOVE "Tora Tora Tora" so much! That's why I highly anticipated "Pearl Harbor". Note: at that time, I don't have any clue that "Directed by Michael Bay" equals to "Big explosions with stupid plots to connect each of them." Boy, I was extremely pissed when they wasted hours and hours of the movie for a love triangle! 

Hey asshole, if you want to put a love triangle in so many screentime in a World War II movie like this, make sure that bitch die horribly, like for example, receiving a 1000-pound bomb in her vagina, while those 2 losers eat her shit to prove their love, THEN I WILL GIVE YOUR MOVIE 2 THUMBS UP! The Pearl Harbor attack is about hundreds of Japanese airplanes blowing up American ships, rains of bombs, torpedo ripping ships, BULLET STORM, not love! For this movie MAKE WAR, NOT LOVE, retards!

Shortest description of this movie: whining melodramatic pussy!

The Last Samurai (2003)

Directed by: Edward Zwick

Before I watched "The Last Samurai," I had high hopes too. Edward Zwick was an excellent director. His movie "Glory" was not historically accurate 100%, but it did justice for every warrior it depicted, unlike the whiny-melodramatic-pussy "Pearl Harbor." But, looks like I am still very naive at that time, since I kid myself that a Caucasian can be "A Last Samurai." Oh yeah, it is also about a love story between the caucasian with a japanese woman whose husband was killed by him. Douche ...

And the "Caucasian samurai" is the least of my problem. The biggest problem with this movie is about one of its main character who was played by Ken Watanabe. Saigo Takamori, the Japanese big-shot who become the base of that character, is a war wackie. He was against the building of railways since he thought all money should be used to build the military. He suggested the Japanese at that time to INVADE KOREA. As the cassus belli, he proposed to send HIMSELF as an ambassador to insult the Koreans. Yup, he planned to personally insult the Korean as terrible as possible, provoking them to kill him. The government of that time thought this idea was nuts. His reaction to them was: "FUCK YOU PUSSIES, you don't deserve to lead this country!" He went back to his hometown, gathering all similar-minded samurai, inciting a rebellion, and starting the Seinan War. After the Japanese government crushed him, they suddenly realized, he was right! They admit that they are just pussies, and follow his advice by annexing Korea, then invading China, followed by sneak-attacking the Russians, beat the shit out of the outnumbered Germans in China, and finally of course ... gave USA the low-blow in Pearl Harbor. All of this to put Japan on its rightful place: as the leader of Asia!

So, contrary to the movie, the problem of the Japanese was not "the lost of the samurai spirit". Their problem was, they are too fucking proud to admit that those Samurai like Saigo are obnoxious-bloodthirsty-douchebags who dragged their country and the whole East Asia region to hell. Good for us the United States finally kicked their ass during the 2nd World War, showing that "Samurai Spirit" is no match against industrial superiority.

So, in essence, "Pearl Harbor" is like a whining pussy, while "The Last Samurai" is like a testosterone poisoned monkey who is too eager to throw shit to other monkeys, AND the people who glorify them.

Shortest description of this movie: Testosterone poisoned-shit throwing-monkey!

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

Wow, Jet Li and Jackie Chan in the same movie? This is a kungfu porn! Unfortunately that is not the case. I already put my expectation for the plot as low as possible, but the plot is not only "low." It is insulting my intelligence! Can you imagine how a group of monks could charge a fortress full with thousands of heavenly warriors, going through all of its defense until they reached it main hall, WITHOUT sounding one single alarm? Oh yeah, those monks also carried JACKIE CHAN ON A STRETCHER!!

That's it, the plot is not only bad, it is insulting! Dude, if you really want to make a movie about Jackie Chan and Jet Li fighting, just make a tournament movie without any backstory. That movie would be stupid, but at least NOT INSULTING OUR INTELLIGENCE!

Shortest description of this movie: Lobotomized idiot script writer!

Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Directed by: Michael Bay

The first Transformer is a very good movie. Unlike other Michael Bay movies, it is very enjoyable, I root for the protagonists, the joke works, etc. That's why I really eager to watch the second Transformer movie. Just like before I watched "Forbidden Kingdom," I never expect the plot to be good. I even joked it was okay for me to watched the Autobots trying to rob a retirement home, while the Decepticons try to defend it. I just want to watch some giant robots beating each other! And I am still disappointed.

This is not a movie, but a mess, a trainwreck. After an hour watching it, my head starts spinning. Once its credit was rolling, my head can't stop drilling, imploding, and exploding at the same time. The giant robots really beat each other but it is as if you are strapped into one of their fist! Hey Michael Bay, a battle scene only works if the audience CAN FOLLOW what happens! If the scene caused the audience headache, that means the director's sucks ass!

Oh yeah, some fighting scenes is also non-sensical. One example: Why the Decepticon tried to kill Optimus Prime in an open field using a blade? Why not rained some rockets, bullets, and beam to that do-gooder face? Hey idiots, you came from Cybertron, not Middle-Earth! Don't mix it!

