Aveuglement

I haven't posted anything in a while but I've got the urge again so here it goes.

I've read a lot online about how the mainstream feminist movement has been blind to the needs of "Women of Color" (WoC) and the oppression of other minorities. So it didn't completely surprise me to see that with this curious incident that some feminists completely missed the point along with not seeing the oppression that drove the incident in the first place.

So what is this oppression, and who are the oppressed I'm referring to? They're the socially inept, the geeks, the shy, the ones who lack the charisma and self confidence (arrogance?) needed to act out the normal rituals of socially acceptable sexual initiation. The ones unable to dance the dance that is considered the acceptable way of pursuing romantic or sexual interest. The oppression harms through the denial of human intimacy and companionship, where even though there are two willing participants they are denied interaction because either one is incapable of meeting the dictated standard of appropriate behavior. This is oppression is perpetuated by the fact that the charismatically privileged dominate popular media normalising, the use of their charisma as the acceptable way to express sexual desire, and oppressing those who lack those abilities. This is similar to the way their appearance drives the issue of body image.

The Open-Source Boob Project was an attempt to normalise or standardise the method of communicating sexual desire; to remove the mystical nature and ambiguity that confuses many, particularly those within the geek community, and denies them access to the intimacy they are born to need. In addition (and possibly more importantly) it would have normalised both the acceptance and rejection of the proposition, allowing for clear communication channels for matters of a sexual nature which would in turn reduce miscommunication and misunderstanding that leads to so many problems in the social-sexual realm.

It seems to me that those on feministing would seem to demonise any attempt to communicate sexual desire because such communication might make the woman feel uncomfortable dealing with the man. Firstly they're obviously critical of the active and direct approach; I mean asking a polite question and respecting the answer is just wrong. Secondly they deride the passive and direct approach by critising the badges; clearly not all women will have an interest in such approaches sex but why is it wrong to express your views that such approaches are acceptable to you? Finally using subtlety, such as the way someone dresses, to determine who might be interested is out too because such ambiguity might lead to misinterpretation: Did you catch that? "The ones who'd dressed to impress"? Almost as if they were "asking for it"? That because they were wearing a tight shirt, their breasts were practically public property, anyway?

I guess there's no acceptable way for a guy to initiate a sexually orientated discussion that's acceptable to feminists, even when both parties to the discussion have clearly indicated their desire to be involved. I'm wondering how feminists manage to initiate a sexual interaction when there appears no acceptable way to do so, unless they're suggesting that women shouldn't be free to control their bodies and must follow the puritanical way by tying sex to an emotional relationship.

The Open-Source label isn't about the boobs being free and open to anyone, it's about it being socially acceptable that a woman's views on her boobs are free and open, although I can certainly understand the software movement being uncomfortable with the association to politically incorrect progressive ideas. Like with the software movement, an open and free exchange of information will enable better collaboration between like minded individuals and the sharing of resources to meet a common goal; or the pairing of those with want-to-touch hands and those with want-to-be-touched boobs. Doing so would reduce the oppression of the "geek class" by enabling them to access physical human intimacy, something taken for granted by the charismatically-privileged.

I'm guessing there are several reasons that feminists of Feministing dislike this idea. I'm guessing it's partly because they rank the desire to be free from other's sexual expression to be more important than the ability of others to express their sexuality, but this runs contrary to the views of freedom of expression that exist throughout the west. Which is assuming that the reason isn't that they are blinded by their privilege from seeing the need for a more direct approach to sexual socialisation. It could also be that they're still influenced by the puritanism created by the patriarchy and believe that sex should be taboo and hidden away, particularly when it comes to female anatomy. Further the more cynical part of me would guess that by enabling the open discussion of sexuality would reduce the mysticism surrounding sex and hence reduce its power when used as a weapon against men.

