Hopes Now in Fear: The Peter Joseph - Jacque Fresco Conflict

Picture from Flickr:  (Peter Joseph, Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows, founders of The Zeitgeist Movement and The Venus Project respectively)


Yes, they presented brilliant ideas that are able to awaken people up from today's societal problems and to offer the solution of curing them once and for all. But this sudden conflict had shown that they themselves are also the same old victims of culture just like we are. 


It all started when I saw the video of Jacque denouncing The Zeitgeist Movement, saying that the movement doesn't really know much about the concept of the Resouce-based Economy they present, and they don't follow up the directions that they want, and now they are not allowed to promote the RBE concept with their designs, while leaving them to go out their own way and etc. It did shocked me with disappointment. Next thing I know was someone sharing an audio clip on Roxanne Meadows of The Venus Project adding more fuel to the existing fire both sides are in. 


It's really sad and funny to know the fact that they are founders of a wonderful idea that attempts to redesign the current culture we are in, while they THEMSELVES are being conformed into it without even realizing it. Hence they failed to hold on 100% on what they had preached, specially on their views on ownership. 


They were at first great in collaboration, they managed to present their new ideas to change the current paradigm for the better. It does sounds sensible for us to live in a world without the oppression of money, while creating a scientific-based self-governing society that encourages collaboration and self-actualization for everyone. No poverty, no war, etc. It's really sad to acknowledge such a thing happen, and to be honest, it's like any political conflicts you see in the current world - scandals, quarrels, finger-pointings, yellings, bashings, etc. 


Now, to those who like the idea and wanted to see it being a reality, do continue to do what you are doing for this idea to be heard more. Honestly, we can't afford to continue living like this. There are many people out there wanting and hoping for a miracle/ salvation to kick in and rescue us as a whole. Everyone is oppressed and stressed. There are unsounded tears and fears around us that isn't seen physically, because people don't tend to express them much, instead they hide it in their smile, which is essential to survive everyday. 


Sometimes, after some discussions with some of my friends and lecturers about this new idea for the next social transition, I kept on thinking, what if the global economy shuts down today, and there's an anarchy in between? 

In other words, can the real social concerned people afford not to continue spreading such a sensible solution for the world? There is no much time left actually. 


The only thing I hope right now is - such conflicts better be resolved in the near future. At first it was okay with collaboration, now they are under the smog of egoism and ownership. Seriously, their ideas are so far the most sensible I had heard of to date, and I felt deeply frustrated when I heard that their advocators themselves fall to the culture of today's world. 

Book (Review): Oscar Wilde's "The Soul of Man Under Socialism"

Photography is back! But this time I continue this with a book review. Haha, I have more spare time for now as I'm currently in my holidays.

The reason why I titled the picture above as "Change Towards Humanity" is this book maybe a guideline for a more humane world. Well, do we realize that the world is getting more and more humane than ever? Well, in the past, our ancestors condemned the criminals blindly while they were sentenced to death, or being put to torture in public. Today, we say "No!" to capital punishment. Even the methods of killing a victim is subjected to the idea of punishing someone with a "painless" death.

To begin with, I began noticing this book, from one of Youtube's most popular talk clip, by one of Europe's finest philosophers, Slavoj Zizek. He included this book as his source for one of his talks called "First As Tragedy, Then As Farce". Well, Mr. Zizek was meant to criticize the idea of charity in today's world, but then I will be talking about this fact later. 


But first, do spare some time to view his clip, if you want to.
  


Now, all I wanted to say is, it's kinda surprisingly that this book, even though was published in the end of the 19th century, has the contents that is still relevant to the present world today. (NOTE: I am not a socialist, in ideological terms I'm for The Zeitgeist Movement's moneyless resouce-based economy (RBE). What this book generally wanted to highlight is the slavery mentality of people who are in a capitalistic world. 

With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

Well, capitalism is a productivity-based ideology that focuses on supplying the demands, and thus social stratification is encouraged within a society that practices it. In Marxism, Karl Marx divided and identify 2 types of classes in a capitalist world - first is the bourgeoisie (the ruling class/corporate and business owners), and the proletariats (the working class).  To survive in such a world, one has to be a capitalist - a person who is capable to capitalize both men and machine to generate profits. In nation building, the same thing happens as the dominant party capitalizes all of its corporations and working class into competing against other nation-states. 


