Naveed Burney

I still lucidly remember that day about 20 years back. It was an exceptionally hot summer evening as I drove with my son after picking him up from school and on the way we saw this person dressed as a clown with a “Hot Crisp Pizza Here” sign around his neck. He jumped and pranced around pointing toward the pizza stop in the strip mall. My thirteen year old son’s reaction was to jeer at him and give him the bird. In retrospect, I should not have got overly upset with my son and should have cut short a prolonged lecture reprimanding him for being crude and insensitive for not appreciating that perhaps the poor person was dressed as a clown simply to put food on the table for his family. Of course, for questioning the validity of the middle finger I certainly was justified in the delivery of the sermon.

That my son reacted toward the clown in a hostile manner, I later on surmised, most likely was a normal reaction toward anyone whose identity is concealed. And in fairness to him, he probably had coulrophobia. A Canadian psychologist, Rami Nader, specializes in the study of coulrophobia, an irrational phobia of clowns, and his view is that clown phobias arise because by wearing makeup and being disguised they are concealing both their identity and feelings.

But even if my son did have coulrophobia, it was not a big issue in that this phobia is not deemed by any sensible psychologist to be of any major consequence. It was not even like having aviophobia, which could obstruct someone’s normal lifestyle. So without any fanfare the thought of clowns and their importance and unimportance was discarded by me for good reason that very day.

But now we find clowns have made a comeback riding the social media wave.

This all started when a little boy in Greenville, South Carolina reported he was approached by two heavily made up and  gaudily dressed clown attired persons trying to lure him to the woods. Then followed a rash of similar incidents and, on the social media a hysteria by authentic and fake reporting of similar or varied reports about the evil clowns. One woman by the name of Makayla Smith was arrested by police suspected of posting scary posts on the internet posing as Flomo Klown. Apparently, she was making “terrorist threats” which lead to closure of schools in this small town of Flomaton in Escambia County in Alabama, a town with population of about 1500 people.

In Virginia, police arrested two young men because they wore clown attire and were chasing children. In Kentucky a young man was arrested as he lay in a ditch with a clown costume. In North Carolina a man was arrested for spreading false rumors of clowns trying to lure children and claiming he personally had chased them into the woods before they disappeared.  Recently, at Western Carolina University, rumors surfaced on the social media claiming a clown had stabbed a student. Similar hoax was unleashed through social media claiming similar incidents in other universities in New England.

In England, Gloucester police underscored the point, as did the other police units in different countries, that rumors were taking away precious resources of the police force. And even the most absurd rumors and threats cannot be taken lightly in the highly charged post 9/11 atmosphere.

In U.K there have been a rash of incidents related with the “clown syndrome”. A man with a mask jumped out of his hiding place brandishing a knife and frightening a group of young children as they headed to their school in Chester-Le-Street, County Durham. In Sudbury, in the county of Suffolk, few people dressed as clowns chased a young boy according to police. The same day a person “wearing a hockey mask and a blood-stained poncho” was photographed in Ashton-under-Lyne, in Greater Manchester. Police in Northumbria reported an incident of several people dressed as clowns scaring and frightening young boys and even adults. In the vicinity of Blakelaw a boy dressed in clown’s costume was arrested for attempting to scare pedestrians. In Victoria, Australia, police has put out a stern warning stating that any “antisocial behavior” will have consequences and “clown purge” groups will be dealt with. Apparently, clowns have appeared in Melbourne, Australia, much to the consternation of the law and order enforcers.

Considering all the frenzy centered around clowns, the inevitable question is why is all this happening? Social media and its impact is the first reason that comes to mind. As for the people participating in the foolishness and even criminal activities their types were always there in the past as they are in the present times. They are the same ones who have a proclivity toward criminal activities and there are always those who relish stupidity and derive pleasure by creating sensationalism.

But in defense of my son’s reaction to a clown twenty years back, I came across a 2008 study conducted in England reporting that children mostly don’t like clowns. In view of this, the study went on to suggest to refrain from using images of clowns in hospital wards for children. As for my son he probably would care less about anything to do with clowns and clowning as he has embarked on the serious academic pursuit of computer technology.

The main argument put forth by one school of scientists and experts after evaluating the development of AI technology is that AI will never be able to replicate human beings because, despite extensive research for the last over 80 years and counting, AI machines have defied the challenge of harboring consciousness and emotions which are so unique to human kind. Though it may be conceded AI has mastered intelligence to the stage where it can beat the best Grand Master or the best Jeopardy champion, it is pointed out, despite all efforts and unlimited expenditure it has not been able to harbor in them the essence of the consciousness of Homo sapiens.

This argument is controversial and there is speculation AI may perhaps be able to substitute all qualities which make us what we are both in terms of intelligence and possession of consciousness, and excel humans in both areas. This thought is perhaps more comforting than that of AI growing unbound in intelligence, devoid of consciousness which exhibits feelings and emotions.

I personally feel AI machines will never be like humans, but it cannot be denied they will become more intelligent than humans. Thus they would develop to be more intelligent and devoid of emotions. This is the potential for a recipe for disaster as the AI machines could then subjugate humans without feelings.

