Big Bad World

We see things in terms of perspectives. That is a reason why it is entirely unnecessary to continuously persuade someone to see the way we see things. The way I imagine it to be is like a cyclone of vision of a part of reality emanating along our line of sight. Anything out of the cyclone is a blur or a mess. The circle, the eye of the cyclone, which we can see reality in is filtered. Everyone will see the same spot or piece of reality but they will interpret it differently. This might be hard to take for some because it would mean we are short sighted, blind and heartless for we do not “see” the reality another person see. We cannot feel them.We cannot understand them. We cannot relate to them and know if what they feel is what we feel. That is the saddest thing about perspectives.

 There is a rather sad quote I read about which states “our lives are merely the playing of chemical hormones in our head”. And though I disagree with the motion, it is a theoretically possible philosophy to life. 

We can try, definitely, to see as how another person see. To know what it feels like in another person’s perspective; a person whom you would never imagine yourself to be like. You wonder why they are different, why they are like this, what do they think when they are like this. You wonder do they think the way I do? Can I feel as they do? We can try.

When we try to understand another person’s belief, culture and actions, we get to see as they do, or rather catch a glimpse of what it is to be them. However, the desired neutral stance in which we can understand another person without our own biased perspective is impossible to take for that is the view only God can see in; a vision without the filtering cyclones. But we can experience another person’s perception as much as possible and that is by creating an assumption that what the other person is doing or acting out is always right. In that sense, we do not contradict the person with our influence but rather give in to them. In that way, we seek to be understanding and in return, we get to see as they see. We can make mental judgments on their actions, feelings and situation from that extremely humble stance. You may even feel how narrow the worldview the other person possesses. But if you come to a similar conclusion of the dynamics of society as I have, you may conclude how big and bad the world is.

A world without art and humanities is a vile and cruel world, especially for those who actually care or appreciate the arts and humanities. These subjects form humanity. The British novelist C S Lewis admitted how little he actually cared about moral values and how people felt about his wrong doings until he actually cared about religion. Religion, which I believe is an abstract representation of our art and humanities and “civil” behavior. Empires which  prospered had invested greatly in the arts and culture. For example the Greek civilization, Ancient Chinese dynasties and Alexander the Great’s Macedonian empire. (Alexander the Great was schooled by the famous philosopher, Aristotle himself.) A large empire can never be large if they cannot understand a distant citizen and integrate cultures into a functioning bloc. A world without art and humanities will limit our perspectives, which is why people continuously express themselves in art; a gesture to widen another person’s perspectives. As such, I greatly appreciate the efforts of the individuals, art societies and countries who invested in the arts. As a result, a fictitious model of the world we live in now exists. We abide by certain rules regarding boundaries and have morally-backed basic rights granted for everyone. We created a functioning world where tact (diplomacy) is very important and a certain moral standard have more or less been adopted. Thus, it is a worrisome phenomena that more and more people are declaring themselves without a religion or atheists. They are losing the essence of humanity.

However, there are still instances whereby art have been misused to show certain misguided perspectives about other people. I am referring to the media, an art machine which is very powerful in controlling the perspectives and sentiments of the public. They are the primary information giver. Just like Joseph Goebbels, Hitlers Nazi propaganda expert, he can whip up a perspective for the Germans about what is right and wrong and good for the unity of the Third Reich. In truth, if we were to look into the perspective of a German citizen, it is not wrong to support your country which wanted to create a great nation. And that perspective would have been universally embraced if Nazi Germany had won the war and established itself as the world power of the day. As the saying goes, "History is written by its winners." Communism in its core principles is an idealistic idea about how to create an utopia in the world but the idea was seriously tarnished and disproved by history.  Even now, racial, sexual and other stereotypes are constantly being used such that it could actually define the person being misguidedly stereotyped. For example, a misconception of Austronesian natives being lazy due to observations by colonists have actually reinforced that idea into the natives such that now, centuries later, the natives have used this stereotype on themselves and believe themselves to be lazy as profiled, which could also account to the lack of progress of these natives as compared to other races. This is of course hypothetical, as mentioned in Syed Hussein Alatas book, The Myth of the Lazy Native. Everyone is being profiled now. Islam and terrorism, White supremacy, Indians and technology, Chinese people with their hard work and their studying, Jews with their money. What is right is being defined by those that control the media. Being a Malay Muslim I see all the stereotypes which hurts the reputation of my people. I see the bad influences of media about what is hip and cool and I felt an uncomfortable rage to disprove all this misguided but true stereotypes.

