Indignation and discrimination

[ausare]

家のお母さんは大バカです！！！
うちのおかあさんはだいバカです！！！
Uchi no okaasan wa daibaka desu!!!
My mother is STUPID!!!
—

I have fallen in love with Neil Gaiman again.

Hello, Colbert PWNAGE!

Neil Gaiman is ♥
(Which reminds me, I need to buy The Graveyard Book soon.)

And because my life is full of drama, the Internet shall be my dumping ground.

■
I hate going out with my mother. Why? Because it is inevitable that we will end up having an argument debate heated discussion about something.

First was about the Japanese and their whaling activities. Let me just say this first: I don't support whaling. The whole endangering wildlife, destroying oceanic environment... The whole works. I'm sure this reasoning has been repeated enough.

But. Think of it this way. Whaling is something the Japanese have been doing for a long time. You can't just prohibit them from doing it entirely. Whale meat and oil and whatever else (excuse the lack of proper argument; I've been using my brain too much during essay-writing and it's now on vacation) is all they know for so long. This comes back to their culture, in a way. It's something they're used to, and they don't know the alternatives to whaling—they don't know what to do without whaling. In order to rid this activity fully, it has to start small. Restriction quotas, fines, court orders, social reprimands and media exposure. The last, especially, because (I don't know this for sure so correct me if I'm wrong) since it's something they do, they obviously won't show their own people how cruel it is to capture and kill whales (even if they do use all the parts as opposed to finning when it comes to sharks, which is a whole other debate on its own). Use the media and show the whole gory truth, no sugarcoating whatsoever, and let the people come to their own conclusion about this issue.

Consider this, if you've been a vegetarian all your life and never ate anything else when suddenly, someone introduces you to meat. Chances are, you'd reject the mere idea of eating meat. Or, if you're a right-handed person and everyone else around you is the same, and thus you grow up your whole life thinking writing can only be done with the right hand. Then one day, you see someone writing with his or her left hand. You'd think it's the strangest and most abnormal thing ever. Why? Because you know nothing outside of what you have experienced and can understand (If I'm not wrong, there's a theory regarding this. I remembered coming across it, but it totally escaped my mind now).

Of course, instead of understanding the whole concept of cultural and behavioural cultivation, my mother accused me of being Japan-biased.

■
Then, she started talking about the Pinnacle Islands.

Politics, natural resources, geographies and (impossible) national boundaries aside, I personally think that this dispute is ridiculous. The islands are 7km² large and consist of 5+3 rocks. ROCKS. Honestly. This is one reason why I think that political dominance has undermined human intelligence and common sense.

It's just a pile of rocks! Seriously! Oh sure, it's a matter of political and national pride. I think it's just a basic, primal human instinct as a mere mammal to want to stake a hold on something, be it alive or not, and claim possession. Marking boundaries and displaying power, if you will. In the end, we are all still living things, like any dog or lion. It's just that we are capable of self-thought.

Where was I? The islands. At best, national boundaries are difficult to define. How do you define boundaries over bodies of water? State lines over mountainous topology? Land mass is constantly moving and changing (I'll skip over the plate tectonics theory, or I'll never stop). Between converging masses, oceanic boundaries will overlap; between diverging masses, boundaries need to be defined all the time and conflicts can arise over how the new boundary should be set; over land masses, the coordinates decided now may have moved ten years later, if the convergence of plates didn't bring it under another plate during the movement of block mountains. Why waste all this energy over determining who owns 5+3 pieces of ROCK? Which brings me to the next point.

Natural resources under the Pinnacle Islands were found to be possibly present under the islands, as announced by two Japanese scientists in 1968. And if the slightest guess about natural resources doesn't bring in the whole gaggle of politicians like a 20% sale brings in rude 40-year-old shrewds, I don't know what will.

Let's skip over my annoyance over our self-imposed dependency on fossil fuel and crude oil. Here's what I found on Wikipedia:

Offshore exploration and extraction of oil disturbs the surrounding marine environment. Extraction may involve dredging, which stirs up the seabed, killing the sea plants that marine creatures need to survive. [Source]

Yes, it does mention certain positive points, but those are minor and can be achieved through less destructive means, or the lack of, and so the negatives tipped the balance.

So for the sake of political power, temporary survival and profits (crude oil is a non-renewable resource, hello!), you would create dispute, international debates, hostilities, and help destroy marine environment? All for 7km² of 5+3 rocks?