As for the fear of why they could conquer and destroy the human race I will talk about it a bit later.

So going back to the topic of the development of intelligence of AI, even though some may claim existing human intelligence is higher than that of AI machines, they are talking at best about the present time.  In the wake of newer and more sophisticated AI machines it appears humans are pitted against a potential of intelligence in AI machines which would far surpass human intelligence. It is almost a given to say: The intelligence of AI is taking over what man is capable of exhibiting, even as I wrote this blog post.

From its humble beginnings of computer chess algorithms in Maniac 1956 to Deep Fritz 2006 and now beyond that, AI inducted machines have constantly evolved. They are capable of beating the best chess players as are other AI machines capable of surpassing any other intelligent genius in different fields. And since technological innovation feeds on itself to grow exponentially the AI intelligence is bound to far surpass human intelligence. If AI has not already surpassed the capacity of human intelligence, it is only a matter of time before they will, and in every field and sphere of life.

But then humans throughout history have furthered their domination by extending their capacities by using tools; it may be surmised AI would serve as just another tool in our armament. The problem though is AI machines are not as benign as other tools and devices. Even nuclear energy while it can destroy the world can be contained and prevented from being used to annihilate the world and used as a productive tool in technological development.

And therein lies the danger of a scenario where AI machines will initially substitute the need for humans and in a ruthless and unemotional manner take over the world with their strength and power of higher intelligence thus annihilating the human race. Endowed with higher intelligence and self-replicating intelligence humans will be no match and will become redundant if not slaves.

Why wouldn’t they subjugate us or annihilate us? Just ask yourself why we have subjugated animals simply because we can boast we are higher in our intelligent capacity than they are.

This could all be akin to what may happen if an alien life form of higher intelligence hostile to humans descends to earth and takes over.

POKEMON GO: Is it here to stay or is it just a passing fad? Your guess is as good as mine. But the hunch which lead my friend to act this late Wednesday, just a couple days back, here in Sydney, New South Wales, was bold and it paid dividends. He jumped in and bought Nintendo stocks valued at 20000 AUD and just in a couple of days the stocks have gone up by 25 per cent. I should have had the guts to join him but I am more the faint of heart kind of an individual. And now I have to hear my friends brag and his almost taunting words, as he repeats the phrase, “No guts no glory.”

The app made its debut in Australia, New Zealand and USA. But the gaming public all across the globe eagerly awaits its release in their country. The hacker types have successfully latched on to the app even prior to its release in their jurisdiction at the expense of picking up viral overload on their devices. While some are picking up viruses all of them are after the Pokémon bugs in all different places. Pokémon Go phenomenon has resonated with people of all ages.

The Pokémon hunt abounds in virtually every locale be it offices, outdoors, near the water, public bathrooms and even your very neighbourhood as these Pokémon lurk around ready to be captured by throwing the pokeball. Pokémon slogan urges you that you ‘Gotta catch ’em all!’

It is almost as if the real world and virtual reality world have collided head on!

Here is a good link for getting the lowdown on the Pokémon Go craze which has swept across nations uniting gaming communities and people into homogenous groups with a strong cause by letting them identify in what they probably proudly feel is an esoteric group of like-minded individuals. On a local level it has lifted the inhibition of interacting with others as excited Pokémon hunters gather in groups and swarms with the common objective of catching Pokémons and sharing with each other their experience with different bugs such as Hypno, Jynx and Bulbasaur and many others while accumulating stardust and candy. The individuals in the group now talk about their take on the skill in catching the most Pokémons and of nurturing and training them and of taking over the gyms as a sign of success.
The whole new lexicon related with this game — and there is lot of it — is bound to make people interact and make new friends in the process and that is the biggest benefit of this game. Thus far the greatest criticism of gaming aficionados has been their acquiescence to a sedentary mode of life and solitary interaction with their application device and now comes Pokémon Go which breaks this pattern.

A surprised mom witnessed her teenage son jumping out of bed at 5 in the morning on the weekend getting ready to go out. Certainly she was surprised as this laggard used to sleep till about 12 noon on a holiday. “Where are you going?” she asked and he replied, “I am going on Pokemon hunt,” and left a confused woman who did not even know what he was saying. I am sure these ‘square’ parents of the millennials will finally catch on but till then it certainly gives the new generation a lot of glee for doing something the over the hill generation can’t even fathom.
On the downside The Pokemon game is a grave threat to the safety of youngsters as reports abound about players of this game being robbed, hospitalized, abducted and exploited. These facts are bound to get the parents of the young gamers to quickly learn about the new craze and try to introduce parental rules out of fear for the security of their children. National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children is already warning of the pitfalls of this game. As The Telegraph reports: Pokémon Go was used by four armed robbers in Missouri, US, to lure 11 teenagers to a secluded area by using the game’s location technology to create a signal at a “Pokéstop” — a location that players can visit to replenish in-game supplies.

Players have also admitted to injuring themselves while trying to catch Pokémon. And don’t forget, even grown up players may be lured into dangerous situations.