And thus, this system can be exploitative. Hence I will move on to:


Part 1: The System Doesn't Care A Damn About You.


I once mentioned this in my Facebook status. "One who votes and supports capitalism or any form of right-wing politics are people who are programmed to be SLAVES, a slave that works under a system that doesn't really care a damn about them". 


Indeed, we're living under a system that treats us as if we're under a human resource factory. You were born, registered as a citizen, being sent into the education system where you were told to follow the syllabus from the age of 7 to 18, and then you get your college degree and you enter the workforce. In your "career", you were told to go to work and face unnecessary stress and traffic jams from 8 am to 5 pm every weekdays just for a devaluing thing called "money". Now, with things getting busier and busier over time while the financial system continues to break down, tell me, if your life happier when you know you have to get up in time to work and face stress in the office? 


The books quotes

In a community like ours, where property confers immense distinction, social position, honour, respect, titles and other pleasant things of its kind, man can naturally be ambitious, makes it his aim to accumulate this property and goes on wearily and tediously accumulating it long after he has got far more than he wants, or can use, or enjoy or perhaps even know of. MAN, will kill himself by overwork in order to secure property...

 True, isn't it? I remembered I'd entered a direct-selling group meeting, seeing a group of people having some ambitions of wanting to achieve statuses and titles, to be rich, etc. And the sense of motivation over there was so strong that it makes me sick to think about other people saying that "I want to achieve this", "I want to achieve that" with a smile on their face. I don't say that it's wrong, but then I can feel that social disease of people. Maybe I have a strong Christianity background that makes me anti-materialism. I am able to foresee the bright future of direct-selling business like Amway, Elken, AMC, etc, but for me to interact with people who are too obsessed with materialistic goals, sorry. 


That doesn't just happen on direct-selling members, the career world also faces that. But in an office, things can be shallow and sinister. You can't feel it in a part-time job, but when you're going full time, that is another story. 


And what if technology grows in capitalism. The incentives for men helped humanity to create more modern machines which will eventually take over human labour, which brings us to...


Part 2: The Rise of Automated Labour. 


"Human Slavery Is Wrong, Insecure and Demoralising." - Oscar Wilde. 

Up to the present, man has been, to a certain extent, the slave of machinery, and there is something tragic in the fact that as soon man had invented a machine to do his work he began to starve.

In the past, there are people working as lift operators, factory workers, traffic men (the ones who were then replaced by traffic lights).  Today, these jobs are gone. Wanna know why? Technology has allow us to create machineries to overcome human labour. Machines are unlike human beings. They never complain, they no need any income, and they are more efficient than human. Today, we have this thing called "Artificial Intelligence". Slowly, technology will replace human labour, this is a fact. Our system has to change. 

This is a good example for the modern world. The picture above is taken in 2007, where you are seeing the world's first automated restaurant in Nuremberg, Germany. Named's Baggers is the name. >link< More restaurants like this means more unemployment. 

How about this? Automated robotic surgery? I'm not sure if our own National Heart Institute (IJN) of Malaysia has this machinery or not, but this is surely a state-of-the-art technology that may make millions of surgeons jobless in the future. >link< 


Humans have to change the way we live. If we continue our capitalistic ways of living, more people will be jobless, homeless and all will enter poverty. 

There is no doubt at all that this is the future of machinery....machinery will be doing all the unpleasant work.

 Indeed, machines will set humans free of work nature. 


Part 3: Instead of Charity, Why Not Redesign Our Culture?


You see, in the past, I hate Karl Marx and Communism, thanks to the history books. I thought Communism was a form of dictatorship that enslaves the people and cause the Communist nations to spread their ideology through violence (like during the Emergency 1948-1960). But, when we were taught about Marxism in college, I felt that Marx actually wanted to create Utopia, the perfect world you and I wanted to live in. What makes Communism corrupted is the greed of power. A Communist nation should be classless and property-less (also means, moneyless).


And thus, Oscar Wilde proposes an classless, non-capitalism individualism, for the rights of the individual. 


