The PC police have invented an astounding new forme fruste of PC disease, called #microagression. It takes the art of twisting and sterilizing the English language to new heights. The emphasis here seems to be that we can manage to offend someone without having the slightest idea of the logic that the offended party used to decide that they were hurt, offended, insulted, diminished, disrespected. The natural extension of this new and exciting PC hazard dictates that body language and facial expressions are also clearly fair game when deciding that some bastard(oops..sorry) has become a bigot or racist, or clod.
What a deal for whiners(oops..sorry). Complete freedom to proclaim victimhood anywhere, anytime. Do not take my word for this!! Take a couple of anti-nausea suppositories(gets you closer to what you are about to read), and Google # microagression to read the pathetic whining that people are capable of. Is this silliness to be allowed to sterilize our colorful, beautiful, language, destroy metaphor and humor, in the name of WHAT?
Emerson wrote:
Tho you travel the world to find the beautiful,
You must carry it with you or you find it not.
For PC people:
Tho you search the word to find the ugly, the insult,
You must carry it with you or you find it not.
Avagadro602
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Saigon traffic validates Ayn Rand's Objectivist theory on the value of selfishness
In Saigon(Ho Chi Mien City), the Rex Hotel sits at the intersection of a 6 lane boulevard with a 4 lane thoroughfare. This is the hotel where, in 1972, reporters and correspondents of the Vietnam war sipped Mohitos while awaiting their own evacuation from the(lost) war zone.
Today, under the influence of free market progress, since 1992, the city has grown into a bustling metropolis, with 8,000,000 citizens, and 2,000,000 Mopeds, with 1000 new ones being sold daily. I was given this info by a Certified Guide(they are fired for erroneous reporting).
The intersection described above handles tens of thousands of vehicles each business day. There are accidents that occur rarely. I watched the spectacle of hundreds of cars and mopeds per minute negotiating the busy intersection. From the Rex Hotel, it looks like a fantastic half-time integration of the most coordinated marching band in the world !! A ballet of sorts, cars, mopeds, and bikes at 20 MPH.
But wait!! Guess what?? There are NO traffic controls, NO traffic lights, NO cops, and NO rules at that intersection !! Traffic lights and controls are rare in the city. How can this be ?? The only thing that matters in the above scenario is that YOU DO NOT HIT ANYBODY, all that is necessary is that one protect their own personal interests. They are simply watching out for themselves, but consequently everybody wins. It seems to work. Without this freedom of action, guided solely by "selfishness", traffic in Saigon would be paralyzed. More control equals less freedom.
"Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand, pretty much says it all!!
Avagadro602
Today, under the influence of free market progress, since 1992, the city has grown into a bustling metropolis, with 8,000,000 citizens, and 2,000,000 Mopeds, with 1000 new ones being sold daily. I was given this info by a Certified Guide(they are fired for erroneous reporting).
The intersection described above handles tens of thousands of vehicles each business day. There are accidents that occur rarely. I watched the spectacle of hundreds of cars and mopeds per minute negotiating the busy intersection. From the Rex Hotel, it looks like a fantastic half-time integration of the most coordinated marching band in the world !! A ballet of sorts, cars, mopeds, and bikes at 20 MPH.
But wait!! Guess what?? There are NO traffic controls, NO traffic lights, NO cops, and NO rules at that intersection !! Traffic lights and controls are rare in the city. How can this be ?? The only thing that matters in the above scenario is that YOU DO NOT HIT ANYBODY, all that is necessary is that one protect their own personal interests. They are simply watching out for themselves, but consequently everybody wins. It seems to work. Without this freedom of action, guided solely by "selfishness", traffic in Saigon would be paralyzed. More control equals less freedom.
"Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand, pretty much says it all!!
Avagadro602
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
40 years out, Vietnam war not in vain
Just returned from a tour of Vietnam(north and south), and Cambodia. I visited prisons in Hanoi, and in Phnom Penh. My small group interacted with people from the north( Hanoi, HaLong) , the south (Ho Chi Minh City), and Phnom Pehn in Cambodia. We spent days in the minute villages along the Mekong, and hours in street markets of small and large villages along the Mekong river and delta. I drank tea, squatting with Hanoi sidewalk squatters, was blessed by a Bhuddist monk, hugged a pertty little Cambodian street vendor, rode an elephant like a Khymer king around the Angor Wat, bought salt in a mind boggling farmers market, did not buy any of the rat testicles on sale on the street, rode tuk-tuks and rickshaws through the steets, gave pencils to smiling children who would not beg, just smile and beguile me with happy eyes, melting all resistance.