The Japanese always had their countrymen involved in strange and weird and often very involved games, be it on TV sets or other media. The popularity of the games were largely received with enthusiasm by the Japanese and South Asian populations, but Pokémon Go appears to have broken the barriers as it infiltrates into the western world and other areas which so far have not had much appetite for such Japanese brand of frivolity. Credit goes to the brains behind the Pokemon Go concept of a very interesting and involved game and by any definition a killer app.

But while the jury is still out as to the risks of the Pokémon Go craze outweighing the benefits, my savvy friend texted me informing he has already sold his stocks for Nintendo and cashed in a tidy profit. “Come over to join me for dinner at Rockpool at 11 Bridge Street, Sydney you jello Kiribillian” he texted. I am sure he wants to celebrate his success at making a wind fall in a short time. I for one will settle for the tasty cuisine at Rockpool.

Only recently we in the western world have become acquainted with Islam. Unfortunately it is the beastly nature– majority of Muslims would agree– of the religion which has been etched into the collective consciousness of the western predominantly Christian world. This, of course, rightly so, as it is difficult to discern goodness in the persona of any religion which presents its ugly face to the outside world. It is not easy to downplay the trauma and repulsion created by the members of “radical Islam” motivated by a fundamentalist brand of movement within its ranks.

The pleadings of the majority of peace loving Muslims, protesting the tarring of the whole religion based on the current religious fundamentalist movement in Islam is bound to fall on deaf ears. Agreed that extremist Islamic groups being a minority should not define a religion, but then the evil fraught by these radical Isalmists is too hard to ignore. Go and tell Islam is not a monolith manifestation of evil to those few who might be interested in pursuing the study of the religion from a dispassionate perspective, but the public at large affected directly or indirectly by mayhem and feelings of shock and repulsion is in no mood to buy into such reasoning.

So when some members of the religion of Islam talk about Islamophobia as being an incorrect stance in judging the teachings of Islam, I would like to surmise that these apologists are downplaying the horrific actions of radical Isalmists who have, after all, been inspired by the teachings inherent in this religion.

Certainly, there is a lot of fodder in the Koran which lends itself to barbaric movements, let alone the dark elements of inhumanity and intolerance embedded in its history. Islam’s long years of history have been consistently dogged by turbulence. Different movements within the religion and ideological clashes and conflicts within Dar IL Islam have been many and diverse and mostly ugly.

Let us not forget Islam originated in a geographically hostile environment amidst unfriendly and warring tribes of violent people, extremely barbaric and savage. Only then can we fully appreciate the greatness of Muhammed in having led a movement which did enjoy its golden age of cultural ascendancy. He mitigated the dark side of the overly uncivilized and crude principles and boorish practices of his day through his teachings, but the rudimentary vile, vitriol and virulence of the tribes he educated could not be completely obliterated. And so, today as it has been for the last 1400 years or so, the struggle and turmoil in Islam continues unabated. Muhammed’s conception of jihad was a recognition of a legitimate need for a struggle within the religion and amongst its followers to aspire to make themselves and society progressively better. Yet, today the connotation of the word jihad is detestable, brought about by the evil acts of jihadists.

Holding America’s incursion of Iraq or its meddling in Afghanistan as responsible for the formation of radicalized Islam is just a feeble attempt by Islamists to justify radical Islam by imputing that it is a byproduct of misguided American foreign policy. While I am not applauding American foreign policy in Iraq I strongly believe it should not be the “fall guy” for the growth of fundamentalism and ignorance within the ranks of Islam. Granted it was American foreign policy which resulted in the radical and ignorant element of Islam to come out of its hiding; it was not responsible for its creation.

Sooner or later the ignorant and fundamentalist interpretations of Islam hatched at the madrassas and the educational system of Islamic governed countries under sharia laws were bound to raise their nasty head.

I would argue that the American policy toward Muslim countries while it did precipitate the situation by assisting to unleash the fundamentalist element of Islam from its cocoon, in the end turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it revealed the face of the enemy. However, it is wrong to assume that America was responsible in multiplying the numbers of these misdirected radical Islamists—it did not create radical Isalmists but simply made them visible. It was like disturbing a hornet’s nest—though hornets are far more benign than radical Isalmists—when the true nature of the poisonous ideology came out of hiding.

All this was something positive as prior to that, the incubation of ‘bad ass’ Muslims was going on unchecked under the tutelage of mullahs and arbitrators of sharia laws, and the longer the incubation period the greater the increase in the numbers of ignorant fanatics harboring sympathy for Daesh and similar groups. In addition, It was a blessing in disguise that the ‘stealth Isalmists” in our midst who were using the liberal and humane jurisdiction of our democratic laws of the west to perpetuate the cause of fundamentalist Islam, were brought under scrutiny.

The concerted effort of all civilized nations and public, now that they know who the enemy is, will focus in alleviating the undesirable trend of barbarism in Islam and its danger to liberal democracies.