During the Cold War, there is this battle of public opinion between capitalism and communism. And I can say is, both ideologies were corrupted by greed of power and profit. Today, communism went into socialism, while capitalism has evolved into a new form of itself called "Cultural Capitalism", according to philosopher, Zizek. 


The capitalism we are in today encourages us to be an environmentalist. The Earth Day, the green policy of brands and corporations, and the donations organized and sponsored by them - all of them are categorized in charity. They make you wanted to give to society, help the needy, make the world greener, etc. 


But here, according to the book, Wilde argues that....

The majority of people spoil their lives by an unhealthy and exeggerated altruism. They found themselves surrounded by an hideous poverty, hideous ugliness, hideous starvations. It is inevitable that they should be strongly moved by all of this. The emotions of men are stirred more quickly than men's intelligence.....Thus, they very seriously and very sentimentally set themselves to the task of remedying the evils that they see. But their remedies do not cure the disease, they merely prolong it. Indeed, their remedies are PART of the disease..

Like the example of Zizek in the video above, when you enter a Starbucks shop and they tell you that part of the money you spent on them are used to ensure that the coffee bean owners get the fair shares in their business, do you really trust them? A few years ago, there is an airline company added a green surcharge to its passengers, telling that we are also responsible of air pollution while we were travelling by air. Tell me, are they using that excuse to gain extra profit? Think about it. 


With all the encouragements by corporations, a.k.a, corporate social responsibility (CSR) going around, you can feel the sense of hypocrisy around them. 


Why not redesign the world instead? Haiti wouldn't face much medical and resource crisis in a more socialist world, I believe.


So, in conclusion, this book, though published in 1891, is a very timeless advice for humanity, as we are working towards that now. We have the technology that unites man, with all the social networkings, blogs and instant messengers. People should read this book more, regardless any ideologies that you support. At the end of the day, it's all about humanity and empathy. 

....Restore society to its proper condition of a thoroughly healthy organism, and insure the material well-being of each member of the community. 

To Christians, Wilde also wanted to leave this message to you. 

 What Jesus meant was this. He said to a man, "You have a wonderful personality. Develop it. Be yourself. Don't imagine that your perfection lies in accumulating or possessing external things. your perfection is inside of you. If only you could realise that, you wouldn't want to be rich. Ordinary riches can be stolen from a man. REAL riches cannot. 

 Thanks for the patience of reading it. If you want to read the whole book, >click here< Have a nice day. =)

Optimism Is Delusional, Pessimism Is Hopeless. Why not Be Realist?

Well, I'd been encountering people with this motivation force called "Optimism". Yes, it is nothing wrong to be optimistic and to think of the brighter future. But then, the reality is still there, isn't it? 


And indeed, I do have some issues with these type of mindset. Whenever something goes wrong, people will tend to be like "Oh! Everything should be fine! Just change, be positive, and then things will change". And what they do is just think about the good things that will change, well, without the actions. 


And that clip was absolutely correct about the book called "The Secret". I once read that book and believed. But then, let's just say, for 100 days you'd been thinking that you can score 100% in examinations without reading, will it be crazy? Some of my friends have been practising that idea of "attracting" the positive ideas and the world will change, but logically, I don't believe it. Obviously nobody expects a Haiti disaster, or a Chilean tsunami  by just a thought, isn't it? 


But that doesn't mean pessimism is a good ideology of confidence. In fact, pessimism, to me doesn't contribute to solving a problem. You just let it linger there, waiting for it to eat you up alive. 


I regard both of these perspective as equally delusional in a potential manner, because one hopes for the better, while another one hopes for nothing, and both are without actions. 


But for sure, you're trying to run away from the problem, by either thinking it is not there, or you are letting it to crush you down. 

So, be a realist! 

Why? You should know that you are not able to escape from reality. Instead, you have to think that you, and everyone else has the power as a whole to change the reality for the better, thus generate idealism. 


I remembered that a friend told me that problems should be seen as a problem. Indeed, if everyone is a realist, having the same radical mindset and being aware on what is happening around the world today, then all social problems should have been solved already. Combining optimism and pessimism together to both examine and formulate solutions is one healthy way to bring the both dimensions of seeing a half-empty/full glass together for a better picture. 


