Oh baby yes, another person who likes this book. I wrote an essay on it in the 5th grade and it was the last thing I wrote that wasn't a huge disappointment, though that may have been because I was in the 5th grade. lauughs.
Not sure if I mentioned this, but I never came across this book in the States; rather, I stumbled upon it in a bookstore in a mall in the Philippines. It caught my attention immediately. (I managed to read the several books I brought with me before the month vacation was over, so it was time to buy more, and man does American money go a long way there.)
ok bout to slam you with questions a lot of them
Yay, question slam! Or as a cranky villager would say: Me time is about to start!
1. What do you think is the most important problem in the world?
Hard to separate just one. Human trafficking remains a huge issue in this world, one that people commonly believe was solved in a previous era but is actually growing to unprecedented heights. Nationalism is what I see as a continuing disease. The Global North-Global South split continues to hamper coordinated economic and legal growth (i.e., the even development of social and economic rights across borders) and exacerbate exploitation of human beings. The rape of women and men is a continuing epidemic that people see as the natural consequence of societal instability and conflict, and here in the States it is a glaring problem in the military especially but tends to be seen as a problem in 'other' societies. The gender gap is still an economic and social problem. Relatedly, women and men with children vs women and men without children is still a major issue in regards to the pay gap. Etc., etc.
2. How would you define "love"?
Depends on the type of 'love.' Some languages do more to distinguish what is meant by love, and has several words for it. For instance, the Nez Perces American Indian nation has many dozens of words for 'relatives,' making clear how pivotal family is to the understanding of love. Also, the ancient Greeks had different words for different loves: ag?pē referred to a 'spiritual' affection for the surrounding world and life in general, ?rōs for passionate affection with physical attraction, if I understand correct, and etc.
Clearly love is not necessarily simple to define, and I am too lazy to attempt it here.
3. Do you think it's better to have the gall to think you can change the world, or the selfishness to stay closed off from everything that you can't see? (using very loose definitions here ahah)
I think people are a combination of both, either within themselves are as part of society (if society is thought of as a single organism with contradictory behavior).
Clearly, the 'tug of war' between indifference and active citizenship, to borrow two loaded political terms, is so inherent a part of the human psyche that it has been talked about by historians and in media. For instance, in the movie
Kingdom of Heaven (2005; the director's cut was great, by the way), King Baldwin IV gives the following reminder about an important message inherent in 'judgment':
A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, 'But I was told by others to do thus.' Or that, 'Virtue was not convenient at the time.' This will not suffice. Remember that.
And so here is the status quo for the human psyche that Tacitus talks about in
The History:
His character was of an average kind, rather free from vices than distinguished by virtues.
4. What sort of people interest you?
Hard to say. People are so complex. Do I prefer people who are introverted like me, for instance? Well, I believe I may prefer to hang out with extroverted people. Should someone like to talk about history and politics? Ooh, yes, please, but not necessary. We can talk about video games instead. I generally would prefer someone to act like a friend, for sure.
5. Do you think that your generation will see another world war?
No. You came from another generation?
6. World peace or preservation of culture?
Both.
7. What is your definition of intelligence?
Oh, God, that is another can of worms. Howard Gardner's
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences comes to mind right away. Is athleticism a form of intelligence? Is it intelligence to be peerless in memorizing trivia? Let us look at a dictionary definition:
capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
Mk, truths and facts sound good. But how about what Saul Bellow says in
To Jerusalem and Back: A Personal Account (1976):
A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.
Intelligence in the service of falsehood and deception? You speak madness!
Another interesting area of study, in any case.
8. Person with the biggest influence in your life?
Mom.
No idea. That said, people having the ability to be a 'good liar' reminds me of the following by Michael Shermer:
It is not enough to fake doing the right thing in order to fool our fellow group members, because although we are fairly good deceivers, we are also fairly good deception detectors. We cannot fool all the people all the time, and we do learn to assess (through gossip, in part) who is trustworthy and who is not trustworthy, so it is better to actually be a moral person because that way you actually believe it yourself and thus there is no need for deception. What I am saying is that the best way to convince others that you are a moral person is not to fake being a moral person but to actually be a moral person. Don't just go through the motions of being moral..., actually be moral. It is my contention that this is how moral sentiments evolved in our Paleolithic ancestors living in small communities.
The way I see it, we give a lot of attention to the ability to deceive, but that is because the art of uncovering deception is one that humans are apt at, and keep working out alone, or in conversation; it preoccupies the mind, as any issue would that is of importance to it. In other words, we are so good at detecting deception that the deceivers have to deceive themselves, to some degree. Makes for quite a bit of psychotic behavior. For some reason, this reminds me of that Edgar Allen Poe short story, 'The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,' about the asylum patients who lock away the doctors and staff and assume their roles.
10. Do you believe in an afterlife?
No.
11. What is your love interest like? (if you have one)
Do not have one.
12. What is the saddest thing you have ever witnessed?
Abuse of another person.
13. What is the greatest thing you have ever witnessed?
In terms of how people treat each other, or just in general? If the former, any instance of people going out of their way to help others (i.e., putting themselves at risk, leaving their car on the middle of the road to assist, etc), a few of which I have witnessed. If the latter, as a kid watching the original Power Rangers summon the Ultrazord (0:00-0:52):
14. Where would you go in the case of a zombie apocalypse?
Walmart. They have the food, guns, and other supplies, very few windows, and lots of heavy stuff for barricading.