Only after globalization of trade and close inter-connectedness of the world, brought about mainly by the internet, are we witnessing the atrocities in the religion of Islam affecting the western world. Prior to that, despite the Manichean doctrine in the religion, the Allah’s crusaders when they killed their own mothers and brethren, did not pose a credible threat to the western societies. We couldn’t care less when they defaced the archeological columns of Buddha in Afghanistan nor did we care about their indescribable atrocities under the guise of sharia. Those days the public enemy number one were the communist. Now that we find the violence of misdirected followers of Islam at our shores we have hurriedly woken up in self-defense
While you can’t legislate commonsense and destroy ignorance completely, at least a lot of ignorant representatives of Islam will be demolished now. By directly attacking the deviant groups, outlawing them and cutting resources for their funding, the infrastructure of evil will receive a body blow. By starving and taking to task, ignorant mullahs and their equally ignorant pupils, the number of misguided souls will certainly be brought in check.

As for the internal turmoil and tussle in the religion of Islam, it is bound to continue like Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poetic description of the eternal moving brook. “…For men may come and men may go, but I go on forever.” Although in which direction will it go has to be seen.

Whether Sir Walter Raleigh placed his cloak on a puddle so that Queen Elizabeth may walk over it and thus avoid stepping on the muck is perhaps a legend or a myth, or perhaps it could have been a true incident. The veracity of this reported incident will never be fully determined. Whatever the fact was, the very glorification of this incident in history and literature speaks volumes about a social zeitgeist of a certain period; it is an integral part of a certain conduct that is congruent with an expected image of a true man or gentleman in a chapter of our western cultural history. This simple anecdote, and others similar to this, from a past era in history, point to the relevance of certain qualities that were deemed to be an integral part of manliness and gentlemanly character. It defines the quality of chivalry as essential in being macho in the right way.

In Canadian history, too, we discover the relationship of chivalry and manliness. Every gentleman had certain principles that needed to be pursued to be considered a gentleman, chivalry and bravery being the important ones. Now in Canada the special status once allocated to chivalry has been entirely stripped away. Unfortunately, men have been morphed to the extent that chivalry has been long past buried and this is nothing to be proud of.

It is sad to see bad trends develop and good traditions wither away in Canada. And if we don’t pay heed but readily trade rich cultural traits for inferior, shallow and poor ones, just because they are different, then very soon we will be a nation of lost souls and head toward cultural bankruptcy. The civilized cultural traditions instituted by herculean efforts of our ancestors will soon be lost because of negligence and disrespect to our past history.

It is sad that the emphasis now is on how to be diplomatic and politically correct. This quality of political correctness has inundated all our institutions and as such has defined the character of citizens of our society very differently than the way it
was defined in the past. Those who can exercise political correctness are the successful people in our midst. Politicians, leaders, professionals and every individual is judged as good or bad, intelligent or dull, a success or a failure, based
on how good the person is at executing political correctness. A gentleman same as a lady is defined as one who excels at the game of being politically correct. In other words, whoever is on the top of the ladder of pretense is the hero.

So why should this cultural trait be considered undesirable and even detrimental to the development of any civilized or dynamic society? Why is it lamentable that we have elevated political correctness to the status of a sacred cow? Primarily because the phoniness of practicing political correctness compromises spontaneity and creativity.

By censoring free and unbridled expression political correctness muzzles varieties of expressions and by streamlining the thought process to conform to a certain pattern it stifles the very pattern of expression. Political correctness becomes another form of pandering to dominant or vocal groups who take the role of a policing body in dictating what may be said or expressed. To fall in line in trying to please certain dominant partisan views imposed by those powerful enough to dictate what may be expressed and what may be censored, the quest for truth and knowledge is curtailed. Eventually this affects what and how one can even think.

Since political correctness is chameleon like in character and is defined arbitrarily as being correct or flawed, it creates further confusion and legitimizes untruth simply because people are forced to comply to the special interests of certain groups and people, who become the rightful owners of the very protocol of any public discourse. Various societal institutions and instruments, including the media, subdue the public and force them to think and act in certain fixed patterns thereby atrophying any possibility of diversification in thinking.

In addition to curtailing free expression and plurality, hypocrisy and an expected role playing in a certain `correct way`, affects the very psyche of our social growth. Unfortunately, by acquiescing to the need to conform to forms of political correctness we have effectively muzzled any passion and conviction of the thinking process and limited the very range of freedom of speech and expression. We have truly devolved into a civilization that encourages phoniness and effectively punishes any passionate expression or quest for truth, in order to simply please dominant and influential groups. To top it all, unabashedly our leaders lie to citizens when they say we are a society that prizes free speech and expression.

Besides, as there is utter confusion about what is right or wrong, as everything is arbitrary, we are cultivating a generation with no intrinsic idea of right or wrong. We have transformed into a generation which is putty in the hands of spin doctors and a prey to predators with hidden agendas.

This all becomes like a tale, where a father and son with a mule go to market and change their stance just to please different people at different times. When the son rides the mule some say that it is cruel that the son comfortably rides when the father walks. And then when the father rides the mule, some say the poor mule is burdened by this heavy person. The result: The father and son land up carrying the mule on their backs.

