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Thu Zaw

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Posts posted by Thu Zaw

    How does the World view America these days?

    in General Banter

    Posted

    There's a well-known artist in the UK called Grayson Perry. He did a great doc series which went out last year investigating political attitudes in the USA. It was really good viewing. Whack on your VPN and give it a watch.

    https://www.channel4.com/programmes/grayson-perrys-big-american-road-trip

     

    My thoughts on America: it's diverse, it's multi-cultural as well as multi-ethnic, but there's a lot more than unites you all than divides you. As insiders, you don't recognise how culturally similar you are in comparison to the global population in general. One of the biggest issues facing America , in my view, is the stark separation of races, primarily in the cities. This map is awesome and shocking.

    • Like 4

    Would you leave your country and why?

    in General Banter

    Posted

    Resurrecting old threads cos I'm new and missed out.

     

    I grew up nomadically. I lived in 5 countries before the age of 12:

    UK, Netherlands, USA, Myanmar, Pakistan 

    I've got British and Australian passports, but never lived in the latter. 

    My family settled in the UK when I hit my teens. I moved to France last year after 25yrs in the UK.

    I would have left the UK years ago had I not been married, or if my ex-husband was up for living elsewhere.

    Reasons for wanting to leave the UK:

    It never felt welcoming. I wasn't raised "British" and never identified with the country, even though I'm a national, and I eventually came to speak with an English accent and came to understand British culture/ psyche.

    I feel more comfortable being a clear foreigner, than being a "hidden immigrant" (someone who looks like they belong in a place, but has a different cultural upbringings)

    The UK is in collapse. The political right are destroying the Union. The political left are a useless opposition. 

    I was restless. I crave novelty.

     

    Why France? After my separation I explored some of Europe on my own. I met a guy on my travels. Spent time with each other back and forth from UK-france. 

    Eventually I agreed to move in with him. I now live in his ancestral home in a village in central, rural France. I didn't imagine myself ending up in the countryside, but turns out I was really ready for it. I'm done with the aggression and superficiality of city life. 

    Le Pen ia a danger, politically, in France. I'm really hoping the far Right don't take hold in France too. 

    But I respect how fiercely France holds onto ideas of liberté, égalité, fraternité. They are more concerned with holding politicians to account, rather than creating division amongst themselves (as evidenced in the UK). 

     

    This is my new neighborhood.

     

    I don't see myself here forever. I fantasize about moving back to Myanmar one day. 

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    • Like 7

    Any of you in Bristol? (UK)

    in General Banter

    Posted · Edited by Thu Zaw

    I used to live in Bristol. Moved to France last year.

     

    I used to play in an experimental improv band called Domestic Sound Cupboard. We had a monthly night of improv/experimental music.

    https://www.facebook.com/domsoucup/

    Obvs not happening now due to some virus. It was last weds of month at Crofters Rights on Stokes Croft. 

    People are nice people.

     

    Edit: also check out Avon Terror Corps

    Marxist thought

    in General Banter

    Posted · Edited by Thu Zaw
    Typo

    15 minutes ago, zkom said:

    It's a classic "debate" tactic by communist zealots and other people pushing an ideology, religion or similar. If you don't support their very narrowly defined dogmatic thinking then you are the enemy of the people/God/nation/nature/whatever and that's that. It's meant to make you feel bad unless you subscribe to the exact same agenda they are pushing.

    R.A.Wilson said all kinds of stupid things but I think he was correct when he wrote "when dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases".

    Completely!

    I think @cyanobacteriathinks of himself as a free-thinking, radical, political theorist.

    Personally, I think he's a religious fundamentalist. He has chosen and read his Bible. His "ideas" are simply regurgitated, jargon-laden dogma, filled with fantasy and logical fallacies.

    People are either believers or ethically corrupt heretics. Resistors to the one true faith must convert, surrender or be "eliminated".

    This is religion, dude. 

    • Like 2

    Marxist thought

    in General Banter

    Posted

    You seem to insist that people are either bourgeoisie (wealthy capitalists) or proletariat (worker drone). Do any people exist inside this extreme binary?

    You seem to insist that societies are either capitalist or socialist. Are there valid viewpoints that exist inside this binary extreme?

    Can you explain your ideas without reliance upon Marxist/Communist jargon?