15. At the risk of getting a bit odd in these forums, what is one of your fantasies? laughs
My what? Ha. You mean like having dreams about brownies? Because it may have happened. Or while awake? I am pretty sure everyone has thought about saying something more mean spirited to another person, as I have.
16. Do you like the way you were raised?
By my mom, yes.
17. What are your thoughts on American law enforcement?
Glenn Greenwald sums up what I see as the problem in the subtitle of
a recent article:
Ordinary people who commit petty, nonviolent crimes rot for decades in inhumane prisons. High political leaders who commit serious felonies receive full-scale immunity
An embarrassing and burgeoning amount of Americans are in prisons that are increasingly privatized and poorly maintained ('
Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history,' as writer for
The New Yorker Adam Gopnik put it in his piece, 'The Caging of America'). Police are
more and more militarized in equipment and methods and made to go after petty thieves and rabble-rousers while keeping a fine distance from grand thieves on the higher echelons of society and governance. There is special concern over their confiscation of and attempts to regulate filming of their arrests,
their widespread misuse of tasers, and their
execution in broad daylight of unarmed, unresisting, and unaccused citizens on the streets. Even more problematic is growing use, either directly or through pressure on the states and cities, of police forces
as thugs against journalists and other 'problematic' citizens by an increasingly authoritarian and secretive executive branch, and the redirecting and squandering of much needed police forces resources toward failed decades' old policies such as the 'War on Drugs' (an ever-growing regulatory black hole that sucks in more and more money, talent, and lives).
18. Your favorite parts of the body?
You asking me as a heterosexual male? If yes, the answer is obvious.
19. How much do you value life that is not yours?
I like to think a lot, but expectation often does not stack up to reality. I suppose the only way to find out is if I actually had to put myself on the line for someone else, or for a giraffe about to get shot by a poacher, etc.
20. How important is beauty to you? (and not just on humans!)
Mm, a lot that can be said, but a particular issue related to beauty: I think people often make crack judgments about character based on beauty, and not necessarily with conscious recognition. And that is why I think it important for me to find out more about someone when I am inclined to think negatively toward him for some reason. That said, I am also brought to mind of the 'debate' about physical attractiveness vs personality, and I think that Michael Wong (speaking as a long time married man), in '
1-Minute Blurbs About Everything,' was onto something when making the following point about how the 'beautiful eyes' compliment may be just as superficial as the more typically chauvinistic remarks:
On Appearance and Superficiality: If I say 'You have the most beautiful eyes', that is considered a wonderful, charming compliment. On the other hand, if I say 'You have the most beautiful legs', that's considered borderline crass. And if I say 'You have the most beautiful ass', that's completely out of line and I'm a filthy disgusting male chauvinist pig who views women as 'objects' and is horrendously 'superficial'. But is that really worse than complimenting a woman on her eyes? Think about it: what can a woman do about the shape or colour or appearance of her eyes? Nothing; she's born that way. It's genetic. But her ass? That's a product of her lifestyle. A fit, athletic woman will always have a great ass, whereas you can't have a gigantic wide lard-ass unless you've done a lot of things wrong with your diet and lifestyle over the years. So in a way, a woman's ass is far more indicative of her personality and lifestyle than her eyes, isn't it? And that's why I am not just an ass-man, but a proud a ss-man."
21. How is your general health and genetics?
I have no idea about genetics, but in regards to health I can stand to take better care of myself; I am overweight. In regards to anything requiring medication, not at the moment, thank God.
22. What is something interesting about your family history?
My mom, grandma, and grandpa were all proud Filipino farmers.
Sweet.
Both. I am biased toward the city, as evidenced by my seeing beauty in the urban landscape of glass and concrete, and loving to look at pictures of it or traverse the streets to look at it.
25. Do you believe mathematics have a sort of uh intrinsic beauty?
I am sure if it were not my Achilles Heel that I would most readily see its beauty. At the moment, my goal is to make mathematics a love affair like English and history, to see the subject the way historian Walter Isaacson described Albert Einstein as seeing it (
Einstein: His Life and Universe), able to get caught up in equations while shutting out the outside world even in the heavy chatter and clatter of a busy airport.
26. Have you ever been hospitalized for an extended period of time?
No.
27. How do ye like yer coffee
Lots of milk. Even better, add chocolate, nutmeg, and clove.
28. Have you ever genuinely hated somebody?
Plenty of times.
29. Is the world more black and white to you, or gray?
I like to think gray, but probably more black and white.
30. Ethics and morals or the things you personally care about? i.e. family, friends, lovers, a dream
Not sure if this is an either/or question, or if you are asking for my ethics, morals, and things I care about. Assuming the latter, unfortunately most of my family is split by an ocean so we do not get the talk much, but my mom is the most important person in my life, and my sister and brother. I am a humanist. I think that no matter how crazy you think you are, try not to be bitter, and never see kindness as wasted. Now whether any of this sweet language actually amounts to anything to an outside observer is another question. That is all I know.
Thanks for the questions!