If we consider Canada we need to realize that the real mule on our collective backs is the misplaced importance placed on multiculturism. The whole experiment of multiculturism has failed and we have failed our country in our eagerness to erode and scrap the rich traditions of this country and substituted these with nothing sound but with utter confusion. It is the undue importance to half -baked multicultural traditions relayed by self-appointed gurus of perceived cultural entities that are being given currency. We have tried to replace our cultural traditions artificially and deliberately and encouraged misinformation rather than let our culture change progressively, subtly and intuitively in due course of time.

The result is that instead of evolving into a better society we are in fact devolving. So the experimentation of multiculturalism which started with all good intentions has now been hijacked by special interest groups and self- anointed\spokespersons of different groups and their vocal lobbying. This trend has been a disservice to the majority as well as it has hurt minorities it was supposed to help.

The policy of Multiculturism in Canada has benefited a paltry few people and the beneficiaries have been, without exception, aggressive, in your face, personalities from different communities. These opportunists have used the rich traditions of egalitarianism and liberal traditions of our cultural heritage to their advantage and are determined to make these redundant. The people who have benefited are the ones who are self-serving, with hidden agendas of promoting their doctrine under the guise of parlaying half-truths in support of their distorted religious and political beliefs and using their privileged position as some God given right to become spokespeople of certain groups and communities. In the process these people are doing a great disservice by alienating members of different communities from each other by misrepresenting the true nature of their beliefs
and cultural practices. Above all, these individuals and groups in a position of the privilege to ‘discourse’ have been able to wield undue pressure on the very thinking process of the general public.

It is about time Canada reworks its policy and redefines its cultural integration policy in a proper way than the present form which has been a complete failure. By not rewarding opportunistic groups and charlatans to stealthily usurp the rights of different communities, and becoming the spokespeople by default by exercising their ill gained position of prominence, Canada will be able to move in the right direction. It could then be a direction where culturally, Canada would become richer rather than devolve into a third rate country with shallow cultural norms.

As for the medieval chivalry of past, I am not yearning for its comeback. But rather I am arguing we let traditions take their course and die or remain without superimposing the will of the privileged few in determining what tradition can stay and what may be eliminated.

Canada would be better off if it was wary of its over generous misguided liberalism and let multiculturism thrive without superimposing the views of the aggressive few, generally the vocal minority, in enunciating for others as what is correct and incorrect. This can be done by not being hostile to our cultural traditions and readily legislating change against these traditions to accommodate a politically correct stance thinking it is helping multiculturism.

I still remember this character. It is hard to forget someone who is insanely quaint and this guy was. He appeared at my door with tools around his waist with protruding dirty teeth and a jungle mouth which made me convinced that no breath at all is better than such a foul bad breath. I for certain would have preferred dying than present myself with a smell certain animals use as a defense mechanism to ward off their predators.

But his clothes. Oh my God! What he was wearing was grossly dirty and distressed out of neglect. Nothing wrong if you shop for your wardrobe at Value Village, but the least one can do is to wear clean clothes. Sure this guy was a plumber but that did not give him a license to wear stuff which most likely had shit hanging over it. In fact this guy did not need clothes, if clothes are for the purpose of hiding your body as his was already covered with tattoos small and big. With disheveled hair, an unkempt beard curled at the ends with the weight of dirt and an expression on the face of someone gleeful of his deed of robbing a kid off his lunch money and with glasses never attended to since the last millennium, everything about him cried “Faux pas” and aloud.

He appeared as the bonafide poster boy for organizations like, let us say, STB: Starve the Barber; KTDC: Kill the Dry Cleaner; SAGD: Screw All Goddam Dentists; BTFT: Ban The Fucking Toothpaste and many other nefarious and esoteric cult-like fraternities including HIFA: Hygiene Is For Assholes.

Many technicians have come over and repaired different things in my house. For instance, the guy who came last month to fix my ailing fridge or the guy who doctored my computer back from its blue death. Sure they were not the people you would like to invite on your birthday but they seemed to be there to do their work and disappear. You left them alone and let them do their business and, work done, you bid them adieu.

But this Mr. Plumber was different. Awfully gregarious, over friendly and abrasively aggressive, he was a guy with certified halitosis and facial hair, a playground for exotic bacteria donated to the cause of pathogens. This SOB should have rather been in some Lab than here, volunteering his beard for the discovery of new microorganisms.

He was a chatterbox and took on an in your face attitude with all seriousness and joy. I have grimaced more on the day I met him than ever in my life, trying all along to get my arm between me and his face by pretending that I was rubbing my scratchy nose, which really was not scratchy at all.

My cardinal sin, I suppose, was being a nice guy to comment something like “Boy you have a lot of tattoos.” Normally I would not say that but I thought I had to say something to keep his barrage of verbosity and bad air directed at my face and meant to offend my nose, probably even burning the hair in my nostrils.

“Hey”, he said excitedly, “This I got in Alberta.”