Shortest description of this movie: Headache!

Avatar (2009)
Directed by: James Cameron

I know, I know, I only watch this movie to see the newest moviemaking technology, but its naive-cliche-leftist-peaceniks-treehugging preaching is just too much for me!

What? You don't understand why i called this movie "naive-cliche bla bla bla preaching"? Let me guess ... You thought that the whiteman always exploited the "pure and innocent natives" right?

Folks, "always victimized and innocent natives" IS A MYTH! Do you seriously think that all the natives in America, Africa, Australia, etc. sit together around a campfire and sing Kumbaya every night before the whiteman came? Nope, they busting each other skulls, spearing each other chest, looting each other settlement, etc. They harassed other tribes, drove each other from fertile areas, raped each other women, etc. What about the Aztecs and the Inca who already has empire? Are you freaking kidding me? They were the guys who SACRIFICE HUMAN as part of their religion! I am no fans of Christianity, but at least the Jesus religion already realized that human sacrifice should be stopped.

Not convinced yet? Predictable. Many leftist-treehuggers love "nature" more than fellow humans. Let me inform you that the natives of the Easter Island devastated its forest BEFORE the first whiteman touched Easter's Island soil. Somalia was once a green area. It was not the European who cut down all the trees, it was the natives. Still think that all indigenous tribes are wise-innocent folks?

OF COURSE! Blaming the local-indigenous people is not "hip" or "trendy" or "cool" or ... whatever. The left and the green are both already indoctrinated that every single wrongs in this world was due to the greedy whitemen! This kind of indoctrination and prejudice was strengthened by stupid movies like "Avatar."

But WAIT! That is not the only myth Cameron wanted to perpetuate! There is also another myth: the "Every military personnel is a warmonger & baby-killer" Myth! Leftists hates military. Yeah, we got it. So, they use every single chance to create one dimensional-evil military characters. Where does this myth come from? I suggest you read Samuel Huntington's Ph.D. dissertation: "The Soldier and the State." He recognized the clash between the left and the military is because of the contrast of their initial assumption of human nature. Leftist think naively that all humans are basically good, while military think pessimistically that all humans has bestial root. I think both of them have valid points. Humans could become a beast, and a saint. But NO, many (or all?) leftist refuse to admit that the military has some valid points, and start preaching bullshit like "world peace" and "the best war is worse than the worse peace." Stupid, stupid, stupid! Hey looney, have you ever paused and THINK what kind of peace will come if there is no war against Hitler? Against Imperial Japan? That's why Sam Harris said "A psychopath with a blunt knife could slaughter a village of pacifists."

The (true-professional) military is smarter in this regard: they think that war is inevitable, so it is stupid to start a war, but it is very wise to prepare for one. Don't believe me? Do you remember that the German military basically told Hitler that he need to COOL DOWN and forget about his plan of conquest? Or when the communist politicians in Soviet Union  were eager to annihilate all the capitalists country with nuclear warheads, it was the military who inform them what "nuclear winter" and "nuclear retaliation" means. Also same in the US. During the first gulf war, the military was actually reluctant to invade Iraq. During the Clinton administration, it was Madeline Albright who said "What's the point of having a miltary if you don't use it?" NOT the generals. Or the admirals. Huntington already predicted that. Professional soldiers are pessimists because they will always counsel his government that the military IS NOT ready for a war.

Maybe as a counterargument, a leftist will say that it was the militaristic Japanese Army and Navy who drove Japan to many wars. Huntington already predicted that counter-argument too. Japanese military were not driven by military logic. Remember my previous rant about Saigo Takamori? Japanese generals and admirals were driven by some über-macho-chauvinistic-warrior code of the samurai. Only their best leader, Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, tried to persuade others that a war against the US is a suicide.

A true professional soldier will fight for his country, for his people, not for his company or his salary. If Cameron contrasted the typical "baby-killer" soldier with true-professional soldiers, I will give him some credits. But no, he decided to contrast the baby-killers with 2 traitors. Typical ...

Shortest description of this movie: naive-cliche-leftist-peaceniks-treehugging preaching!

Rampant Stupidities

We live in an imperfect world. Many stupid things still running despite the obvious stupidity. Blame it on inertia. Blame it on pride. Blame it on chauvinism. Whatever. These are some of those stupidities:

QWERTY Keyboard

Have you ever wonder why our keyboard has QWERTY layout? Answer: it is a legacy layout from our typewriter. Basically, they designed this layout to handicap you, to make sure you never type too fast. With a good reason. At that time, you may not type too fast, since the ancient typewriter typebars could tangled with each others.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Qwerty.svg

Enter modern keyboard ... the typebars problem is not relevant anymore, but we still use the QWERTY layout. Actually, we already have a SUPERIOR layout: the Dvorak layout. Unlike the QWERTY, the Dvorak layout was designed to make typing as easy and as fast as possible. I assure you, all typist who broke world record of typing used Dvorak layout. Another big bonus: changing to Dvorak keyboard eliminate "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome."

