Fight or Flight

Speech: A Farewell to Blood, Race, and Everything Else Before I say anything else, first let me say, I am (partly) Chinese. Not that I'm proud of it. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit it. Although the Chinese are an ancient race with an interesting history, what was the purpose? You can't call it the "Chinese History," because the wars fought by the Chinese were mostly against each other. Take the Romance of Three Kingdoms. Three kingdoms fighting amongst each other. And they are Chinese. One Chinese kingdom wages war on his brethren, and for the purpose of expansion of territory. It's more acceptable and understandable to wage war on another country for the purpose of expansion. Take modern China and compare it to the state of the United States during the Civil War. If the Tibetans throw a fit and want to become their own country, China drops in and says "Hell no, you belong to us you damned idiots. We won't abide your disregard for our rule. Time to tea...

Anirban Bose, a Have, who lives in a gated complex with a pool, wonders if the guillotine blade is being sharpened Although, as it turns out, Marie Antoinette’s famous saying was actually a rumour perpetuated by the revolutionaries, these four words best epitomise the callous indifference of those in any position of wealth or power (the haves) towards those who cannot afford bread, let alone cake (the have-nots). And, when people ask me about my impressions of India after returning from the US after 12 years, although generally positive, time and again I am reminded of these four words. Presumably, being able to afford a nice apartment in a gated complex with a gym and a swimming pool, I’m a ‘have’ and a chill runs down my spine imagining if some day my head will roll off the sharp blade of a guillotine. But India is prospering, they tell me. Double-digit growth. Low-cost tech capital of the world. Largest democracy. Superb banking and financial institutions. Special Econom...

In 1971, Baba Amte took his young son Prakash Amte to a fierce, isolated jungle to work with the Madia Gonds: 37 years later, as the Magsaysay honours the family a second time, SHOMA CHAUDHURY unlocks their inspirational journey. In concert: Dr Prakash and Mandakini Amte step out into the rain for dinner Photos: Shailendra Pandey EVEN IF you saturate yourself in the Amtes, day and night, you cannot entirely look their work in the eye: you turn away from the full experience of it because if you didn’t, you would be forced to confront and change your deepest self. You would need to re-examine your entire life. But let us start at the beginning. If you drive deep into the forested heart of India, 360 kilometres away from Nagpur, you will find nothing but giant mosquitoes and thoughts for...

Any allegation of corruption or a scandal finds a ready buyer in us but if any virtue is attributed to anyone, the sceptic within us has doubts. Can we invoke our sensitivity for a change and give it a chance over sensations? Our lives, public and private, are driven by sensations all around. Without killing sensitivity sensations cannot survive. Our growing appetite for sensations has therefore, if not killed, blunt our sensitivity. Media, print and electronic, has played major role in sensationalisation of everything for their commercial compulsions. Murder, in itself, is news. But these days, mere murder does not give us the kick. It is not worthy of reporting, at least prominently. Murder must have other unusual ingredients, like parents killing child or some angle of illicit relationship or sex as the motive and so on and so for, for occupying prime time slot or headlines. It would be unfair to singularly blame the media for this state of affairs. We, the viewers and readers want ...

Mind Control The subjects of mind control, exit-counselling and deprogramming are very interesting. However when people mention these subjects, people often have incorrect preconceived ideas as to what the subject matters are about. Mind Control for instance, is often confused with brain-washing. Brainwashing, is the act of actually kidnapping someone or holding them against their will so that we can “wash their brains” of what they already know, and feed into them a new way of looking at their beliefs, behaviour, thinking and emotions. Brain washing is often mentioned in conversation by people who do not understand the reality of mind control amongst destructive cults and the occult. It is a way of glossing over the subject. The mindset has been put in place over the last 20 or 30 years that if someone is in a cult, then we do not have to do anything to do with them. We are to ignore them because they are “brain washed”. This is not the case, and we would be doing very well to find an...

The challenge of Hiroshima By HIDEKO TAMURA Special to The Japan Times MEDFORD, Oregon — When the penetrating heat of summer rises to a scorching point, I am brought back to one sunny day in 1945, faraway from my Oregon home today. I was a sixth grader waiting for my mother. On that day, Aug. 6, in Hiroshima, the sun and the Earth melted together. Many of my relatives and classmates simply disappeared. I would never again see my young cousin, Hideyuki, who had been like a brother to me, or Miyoshi, my best friend. And on that day of two suns, my mother did not come home. Sixty-three years have passed. The survivors of Hiroshima continue to testify to the horrific consequences of that day and the casualties that continue to the present. At the same time, nuclear arsenals have made quantum leaps in quantity and effects. More nations possess such weapons today — enough to extinguish the world. The worst evil, "the fear of violent death at the hands of other men" in ...