Before the fastest cowboy from the Wild West could have drawn his gun, this chap slid his bulky trousers, which slipped easily down his flat bum and presented a bleak, pale and crinkled ass. Tattooed on one bum was DI, and on the other ANNE.

“I see.”  I heard my faint voice say.

He had turned around now. He asked earnestly, “Did you get it?”

“Well…”

“You see I had three girlfriends one I called Di and the other Anne and the third one Dianne. All at the frigging same time, you know what I mean…eh? ”

Of course I did not, but uttered a hastily put together “yeah I know.”

He was looking at me as if I was some moron who could not still understand how clever he was.

He had to obviously elaborate. “When Di was there she would get to see only one bum and Anne only the other and of course Dianne was allowed both. Each one was fooled into thinking she was the only one in my life.”

He was laughing— huffing and puffing smelly laughter in the environment.

“Now all three bitches are out of my life,” he said with earnest grief mixed with a sigh of relief.

“It is hard to erase these friggin’ tattoos otherwise I could have got CONSTANTINE’s name there now,” he said pointing at his decrepit pair of bums.

Deep down I was so happy for Constantine knowing Mr. Plumber does not parade his gross bums for her spectacle. That is until he dug into his pocket and showed me a picture which on first blush I thought was his dog but it turned out it was Constantine.

“See here she is,” he said, coming still closer to me showing her picture so as not to deprive me of the pleasure of witnessing what was his beautiful Goddess.

He was breathing out destructive air as he stood with Constantantine’s thumbed picture in hand with a self-congratulatory wide open mouth laughter of joy as he exuded poisonous air Zeus would have liked to own to severely punish gods for their impiety and lapses.  Remember, he had to be content with hurling thunderbolts at Asclepius as this Olympian had dared to possess medicine which could raise the dead and Zeus was in no mood to tolerate this nonsense

I remember how overjoyed I was to see this character finally prepare to leave after it seemed like years of an excruciating ordeal of pain and torment.

“There is a cup link I have to get and tweak to completely fix the tap,” he said. “I will get it next week.”

“Oh no,” I almost shreiked. “You see I am out of town next week.”

“Okay I will phone you before coming,” he said.

I was overjoyed, now I could handle him from a distance and present him my, oh so busy, schedule.

So that was the end of that and I will never see this idiot now.

Or so I thought, when despite my trying to cover my face with the newspaper I was reading at Tim Hortons, this guy saw me and came running to me.

He quickly pulled his sleeve and exposed his arm.

“See my new tattoo…”

I looked at it and ….

A perennial issue has been whether the educational institutions in America are failing students in the pursuit of scholarship. What efforts should be made to resurrect the reputation of a country to qualify it as a leader in providing quality academic standards and transmit proper knowledge to its population?
This is a thorny issue with divided opinions as to what solutions may be provided to make the educational climate far more successful. However, there is no doubt there is an admission on the part of educationalists and intellectuals that there has been a steady demise and erosion of high standards, with the very experience and administration of learning and teaching on a steady downward slide.

Alan Bloom’s indictment of the system ruffled a lot of feathers and his views and analysis of the causes of a downward spiral in our education standards in his controversial book The Closing of the American Mind, published in 1987, that was a harsh critique of our modern university education, presented our educational system as a miserable experiment. It, nevertheless, with more vigor, ignited the ongoing debate about what constitutes an education geared toward academic excellence. Admittedly though, there were other voices concomitant to Alan Bloom’s analysis with different shades of assessments and solutions to help an ailing educational system, which the majority viewed as having betrayed true scholarship and had ill-served the community. And the recognition was that this was not only the case at the level of university education but had its roots down to kindergarten itself and there was a need to address the problem in view of the failing standard of knowledge—even basic knowledge—which citizens should have.

The recognition that educational standards were steadily eroding, brought about the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 by Congress and it certainly was a thoughtful program to be legislated. But it is not possible for a certain program to have great impact without constant reviews and ongoing revisions. After all, education is tied inextricably to society itself, and like it, it is a changing entity requiring dynamic changes. It is encouraging to note that the government has addressed this problem after the President promised he would make this a priority. And while it would be naïve to think that any single program will serve as a panacea in moving everything in the desired direction, it at least is indicative of how the government has recognized how declining standards in education need to be viewed seriously.

Very recently, Barack Obama in December 2015 introduced a more progressive legislation in signing the Every Student Succeeds Act replacing the NCLB Act. This is all good news, but far more needs to be done to revamp a failing educational and literacy standard in America.

Just observing some staggering collection of facts, which I am outlining below from Ray William’s blog “Post Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing Down of America,” underscores the great need for emphasis in educating America.

