Shuarian’s Weblog

As noted yesterday, I enjoyed reading The Winter Queen (wikipedia) for the most part. It generally employs an agreeable writing style and sometimes a certain ironic undertone I quite liked. Story-wise I didn’t expect too much, and was generally pleased with the pace and the plot, even though the story twists don’t always come as big surprises (to engage in the fine art of understatement).

There were, however, two points which genuinely annoyed me and which I’d like to extend upon. The second point spoils the end of the novel, so continue reading at your own risk.

I. Reactionaryism: Apart from the very argument to be made in point 2, it’s hard to name any precise areas / quotes from the book, yet put together, the overall tone just smells of nostalgia for the good old days.

Conflicts get resolved by action; despite his intelligence, the hero mostly survives by the use of force or - another reactionary motif - fate. Leaning onto the fate theme, love for one’s fatherland is crucial to one’s worthiness, and that love being a negative or exclusive love, most bad guys are foreigners. Hard work in the service of the emporer is noble and will be rewarded.

At first, the hero appears to show some understanding for young students who oppose the status quo and reject what they perceive as tyranny of the society towards them. However, that notion gets disposed quickly, as the protagonist undertakes actions which clearly distinguish him from the ordinary and troubled young masses and subsequently turn the pale, nervous clerk to a handsome and fearless super agent.

II. The Role of Women: There are three women who play a signification role in the novel. The one most prominently featured is described as a Cleopatra-like figure; mysterious, beautiful and able to seduce men easily. She also has a strong will and knows how the get what she wants. Of course, that woman is a criminal figure, a whore who (mis)uses her body for achieving her goals only and isn’t afraid to get innocent people killed.

The second woman is described quite favourably at first; she’s a well-educated, caring and lovely lady. Her only flaws are that she takes her good intentions too far - a much needed warning that women shouldn’t aspire to run serious businesses, indeed - and (this one playing into the first point) that she is a foreigner. Consequently, she dies near the end of the story, but not before committing a selfless act first and thus saving her soul in a very Christian inspired way, at least.

Then there’s also a third woman; or rather, a girl. Which of course is even better, because girls are innocent, and thus superior to women. She’s described as being angel-like, pure and naive. As far as I remember, all the dresses she wears are white. She’s also the first of the three women the hero meets, and thus proves that faithfulness is absolutely important; the other women just want to keep the hero away from his luck! And her luck, or so it has to be assumed. For unfortunately, the little princess doesn’t appear to have any thoughts of her own - the protagonist meets her, falls in love with her beautiful looks and she obediently returns his feelings.

Seriously, how can anyone find that even remotely romantic? But it gets better, because they eventually marry. However, marriage means sex, which would destroy the picture of the perfect - virgin - woman. So at the very end of the book, literally before she’s about to lose her virginity, our little angel gets killed (compare to Madonna / Whore complex. Discuss). This gives him another noble reason to continue with his detective/secret agent work.

It comes, of course, as no surprise that this book fails the Bechdel test miserably.

As a final thought, I’ve called my second point The Role of Women. I could easily expand on that by mentioning the pitiable role model of men in the novel, but I guess this becomes obvious from reading all of the above.

Yesterday, during the national holiday of Switzerland, my vacuum cleaner decided to blow itself up in a cloud of smoke.

So today I went to the city’s main shopping mile, in search of a worthy successor. Even though I didn’t find a worthy replacement, I still enjoyed my short excursion; mainly as I couldn’t help but chuckle about the way the manufacturers brag about their brand new products - better handling!, higher air speed!, bigger dust bags!, and of course more watts! It makes me feel really proud to be part of the species which has developed such advanced techniques for disposing their dust.

Wandering freely through the shopping mile for a bit, I noticed the many people who seem to think they own a lot of stuff, but fail to realise that in fact these goods own them instead.

I know it’s pathetic to rumble about social network sites on my blog, but I never waver in front of my own stupidity. He.

This time, the target for my rant is StudiVZ, a social network site which is a combination of MySpace and (especially) Facebook. As it is in German, it might also feature David Hasselhoff, I don’t know. It certainly would explain some of its popularity, for Germans love David Hasselhoff.

Being the open minded grumpy old cynic I am, I visited their site today to learn more about the many exciting new ways to improve my social life. Below are some of their most convincing arguments, which I’ve freely translated to English. As a reference, the excerpts are taken from their self-advertising page “was bringt mir das” (what’s in it for me).

So, StudiVZ, tell me, why shoulda, coulda, woulda I join thy?

* Who knows whom, through whom, and who are the people you usually just know by sight?
Who know’s whom? Fantastic, I always wanted to crack Dunbar’s number.

* Who’s that cool guy in the second row of the auditorium?
Who’s that cool guy? Well, if my past encounters with other humans are any indication, he’s probably able to speak, in case you’d like to know.

Of course, you could also stalk him online until you’ve finally know enough about him to impress him with your vast knowledge about his life! On a second thought, that actually could work.

* Does my flatmate know him?
Well, if you care to know, there’s always the old fashioned way of doing that. Just drop your flatmate an e-mail.

