Obvious differences, similar situations.

Tamils Now Languish in Sri Lanka Camps

^ Link to the article I'm talkin' bout. . .

Reading the New York Times this morning, I was caught by an article detailing the detention of Sri Lankan civilians in "internment" camps in Sri Lanka for the purpose of rooting out rebel Tamil Tiger forces hidden in the groups. The current Sri Lankan government has promised Sri Lankan citizens freedom from the Tigers, a powerful, longstanding terrorist group known to governments all around the world as one of the richest and most powerful insurgent groups in recent history. The Tiger's leader was killed last year, effectively defeating the malevolent group, but the freedom the civilians have been counting on has yet to come. Now, instead of living lives free of fear of terrorist activity, civilians are living in crowded camps which are closed to journalists, human rights workers, and aid workers. The Sri Lankan government expresses what seems like genuine regret at having to detain their own people, but claims that the indefinite detention is worthwhile. They say the camps are facilities used to uncover remaining Tamil Tiger rebels. There is no set date as to when the government will be done with their cumbersome screening processes. A goal of a year was alluded to, but government officials admit that achieving the goal will probably be unlikely due to the amount of time the screening has taken up until now.

I'm not saying that the United States is exactly like Sri Lanka. There are obvious differences. For one, Sri Lanka has recently weathered a relatively lengthy and unquestionably violent civil war instigated by the Tamali Tigers (officially called the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam) in an attempt to create separate, independent states on parts of the island. For another, Sri Lanka has only been an independent nation since the mid 1900's. Other differences one might think I should add here could be similarities if our government was scrutinized in domestic news like Sri Lanka's government is scrutinized in foriegn news sources. Unfortunately, the hoops we have to jump through as American's to learn what's really going on in Washington prevent us from knowing the truth until the truth has almost become irrelevant. (Recently, when more secrets of the Nixon era were released to the general public, the information read more like a history novel than urgent political news.) Take the issue of inhumane treatment of people: both the Tamil Tigers AND the Sri Lankan government have been suspected of committing war crimes/crimes against humanity. The US's hands are certainly clean in that category. . . . . . . . . . and therefore, this is an obvious difference between the US and Sri Lanka. (There are other "differences" that I'm not going to get into - I've got to work sometime today, too.)

The similarities between the US and Sri Lanka, on the the other hand, are completely unexpected, especially to a uninformed reader of the NYT article. The picture that goes along with the article doesn't help: It makes Sri Lanka look like a destitute wasteland. However, the similarities are striking. For one, Sri Lanka is a democratic country, with universal sufferage rights, electing a president every 6 years. They've had a female president, which is more than we can say, although I think Obama makes a similarly progressive statement. The Sri Lanka economy isn't in shambles, and they're not a destitute country. In fact, they have the highest per capita income in Southeast Asia, and in 2003, they were reported as having the highest economic growth in the world. The civil war has been the most economically devistating aspect, causing a decline in tourism due to an increase of violence and anarchy. Beyond that, Sri Lanka is engaged with the UN, the World Bank, and, despite their own internal struggles, send peacekeeping troops to Haiti for humanitarian aid.

My whole point in posting this article goes past wanting to open the curtains covering reality by broadcasting some of the deplorable conditions people, who don't live under the US's bubble-world, must endure. My point involves making a connection between these internment camps in Sri Lanka and recent domestic governmental actions here in the motherland. Although there are very real differences between locking your citizens up in camps and tapping their phones or reading their mail, the core of the issues are fundamentally similar. Just like the Sri Lankan government, our former governmental leaders expressed the highest form of sympathy when they issued the Patriot Act in 2001. Like in Sri Lanka, fundamental rights were taken away from the people of the United States in an effort to fight terrorist connections on US soil. On one hand, it doesn't bother me that much, considering I don't really have anything to hide. If they want to arrest me because I was a relatively adventurous and experimental youth, fine. The chances are slim, I suppose, and that's why I'm not personally offended. On the other hand, I am offended. I'm offended because I know there is a Constitution, which includes a Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights tells me, in Amendment Four, that I'm supposed to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure. (The actual text reads: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.") I know that the line we walk between right and wrong, in an age of phantom terrorists, is pretty thin, and I know there are necessary lengths that our government must sometimes go to to protect its citizens.

You might say, "Oh, internment camps would never happen in the US. There would be too much outcry from the general public!" I'm not completely sure I agree. If the pictures of the Sri Lankan camps would be part of the evidence you'd use to claim that your fellow citizens wouldn't allow you to be detained in a camp, try and remember the pictures we were all witnesses to during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina a few years ago. Not like we didn't send aid, but for it to have taken so long to adequately help the survivors is slightly disconcerting. Especially considering that they're American citizens. The Big Easy didn't look any better off than the Sri Lankan camps look in the NYT article pictures.

