Clash of ideas, on news & literature

Tag: Donald Trump

  • Sixpenny Heroism

    There is a serious critique buried beneath the crude MAGA attacks. It is one that Nietzsche leveled and it’s being reprised by some of the tech bros today. Nature worried that Christianity’s egalitarian ideas made us less likely to be wildly ambitious, risk-seeking, even reckless. Have we become so humane that we’ve lost the primal urges that made us heroic?

    —Fareed Zakaria, CNN commentator

    That’s his take on Christopher Nolan’s the Odyssey, since I have talked about it already, it is not my main topic today.

    “Blood, gore, and conquest”. If, as Mr. Zakaria says, Donald Trump’s “heroism” is in fact primitive as well anti-Christianity; then should I say, Donald Trump himself is in fact “anti-Christ”?

    MORALITY in BED

    Therefore I always believe that the Church should not avoid political and moral problems, if so, it would be avoiding the human problem, then when issues come up, they can’t offer solutions.

    I guess Christian Church have not been avoiding political and moral problems; the problem is, however, is the issues they are interested in are just what happen in bed between which sex the 2 persons belong.

    As a result, today’s Christian Church, especially those fundamentalist and evangelical churches in the US, is incapable of dealing with the complex social problems the nation is facing today. They simply solve it in the yes-or-no, right-or-wrong answer: Terrorism is bad, immigrants are threat; solving crime with jails, and owning guns is a right.

    And when someone who cares the issues they concern, they will embrace him/her, despite his/her other policies are harmful, illegal, even immoral.

    And this is the result of this fiasco called Donald Trump.

    As it turns out, Jesus Christ was a progressive in his own day, but the same cannot be said for his church.

    OUTDATED IDEOLOGY

    Seems that Donald Trump’s “greatness” sticks with pre-historic era: armed with 12th century BC heroism, 19th century ideology and 1970’s asthetics, he is treating 21st international affairs with determination.

    I guess the host of this podcast is lenient to him. In another program, also from ABC of Australia, Mr. Trump’s outdate ideology is even more obvious:

    The Navy’s apparently also considering another major redesign of this upcoming aircraft carrier because of what Trump thinks looks good.  They’re considering moving the multi-story command tower on the ship further forward to the middle of the ship so the new ships can look more like the ships did back in World War II.

    Oh, I should correct my statement before: not “1970’s asthetics”, but 1940’s … Turn out for the sake of his old taste of warship design, some 5,000 sailors and pilots need to stay on the Arabian Sea for more then 270 days without seeing the land.

    (Note retrospectively: it’s 286 days)

    Furthermore, I don’t think he believe his sailors should rest …

    Donald Trump comment about USS Abraham Lincoln’s deployment in the Arabian Sea. Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, August 14, 2026.

    Shouldn’t we surprise if there is a superstition of pre-historic heroism from Mr. Trump?

    FUNDAMENTALISM

    “Make America great again,” because America’s greatness is not happening today; it was a thing in the past, even in pre-historic era.

    Fundamentalism’s concept is basically the same: We should go back to what it was, and what it should be. Baptism must be submerged your whole body into the water, not just sprinkling just those few ceremonial and pointless drops. Women should stick in their home and be men’s slaves as well a baby-producing machine, and shouldn’t have knowledge, intelligence and ambition to the world. Sex is for a man and a woman, not with anyone you desire or born to be …

    Sound familiar? These are also ideal of al-Qaeda, Taliban and Islamic State.

    In Chinese, we translate “fundamentalism” differently if refers to different religion: in Christianity (Protestantism, to be exact), it is “基要派”, literally “the sect of basic necessity”; in Islam, it is “原教旨主義”, means “the ideology of original teaching”.

    Furthermore, “原教旨主義” sounds more negative then “基要派”, since the former is so “outdated” and “stubborn”.

    But it is, afterall, “outdated” and “stubborn”; they are all “fundamentalism“.

    “LEFTARD”

    Certainly I am not saying old stuffs are always bad. Old buildings are always more beautiful then the new ones, we always love to collect antiques, and I love fountain pens more then modern ballpoints.

    The point is not the new always better then the old. The point is we must not force everyone to think the same, act the same and loyal to the same person and beliefs.

    A society of uniformity is always a basic necessity to dictatorship, since it is more easier to control, the morality is much more “simple”, as well one man’s will can be much more easier to push to the mass. A country with only one religion is a thing of the past, and shouldn’t be brought back.