Remember, the reality is there. Humanity needs collaboration to overcome problems. But first, the public must not be ignorant. :)

Manila Terror - A Blogger/ Fellow Human's Viewpoint: Screw the Social System

"Now the question besets us all is, Who is Captain Rolando Mendoza?


Captain Rolando Mendoza, 56, is a bemedalled cop who was months away from his mandatory retirement from his police service as revealed by the records of the police authorities. As revealed by the DPRM (Director of Police Records and Management, Mendoza should have been an honorable retiree cop who obtained a total of 17 police service medal and a commendation for excellent job performance. Among the awards received were: Medalya ng Papuri; PNP Badge of Honor; Medalya ng Kasanayan; Medalya ng Kagalingan; and Medalya ng Paglilingkod. He was a graduate of the Philippine College of Criminology who entered the law enforcement service through the PC-INP in 1981. Police service apparently runs in the veins of Mendoza's Family.


Hence, it shows that Captain Rolando Mendoza was a dedicated policeman who worked hard during his entire period of service as a policeman. Based on his records, he was a good man who wanted to serve the public.


Why then? It is impossible to believe that a man who have been faithful during the entire period of his service would turn out a be z monster thereafter. What was the reason behind such aggressive acts of a kind hearted man?


Now the next question that besets us, is, "Why did he do such horrible thing?!"


According to reliable sources, trouble in Mendoza's life occured in 2008 when he and at least four other policemen were accused of extorting money from a chef whom they accosted alledgedly for parking violation and possession of illegal drugs.


As a result of these incident, Mendoza meted 90 day preventive suspension. But was reinstated after the suspension was served. But on February 16 of 2009, he was dismissed from service.
According to one policeman, he was depressed due to his early dismissal because the order comes with the forfeiture of his retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from government service. As mentioned by a doctor, Mendoza's acts was prompted by his depression. Post depression.


Hence, it is sad to say that the big wrong decision of Captain Rolando Mendoza to hostage the Chinese Nationals and Filipinos in the bus was due to his post depression of the dismissal and perpetual disqualification event.


Now these are the questions that worried us,


"Was he really that bad?


What was the reason behind that causes him to shot the victims? Who should be blame?
Do you believe that he really wanted to kill them? Or something or some event prompted him to act aggresively?


Should we blame the police authorities for taking his relatives aggresively?
Was that the reason that prompted him to act like that?


Of the 15 Hong Kong tourists being held hostage on a tour bus in the Phillipines capital of Manila, seven have been reported killed.


The hostage-taking gunman, Rolando Mendoza, a former police captain who was armed with an M-16 assault rifle, has also been killed.


Our prayers go to the families of those who were killed in this senseless tragedy." 


Quoted by Victormagbuana21 in Youtube. 

When I first read about the news, I thought it was another terrorism news in the papers. Well, as a journalism student, I tend to look things from some angles, but let's don't talk about news and viewpoints here. 


I felt sad for the victims, including the hostage taker himself. The reason why I quoted this users' words is to provide a balanced perception on Mendoza. 


What I want to pinpoint is this: 


Our social system doesn't care a damn on your well-being and social welfare.


In your adult days, you will be struggling to work, and maintain your job from 8 to 6 in the evening every single day (to some, they have to work at weekends). You have to face unnecessary stress, meet with different people, while trying to maintain your own integrity while you compromise, and your days are going round and round, as if you're in a prison state. 


You do this everyday all for the sake of something that is devaluing over time. As more money supply circulates the financial system, more debts were generated, causing higher inflation rate, while decreasing the currency value of all. As a result, price rises, unemployment rates increases, companies begin to get busted. 


Of course, people are getting busier and busier all the time, while they are worrying of their lives and their fate, while struggling and competing among each other for survival. 


Well, Mendoza was believed to have some sort of depression that made him did such a desperate, avoidable act that only destructs himself at the end. He pleaded for the job he lost, well, in a desperate manner. 


Jiddu Krishnamurti, a philosopher, once mentioned "There is no cure for a profoundingly sick society." If you relate this tragedy to the money system (do look at it from the economical view), you will find a bigger view on how screw up our world is. Even suicide rates have been increasing over the last 60 years (WHO reports). 