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

    Marxist thought

    in General Banter

    Posted

    There's questions you didn't answer.

    I pose my questions because I'm interested in why you have such an oversimplified, binary view of humanity. I'm interested to understand your character, and why you seem so ill-at-ease with life and believe that your ideas are the one true path to salvation of humanity. It comes across as dogmatically religious.

    • Thanks 1

    Marxist thought

    in General Banter

    Posted

    @cyanobacteria

    I'm curious to know:

    - have you ever left your country of birth, which I presume is America? For holiday, business or other?

    - do you personally know anyone (irl) not raised in America? Why did they move to America?

    - do you read political pieces that are not Marxist, jargon-laden propaganda?

    - do you analyse as critically socialist literature as you do non-socialist literature?

    - do you mediate?

    - have you ever been to psychotherapy?

     

     

    Screenshot_2021-05-11-09-30-13.png

    • Farnsworth 1

    Films Recently Watched

    in General Banter

    Posted

    I moved to France last year, so I've been watching French films to improve my French and learn more about French culture.

    I tend to like slow-moving films rooted in the real world.

    I enjoyed this one, about a self-taught "outsider" artist thrust into fame.

     

    Marxist thought

    in General Banter

    Posted

    1 minute ago, dcom said:

    I wish I had your patience responding to the flow of insufferable ideological faux pas. I use impulsive and aggressive rhetoric way too often, which doesn't benefit anyone.

    I'm learning... ?

    Marxist thought

    in General Banter

    Posted

    The world is gonna be so peaceful once you've imprisoned and executed everyone who stands in the way of your ideology.

     

    You do know, don't you, that this "communism trip" you're going through is a phase. It's a widely known, and frankly mocked, phenomenon in Western liberal cultures, that young, usually white kids, particularly if they go to art school or do a philosophy major, tend to go through this communism phase. It's practically a right of passage. 

    You're gonna grow out of it eventually. You will likely think back to these threads and cringe at yourself, embarrass by your naivety and ignorance. 

    Currently you think you've hit upon some radical, underground school of thought; and you probably think everyone around you is some simpleton, a drone in society, coasting through life as a pawn of 'the man'. They could never be such a visionary like you. 

    I'm not saying these things to patronise you. I'm just spitting some truths. Most people on this forum have probably gone through some communist-flirtation phase at some point in their youth. It's practically a right of passage. No educated adult takes any of it seriously. Because any educated adult becomes aware of the realities and practicalities of life. 

    I think you put too much faith in the power of individuals. Most people, even at high levels, don't have a fucking clue what they're doing. Everyone, bar few people with severe psychological issues, is racked with insecurity, doubt, base desires and a memory of their ignorant child-self. 

    You don't state where you are located, but I can safely assume you're American. I can safely assume you're middle class and relatively well-educated. I can guess that you probably don't have a huge amount of experience of the world, professionally, socially, internationally. 

    Do you little Marxist fad, but just bear in mind that you're probably gonna look back at yourself in 5/10yrs time, and think to yourself, "God, what a dick I was". Cos we all do.

    Well, that is, if you do emerge from your phase. Not everyone does.

    I have the worldview and my ideas about politics that I have now precisely because I've allowed myself to change my mind. I've pushed myself to interrogate my own ideas and I've swallowed my pride enough to allow myself to admit I've been wrong, and moved on with my ideas. 

    It's good to change your ideas; it means you're constantly learning and growing. One should feel pride that they think differently now compared to before, not feel shame for previous ideas.

    Life is fucking complex. Politics is fucking complex. People are complex. 

    Cultures, ethnicities, religions, borders, crossed allegiances, the myriad of viewpoints within the political spectrum... There's so much to unpack that you could never understand it all. You certainly can't fix it all. Certainly not with a one-size-fits-all ideology.

    There's an endless middle of pluralities and uncertainties in the existence of man. There's no such thing as universal peace. 

    My advice to you is to allow yourself to soften a little. Let go of your ego a little and allow yourself to absorb new ideas and take constructive opposition and criticism. 

    I don't have a political ideal. I'm not a leftie or a rightie. I wouldn't even call myself a centrist. You're right when you say that I am against authoritarianism. Absolutely I am. I'm critical of any idea that gives too much power to the state, whether it's capitalist or socialist. 