    The world is progressing, so we must not satisfy with just some simple solutions and answers. Addiction to drugs is always bad, but why is it happening to some people, even some of them obviously know it is bad? Banning all the drugs is a simple solution (and very satisfying, too), but shouldn’t we consider a more effective way, like dealing with the reasons why people rather use drug: work stress, social pressure, self-esteem, purpose of life? Prostitution, in some’s mind or some religions’ moral code, are bad; but have you consider some solutions like stopping human trafficking to root out completely?

    This is why I goes against present day’s Conservatism: they are not solving problem, they are simply waging a culture war, halting all progresses we fight for all those ages (and they even calls them “woke”, think they are some kinds of injustice), and in some cases, they even whitewash those dictatorships, aggressors and warmongers, and help them to windowdressing their crimes, as Alternative für Deutschland’s so-called “Vision 2026” shows.

    These are not visions for AD 2026, but 1175 BC, roughly the time when Odysseus was trying to return home.

  • Hongkong is LOST, Frontline has gone somewhere

    「香港已死，戰線早不在此。」

    Allow me to recite and repeat the obvious once again up here in Chinese, for some Hongkongers (we mostly call them “Yellow Ribbons/黃絲”, who getting involved in 2014 and/2019 democratic movement to fight against an authoritative colonial master and its lackies in the form of Government of Hongkong) simply don’t understand this fact, and they still insist in fighting on a battlefield where all the troops have been somewhere else.

    Hongkong Lightning
    Evening in Hongkong, a storm is brewing

    The illusion “Hongkong is still the battlefield of freedom” resulting in some very wrong assumptions:

    • Hongkong is still “the centre of the universe”, the world still focus on Hongkong and her well-being;
    • Hongkong can still be won back, even through guerilla warfare;
    • and the world would, and should, take care of Hongkong.

    It is true that “Battles win war,” as one of the fellow Hongkongers told me in the chat group. However, if the Japanese is sending their fleet to Midway for a decisive battle, what’s the point are we still sticking the remaining fleet in Pearl Harbour, assuming the Japanese will attack again?

    As a result, wasting your “troops” in Hongkong is pointless. Some even think of US may free Hongkong and are asking which “Hongkong important strategic targets” should the US military bomb, and Hongkongers should avoid those locations. And as mentioned above, guerilla warfare is also considered by some of these people.

    Forget the troops movements, factors and logistics (I am not a military strategist afterall), let me ask just one question: Do you think today’s Hongkongers will rise up to fight with you?

    Don’t be so 很天真很傻 (“simple and naïve”), mates.

    Gillian Chung, a Hongkong pop star
    Gillian Chung, one of the first persons who use the phase “simple and naïve”, as she described herself after a scandal years ago

    REVENGE

    Live is good if you have a purpose. Losing something or someone, being hurt, etc, and then you want to get even or revenge for what you’ve lost … fine, if this is your purpose.

    However, if you are looking for something which is unrealistic, what you are doing is just fruitless. If you revenge by doing something not only hurting yourself but others around you, it is not only “NOT fine”, it is outright selfish and foolish.

    An idiom from Hongkong says it well: “食人血饅頭”, literally translated “eating stream bun dipped with human blood”, for those who push others into mortal danger and use them for your own benefit, I am in fact talking to you.

    I am not saying this lightly. Although I am not saying this to a specific someone around me either; I saw this kind of attitude and behaviour all my career, since I work in an environment facing the Hongkongers in Canada. Someone may have been a hero, but if I were him, I probably don’t want to be one, since it is a very difficult life.

    Don’t push other to be hero but hide behind him to get profit; if so, that only means you are just a coward.

    ILLUSIONS

    These people (allow me to call them 黃衛兵/”the Yellow Guards”, the way they think just like those “Red Guards” during the Cultural Revolution, which in fact one of the largest and longest disasters on a culture in history) are going against their enemy (The Chinese Communist, for the instant), they would support anyone who goes against this enemy, and then agree on anything this one person is supporting.

    Donald Trump is one of those good examples. He say he is fighting against Communists (Democrats included, he said—about his problem, I would talk about it a bit more later), then these “Yellow Guards” would embrace him regardless.

    However, in your city, there may be a lot more “little Donald Trumps”. They may have play like they are the only person who representing Hongkongers in the city, thinking they are always right, making you believe they are the only one who “fend off the Chinese Communists”, no matter the occasion is about Chinese Communists or not. They may be a community leader, a candidate of a political office, or else.