Finally I'd suggest that i might be due to bigotry, like the way sexist bigots sought to exclude women from the workplace because they caused discomfort in some men, social adept women seek to exclude those less adept from the social-sexual environment because they cause discomfort in some women; or possibly like the way homophobic bigots detest the way homosexuals might engage in public displays of affection that makes the bigots uncomfortable, this more formal and clinical approach to sexuality causes these feminist to be uncomfortable; or perhaps worst, like the racist bigot believes black people don't deserve freedom they believe that the social inept don't deserve human intimacy.

One only has to look at the different ways violence and sex are treated in popular media, morality discussion and ratings systems to see the way sex is viewed within much of the English West has been twisted beyond rationalism or sanity. We, as a society, need new ways of looking at sex and given the importance of consent in the way we judge sexual interaction it is counter productive to critise those who query for consent in a clear manner. I think it's great that geeks would use their ingenuity to come up with novel approaches to such social-sexual interaction.

Cercle de lecture

I seem to have given someone an impression or two that I might, oh I don't know... actually read books. Although I'd normally scorn such social obligation, even trivial ones, I was feeling sunburnt, stuffed and sorry-for-myself on Sunday afternoon and decided that I might solicit some sympathy. However, (un?)fortunately a quick search of my room revealed I did not have a single book therein. It appears all the books I own are currently archived at my parents place after failing the I-want-to-read-them-right-now test when I was packing up to move out.

At work however, I do have a book (two actually) within my possession that I've borrowed from a colleague. It's quite probably one of the least invigorating books I've read so hopefully the Swedish Chef will hide that it's a complete humdrum.

Expereeence-a veet preefetiseshun in muny icunumeees, ispeceeelly defelupeeng, is steell leemited. Bork bork bork! In a soorfey recently cerreeed oooot, ooff 37 defelupeeng cuoontreees it ves fuoond thet in ell by tvu, zee noomber ooff interpreeses suld, leesed oor cuntrected oooot vere-a fooer thun 20, und zee egenceees usooelly hed smell esset felooes und impluyment; un iqooeefelent peectoore-a frum defeluped cuoontreees fur zee seme-a pereeud gefe-a fooer thun 30 egenceees preefetised fur ebuoot 35 cuoontreees. Um gesh dee bork, bork! Neferzeeless, ifee sooch leemited ixpereeence-a ooffffers sume-a cleer preefetiseshun lessuns. Um gesh dee bork, bork!

T.W.Berrie - Electricity Economics and Planning

I'm going to skip the tagging step, as my dice are neither at work nor home (nor my parents place) so I am unable to roll a d6 without more effort than I'm willing to spend. I can however bask in the uniqueness that is me, at least as far as wikipedia is concerned.

Since I'm at work, I guess I should actually get back to work and continue being the WiSE guy.

Oh mon dieu ! Il y a une hache dans ma tête!

Because if there was ever a phrase that needed a translation between all known languages...

(Shamelessly borrowed from here.)

Bloc de quatre

It's amazing how many things I've developed a passion for that I've thrown aside. It only takes a small change and they slip out of my routine, vanishing to the dusty corners of my memory. Even a momentary distraction, an infatuation with a flashy novelty can make me forget a true love.

I'm somewhat of a tetris nut. I play it hard, I play it fast. I play so much I get blisters on my fingers. One time when I was away on a trip for work, I got bored in my hotel and programmed tetris using Access on the work laptop I had. And I've just realised that it's been months since I've actually played. I've missed my blocks.

"Fun" isn't the word I'd use to describe the way I play. It's more of an experience where the rational side of my brain becomes completely engrossed in making the blocks fall in the right places that the rest of me gets a break. I can think like me again. With loud tunes pumping through my headphones I can tune right out from the world. It's problems. My problems. I'm free.