There is one important note. Since Dvorak designed based on English, it won't be that effective if you are typing in other language. You have to re-arrange every keys.

So, if Dvorak is so superior, why only few people used them? Simple: because we are heavily invested in QWERTY. All standard keyboards are QWERTY keyboards. Computer shortcuts was designed with QWERTY keyboard in mind, etc. This is what I call INERTIA. It is hard to change, even when change is superior, when the inferior status quo is so deeply rooted.


Internet Ads

Advertising is not really stupid per se. But some internet advertisers decided that their adverts has to obstruct the material that bring people to that particular site. You know what I mean. An ad in front of a picture! An ad that make sure that you can't read the article! Sometimes they even have the nerve to make the obstructing ads BLINKING and JUMPING! Nobody likes an obstruction. No, that is not strong enough. Everyone hates obstruction. That is more appropriate. Hated ads won't be as effective as non-intrusive ads. But millions of internet advertisers haven't figure that one.


Family Name Position
Some language, e.g.: Chinese & Japanese, put family name first. Some other language, e.g.: English & Spanish, put family name last. Both location are valid. What I don't get is, why in English writing sometimes they wrote a Japanese or Chinese name with family name LAST. So looks like they really thought that putting your family name is the superior method right? WRONG!! When they write a bibliography, they suddenly they put the family name first. MAKE UP YOUR MIND for heaven's sake ...


American Date

The Japanese put theirs in this order: YYYY/MM/DD. The Germans wrote their date like this: DD.MM.YYYY. So does most other people in the world. They put it in sequential way, from the largest denominator to the smallest or vice versa. Quite logical. The Japanese way make it easier to arrange your file chronologically. Although the German way doesn't have that advantage, it is still a sequence. So everybody doing it like that, right? WRONG. The Americans write their date like: MM/DD/YYYY. It is stupid. Very stupid. I can't think any advantage or logical explanation for this stupid method.


Imperial Units

Pop Quiz: please convert 100 kilometers into meters. Easy right? Just add 3 more zeroes and you got 100 km = 100.000 m.
Now, please convert 100 miles into feet. Go on ... you need some time? Take your time. I'm waiting. Okay, here it is if you give up: 100 miles = 528.000 feet.
How about converting that 100.000 meter into hectometer? Yup, just substract 2 zeroes, and you got 100.000 m = 1000 hm.
Now, please convert that 528.000 feet into yards. Hmm, that takes time ... ok ... found it? Yup, 528.000 feet = 176.000 yard.
See how easy it is conversion between metric units? See how idiotic the conversion between imperial units? So why the hell the Americans & British still sticks to the Imperial Units? My guess, this is because of their pride. They are too proud to admit that their units sucks while the European units kickass.


Chinese alphabets/Kanji

Okay, enough pointing out the stupidity of the Americans. Time to point out the stupidity in the Orient. I save this for the last because arguably it is the biggest one.

Basically, Chinese hieroglyphic alphabets take LONGER to master, and it make typing & sorting far more difficult. To overcome this problem, the Chinese government create "simplified Chinese" characters AND "Hanyu Pinyin" (The official rule how to write your Chinese words with Latin alphabet.). Despite that objective fact, most Chinese are proud of their alphabet.

Here is a funny fact: everybody's ancestors wrote like that. Long time ago, all of them draw a picture to represent each word. But somewhere in the past, one of them said "Hey, I have a better idea, how if we draw a picture to represent each sound instead of each word?" and they left their hieroglyphic alphabets.

You know why when other people already got rid of their stupid hieroglyphic alphabets the Chinese stick to theirs? Because they are proud that this method is several millenniums old. They also sure that they are the center of the universe. Oh yeah, for them other cultures are barbarism and other peoples are barbarians. They still have tons of arguments, but you got their basic point: CHAUVINISM. Read John T Reed article on this for more detail.

Unlike when I pointed out the stupidity of Americans, I EXPERIENCED this stupidity first hand for some years since I am genetically a Chinese who grow up reading Chinese literatures that brags how great their civilization, while most "Chinese" nods in unison, agreeing with this ancient chauvinism.

BTW, I have to put emphasis on the word "genetically" because many "Chinese" consider people who can't speak Chinese is not a true Chinese. Even worse, many "Chinese" consider every people WITHOUT Chinese blood is always a barbarian, even when they managed to speak and write in Chinese. My suggestion to my genetic brothers: stop your chauvinism and realize that you are not the center of the world. Be humble for Heaven's sake! The Hanyu Pinyin is already pointing to that direction. FINALLY!! It is around 3000 years late, but better late than never!

That's it from me. Did I miss anything? Probably. Too many stupid things went rampant in this imperfect world.