• After leading the world for decades in 25-34 year olds with university degrees, the U.S. is now in 12th place. The World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. at 52nd among 139 nations in the quality of its university math and science instruction in 2010. Nearly 50% of all graduate students in the sciences in the U.S. are foreigners, most of whom are returning to their home countries;
• The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs commissioned a civic education poll among public school students. A surprising 77% didn’t know that George Washington was the first President; couldn’t name Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence; and only 2.8% of the students actually passed the citizenship test. Along similar lines, the Goldwater Institute of Phoenix did the same survey and only 3.5% of students passed the civics test;
• According to the National Research Council report, only 28% of high school science teachers consistently follow the National Research Council guidelines on teaching evolution, and 13% of those teachers explicitly advocate creationism or “intelligent design;”
• 18% of Americans still believe that the sun revolves around the earth, according to a Gallup poll;
• The American Association of State Colleges and Universities report on education shows that the U.S. ranks second among all nations in the proportion of the population aged 35-64 with a college degree, but 19th in the percentage of those aged 25-34 with an associate or high school diploma, which means that for the first time, the educational attainment of young people will be lower than their parents;
• 74% of Republicans in the U.S. Senate and 53% in the House of Representatives deny the validity of climate change despite the findings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and every other significant scientific organization in the world;
• According to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 68% of public school children in the U.S. do not read proficiently by the time they finish third grade. And the U.S. News & World reported that barely 50% of students are ready for college level reading when they graduate;
• According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it “not at all important” to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it “very important;”
• According to the National Endowment for the Arts report in 1982, 82% of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later only 67% did. And more than 40% of Americans under 44 did not read a single book–fiction or nonfiction–over the course of a year. The proportion of 17 year olds who read nothing (unless required by school ) has doubled between 1984-2004;
• Gallup released a poll (link is external) indicating 42 percent of Americans still believe God created human beings in their present form less than 10,000 years ago;
• A 2008 University of Texas study found that 25 percent of public school biology teachers believe that humans and dinosaurs inhabited the earth simultaneously.

The dynamics and the mechanics of the Canadian electoral process to select the ruling political party and its leader are way different than that practiced by their neighbor. There are, of course, many differences in the very process of election toward the road to leadership in each country. But that aside, one very glaring feature is that Canada does not have huge amounts of money riding on their candidates and super PACS and big business patronage is not the order of the day.

Visibly absent in Canada is the in your face attitude of candidates trying to acerbically run down other candidates. In contrast, the American way appears to be to resort to blatant, negative campaigning, unashamedly, even within the ranks of its own party, with candidates hell bent on cudgeling each other.

The way Donald Trump has campaigned and others In the GOP have reciprocated is enough evidence to understand the zeitgeist of the American political reality. Everyone wants the other’s head. And think about it, the campaign has just begun and they are gleefully going against their own party representatives with no contrition. Indeed, there is no love lost between these overly aggressive Yankee candidates. This time it is more visible because the fight to leadership of the GOP has a chock-ful of hopefuls in the horserace with the big money purses backing them, which seem to be getting larger and larger every next election. And think about it, this is just the start and things are going to hot up more, as the party nomination, and of course, the election which takes place in two years’ time presents itself.

The story in Canada is different. This time around, in this recent election, a Canadian politician tried to copy the negative campaigning so much the norm in USA, albeit to a minuscule degree, and got rocked by a populace which was very critical of such tactics. There is still grumbling within the population not willing to forgive Stephen Harper, who by the Canadian measure crossed the line of a dirty campaign in the hope of grasping desperately to the tailcoats of perceived success.

Given the charisma and charm of Justin Trudeau, I was confident as were the majority of others, that he was a shoo-in for the top position in Canada and he would deflect any negative commentary directed at him. Notwithstanding the various voices from the media and spin doctors and political pundits, the voters presented him with a majority government. Sure he did not exude the Trudeamania his father Pierre Trudeau brought with him in 1968 before he took the coveted position of Prime Minister of Canada. Justin Trudeau gained more stature as the elections rolled around and post-election he has successfully reignited the Trudeamania his father is credited with.

In fact, speaking to a lot of people post-election, I am getting a response acknowledging Trudeaus’ victory as one of the greatest thing that could have happened to Canada.

He has breathed a new lust for adventure, excitement and optimism in what is considered to be a hard to excite population which is given to a graver disposition in keeping with the backdrop of a harsh climate and the hostile Nature in this vast and sparsely populated country. Canadian literature testifies to this pessimistic and austere attitude that has been the hallmark of this country as was presented by the earlier famous writers. For instance, starting from Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill, Frederick Philip Grove and a whole slew of writers including our contemporary beloved Canadian writer Margaret Atwood.

Granted this is the designated honeymoon period after the election of any popular figure, Trudeau has not wasted time in his remarkable choice of members for his cabinet. Fifty percent of the cabinet are women and all of them very accomplished, too. The rest of the cabinet comprises the crème de la crème of personalities.

Some have noted the representation of the Sikh community by the selection of four of its representatives is a bit of an overkill given that sikhs are a very small minority. And given that this community blocks its votes and thereby leverages their stature is something known to everyone. The Sikhs vote for their own community members affiliating with them without any question and with religiosity.

But a closer look reveals that the Sikhs chosen are highly proficient and dynamic people this time around.

The people did vote for the much promised change and Justin will have to deliver.

Debates and arguments without relevant data to back up assertions are sheer waste of time and energy. Any forum of this kind, formal or informal, is rooted in opinions of the participants and trajectories of their belief system which are mostly irrational and off the mark.