I cried the same tears that came at Normandy when I visited the killing Fields and inhuman Khymer Rouge S-21 Prison in Phnom Pehn. The War Remnants Museum in Saigon was full of photographs that produced the same response. I was saddened by the continuing legacy of both Agent Orange and Land Mines.
I luxuriated with Dar(short for Darlene) in 5-star hotels in Hanoi, Siem Reap(Cambodia, and Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City). In Saigon we drank Champagne on the 23 floor of a hotel looking down on the Rex Hotel, where in 1972, correspondants drank and waited to be flown out of a disastrous Lost Cause. From our Champagne perch, we could see the a new 67 story bullet shaped new building with a heliport at the 52nd level. The skyscraper, tallest in SE Asia, 3 years old.
I can say that during my time there, I did not meet resentment, hateful eyes, or anything other that acceptance. Remarkably, I felt truly welcomed. Herein lies the reason for the title of this post:
Recall that during the war, the Soviets, not yet "kneecapped" by that crazy Reagan, and the Communist Chinese, not yet "mollified" by that crazy Nixon, were enabling the North, and the Communists in Cambodia(soon to become the genocidal Khymer Rouge after US pullout in 1972).
After 1972 up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economies were ruled by an iron fist. In 1992, after collapse of Soviet control, the economies were allowed to capitalize, own property, become more like Hong Kong. The Khymer were chased out around 1979 by the Vietnamese, and, with Vietnam became more capitalist in 1992.
In 1992, Saigon(HCMCity) was population of 2,000,000. Now, under more free market, it has grown to 8,000,000. That is what my Vietnamese guide told me.
Ironically, I was told that, generally speaking, the Vietnamese now do not like either the Russians, or the Chinese, but "love' the Americans. I had cause on my visit to believe the latter, and so did Dar. I believe that these very philosophical peoples have now seen what we, the USA, Canadians, Aussies, were fighting for. It was for thier freedom. I have to believe that myself. I hope freedom continues to grow, and further justify the grave sacrifices of the past.
Avagadro602
I cried the same tears that came at Normandy when I visited the killing Fields and inhuman Khymer Rouge S-21 Prison in Phnom Pehn. The War Remnants Museum in Saigon was full of photographs that produced the same response. I was saddened by the continuing legacy of both Agent Orange and Land Mines.
I luxuriated with Dar(short for Darlene) in 5-star hotels in Hanoi, Siem Reap(Cambodia, and Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City). In Saigon we drank Champagne on the 23 floor of a hotel looking down on the Rex Hotel, where in 1972, correspondants drank and waited to be flown out of a disastrous Lost Cause. From our Champagne perch, we could see the a new 67 story bullet shaped new building with a heliport at the 52nd level. The skyscraper, tallest in SE Asia, 3 years old.
I can say that during my time there, I did not meet resentment, hateful eyes, or anything other that acceptance. Remarkably, I felt truly welcomed. Herein lies the reason for the title of this post:
Recall that during the war, the Soviets, not yet "kneecapped" by that crazy Reagan, and the Communist Chinese, not yet "mollified" by that crazy Nixon, were enabling the North, and the Communists in Cambodia(soon to become the genocidal Khymer Rouge after US pullout in 1972).
After 1972 up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economies were ruled by an iron fist. In 1992, after collapse of Soviet control, the economies were allowed to capitalize, own property, become more like Hong Kong. The Khymer were chased out around 1979 by the Vietnamese, and, with Vietnam became more capitalist in 1992.
In 1992, Saigon(HCMCity) was population of 2,000,000. Now, under more free market, it has grown to 8,000,000. That is what my Vietnamese guide told me.
Ironically, I was told that, generally speaking, the Vietnamese now do not like either the Russians, or the Chinese, but "love' the Americans. I had cause on my visit to believe the latter, and so did Dar. I believe that these very philosophical peoples have now seen what we, the USA, Canadians, Aussies, were fighting for. It was for thier freedom. I have to believe that myself. I hope freedom continues to grow, and further justify the grave sacrifices of the past.
Avagadro602
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