My mother says that the ocean current flows from the islands to Taiwan (or was it the other way around?), and therefore the Pinnacle Islands must belong to Taiwan (she's Taiwanese, if that isn't obvious by now).

Take the Antarctic Circumpolar Current for example. It starts at South America and branches out to places like the Indian Ocean and New Zealand. Therefore according to her logic, India and New Zealand must belong to the countries in South America, no? And I don't give a damn about the resource of fish at the islands. It isn't as if we will die without fish from the 5+3 rocks of islands. It's a "want", not a "need". And the marine environment will be threatened by over-fishing sooner or later, anyway.

My mother still accused me of being Japan-biased when I'm supposed to be Chinese. Um. Following that logic, if China and Taiwan got into another dispute, I'll side with China, yeah? Since all Chinese share roots from China.

My mother is so simple-and-narrow-minded and adamant of double-standards that I cannot discuss social sciences with her. I'll tear out my scalp before I even get through one sentence of her argument.

■
Intermission from TEH DRAMA because I bought a new book today!

Anything Goes, by Carole E. Barrowman on John Barrowman.

Yes, it's the paperback version because I'm not a biography sort of person anyway, so I found no point in spending more money on the hardcover. Plus, there are more photographs in the paperback version! I'm such a fangirl.

And Borders just happened to be playing songs from musicals while we were there! So I was all giggly and listening to JB's Sunset Boulevard and Too Much in Love to Care (which he feat. with Sarah Brightman).

Sadly, this is where TEH DRAMA resumes.

■
I was bemoaning with the oft-used phrase that the good-looking guys are all gay (and JB's partner is handsome—wow, I haven't used that word in, forever), and then my mother started giving me that 'gay-people-disgust-me' face she has perfected while she wasn't busy being a mindless female or destroying the fundamental idea of feminism by believing everything my father said to be WORD and that if he isn't happy, it's always me and my sister's fault (well, mostly mine, because my parents hate me), and always being the first to apologise to him for anything and nothing at all. Sheesh.

Anyway, she started ranting about why did he have to do a biography anyway, who in the world would want to read it, why do men have to even like other men but I had already switched off the moment she gave me that face so I just asked her to pass me my wallet because FANGIRL HAS BEEN WAITING FOR THE PAPERBACK VERSION FOR MONTHS. She said it was a waste of money and almost refused to give me my wallet.

Afterwards, she fumed and started again on the 'waste of money' argument and for once in so many years, I said it straight out, "Don't discriminate other people just because they happen to be homosexuals."

She countered with a oh, he's only in his forties, what accomplishments has he achieved, as compared to those in the science fields like Einstein...

Oh. Nice save. Not (and JB mentioned the same reason about his age and accomplishments when he initially turned down the idea of a biography).

For one, he has huge standings in the West End theatre, and also as an actor, and this is an entirely different field as compared to science.

I bet if I wanted to buy one of the many Audrey Hepburn biographies, she would actually encourage me to get it. To her, it wasn't about the issue of accomplishment—she just doesn't accept that homosexuality is not wrong.

She believes that people choose to be gay.

Seriously, WTF?!

Other than the common sense that no one wants to be someone who will always be discriminated by, oh, about 90% of the world's population, you can only make yourself like another person of the same gender as much as they try to like someone of a different gender.

I so want to RAGE.

People like her are the reason why society keeps walking on the spot and never progressing. And the living proof why irrational discrimination still exists.

Ugh.

■
So we were walking home from the shopping centre (um, like only 20 minutes away anyway, so we get to save on bus fares) and the woman suddenly said that I'm not suited to wear shorts because my legs have scratches and bruises and I should wear jeans all the time to cover them up.

The hell?!

Why should I dress myself with the constant considerations of other people's definition of imperfection? If someone finds my face unsightly, should I wear a gas mask? If someone doesn't like my arms, should I wear long-sleeve shirts whenever I go out? Why not, to satisfy everyone, I'll just never step out of the house! There! Fashion crisis averted! Hey, I don't like her whole person. Can she stop existing?

RAWR.