Temps à perdre

I've been reading a lot of other different blogs lately, which has chewed up the time I was going to use writing mine. They all seem to end up leading into some sort of philosophical discussion and from there my mind gets drawn into some sort of endless sinkhole of compacted emptiness. It doesn't help that the more I read the more it changes what I think, and therefore what I think about writing. So it's kinda been hard to nail down my thoughts long enough to get them out. So I figured maybe I'd take a break and watch a movie or something.

The movie I decided to watch is called "The Nines". It had some tag line about an actor who's life was falling apart and was mixed in with a game producer or something. Didn't sound overly interesting and I didn't really want a movie I need to think for. It ended up being a bit of a twisted view on perception and reality. Unlike some others I've seen, such as 13th floor, it managed to have the quality characters needed to draw me in while it slipped in past my consciousness only to unleash its mindfuck from within. So much for taking a break.

There's a few web comics I try to keep up with regularly so I think I'm gonna see if I can add them over there -> somewhere. There's quite a few more that I enjoy but only look at irregularly so I might add them sometime too. And may end up looking at them more frequently as well.

Faites ce que je dis, pas ce que je fais.

This rebellious teenager, the one who has reached a legend status of epic proportions, got my attention. He's achieved the dreams of every popularity seeking, party throwing teenager. His party made international news. He then proceeded to stand up to authority and tell them he'd do it again, resulting in the police making fools of themselves with over the top charges as try tried to save face. The part of me that spent years as an oppressed teenager just couldn't help smiling.

It got me thinking, trying to find a reason why we, as a seemly advanced society, have the preoccupation with such baseless popularism. Can we really blame those who get propelled to the top? Should we feel sympathy for them when they fall from grace?

For starters, aside from betraying his parents, we can't attribute any significant wrong to this kid. He's grown up in a society of pop stars, celebrities and idols; one that grants wealth and success to those who become popular. He's grown up in a world that worships democracy; a system where we make choices by ticking a box; no reason, no justification, just choice for the sake of choice. He's doing what he sees our leaders doing, using cheap antics and shock tactics to gain popularity and power. The real question is why do we do it?

I think it's an artifact of the information age. Social values move at a much slower pace than technology has over the last century or so. In the days before instant world wide communication or rapid long distant transport, one had to impress enough locals and garner enough support before one could take their proverbial show on the proverbial road. To get that critical mass one had to have something worth having. This lead to the correlation between substance and popularity, so when people heard someone was popular they assumed they were a person worth knowing about. The relative slow rate at which popularity spread would give time for them to be critically examined, weeding out most of the nobodies.

What I see is a society that places great value in widespread popularity when in fact it is something that is all to easy to obtain. Rather than question the ease with which popularity is gained, I think we need to reevaluate the value we place in it.

Confort matériels

I was greeted with a strange scene this morning, when I stumbled upon my house mate sound asleep in front of a blaring tv, rolled up in a blanket with the AC blasting full ball. It's amazing what people will to do achieve the level of comfort they need to get some sleep. When I was younger I used to sleep with my fan on while I slept under a sheet or blanket. It seems that its not the fact that we are warm, but the act of keeping warm that creates a sense of comfort. I guess it's the same way being inside and dry while it pours down rain outside creates such a cozy atmosphere. Something to do with a (false) sense of security from the elements that we're somewhat programmed to protect ourselves from. The development of behavioral traits to deal with an obsolete genetic adaption probably occurs well before the genetic adaption disappears.

I find that the more effort I spent trying to explain things I see in life, the more questions I find. And the more my brain hurts. The limits of my rather human intellect are quite frustrating, which is probably why I get such a sense of enjoyment out of debating issues with others. Our collective intellect has so much more potential to learn. And I like learning. I'm weird like that.

Déclaration de principe

When I was considering starting a blog, I began thinking about all the things I felt like writing about. I came up with quite a substantial list of a wide variety of things which seemed to widely cover the four pillar taboos: sex, politics, money and religion. Of course I'll inevitably end up writing about light issues such as artistic matters or even maybe the weather. But most of what I had already written, through comments and the like, orientated around the more meatier issues.