* (Make) new acquaintances in the cafeteria, but without the obligatory exchange of numbers. First and last name are enough to find each other - if one wants. Staying in contact made easy.
Well, that’s quite practical, isn’t it? Just speaking for myself, there are hundreds of people I’d like to know better but don’t because I can’t get over the hurdle of writing down their phone numbers or e-mail addresses.

* Who’s interested in quantum mechanics as well?
The revenge of the nerds is upon us!

* Who are the friends of my best friend at his new university, and why?
Who are the friends of my best friend? Huh, feeling jealous, do we?

Still, this might be a new business venture for StudiVZ. They really should add a service to implement your best friend a GPS sensor to track him. That way, you can know everything about your best friend. Because surely, trusting someone as important as your best friend is way too risky. Of course, some might call it a break of privacy. I call it diversification of assets.

As for the why, maybe he got sick of having such good, intruding friends?

* Build New Crowds
I think this is the essence of my dislike for their site. That’s meant as an advertisement, but it makes me shiver. Although, I guess that’s the reason they didn’t call themselves an antisocial network site.

* Gossip and Chit-Chat
Hey, let’s build a crowd (see above) and see what happens. Answer: Gossip. Lots of it. But please, I thought online communities were meant as an escape from real life?

* What’s Thomas’ favourite website?
I’m sorry to say this, but it’s very likely that Thomas’ favourite website is a porn site. You do not want to see this.

* Did he already upload the newest pictures from the last party at his flat?
Photographic evidence of drunkards. Great, that will really impress the HR manager at your next job interview.

* How does it come Patrick knows Melanie?
Ugh, from stalking each other online, maybe?

* What does Daniel write about himself?
Reading one’s online profile strikes me as a perfectly reasonable way of getting to know each other deeply.

Too bad Daniel forgot to delete Flashdance from the standard I’m-a-sensitive-and-romantic-guy template. With such a favourite movie, friendship will never work. Next.

I guess I can’t end this rant without quoting one of my favourite authors, Douglas Coupland:

I remember in the 80s when cellphones first started to pop. I remember how, if you saw someone using a cellphone on a street, you immediately thought they were an asshole: gee, my phone call is so important I have to make it right here and right now! Twenty years later, we’re all assholes. We’re assholes at the supermarket’s meat counter at 5:30pm, phoning home to ask if we need prosciutto; we’re assholes driving in traffic; and we’re assholes wandering down the streets. And with cellphones and handhelds, we collapse time and space and our perception of distance and intimacy. [Emphasis added]

Well said. ’nuff said.

There’s so much going on at school (final weeks for exams) and work that I didn’t have time to write much - anything - for this blog. You surely noticed. But today I’ve stumbled upon a story which is worth being told, and which is a sad reflection on media and society.

 
June 8, 1972

Photo: Nick Ut/AP

On June 8, 1972, during the Vietnam War, Nick Ut made a photograph showing terrified children running away from a napalm attack on their home village. Nick Ut later won the Pulitzer prize for his photo, which was shown all over the world as one of the many images depicting the full horror of war. The background events to the photo are explained in the read worthy article The Bigger Picture.

 
June 8, 2007

Photo: Nick Ut/AP

35 years later, the same photographer makes another photo which goes around the world. It shows a crying Paris Hilton who got sent back to jail to serve the 45-day sentence she was convicted to for violating the terms of an existing probation.

I leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions.

(Found via Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish)

 
 
Update 14 June 2007

Well, this entry seems to drive many visitors to my blog. As I didn’t find out the connection between these two photographs on my own, I again want to credit my source, Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish. That done, there were two reasons I started to write this amendment:

First, I’ve updated the original post to better credit the photographer.

Second, the truth of the above post got questioned. Which is fair enough, so I’d like to address these doubts: The date and authorship of the first picture can be verified through the already quoted article, The Bigger Picture, the wikipedia article on Kim Phuc (the naked girl in the centre of the image), or via a google search for “june 8 1972″ + vietnam, which leads to multiple corresponding references. The date and authorship of the second photograph can be verified directly at the website of the Associated Press. In addition, articles on wikipedia as well as other news sources (N.Y. Daily News or the German Netzeitung) confirm the above information.

The New Year is looming around the corner. Looking back, last year has brought along many changes. Some of them were good, some were not. I don’t really care about Christmas, or New Year’s Eve, but I care about myself, my friends and my family.

It’s said the only certainty in life is uncertainty, and this certainly holds true for 2006. I’m very grateful for all the highlights I’ve experienced, and still battered and grieving about the utterly sad parts of this passing year. Yet I haven’t abandoned myself to despair, in part due to the support of all the good people around me. I owe them a lot.

Coming to think about last year, and my past in general, I realise I’ve changed a lot. Maybe not always to the better, but I’m hopeful to make good for my mistakes, and continue on the right path.

Now, I don’t want to torment you with big words about life. Nor do I intend to speak some trivial New Year’s greetings to you. Instead, I’d like to remind everyone that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. It is my sincere belief that the world would be a better place if more people were to act on this premise.

To my dear friends, I’m looking forward to sharing all that is to come with you.

