a diddakoi and her travelling caravan

Went to the morning service at the Weslyan church in perth. The preacher was bald. Which only goes to show....

Talking about bomb blasts and the culture of fear in sri lanka, the minister, jeyaraj fernandopulle was killed in one today. I had the opposite reaction to fear, I was indifferent. These things keep happening, being a minister, you are bound to die sooner or later anyway. So I am not afraid, and neither are many others in Sri Lanka.

I talked about the issue of choice in one of the blogs I wrote yesterday. Strangely, came across this thing called 'mean' principle, as introduced by Aristotle. Any activity taken on by humans can have too much of something, or too little of something, or just the right amount. The easiest example is salt in food, there can be too much, too little or just right. I was pondering on 3 major issues, and how they can be addressed in a socio-political sense. Namely, the right of women to abort their babies, the right to have sex out of marriage, and the right to own a gun to protect one's family and oneself. Giving this right to individuals, or taking this right away from them, appeared to both have their pros and cons. It seemed that the decision to allow or disallow individuals to exercise these rights were dependent on: a.) impacts of their decision on other humans -- with abortion, it appears to be the impact on the unborn child, and depriving its right to live; with guns i...

The Danish cartoonist said that he drew the cartoon of Mohammad, as an exercise in the right of free speech. Charlton Heston, who lobbies pro-guns in the US, said he has a loaded gun in the house because he is exercising the right, as an American citizen to have a gun. Yet I wondered if, by the fact that we have a a right to say what we want, means we necessarily need to really exercise that right. Many moral issues, often argue that the rights of people are taken away, because it is considered morally wrong, and the capacity of people to choose is undermined. For instance there is the debate on the prevention of the transmission of sexual diseases by abstinance, as against of other forms of prevention such as the use of condoms. So, is it, that with things like guns, we do not allow the public sale of it, thereby taking away the right of the public? And in other issues, like the choice to have sex out of marriage, the choice is given to people, to decide for themselves? With the abort...

Was watching 'Bowling for Columbine' by Micheal Moore today. He talks about this culture of fear that pervades America. Which is a reason why people want to have guns in their house. Was reflecting about the culture of fear in Sri Lanka. Ok, we have reason to be afraid, cos we have terrorists bombing up every where. Yet, have we turned paranoid? Are we going the way of the Americans? We definetely, as a race, love sensationalisation. We watch the broken bodies in fascinated horror. When there are days when terrorist attacks are expected, we go into holiday mode. Keeping the news on, checking for mobile news updates, and competing to be the first news breaker to our friends. What we relay is the body count. How many dead is the first question. The more dead, the more exciting. We watch in gory fascination as the cameras pan on relatives, rushing at the hospital gates. The image of the man and child wailing outside the emergency room is played several times an hour. We do need to...

Recently, a friend sent me a joke. "what happens when you combine an aethiest and a jehovah's witness? Someone knocks at your door but does not say anything" I took exception of this. 1. Aetheists often come to that position because religion has disapointed them in answering their deep questions, and pain borne out of life experience. Therefore, making jokes about them not having anything to provide reason for their position is not right. They do have something to say. 2. It is christian snobbery to assume that people of other world views have nothing to say. Very often christians, without any knowledge or understanding of the reasons why others believe other things, condemn or ridicule those views. With no intellectual standpoint to defend their own beleifs. When I came up with these issues I had, my friend apologised, but he also said something quite interesting. He said he felt like the danish cartoon creator of prophet Mohommad because of the spin off of, what he cons...

With equal rights and diversity training, seems like we (Asians, Africans, browns, yellows) are no different (in evolutionary terms) to caucasians. We don't have the Klu Klux Klans, and burnings and all "those" sort of things. Yet, I wonder, if, like other things, racism, or its mode of expression has evolved into more refined or subtle forms of expression. The extra bright smile and higher tone at the supermarket checkout counter. Random bagchecks at the exit of stores, with most random checks falling on chinks, darks, or the typical 'international student'. When the name of a destination was checked twice in a taxi, being told that this was not Calcutta or Bangalore. Not quite sure of even the reason for this comment? The thing is, it is hard to really make a proper list of these things. One does not want to appear paranoid. Yet there are some things, that one can't really put one's finger on, which can change a day, make it slightly less bright. Unlike ...