    York Region's HQ
    York Region’s headquarters at 17150 Yonge St. ©Joseph Quigley/NewmarketToday

    人地講你就信？你有冇天真咗啲？
    （”Do you just believe everything he says? Are you a bit too simple and naïve?”)

    Surely you have every sympathy of mine for what you have gone through in 2014 and 2019, as you do want “eye for an eye, blood for blood”, and I understand your emotion of REVENGE. But such emotion may have blinded your mind. Pity doesn’t mean you have the right to sacrifice your intelligence, throw away your logic, and leave your brain behind. In a democratic and free world, right or wrong, justice or injustice has never been clear-cut as black or white, light or darkness. Black or white only exists in stories, fantasies and religions, not in reality.

    PANDEMIC

    The war has never been about Hongkong, it’s about progress, about our freedoms, as well the democratic system and lawful international order that guard those freedoms.

    Against all these, DICTATORSHIP has become the pandemic to this world. Hongkong is lost, doesn’t mean you have nothing to do; what’s matter, however, is how to do it properly.

    And first of all, you have to find the active battlefields.

    The fatal disease is now spreading into the US. From prosecuting those simply have a different opinion with him, calling every opposition as “Communist”, to grabbing money here and there for his own benefit, Donald Trump’s administration has every symtom of a dictatorship. No doubt it is NOT a authoritarian regime yet, and this is why we should fight against it, and stop it to become one. If you are a US citizen, you can start by voting the side who combat this narcissistic human being.

    Donald Trump
    Donald Trump in a Rally ©ABC US

    Ukraine is physically trying to fend off the Russians. No doubt they are having advantage, and Russian invasion is in the blink of collapse. They are not surely winning, however. Afterall, Russia is the larger country; and even we may not have to ability to join the Ukrainian army to fight their war, we at least can help support their cause by spreading their message, and even their culture as a whole. And if you are living in one of the EU countries who are backing the Ukrainians, you may find more ways to support them.

    Yes, there are lots of ways (more then what I have mentioned) to combat this pandemic, THE WAR IS HERE AND NOW.

    However one of the way we really should avoid is to think that people can repay you in return: Fighting against dictatorship and upholding democracy and freedom is their war, but Hongkong is not. They can at most support Hongkongers from behind, and they have no responsibility to do so; so, don’t even think of asking them to do they have no responsibility to do.

    Courageous but reckless, you can only be others 豬隊友 (“piggie teamplayers”).

    I remember one friend of mine told me he would love to stay in the country he is now living in to promote Hongkong culture after all these struggles. I think it is the most responsible in terms of him to his country, as well the Hongkong he left behind.

    TO LIVE

    However, after all these struggles, the victory is always “YOU HAVE SURVIVED”. The victory is to live you live as normal, be successful, and try to give back to the society you are living in. The country want you to stay to do exactly that, either this country is called Canada, the United Kingdom or Lithuania. Once you are here, you are Canadians, the British or Lithuanians. Maybe at most you can call yourself Hongkong Canadians, the Hongkong British or Hongkong Lithuanians, and it’s that simple.

    You have boarded the ship, so every problem on this ship has become you problem. If you cannot help out or simply rant about and not meant to solve them, you have the freedom to leave. What happens on another ship a.k.a. Hongkong, you certainly can concern, even talk about it, but it is the Hongkongers to do the solving, not you.

    I think if you would love to repay the kindness the place you live have given you, it is exactly the way.

    COMMON SENSE

    Afterall, common sense is never partisan, and it’s always the best guidance to your lives forward, not a single strong man’s logic.

    Hope we can all live our lives well, and being successful in your own places and professions.

  • Christopher Nolan’s «the Odyssey»: We all want to go home, but can we?

    It’s clearly “Nimrod”, one of Edward Elgar’s famous Enigma Variations. It was in Dunkirk, and now it is in the Odyssey.

    The differences are also obvious: Ludwig Göransson has just used bits and pieces in the Odyssey; sometimes, as shown in Let’s Go Home above, the melody is cut somehow even the motif doesn’t finish yet. Meanwhile in Dunkirk, other then some modifications, Hans Zimmer’s Variation 15 below is still recognicable with the origin.

    The motif shows up again in Chasing the Escaping Sun (below). However, the motif is not only fragmented, but also distorted.

    SPOILER ALERT after this audio, about the ending of Mr. Nolan’s the Odyssey.