    I'm interested in maintaining boring, non-revolutionary, slow, democrat, civil policy making. I'm interested in maintaining peaceful, constructive, mature, evidence-based reasoning between opposing ideas. I'm interested in pluralism.

    Mostly, I'm interested in the nature of tribalism and culture, and how it perpetuates in-group thinking. How are individuals' ideas formed by the influence of cultural conformity affected by those around them. 

    I've seen a lot of shit in my life, bro. And I'm still unpacking it all. I live with endless conflicting identifies and cultural allegiances, that all combine to create me. I spent my childhood (was nurtured, educated) in some of the world's most disparate communities; 

    - a secular and progressive Netherlands

    - Conservative, Christian Texas

    - majority Buddhist, authoritarian, impoverished Burma

    - religious, fundamentalist Pakistan

    - ancient, fusty and relatively stable UK

     

    I love all these places and the people within them, whilst accepting their faults. I love the all, whilst accepting that there are groups within each community who consider the other the enemy. I know the diversity of people and ideas within people of each these places.

    Life is like that: huge, varied, contradictory, ancient, vague, imperfect. It's good to accept the imperfect nature of our species. You don't need to change the world; you just need to influence what positivity you can in the very, very small portion of it which you inhabit. That's all. And it's enough. 

     

    My life motto is:

    "In your lifetime, meet as many people who are not like you as you can"

     

    By listening to and understanding others, we can better understand ourselves, and vice versa. We realize how small our worlds are. We realize we are simply part of something so enormous and so messy, there's really little value to be had trying to tame it. We should dedicate our lives to controlling our own nature, not that of others. 

    There's a lovely line by Slug on a Deep Puddle Dynamics track:

    "I think I’d like people more if they’d think more like me
    So quietly I wait for my inner revolution"

    • Like 6

    Classical Music

    in Music Discussion

    Posted

    On a contemporary trip:

     

    Ryuichi Sakamoto wrote this brilliant orchestral piece in the 90s. It's pretty underrated, I think.

     

    If you've seen Arrival, you've heard this. 

     

    This short fusion Western/South Asian Classical piece

     

    Arve Henriksen is a Norwegian composer who is usually categorised as jazz, but it's definitely a crossover.

     

    Loadbang are a contemporary ensemble who commission pieces. These "Gutteral" works are fun.

     

    • Like 4

    How does the World view China these days?

    in General Banter

    Posted · Edited by Thu Zaw

    In responding to the thread title:

     

    A distinction must always be made whether one is discussing the government of a nation or the culture and people of a nation. Hatred of another country's government should never lead you to hate the people of that country. They probably hate their government as much as you do.

     

    Another factor to consider is your own ethnocentricity: the human trait of making judgements about a culture other than one's own. One must recognise the cultural bias that comes with viewing another's culture from the perspective of one's own. Human's will always use their own culture as a benchmark against which to make a comparison with others. Can you be objective and impartial? 

     

    Conversely, one must recognise that the people in the culture they are viewing are also affected by their own cultural experience, and also hold biases against cultures outside of their own.

     

    Next, one has to have a level of compassion for those who have been raised in different cultures to your own; recognise that their traditions, practices, values, etc. cannot be judged against the cultural environment of one's own culture. Can you accept the behaviours of values of others within the context of their own culture, even if those behaviours or values are taboo in your own?

     

    Are you cognisant of the effect of propaganda and the pressure of cultural conformity on your own worldview and the worldview of others?

     

    Do you have first hand experience of the culture you are critiquing? Do you have a breadth of experience of life outside of your own culture? Are your ideas informed by experience, research, casual observation, or just prejudice?

     

     

    A video which really highlights how differently people raised in other cultures are affected by their cultural and political environment. I saw a comment in this thread criticising the Chinese people for not holding their government to account. China is a single-state party and has been for generations. Opposition parties don't exist. Dissent is silenced. The concept of democracy is rarely discussed in schools. It's not part of the collective narrative.

    This was a really interesting fly-on-the-wall documentary about introducing Chinese to children to the nature of democracy.

     

    The CCP is making a lot of enemies around the world currently. See Taiwan, Philippines, Myanmar, India, Uyghur situation...

    Chinese people are as varied as citizens of any other country. 

    • Like 3
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