Well, I posted this in order to provoke thoughts, and hopefully, actions, for a better change. We have to do something about this. In order to change, we need the majority to do so. After all, capitalism ran in an orderly manner because people were unaware on how destructive the system is. 


My deepest condolences to the families of the lost one. May God be with you. 

The Emphatic Civilization?

This is one of the things that I question myself nowadays.



The presenter was Jeremy Rifkin, a social and ethical prophet and a political adviser. And this clip is from theRSA.org, one very good site with such presentations with clear illustrated mind maps.  


I am hoping for something like that in my lifetime, though it sounds idealistic. We'd been talking about the caring society who really helps the broken and the needed, as well as being told in our society and our religions to love one another and care for the needy. Besides, we were being told and moved to donate to those who are victims of war and natural disasters all the time, as well as to promote peace. 


But then, why the world never changes, despite our technologies have been advancing over the years? As what the author said, we'd been trying to find our true identities, and slowly we'd been evolving from families, to religious/theistic identity to national identity (like 1Malaysia). Well, religion and patriotism have only managed to unite one region of people, and they usually contradict each other, though they provide good values to a certain extent. 

The old appeals to racial, sexual, religious chauvinism and to rabid nationalist fervor are beginning not to work. A new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet.   - Carl Sagan 

The TRUE identity of us is, we're one human race - 1Human species - homo sapiens/homo empathicus. We have grown from our ancestors' conciousness which we may refer to as "barbarism" (like when they were sending some people into the Coliseum and see them fight to the death - when compared today we're seeing Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard playing football, what do you feel?) 


Of course in order to change, idealistically speaking, we have to change and remove our business mindset. Money is such a delusion when you check in the process called Creation of Money. The banks are just creating debts. 

That is what I'm hoping for - a moneyless, caring society which is resource-based. The current world has witnessed billions of people are facing hunger and poverty. We can actually do something about it. Instead of complaining, why not discuss those problems and provoke these thoughts to others to question the system itself? 


If things can't change, then ask yourself, why in the 1960s, Americans are able to overcome the influence of their Vietnam War propaganda? Why in the past we are able to surpass all racial statements and criticize the Apartheid policy? Why the people in the former Soviet Union managed to overthrow the corrupted Communist government? 


Well, it's plain easy - the ideology of humanity is growing. We want peace and harmony. Life is short, and we only live it once, why not give us a chance to love one another and to cherish each other? As what the author said, we're designed for affection and companionship, NOT violence and all the anti-social bullcraps. 


P.S - I don't believe in anarchism, in case you ask, unless humans really know how to make use of technology for the use of automated labour to replace human labour. For now, we need a leader, it's just that we don't know who's corrupted and who's not. Ever since my 2nd semester in my Journalism course, I developed a sense of Neo-Marxism towards the world we're currently living in. Having such ideology in mind further increased my understandings about this planet. 


In case you assume me as a secularist, sorry, I'm a Christian- Humanist. I do believe in God's existence, but then we shouldn't be just preaching about God's words, we should practice it. Our religions teach us to love one another, don't they? 

Enough of Chronic Hunger! (1 Billion Hungry Project)

Keep in mind that I am not paid for typing this. I am supporting something that I believe. 

How about a reality check on global hunger and poverty?

- 15 million children are dying due to hungry every year, someone dies every 3.6 seconds due to it.

- 3 billion people are currently struggling as they are surviving less than $2 per day, as waves of financial crisis affecting inflation impacts global prices around the world.

- 183 million children facing malnutrition

- 500 million in Asia, Latin America and Africa listed under poverty level. 

- World Health Organization (WHO) stated that 2 thirds of the world are not well-fed, as half of them are under chronic hunger.  

These are just a few facts on today's hunger issue. If you do your own research, you might find out how much threatening this problem is to humanity if we just keep an ignorant eye away from it. 

Don't you want to do something about it? Of course, you can't take it anymore when you look at the numbers of those who are suffering, DON'T YOU? 

Do check this site out, >click here<  1BillionHungry Project. It is an organization that fights for the hungry and helpless men with a vision to gather 1 billion concerned voices to pressure the United Nations' leaders to help eradicate hunger (and poverty). 

