Photos of my South Africa trip. I think I’m gonna have to trim some out and fix quite a few… but here they are raw and uncut!
Author: Tan Tran
I just noticed that ‘heya’ and ‘yeah’ are anagrams. Cool.
I’ve finally finished unpacking and organizing all the crap I’ve acquired over my vacation. 7 days ago, I was hiking (more like stumbling along in determination) across the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, SA.
South Africa is an amazing place.
You can feel the life and optimism of a country that is emerging from years of oppression, division, and embargo. As I walked around Cape Town, I found it amazing that only 10 years ago the mix of people I was seeing in one place was not only unlikely, but quite possibly illegal as well. Nelson Mandela is worshiped to an almost ridiculous extent (I saw Mandela fridge magnets), but what was accomplished was definitely a miracle: a revolution without upheaval. Not to say that there aren’t problems. While driving to the Pilanesburg Preserve, we saw shack town that had build up around platinum mines. On the Cape peninsula amid obvious wealth and prosperity are shanty towns where running water consist of a barrel at the top of a hill with a pipe running down. (And interestingly enough, I always saw at least one guy who looked like he was taking a leak by the side of his house). Yet the winds of change and the march or progress cannot be stopped. The day before Calvin’s wedding, we had a BBQ in a rather nice house in Soweto. Now students of history will recognize Soweto as the township that gave birth to a student uprising protesting the enforced teaching of Afrikaans and in general the substandard education provided to the black population. Reading any guide book will have you convinced that it’s a 3rd world hole in the ground filled with beggars and tear inducing poverty. But that’s no longer the case. There are tracts of neighborhood that could pass for a lower middle class suburb in the U.S., and signs of the influx of new wealth are seen as often as not. Though it pains me to say it, Apartheid might have had one good legacy: the separation of races allowed a greater sense of community and home to build up, so that capital flight is not as much of a problem. Now that residents have access to better opportunities and more pay, they can bring that income back to the community and build it up.
That’s just some of what I was thinking about on the trip. I’m tired now, time to get some sleep. I’ll come back with more of my thoughts later if I feel up to it. I’ll post pics then as well.
Being from a family so entwined with the history of Vietnam, I can’t
help but think about it’s future. Yet having been born and raised
in the US with little political indoctrination, I have not taken the
opportunity to identify with, let alone become involved with the
country that could have been my home. So my thoughts are only
mildly, possibly badly informed by the reality of life in a country so
far away. On the other hand, I also have fewer preconcieved
notions or deep convictions about either side of the war. My
concerns and musings have little to do with recriminations for past
wrongs. The direction of the future, the protection of the
country from another debilitating civil war, the preservation of
culture against blind progress concern me more.
Hense what is put down here.
This is rather badly written, unsupported by any documentation, most
likely unoriginal, and
possibly even self-contridictory. But that what you get with a
stream of thoughs on a given subject. It’s a hint, a shadow of
what little of my brain is dedicated to politcal/economic/and social
theory. But
hopefully by writing them down, I’ll be able to refine these ideas when
I get back to them. I figure if I just let them echo in my head,
they won’t be subject to proper critical scrutiny. They won’t be
formed with any rigor, and thus end up useless. Hopefully I’ll
come back someday and see how these ideas stand up to the test of time,
knowledge and history. Maybe with answers to some of the question
raised by these thoughts, concrete solutions to vauge directives.
Not being an avid study of a broad
range of political theory, I may be missing something… but the
doesn’t the idea of “free market Marxism” seems to be a
contradiction?
I’m reading a BBC article(s)
about doi moi (they translate it as ‘renovation’, though I think a
better translation would be ‘new era’) . Vietnam seem to be
following the path of China, but benefiting from having a much
smaller country to rule.
From what I gather, the opening of
the economy is also allowing, at least academically, the opening of
thought and ideas from the rest of the world. With one catch. While
the economy and academia are opening, the government is still very much
closed and in the grips of the one party communist system.
It struck me that thing have not
really improved beyond the mandarin system that both sides of the war
so fiercely fought to liberate themselves from. A
government ruled by buerocrats that rise through the ranks by sometimes
by merit, more often through bribery and nepotism. A market economy.
Corrupt officials that are
bribed one way or another. And a government ruled by the desire for
political stability above all else.
The only difference seems to be the
absence of an emperor. In the end though, that difference may
be the key to the future . As far as I know, after Ho Chi Minh, there was not great leader at the helm. A party, a ruling body, has no single point of failure.
No emperor to topple and replace. No single person whose whims could
lead a nation to disaster. Unfortunately, as with any group of
people… this means decisions and change happen at a snails pace.