I purposefully avoid such situations and the moment I detect any discussion slipping into uncharted territories of conjecture, speculation, projection of gut feelings, or pure expressions of beliefs and opinions, I very quickly withdraw myself. Otherwise it becomes the same old game of going in circles with dialogue not advancing to any point of being consequential.

I recognize I am better off reading a well-researched and documented work by reputable authors, who express their theses by substantiating their arguments, and displaying a sense of logic and reasoning. Sure, I don’t have to buy any point of view or be convinced of the offered theses. But then my indulgence with such material in itself becomes a productive experience.

The downside of this developing attitude on my part where I shy away from most debates, discussions and arguments—most of those that tend to be redundant in accordance with my metric— has made me a more contemplative and circumspect individual, no longer willing to throw his hat in the arena of interactions very common amongst friends or adversaries. I find this to be a departure from my past tendency of getting embroiled with gusto whenever any issue, contentious or otherwise, presented itself. This is because of the realization that by getting involved, many a times, I was also guilty of the same drivel which I so much detest now.

I was reflecting the other day about why the more learned people are guarded and not too forthcoming in contributing their two bits to the common, what I would term as, “coffee table exchange of point of views” that are belted out with steadfast conviction.

The recognition that truth is elusive and very hard to discover is the driving force behind wise people who abstain from partaking in discourses where factual considerations and serious inquiry is absent.

No they are not doubting Thomas’ but they do doubt the relevance of simplistic and unfounded solutions or assertions. They remind me of angels knowingly staying away from where fools readily rush in. The fools are always armed with their simplistic solutions and ever ready explanations of any issue, except the issue of their own stupidity.

The silent minority comprises of a special breed which has evolved and graduated to a point where its members recognize the importance of the adage, “silence is golden” and have further qualified it by adding that it is golden when the audience has no appetite for any reliance on facts or figures.

This is not to say that facts and figures are so neatly available where they can’t be used to lie and misrepresent. At the expense of being cliché I would say: “Figures don’t lie but liars figure.” This is the reason every person should strive to recognize the importance of viewing things critically and not taking them on their face value. A fact is not such until it has been truly scrutinized.

That is why it becomes essential to understand the basis of any argument even if presented with statistics. The examination of the source of the statistics and their relevance in the context of the theses becomes all so important.
This is the intelligent approach and should be the main thrust in the educational process of any individual. In fact educational institutions, if they could simply teach the methodology and the importance of critical thinking should be deemed as having more than justified their existence.

John Patrick Shanley the talented Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award–winning American playwright, very aptly put it: Doubt requires more courage than conviction does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place and doubt is infinite…”

As I walk down almost any road, street or avenue in India, I see them all around. People without faces, people condemned to share the dust bin of history and a life of no consequence or of any meaning on any grand scale. Condemned to oblivion, these masses exist as insentient blobs with no capacity or right to contribute to society in any meaningful way. That place is reserved for the few who live in paradise and like Gods from Mount Olympus they descend only to pontificate about how one should live; what is right and what is wrong, even though they themselves are not to be judged or scrutinized if they don’t follow what they preach. They are the sultans of public discourse; their birthright is based on their elevated hierarchical position. Most of them can act outrageously and they will be immune to any personal harm. Some of them might even howl loudly on the side of the disenfranchised and about how the system is skewed in favor of the ‘haves’ while all along secretly enjoying the fruits of the system they criticize.

As for the poverty stricken and lowly riff raff, their count grows as the insensitive juggernaut of the cult of worship of mammon thrives and where the few and powerful free wheel through life with a narcissistic sense of the ‘selfie syndrome’. The fantasy of their existence is forced down the throats of the masses for vicarious consumption by the media pandering to the powerful and the privileged. Sure, the hoi polloi are permitted to dream about impossible dreams that will never ever come to pass and like an addicted gambler they are losers, always hoping someday they will win. Luck, they think will drench them sometime but that never ever happens. However, they are allowed to participate as active attendants to those ordained to rule the minds and pulse of the nation.

The disenfranchised is the mob whose social condition ensures their further deterioration both in body and mind and ensures a departure from any richness of culture, art, and above all human dignity. They are condemned to live in a world of perpetual hope of elevating themselves to the level of those who have been bestowed with wealth and success. They are seen but never heard as there language has no serious tool of communication. They take more animalistic forms courtesy the carefully crafted discourse of the spokesmen of the privileged, served by a sycophant following of the media which at best takes a few jabs at their masters to appear as undaunted and free.

Out of these slum dogs only a minuscule and almost negligible number would ever achieve real upward mobility and success and riches. Very few indeed, almost as few as the ones who are expected to win a big prize in a lottery. These will be the ones who will inevitably brag about the hardships they endured to reach where they did. That they have ‘arrived” they would make sure to convey and attribute it to some great quality of their personality and a superhuman effort on their part which was so heroic. They, in their minds, are the proverbial cream that is bound to come to the top no matter what; they will make sure to remind everyone where they were before and emphasize” and look at me now!”