Please sign if you care. 

Meanwhile, do take a look at this clip. Don't you feel that the world is NOT in a good shape? 

At the same time, dear readers, when you feel like complaining about such issues, why not question the system itself at the same time. Think about the root causes of why our society becomes sick and dysfunctional. Once you understand the importance of relating our social problems to the corruption of our system, spread this awareness to your friends, family and relative. We cannot allow ourselves to continue living like this, as many had already been left out. 

Religion vs Science - What's The Point?

Be steady, people. Your.World.Pixelated is going picture-less as the editor is facing problems with a Photoshop-less laptop. So, enjoy this post, and please treat it as open discussion. Debating doesn't help. 

Viewers' discretion is advised. REMEMBER: THIS POST IS NOT ON DEBATING. 

This morning's debate between science and religion happened in Innit, and while bloggers like Nana and Danielctw were by my side, advocating theism, and to rethink on the age-old battle of thoughts between these 2 pillars (or perhaps 3 = atheism) of ideology, I felt that there is NO point arguing about it, for these ideologies help mankind to develop civilization. 


I admit that my clashing identity between a Christian and a Humanist makes me tend to go to the middle of the pillars, and not focusing on religion alone. I believe in the existence of God, and at the same time, I believe in the capability of humanity to change the world. It's nothing wrong, it's just faith.  

Matthew 25: 35-36 - For I was hungry you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I need clothes and you clothed me, I'm sick you looked after me, I was in prison you came and visited me.

Science: I may gave in Science during my pre-U education as I transferred into the academic field of Communication (Journalism) and Humanities, but I have a sense of science. Science is all about collaborations and arguments on what is right and what is wrong. From technology for civilizations, to weapons of mass destruction, science changes the way we live, as well as shaping our human trends and social way of living. Science is absolutely nothing wrong. 

Religion, on the other hand, is a series of philosophies told from various dogmas. It helps generate societies, and to unite men (to a certain extent). Most of all religions believe that there is a God that create a universe, and hence it was the Earth was made. It provides us the wisdom of spirituality, giving us an understanding of our world, like science. 

These 2 elements are all about understandings, however, when it comes to debating them, you will hardly stick to both of them, because none of their basis supports each other. For example, Galileo Galilei advocates the truth on heliocentrism, the idea of the Sun as the centre of the universe, but the Catholic Church dismisses it, and sentenced him under house arrest. By seeing this, you can realize that both institutions don't fit together. 

But then, I still view on science and religion both contribute to the civilization of humanity, just that our past and current leaders are corrupted. God told his servants words and advices and these prophets binded all their messages into holy books like the Bible and the Quran. But their corrupted leaders took their religion, making it as their own, and use them for their agendas. That is where politics step in, and hence explains the root causes behind the bloodshed due to religion. 

Same goes to science. While you are fascinated with guns, keep in note that the G36Ks, the M4A1 carbines, the F-35 Lightnings, the M1A1 Abrams and the all time feared nuclear warheads are signs that we are not civilized yet. Obviously, science is about human development to the max, but why are we killing like that? If you're talking about religion mindset manipulating science, then tell me why the electric chair is invented? 

"My country is the world, my religion is to do good." 

- Thomas Paine

At the end of the day, it's all about interpretations, and the human mindset as a whole. Science and religion have to collaborate as both help humanity a lot. One helps on morality and philosophy, while another one helps to develop technology for the good of mankind. Why the quarrelings and pointless battles? Why not just focus them to improve humanity? Those who are under poverty are seeking your help, praying every single day for the world to change. 

PS - On the argument that religion does not help on morality, to the blogger who advocated that point - I wanted to say, even if you are brought up through familial values, what inspires those values? The society, isn't it? If you're living in China, most likely you will indirectly got brought up with the Chinese traditions or the teachings of Buddha. If you're from a Christian dominated area, though your parents are atheists, indirectly you were told about the 10 Commandments and some other values found in most religions. 

Stop hate and disposition and do realize that we are now in the age of developing social conciousness, where people are beginning to question the social system we're living in.