I have always believed that, as proclaimed in all major faiths, we are all created equal. And yet we are each capable of being anything we want. Cultures help grow yet shape our identity, and media further deviate or widen them. As a person who revolve his perspective of life around religion, I always try to relate things to the Quran and other religious teachings. The portrayal of a Muslim in the Chapters of the Quran and the character of our Prophet Muhammad is one of beauty. Kind, thoughtful, caring, tactful, nice, strong, determined and humble, these are among the traits strongly encouraged for us Muslims to follow to live a good life. All Muslims are "obliged" to read the Quran and love our Prophet(to know about him) and thus they know about its contents and story, at least vaguely. And yet, what I see now in my society is such ignorance on these traits! I was in a Sunday religious school from the age of 5 to 19. I was brought up in a morally right upper Middle Class family. But what I see in Muslims now is a disgrace to the texts in the Quran. A "Modern Muslim" is being created out of media and other influences. I have seen in Detention Barracks, Muslims who pray their daily prayers everyday over there but they have tattoos all over their bodies and they boasted about the clubs they go to and their drinking or sexual escapades. Apparently, in the general society now, it is cool to consume alcohol, hang out with friends all the time and have premarital sex. And worse are the people who are Muslims but they disregard their religion entirely by saying they are not practicing Muslims. It is a hindrance for them. And these numbers are huge swathes of our Muslim population in this city. Media is further demeaning them to hide their religion. It is not cool. I cry at their loss. I cry at our loss of place for us to be who we are. The fact that there are so many advertisement which showcases models, shows which encourage this demeaning, oversexualised culture so unlike the culture encouraged in the Quran, and the "normalty" to be hot and sexy for ladies and romantic or whatever it is for men. They made our young Muslimin and Muslimahs irksome of their religion; seen as a hindrance rather than a help. "A 50/50 approach to a cause is not worth the cause." This demeaning culture is one that breeds rotten habits which are traps for the weak minded and is the cause for your downfall. This culture is masterminded by the rich, selfish and clever puppeteers. Head to Madinah, a city in Saudi Arabia, home and burial ground of our Prophet, and you will see a culture so taken care of, so proper, so justified, so polished and so beautiful to be part of. I had only been there for about a week 2 years back but that experience had widen my perspective and awed me. A proper and dignified society! When I came back and experienced my society once again, I thought about how filthy the world really is. And how rotten and bad it have been without proper art(religion).

There are impartiality in the way our world work such that there are no even playing ground. Cecil Rhodes once mentioned, "You should be thankful to be born an Englishmen, for you have drawn first prize in the lottery of life." There are rich people and there are poor people. Smart people and the handicapped people. A good example of life can be reflected in a game of Monopoly Deal, with a slight alteration to the end objective. "The Game will end when everyone but one becomes bankrupt". It becomes apparent that the rich will only get richer and once you are poor and fighting against rich opponents, you are severely handicapped and will remain penniless(or cardless in this game.) That is until you chanced upon a "Deal Breaker" or a move which turns the tide of the game by instantly gathering a lot of cash. In life, it would mean getting an opportunity of a lifetime or a lucky path to richness. Play it right, you win, play it wrong you remain the penniless poor miserably giving every penny to the unrelenting rents of the others. Then there is the other game "Risk" whereby the objective of the game is to dominate the whole world.  There are merciless and smart moves undertaken by people to fool others. It is given that those who attack first will be losers and that leading everyone except yourself to battle is the way to win. Patience and tactics is the key. All this game actually reflects something. Competition and a silent rule to win others. I personally hate these games because it means that you have to destroy people to win. I prefer compromise, but to those who disregard compromise to dominate their opponent, the only way to defeat them is to fight and utterly destroy them to the point of not being able to mount any form of challenge ever again. This rule to be better than others is a rule I greatly disagree. Why must you win others? Live your own life. The world is already bad enough if you want to compete for petty reasons like seeing another person suffer or for pride.

Would you be bad at maths and just give up on studying because it is not cool? Would you take up smoking just to fit in the crowd? Would you continuously pursue a girlfriend or boyfriend just to make a show of them? Would you abandon your self and act like how society is asking you to? Or would you admit your flaws and see what is the best for your future and the future of the people you love? Admit your flaws and stem the downward slide of your society and people to eternal doom. The pride in your people does not lie in the caricature actions and showing off of rotten habits to the world. It is not about protesting your rotten position in society knowing full well you are the cause of it. The pride in your people lies in the class you have. In the beauty of how you carry yourself and in the beauty of your character. The English have class. The Arabs have class, I must say. There are so many people wanting to carry this vision forward. Opportunists, leaders, faith healers. Fight the evil influence.  Please. Stop this big bad world.

That is my perspective.