■
Oh, oh. I just remembered. There was this rojak-food-poisoning scare last week (honestly, the woman quoted in the article was a little dumb. If something smells weird, don't eat it! Common sense is DEAD!) So, during dinner a few days ago, there was the usual small talk between my parents and the subject came up. And my mother said,

"Good thing the stall was owned by an Indian and not a Chinese so it's the Indians who is losing job and money now."

How rude was that?! In a country like Singapore where we had our own racial riot just decades ago, and we had peace now because we've been respectful to each other and understanding about our different cultures, too! And coming from her, who complains to me about being discriminated by my paternal grandmother when she first came to Singapore just because she wasn't Singaporean (this was only one of the few stunts she pulls because I'm closer to that grandmother than I am to her. And ability at creating rifts, you do not have)!

She, of all people, should know the frustrations about being discriminated. I don't get it! What's so good about that Indian owner losing his job? Oh, if only I had the skill to describe the look of GLEE on her face when she made her remark. Is it fine for an Indian to lose his job, and unforgivable for a Chinese to lose his or her job?

THAT. Is the reason why discrimination and prejudice is still very much alive.

Oh wow. I think I have just found us residents of this unstable world a way to achieve WORLD PEACE. But first, someone has to legalise homocide in Singapore.

Uh. Whoa. I haven't wrote anything of this length since the completion of my last essay assignment last night.

And, and. Halfway through typing this, the woman came into my room with this look on her face, clearly with something to rant say, and then leaving seconds later with a muttered, "Never mind".

Oh! I know! I know! She wants to ask me if I'm a lesbian! Well, it was either that or she was going to lecture me on why homosexuality is wrong, blah blah blah.

Ugh. I am now tired but satisfied that I got all of that down. And now I'm off to watch the Doctor Who 2009 Easter Special.

—
以上、Chii です。

Comments

[ausare.livejournal.com]

I am so totally past the point where negative things said about my mother can offend me, because 99% of all those things came from me XD

I usually don't rant about these issues because it's oh-so-boring to read, but whatever, because I WANT TO INDULGE IN MY TEMPORARY TRIP INTO THE INTELLECT!
XD
I can't get my thoughts together too, which was why I took hours to get it out this neatly. And I had to keep editing and adding things in that I forgot. I might have gotten some facts wrong, though. Hmm.

I absolutely hate it when she generalises people and then make some rude remark about all of them just because a single person did something that annoyed her, or something that she doesn't agree with. A single occurrence cannot represent the whole, and the whole may not apply to every single occurrence! She just doesn't get it! I thought she'd be more sensitive about prejudices since she had to suffer some herself, but no... She's got to direct the hate somewhere else, ten-fold. RAWR.

Problem is, THIS is what I've have to put up with all these years, so I'm kinda immuned to her. I just make up responses in my head and be satisfied with my full argument, then moving on. The best way to keep her out of my way is to just stay disinterested to whatever she says so she doesn't come up with MORE things to rant about.

And your line about "arrogant, ignorant, flippant and pompous authoritative figures" making "idiotic, senseless comments" is SO MUCH LOVE.

(RE: JB,
Watch Doctor Who and Torchwood! XD)

[spilled-notes.livejournal.com]

LOL. I understand. Most of the comments made about my mother come from me. :)

The thing with my mother is that she dropped out of school at 16, so her education level is lower than mine and has been for many years. All I have to do is say something and she claims that I'm always trying to make her feel stupid or act bigger and smarter. Which, of course, is absurd. (Although, sometimes, I like to use big words just to watch her fume.) She also believes that all of the mistakes she made when she was a child/teenager, I am going to repeat. Also a lie. Just because she decided to go off and have sex at twelve, does not mean I will. And I haven't.

Anywho. My mother just believes that she is the centre of the Earth, and that everything she does impacts someone else's decisions. She believes that if she's done it, then so will you and there's no arguing. She also believes she's always right, and that everyone hates her.

It's bullshit.

BUT anyway. YAY. And I've seen some Doctor Who, but no Torchwood! I must find the online episodes. :) I've heard amazing things about it.

[ausare.livejournal.com]

My mother does that too! I don't think that she's stupid, everyone's intelligence is in different areas, I just think that she's narrow-minded and not accepting of changes and different opinions. And that pisses me of SO MUCH.

And. Ugh My mother thinks she's always right too! It's so infuriating!

Oh oh, you should start on Torchwood after you finish series 2 of Doctor Who. I'll email you the "proper" chronological order of watching them XD