Forget the crap about Darwin and his ideas on evolution that generates social stratification and remember that science has the power to change the world and its rules. Meanwhile, as for religion, don't just preach it, practice it as a whole for the sake of humanity. 

Taylor's Open Day (June)

Can't believe I can edit photos faster and still able to take some remarkable pictures even after weeks of not touching the camera! :)  

Anyway, I just spent my weekend helping out in the most recent Taylor's Open Day for the July intake. My job was basically categorized as in the admission/registration team, as I helped on student ID documenting and supported the registration procedures (my secondary objectives). 

And yeah, I managed to capture a few photos during my resting hours. And this is it. :)

Oops, wrong composition. Raffi, my senior managed to capture a better shot of visitors in the previous Open Days.




Design school booth. 


Biomedics  


Mr. Phillip consulting parents. I missed his lectures, he always shares a lot of interesting stories, with lessons of life. 




Consultations in the Hospitality and Tourism booth. 


Taylor's Engineering's Buggy. 



So, this is how they make COD: Modern Warfare 2. (School of Computing's Booth)


Communications' Booth: Pao's horror short film on abuse seemed to captivate many audiences.





Mr. Benjamin Loh consulting for the School of Communication - my school :) He has a lot of knowledge about the communication industries. 


Anyway, as I was working, a lot of things went through my mind. One of them was about education. It reminded me during my degree's orientation where there was an argument on the statement "Is education a right or a privilege?"


It is a human rights for everyone to have education, but if I were to say it politically correct, tertiary level education today is a privilege. I don't see any sense when it comes to the fact that social classes are divided through the quality of education. For example, the rich kids deserve world class educations from international schools, while those who can't afford it will study in government schools. 


While the poor will end their education profiles in their Form 6/ A Levels equivalent results, only the rich deserve the privilege to study for a Bachelor's Degree. However, half of them applied for govt. loans and these unfortunate ones will have no choice but to have more debts as they enter the workforce. 


By looking at this fact of inequality, something is very wrong. Education shouldn't be seen as a business or a course to find knowledge - it should be the tool for the development of humanity. I believe universities (or academias) during the days of the Greek philosophers are much more different than what universities are today, for people like Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, etc, are all great thinkers who don't focus on profits. 

Financial System Is A Debt! Nothing But A Debt

Please watch this, ladies and gentlemen. :)



It's pretty funny on how these 2 experts comment about the recent European financial crisis. 


They mention something on the help on bailing Greece out from the debts they owed, right? Let me highlight this to you? 


"How will other countries help out Greece while they themselves are also under huge amounts of debts?"


Obviously they can't. These countries already OWED the major banks debt and even if they are to pay back the banks, they would have to sell all their properties to pay back the Principal + Interest, which is impossible. 

I no need to be an economist or a business student. Just do your own research and you'll realize that the monetary system is such a fraud. Before MONEY today is what it is, it was known as the certificate of debt. 


That is why we all have to work like slaves. If we continue to let the monetary system goes on, prices will rise due to inflation and future crisis, causing more unemployment everywhere, increasing gap between the rich and the poor, and more people dying due to poverty. 


Even if it doesn't affects you, your freedom is affected, as you are worrying of your kids and family. 


Want me to add more sources? 

From Zeitgeist: Addendum

To some people, I may be too radical. YES, I am radical, but I'm still as normal as you are. It's just that people are too bounded by the monetary system until they accept it as "human nature". It is not. Money is man-made. One day, please do not feel surprised when you see your Nasi Lemak is priced at RM 10 in the future. 


Money isn't your God. It is purely debt. 

Resource-Based Economy: The Way Towards World Peace?

RT News: Interviews Jacque Fresco of the Venus Project from aaron vannatta on Vimeo.

This is an interview of inventor and futurist designer and social engineer, Jacque Fresco, who is also the founder of the Venus Project. This project's theme is to redesign our social ways of living to improve our society beyond money and politics, eliminating competition so that humanity can collaborate as a whole to discover more. 


Do keep notice of the words of wisdom he mentioned. He's currently 94 years old, by the way :) 


Of course, eliminating the monetary system (which causes scarcity that leads to social problems), building a sustainable human environment and getting everybody to be under ONE human race is difficult, but to archive the impossible, it needs everybody's power to revolutionize our environment. 