Stefan

I’ve finally finished this post which has collected dust for months. And yes, I’m rumbling. But today, nothing’s going to stop me :-)

Coincidence in the Age of Infotainment…

There’s nothing spectacular about the report on national security, published by the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police, and released May 30th, 2006. While the headline on the press release sounds a bit alarming, the rest of the text is not.

The media, however, looks at the report from a different angle: risk of terrorism rising in Switzerland (Terrorgefahr in der Schweiz steigt; source: NZZ). Given that the article by the NZZ was published on the very same day the report was published, one has to wonder if anyone actually read through the full version, which has 95 pages and is available as PDF.

I highly doubt it; instead, the media (NZZ is just one example) was probably happy enough to have a new and sexy headline. Or did the media get its claims from other sources?

Just two days later, on June 1st, 2006, the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports released their Rüstungsprogramm 2006, requesting more fundings in order to fulfil its military and protectional duties. One of the reasons citied (and exaggeratedly reported on) was the rising danger of terrorism. Of course, when the media calls, the political parties answer. The CVP, for example, supports the request. According to the CVP, the Swiss military has to be ready in cases of terror alerts, and must be able to protect valuable resources, buildings and other possible targets.

And I wonder if this is all is just coincidence? In any way, the Swiss military, in its current shape and organisation, is not the right answer to terrorism. Should it chase terrorist with their tanks? No, thanks. The fight against terrorism, especially in Switzerland, should focus on more realistic scenarios. Switzerland could and should play an important role in diplomacy. Switzerland could and should take a leading role in its treatment and integration of foreigners in Switzerland. Switzerland could and should be prepared for emergencies, but by way of information gathering, prevention and organising, and not by map exercises (like some US agencies do). And finally, Switzerland should not, and should not be allowed to, disregard, limit or control the civil rights of its citizens.

…the Culture of Fear…

While I don’t think that we in Switzerland live in a culture of fear, I often wonder about the general feeling of fear and uncertainty. Take this survey by ACNielsen as an example. Of the 40 countries covered, the sampled Swiss citizens were among the ones most worried about terrorism. Percent wise, Swiss citizens were more worried than people living in the United States or England. And while the difference to these two countries probably is within the margin of error, I’m still very surprised.

However, I’m a bit sceptical about the above survey. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer any information on its methods, or raw data. If you take a look at the annual ‘Worry Barometer‘ by Credit Suisse, other concerns top terrorism by a wide and supporting margin (see Slide 3).

Maybe Swiss people are just easily scared? This could at least explain why Switzerland is one of the best insured countries of the world? Well, my dear, fellow Swiss citizens: Thanks for your worries. But please don’t forget that we have the privilege to live in a wonderful and peaceful country. And while we certainly must try our best to keep and improve upon that status, we also should not forget all the people living a less prosperous life. By virtue of great privilege comes great responsibility.

…and other Rumblings

Back to the media scene. While there are some excellent sources (the beloved author of this blog is a passionate reader of Die Zeit, Foreign Affairs and Das Magazin, for example), many are not.

Take the national TV station SF as an example. It clearly has the mandate to inform the people. Yet its two most prominent news progamms are almost worthless. ‘10 vor 10′, the flagship which is supposed to deliver background information, tampers in infotainment waters. The ‘Tagesschau’, the daily news show, is happy with presenting its viewers with MTV-esque clip sequences. In addition, they also have an unbelievable talent for asking obvious questions. In an interview about Iran’s nuclear programm their questions were boring. What’s worse, they didn’t even take into account the answers of their interview partner (Ulrich Tilgner), but stuck to their pre-made questions.

That this can be done better is proven on a daily basis by some fine shows on stations such as ARTE, ZDF and 3sat. Even SF actually has some good programms, but fails to promote and expand them. Do they lack faith in the intelligence of their viewers?

Unfortunately, the print media isn’t always better. The very popular newslet ‘20min’ reprints press releases and adds some articles on nightlife and celebrities to the juice. The few articles they write by themselves are incoherent at best. For example, their headline talks about ‘rund 50′ (about 50 people). In the following text, they mention ‘etwa drei Dutzend Personen’ (circa three dozen persons). By all accounts, that are 36 people. Or are it ‘gegen 40 personen’ (up to 40 persons), as the article later claims?

Brave new world.

It feels strange to start writing on my blog again. As you all might be aware, I don’t intend to use this blog as my private journal. But given the current circumstances, I feel the need to first publish the following note I’ve written before I can continue with the blog.

What happened left many of us in a void, a great gap with never ever can be filled again. It also left many questions never to be answered, and what remains are hints, memories and a deep feeling of sorrow. Life and its many ways can be brutal and unforgiving. One’s often left feeling too small to understand it, yet we still have to cope with it.

But, as wrong as this once granted notion felt when rediscovered again, life is also beautiful. It’s a seemingly absurd and brutal thought, but life continues. It will never be the same again, but it will continue in its often unknowable ways, being both frightening and delightful. But these, even if only few, extraordinary moments of delight are why we have to fight on, why we have to struggle onwards, why we have to remember the past yet look forward. Because life is precious.