In reading a lot of other blogs or sites they commonly seemed to take on some sort of cause or focus issue. The remainder were generally of a personal nature, relating day to day experiences. I've tried keeping a personal blog before but didn't really find myself being self obsessed enough to maintain it. Equally I couldn't come up with anything that stood out as a key issue for me either. I think it comes down the fact that I rarely see things in black & white and so find it quite difficult to 'pick sides' or chose a 'label'. So this may turn out to be a Seinfieldish blog about nothing.

If I absolutely had to chose some sort of ideal to get behind it would probably involve something like "balance" or "moderate" or the ideal that there are no bad ideas, only bad ways to use them. I guess it comes down to the notion that this blog, and the comments I make around the place are as much about finding faults with my own reasonings and learning from others as it is about expressing my own points of view.

Garço de plage

I gave up my usual weekend of thrilling nothingness to spend a night at the Gold Coast with my parents, who were undertaking their annual coastal migration. I know many people who have a less than positive relationship with their parents and to them the thought of spending a meal, let alone a night, with their parents would be uncomfortable. I guess I'm fortunate to have had such supportive parents.

Over the course of the 24 or so hours I spent there, I was reminded of something I've continually forgotten. That despite the comradery and sense of accomplishment from successful completion of an engineering project, despite the challenge and passion of political debates, despite the thrills of adrenaline sports and despite the craziness shared with mates over more than a few drinks, I'm able to get an incomparable amount of fun and joy out of simple childish play. Between tackling the unbeatable force of nature out in the waves and the spontaneous and uncompetitive sand fights with my dad I was able to, if only only for a short time, stop giving a shit. It was the most refreshing experience I've had in a while.

While I was in my teens, my father would frequently act as though I was somewhere between 2 and 12 years old. My mother, being a conservative catholic country girl, was adamant about me gaining now real freedom until I reached the magic age of 18. I'm sure I don't have to explain how an adolescent male feels about being treated like an irresponsible young child. Yet in spite of my best efforts to rebel they managed to successfully brainwash me into being a respectable civilized member of society.

I guess what I'm getting at is there's significant respect within society for the 'innocence' of children, and yet there seems to be an assumption that we lose all that is childish about us as we mature and experience things. There seems to be an irrational "think-of-the-children" approach that insists that exposing children to certain ideas or experiences destroys their childhood. I think it's important that children be able to enjoy their youth, just as its important to gradually teach them responsibility. I also think it's important they learn that they don't need to lose everything they had in their childhood as they grow into an adult. As much as my father gave lackluster support in some areas of my life, the lesson he's taught me on not forgetting the joys of childish fun is one I consider important.

A few of my friends have started families, and as much as I don't hate kids I experienced a certain discomfort around them. I didn't know how to behave, I wanted to interact and share in their childish antics, but felt strangely like I would lose some 'manhood' by doing so. That's not to mention the fear of being seen as a man who likes kids a little too much. At the beach, there were numerous families and dozens of kids, something which made me a little bit apprehensive. However crashing into the waves the ocean threw at me, I remembered the joy of being blissfully ignorant of what others thought while engaging in juvenile freedom. And in turning around to see a young kid grinning at me after being thrashed by mother nature, I reacted in a way I haven't done with a child in a quite a while. I smiled.

Je ne sais rien.

I don't know exactly why I'm starting a blog. Well that's not entirely true, as I do know, I'm just at a loss on how to explain it. Or maybe I just don't want to tell you. Forging a blogentity and becoming part of the blogosphere appears to be the thing my generation Y comrades are into. And yes, as I'm part of the blogosphere I'm allowed to mash-up my own words. And use bad grammar. If only I was one year older and I'd be a Gen Xer and not in this mess.

I guess I should point out a few of the sites that have inspired my renewed opinionation. There are quite a few more that'll probably get around to naming and shaming at a later date. It's probably time to stop this meta blogging now though.