Don't we love everlasting peace? Of course, there's no movement other than this ideology because it covers a large scope. But what's smart is Peter Joseph (the founder) managed to explain the flaws of society. 


Though Joseph's lectures are too long, I suggest all of you to listen to it. Next, it's all about you to decide if you want this current system (capitalism - monetary based) to stay, or to live in a better environment where you'll begin to meet sincere people. 


If you're interested to find out more, do visit the Zeitgeist Movement >site< 


Forget about prejudices, try at least listen to the proposal for the future. I understand that you may not agree 100% of the movement's idea, but do listen to it, or at least share this to your friend. :)

Craving for Portrait Lens Right Now | Screw Materialism

If you think that I'm using a f/2.8 or a f/1.4 sorta lens, then think again. :) I was only using the usual 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 standard kit lens. This was only done through the technique of blurring via Photoshop, with the cocktail mix of a gradient layer. That is to increase the shallow depth of field. 


Aite, I had a RM 200+ (A$ 80.00) tripod I got from Sydney, I had a Nissin Di622, and a decent camera and kit lens, but somehow I intended to want more. As a whole, I had a basic camera kit already. But to the viewers out there who are also an amateur photographer like me, I bet you also feel the same thing, right? 


Screw materialism. The business world needs our scarcity (needs) in order for the system to run. If the world is more to resource-based, then we can straightaway go for the best cameras ever - Canon 1D Mk. 4, Nikon D3X, Hasselblad H4D50, etc. Perhaps people might collaborate with each other to make a universally high-end camera for everyone? 


Our lives are mostly indoctrinated by the monetary system and thus, it forms our general understanding of life. Well, in this world, we pay less and we get the lesser feature in an item. But what if your stuffs were being stolen, isn't that fair? 


Materialism may reward you, but if you get caught into that trend, one day it will slowly leave you behind. 


You want tasty food, but you won't enjoy it if you are old, as you need more healthier food to survive. 


You want jewellery and blings, but you won't take them away from this life to the afterlife. 


You need cosmetics to stay and look young, but one day you will grow old. 


You want fame and glory, but one day you will be just another actor in the stage (Life's Brief Candle). 


Screw materialism =.=

Unnecessary, But We Still Have To Go Through This

"We're all living in this system, where I have to come here early at 8 am to teach, while you students have to be here punctually at the same time."
- My Media Context lecturer.

Currently blogging from college's computer. Current mood: Frustrated and tired.

Today is Wednesday, and I'm only supposed to be at college only from 8 to 10 am for Media Context class, which makes Wednesday one of my most flexible weekdays alongside Fridays.

And for this Wednesday, I have to stay until most probably 5 in the evening just to wait for discussions for tomorrow's presentation.

It is totally unnecessary, though I can choose not to discuss the given questions and leave it for tonight.

But the problem is, she doesn't have a decent Internet connection at her home. Plus, we have only today to discuss tomorrow's presentation. (I admit most of us in our intake are last minute people, lol :)

At the same time, while thinking about how unnecessary the discussion is though it appears to be on high importance for tomorrow, I began thinking about how and why people in their college or working life have to go through many unnecessary chores every single day.

At the end of the day, it's all about financial security and money. We wanted to do what we want, but like it or not, our freedoms are all manipulateed by money.

That is why I quote such words from my lecturer. If lecturers have to work for money, so do students. We all have to compete for the ever shrinking job opportunities in the business world. Unemployment rates are still alarming, though the "deceptive" media told us that everything is fine.

Remember my previous post about the Zeitgeist ideology? I really hope that one day, this ideology will be a reality - where everyone will enjoy true, everlasting peace without any forms of stress and scarcity in this global society. Ever heard of "when the buying stops, the killing stops too"? Same goes to this scarcity-based economic system we're living in.

"When this system stops, the scarcity and stress will stop too." No one will die from poverty and preventable diseases, no one will compete one another and left the unfortunate ones behind, and no corruption and hate that causes a sick society. Everyone will have TRUE independence.

Everybody should be living together as one human race, and everyone of us deserve freedom and being threated equally without hate. Our lives have values, and they are not bought with a price - let us change, in order to live our life to the fullest.