In the beginning, the Vietnamese
Communist party was most likely a collaboration of well meaning
Marxist and power hungry opportunist. One decision of the revolution: the elimination of the best
intellectual and political resources of the country, crippled the country for years. This happened
so easily because the idea fit both groups so well, Marx meets
Machiavelli. No one to rise above the common person, no one to
challenge the new regime.
Time passes. The true believers will
begin to see the damage their mistakes have done. Corruption from
centralized power. Lack of skilled people that provide the
infrastructure
required to run an effective planned government/economy. The
absence of the intellectual capacity to manage a political economy.
Time passes. The opportunist grow
complacent in their ill gotten comforts. A generation of minds may
be indoctrinated with the party line, but they can see for themselves
the disaster of it’s faulty tenants. The well meaning see the problems
with a government so set in protecting it’s power that it ignores the
failures of it’s policies. That there must be something wrong
with a country filled with people either too poor to care, too scared
to fix things, or too busy taking advantage of their power to care
about the rot around them.
And by a coincident, history
provides the means for redemption: the decision to move to a market
economy. The opportunists see an avenue for more gain, patriots see a
chance to fix the failures of a political economy and give a better
life back to the people. Both sides give it a green light. Only this
time, greed will hopefully work against the tyrants and opportunists
and for the people.
A market economy demands an opening of
ideas. Success can only be achieved through more knowledge.
Knowledge that can only be gained through the free flow of
information. There will first be a generation concerned only with
the generation of wealth long denied them. Soon this generation will
realize that while corruption can grease the wheels of their success,
it also becomes an impediment. Greedy corrupt officials will at some
point demand too much. And that’s where the first change happens.
Corruption will be hunted down at the behest of growing wealth
and power. Those that persist in their greed will be ousted. Those
who are smarter will halt the wheels of progress less and less,
becoming mere annoyances.
Freed of the work microscopically of directing an economy, a greater
emphasis can be placed on social and political problems. If they’re smart: better health, greater
safety, controlled infrastructure development, less corruption will result. For a time, this also
means that the party will fight a futile battle to control the flow
of information against them. To repress opposing points of view,
often brutally. But this too will change with time.
After another generation, there will
come one that begins to see beyond the day to day generation of
wealth. One that has a wider range of experience, education,
information, knowledge afforded by greater wealth. Some of this generation will begin the
journey to rise into the ranks of the ruling political body.
In a few more generations, we will
begin to have an enlightened ruling party. One less constrained by
ideology and more by the successful governing. One that
recognizes and roots out detrimental corruption. While opposing
views will still be strictly controlled, at least they will begin to
be considered. Internal and external pressures will collide to force
more transparency in government. And here is the crucial moment.
If the ruling party fights too hard to
maintain absolute control, overt revolution will result. The
government will topple to be replaced with chaos. If the party gives
in too quickly, it will be opening the doors to Babel. Too many
voices pulling the political system in too many directions. Both
open the door for a leader to rise, pulling the country into another
cycle topping tyrants.
It must walk a fine line. The party
must give up enough power to become accountable to the people, but
not ruled by them. More people must be given power through merit
than through fortune of relation. The governing process must be open
and transparent enough that the people can ensure that this is truly
the case. The party must be willing to admit wrong doing, to change
directions as needed, and to expel the cancer of corruption.
The revolution started so many years
ago turns out to be an evolution. We end up not with a socialist
state, not a feudalistic madarin bureaucracy, but a Republic
ruled by an roundly educated body politic.
While rooting through my documents I found this thing I wrote once upon
a time. I’m not sure if I believe it, or not… it seems
incomplete… just rambling thoughts in my head. But I figure
that’s why I started the blog in the first place, to get the rambling
thoughs down. So here it goes:
The best feeling in the world is being
in love with someone. The worst is knowing that you can never be
with that person.
Maybe it’s unrequited, the object of
affection that does not return the same.
Maybe it’s distance, a separation by
continents slowly drifting away from each other.
Maybe it’s circumstance, lives that
aren’t going in the same direction, obligations from before ones
birth.
Maybe it’s those few differences that
keep you apart.
Maybe it’s uncertainty, about all these
things, about the nature of love itself.
Love is supposed to conquer all, so
maybe the inability to overcome means it’s not love. What is that
dividing line between infatuation with the idea of someone, or a love
of who the person is? ‘Tis a specter of an idea, an apparition that
disappears as it’s in our grasp.