Basically, to prevent anything like the Patriot Act or the Sri Lankan camps from happening here in the future, it's most important that everyone be aware (to the best of your capabilities) of what's going on in the White House, on the Floor of Congress, and in the courtroom of the Supreme Court. We've entrusted the people working there with decisions that greatly effect our lives as American citizens as well as our lives as individuals. It only makes sense to be informed. Also, try and think beyond party boundaries and canons of political philosophy and become more aware that our individual rights, not just our rights as a group or state, are vital to the concepts of liberty, justice, and human dignity. As a country, it's probably true that we stand together and we fall together. Yet, as we stand there, we've got to make sure we're standing for ideals that uphold the personal freedoms which make the United States a country worth defending.

Agnostic Militant? I'm divided. . . .

I've always been skeptical of religion. I wasn't brought up in a religious family - my mom is catholic, although she doesn't really every go to church, and my dad isn't religious. The other night, Bill Maher's "Religulous" was on. To be honest, I was expecting it to be much less sophisticated than it turned out to be. Bottom line: watch it. Below is Maher's ending dialogue. It's replaced "Reqium for a Dream" as my vote for most intense last 10 minutes of a film (or at least it's a tie). Now, I'm having a hard time being silent about my agnostic beliefs - most of all, about the concept of doubt and how I think it's the most important frame of mind to assume when talking or thinking about the origins of the universe.

"The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world could actually come to an end. The plain fact is, religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people, by irrationalists, by those who would steer the ship of state not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken. George Bush prayed a lot about Iraq, but he didn't learn a lot about it. Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It's nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith, and enable and elevate it, are intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction. Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings, who don't have all the answers, to think that they do. Most people would think it's wonderful when someone says, "I'm willing, Lord! I'll do whatever you want me to do!" Except that since there are no gods actually talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions and limitations and agendas. And anyone who tells you they know - they just know - what happens when you die, I promise you, you don't. How can I be so sure? Because I don't know, and you do not possess mental powers that I do not. The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble, and that's what man needs to be, considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong. This is why rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you comes at a horrible price. If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you'd resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife, for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers. If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future, decimated by the effects of religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let's remember what the real problem was. We learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it. That's it. Grow up or die. "

Old Blog, New Tricks

SO - same blog name, same blog-owner, but different concept, mostly because I don't really do the raw food thing anymore. I felt like I had to change the background from happy green to somber black because happy green fits raw foods but not really world issues/hard questions etc. . .

I'm going to import my older blogs, at least the ones I saved, and post them so I don't have to explain any further. . .

Since it's been about a year from the last time I posted, I'll do a catch up. Things have changed.

After entering law school in the fall of 08, I quickly decided that I don't want to be a lawyer. Not that I didn't know this before, but now at least no one could fault me for not "making sure," as my parents suggested I do. Without any other concrete plans, it looks like law school is still what I'll be doing this coming fall. Herein lies the problem. If I finish two years of it, there's only one more till I get my degree. How could I not finish that last, measly year? Not being a quitter, I don't really think there's another option.

If only I could win the lottery.


First, I'd build a house somewhere in the woods. When I say woods, I don't mean creepy woods, like where white supremacists live, but the kind of woods that are both close enough to and far away enough from a relatively active urban atmosphere. That way, I could satisfy my NYC-loving side AND my Native American spirit side.

After the house, I'd buy myself a couple cars. Most likely, I'd get my "eleanor," a late 80's black Porsche Carerra coup with red leather interior. Eh, I'd settle for a black interior too, I guess. I'd probably also get some fancy new car. NEVER a lamborghini or anything that cheesy, but maybe one of those new Audi R8's or a Ferrari 575M.

And finally, as I realize that I'd be totally unfulfilled living a useless life, I'd offshoot my dad's nonprofit with a new branch dealing with things I'm more interested in. Then, I'd set up my primate/large cat sanctuary where I'd take in laboratory-discarded primates and large cats from "oops, bad idea" pet attemps.

Heaven.

Okay, so anyway, back to the present. I'm trapped in law school, looking for a way out. I'm way healthier and more peaceful than I was at Princeton or the year following Princeton. Happier? Not really. Happiness is such an abstract concept. For instance, my years at Princeton were probably some of the most difficult years of my life thus far. Yet, because of different factors, I was actually much happier then than I am now. Now, I'm void of inner turbulence, but I'm also completely, utterly, devastatingly BORED. I'm not really looking forward to anything specific in my near future. Not that I want to seem like debbie-downer here, because I'm really not, but I'm looking to make a change as soon as I figure out a few possibilities.

Enough for now. I'll be back after I shower and import my other posts and all that. Then I'll talk about something other than myself (for the most part).