    What more interesting is: As this piece of music appear, Odysseus is not returning to Ithaca; he gives up his crown and offer it to Telemachus his son, and set sail to the west with his wife, Penelope.

    He is leaving home.

    HOME

    After the war, soldiers go home. They even want to go home long before the war is over.

    So why takes Odysseus 10 years to return home? A lot of people “don’t understand” this, as those memes shown:

    What if home doesn’t give Odysseus comfort and safety, but guilt and saddness?

    ATHENA

    God certainly has a right to choose which face she would love to show up to the world or to specific person. And with Odysseus, she chooses THIS face:

    A slain priestess in the temple of Athena in Troy.

    This leave audience a whitespace (留白, Liubai) for intrepretation. She may be Goddess Athena herself, or she may be just Odysseus’ guilt materialized, or both.

    In Oceanus where living people can speak to the dead, the first person Odysseus met is Sinon: the boy he tricked to stay outside the horse, so the boy could lie to the Trojans about the horse. Odysseus, however, also lie to Sinon, without telling him about the soldiers inside the horse.

    PHAEACIANS

    Certainly Mr. Nolan’s the Odyssey has omitted lots of details from the book, including a fact that the whole journey of Odysseus is mostly his own account to the Phaeacians.

    Omitting this is not a big deal. I want to state this, however, is to stress the whole journey may all have been in Odysseus’ head all along. Afterall, he has been lost his way for 10 years (or simply means a long time: Greeks like to symbolize “a long time” as “10 years”, just like the “10-year war” against Troy).

    Whether the Trojan War and Odysseus long journey home is fact, an imagination in Odysseus’ mind, the collection of certain oral myths by Homer some 300 years later, or the retelling in Mr. Nolan’s IMAX movie magic after 3 millennia, the story evolves from time to time according to the medium, the creators’ creative process, as well the acceptability of the audience.

    According to Wikipedia, the key themes include “the ideas of nostos (νόστος; ‘return’, homecoming), wandering, xenia (ξενία; ‘guest-friendship’), testing, and omens.” I know some scholars do question Mr. Nolan’s adaption; however, I think he contains most of the themes original Odyssey want to discuss, even extends these theme for our time. Either the guests (the 108 suiters of Queen Penelope in Ithaca) or the hosts (first Circe, then Calypso) violate the so-called “Zeus Law”, or xenia represents the collapse of world order, and the threat of “Sea People” has become an oracle of distruction of Odysseus’ world. By using an archeological hypothesis (“Sea People”) of the 12th century Bronze Age Collapse, Mr. Nolan is making his Odyssey a prophecy to today’s world.

    President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is simply chasing the money with “democracy”, “freedom”, “justice” as disguise. Thus, if Mr. Nolan’s Odyssey is a criticism to American hegemony, then Elon Musk’s attack on the movie is just hypocritical, with ideology of “anti-woke”, “against DEI” as his disguise.

    NOSTOS

    Meanwhile, the date the fall of Troy and the massacre of the Trojan people has become the moment Odysseus lost his home forever.

    The second person he meets in Oceanus, Agamemnon the “Supreme Commander” of the Greek expeditionary force tells his “homecoming”: he’s killed by his wife, since he’s sacrificed his daughter so the invasion can go smoothly. The moment Agamemnon lost his home forever is when he put Iphigenia on the altar.

    The movie toned down Odysseus’ arrogence (not telling Polyphemus after he is safe this time) and add some humanity to his character (plucking the bowstring before striking the arrow to kill, for example). Yet, Odysseus is still a cruel and calculated man (giving his preys a chance to escape, but didn’t give Sinon the same chance). The Greeks may have every reason to punish Troy (snatching Helen from the Spartan King); with all the advantage and benefit of trade Troy has enjoyed, however, all reasons has become excuses. And when his men has become just number of casualties (that’s the reasoning behind his choice between whirlpool Charybdis and the multi-headed monster Scylla), Odysseus’ “humanity” is so laughable.

    From this perspective, Odysseus’ sin is equal to Agamemnon’s.

    As a result, Odysseus cannot go home. He still has to repay his guilt by sailing west to honor his fallen soldiers, with Penelope on his side; he can only seek peace in exile.

    He can’t go home, until his soldiers can.

    RETURNING HOME

    For those British solders on the beach of Dunkirk, home is just one English Channel away. For Odysseus, home is where the sun escapes.

    I don’t think I have, so where is yours?