Infatuation, lust, commitment, the
three aspects of a single ideal. Few are the relationships that
contain all three though. Arranged marriages rarely have the first
or the second, only to have them develop over time if ever. Our
literature, art, and history are awash in romances of the first two
kinds. Cupid’s arrow, our animal urges… these things define our
very notion of love in this day in age. Yet in the end they say
little, if nothing at all, about how long a love last. They are so
very basic, so hardwired into our being, that we cannot resist them
once we have the freedom too.
The brings us to the fundamental nature
of relationships in a world of relative freedom. It would seem
obvious from observing nature that the need to commit for life is the
last impulse to evolve. It makes sense when you realize that
commitment actually works against an individual’s ability to pass on
their genes. Yet in the larger context of a society, or a species as
a whole, the ability to mate for life creates a stability that allows
us to pass on more than our genes, but our memes as well. If it
weren’t for some evidence to the contrary (prairie voles mate for
life for instance), once could almost conclude that the need to
commit for life is responsible for our civilization. It’s possible
that the traditional social taboo attached to divorce is not merely
an expression of misogynistic control. It my be a result of the
conflicting evolutionary urges.
So in a society where we are no longer
necessarily bound to the tradition of marriage everlasting, we find
that relationships grow and fall like the leaves of season.
I’m going to HELL!
Since I found out about this test on Xanga, I figure I should post here. I’m thinking it was the question about porn that did it.
The Dante’s Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell – The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 1 – Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Very High |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | High |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Moderate |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Low |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Low |
| Level 6 – The City of Dis (Heretics) | Very High |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Moderate |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | Moderate |
| Level 9 – Cocytus (Treacherous) | Low |
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
QuakeCon
For lack of much else better to do with my time, I decided to follow my roomate and his posse to Quakecon this weekend.
I was not as impressed with it as last year… and there were no cute bag check girls to hit on. On the other hand, the hotel (Gaylord Texan Hotel) was amazing. Definitely gonna have to take someone special there, once I find her. It’s an indoor riverwalk surrounded by a hotel complete with overpriced restraunts. (No ferry tour though).
Of course no outting would be complete without me hurting myself, and I did so by half jumping on to a prop horse, only to be shoo’ed off by the photographer/owner. Having half my leg over the horse and the other leg loosing footing and sliding down quite painful (think contorted splits).. Boy do I need to stretch more.
Anyway, here are some pictures:
Now I need to get some reading done before I sleep, lest I become a complete computer vegetable. (Oh, and the car is a Lotus. That is the closest I have to a sporty dream car.)
Bare Naked Ladies
I’ve been looping the CD for the past few days. Every song has got at least one awsome line, sometimes it’s the whole song.
“Gotta kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight.”
“Dictate a memo to myself: Try to find if I’m the only one in complete health. Consult contemporaries if there’re some to see. There really isn’t any one who’s in my leage.”
“They say you’ll never love another until you love yourself… Well I’m in love with everyone I see!”
Nice quick read, a little creepy… it’s interesting how a children’s book would probably make an incredibly creepy movie. There are some problems, the language is probably a little TOO simple at times, even for a children’s book. But at least it doesn’t talk down to the audience. I wish it were a little longer and more developed. It feels more like a short story than a book, but a very good one nonetheless. It even starts with a good quote:
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exists, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
-G.K. Chesterton
Buyer’s remorse.
So, my roomate wanted to go to the mall to get some Acqua Di Gio (apparently it’s really popular with the ladies, so I might have to steal some). I didn’t need anything, but I figure I haven’t been to the mall in a while…
…2hr later…
Accursed Toys-R-Us! Somewhere in my head the phrase “You can buy toys after you study, get a good job, and have money to buy them yourself…” embedded itself and took root a long time ago. That and something about being able to watch R rated movies when I turn 18. Funny, but my mom still gives me a hard time about how I spend my money, and when I watch R rated movies.
Luckily I’m not in debt, but I think I’ve become a certifiable shop-a-holic. I feel good after I buy stuff. Every month I drop at least $40 at Half-priced books. At the current rate I will need 4 lifetimes to finish all the books I will buy. The problem is book jackets I think. And the internet. The internet will give me ideas about something I suddenly want to become an expert in. Then I go out to buy a book on it, come home, and turn on the TV. I’m thinking I just need to stop watching TV for a while. And fast, cause I feel really bloated after doing no exercise for 2 weeks. And stop playing Warcraft. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually get something useful done for once. Well off to my book for the night… (and I’m actually reading the book not the CD… oddly enough, I can’t find it by itself on the Xangazon thingy).
…Incoherent rambling ends.