Chinese Hypocrisy and Worse! Here We Go Again!

 

Sorry about having to return to the subject of China again but I couldn't get my head around the Yahoo news item about the latest attack on the US and its allies by the communist state. The heading: 'China says the US and its allies must be held accountable for human rights violations in Afghanistan.' Deary, deary, dear. Harebrained, kooky!

Here were the three main points garbled by the Chinese Ambassador to the UN, Chen Xu, who said that the US and its allies would be held accountable for human rights violations in the war in Afghanistan. And, that these countries have caused 'great suffering' while 'under the banner of democracy and human rights.' Oh, really? And whilst these words were being used, within the past seven days, China has been establishing friendly relations with the Taliban after the Islamist group's takeover of the country. Chen continued but did not specify what the alleged violations were, but said the US and other countries caused "great suffering" with their military intervention in sovereign countries "under the banner of democracy and human rights." 

Look, I am British, and proud of my nationality but back in 2001 Tony Blair, by following in the dark shadow of George W. Bush like a sheep, got us involved in a war in Afghanistan which I deplored from Day 1. I detested our involvement and as time went by, more and more British dead bodies came home in coffins. Anyway, this blog is about the Chinese mentality and its human rights abuses.  

In that previous blog, I described the horrors of the Chinese atrocities in Tibet. And, as usual, history keeps repeating itself. Today, and for the past 18 months or so, the largest mass detention of people since the Holocaust is happening right now in 2021. More than 3 million people identifying as Uighur or other Muslim ethnic minorities in China have been held against their will in internment camps in Xinjiang province. The threats against the Uighurs go all the way back to the 40s and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has always seen these Muslims as a threat to the communist way of life - surprise, surprise! The reality of these internment (concentration) camps is horrendous. Information about what is going on inside these camps comes from former prisoners or friends of prisoners. We do know that over three million people, Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities, have been detained in these camps. There are reports of political indoctrination, torture, sexual assault, forced sterilisation, and involuntary labour. Hitler would have applauded the CCP. Hundreds of mosques have been destroyed in Xinjiang. The Uighur people are not allowed to practice their religion where praying, fasting, Islamic weddings, Eid celebrations, Islamic greetings, and halal food are all banned. Mr. Chen, THESE are human rights violations!

But of course, the Chinese regime under dictator Xi Jinping, would NOT call these human rights violations? Nope! This is what I would term human rights extermination! 

Meanwhile, China is now banging on about the US and its allies for the chaos that has ensued after the Taliban took Kabul. And here we have China as one of a few of the world's first nations to recognise the Islamic Taliban terrorist state of Afghanistan. Hypocrisy is the word. Oh, and Beijing has been widely speculated to be checking a possible $1 trillion takeover of Afghanistan's vast mineral deposits there. And then we have Chen's lovely statement: "We will continue developing a good neighbourly, friendly, and co-operative relationship with Afghanistan and continue our constructive role in its process of peace and reconstruction," 

This is the deceiving and fraudulent government of China today, folks! 

Hate Crime and What to Do About It

 

The other day one of the subjects discussed on TalkRadio was the apparent increase in hate crime in the UK. Well, to be honest, this is not anything new although I am aware that, with the emergence of social media, this abominable behaviour is becoming more and more prevalent in our society. In a recent blog I covered the hatred that exists between both sets of supporters of Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic football clubs. In fact, in many team sports hatred is displayed not only by the fans but by the actual teams.

Unfortunately, hatred is an inherent trait of all humans. I am sure all of us, in every nation on the planet, experiences hate from the behaviour of that bloody next-door neighbour to speeding drivers on the M25 motorway. The hatred of people, however, goes back to time immemorial. All the major empires, some of which were the Roman, Persian, Russian, Mongol, the Ottoman and of course the British Empire, ruled countries and civilisations all of which had enemies. And it seems to me that it is the very basic human trait of hatred that starts all wars. We have Muslim against Jew, the poor against the rich, the Tory against the Labourite, various forms of racism and on it goes.

So what exactly is hate crime? It's been said that, legally, a hate crime 'is an act of prejudice or hostility towards any aspect of a person's identity'. Of course these days these crimes are also found on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, etc. I mean I'm old enough and ugly enough to remember those years when the Internet was in its infancy and before mobile phones even existed. Fast forward to today, and it seems, especially younger people, are actually addicted to their mobiles and, to a certain extent, social media.

And then we have trolls and trolling. Again, looking back to the past, these two words were unheard of - never used. It was only with the coming of the Internet, especially back in the 80s, that we see the first evidence of this. These days the word 'troll' is internet slang describing a person (I would call them nutcases) who post inflammatory, abusive, obnoxious messages on an online community (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc). This can also include newsgroups, forums, chat rooms or blogs, with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses or manipulating others' perceptions. I know, it's hellish. Nowadays it's homophobic and transphobic crimes that are appearing almost daily.

How do we handle it? I'm gonna take a Buddhist viewpoint. For me hate crime and trolling are mental disorders, not of the brain, but of the mind. In Buddhism, we have what the Buddha called the Three Poisons: Greed (lobha), Hatred (dosa) and Delusion (moha). For me, people who are tied up in hate crime basically suffer, especially from greed and hatred. And of course, in today's societies greed plays a major part that leads in many cases to hatred. These are thwarted minds that have grown within social media circles and follow the sheep habit: ‘oh, you’re doing it - I’ll follow you’. How would the Buddha handle this social problem? He would probably ask people to show more compassion to their fellow man. Create peace, not war. Put other people before you not behind you. Show grace and empathy for your fellow humans.

That’s my take on hate crime. Unfortunately, it ain’t going away any time soon.

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

 

Probably the majority of people on this planet will never have heard of this great, enlightened Indian yogi, guru and teacher, Paramahansa Yogananda. It was by pure accident if I can call it that, when I discovered him and his wonderful autobiography that changed my thinking right up until the present day. It would have been back in 1973 - 1974 when I was a drummer in a rock band called Triad. Of course, we were not professionals - the three of us in the band had full-time jobs. It was one weekend when we were practicing new songs in a village hall that our roadie had turned up with this book: Autobiography of a Yogi. I asked him what it was about and he just said it was the most incredible book he'd ever read. He handed it to me and I checked the contents page. At that very moment, something happened. I still cannot put my finger on it; something away deep down in one's being, one's spirit. Anyway, he lent me the book and that night, whilst tucked up in bed, I started to read it. I can't remember what time it was but I read the whole 391 pages.

 

So the following weekend I went through to Edinburgh to buy the book from the same bookshop as our roadie. He gave me directions on how to get to the shop. And there it was, on the shelf, Autobiography of a Yogi. It cost me £3.25p. Today you can buy it on Amazon for between £13.00 and £15.00! Back then I reckon I read this book about a dozen times over an 18-month period. So in the book, Yoganda (born: January 5, 1893 - died: March 7, 1952) describes his upbringing in India and his encounters with spiritual figures of both the Eastern and the Western world. The book begins with his childhood family life and follows to his finding his guru, to becoming a monk and establishing his teachings of Kriya Yoga meditation. The book continues in 1920 when Yogananda accepts an invitation to speak in a religious congress in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He then travels across America lecturing and establishing his teachings in Los Angeles, California. In 1935, he returned to India for a year-long visit. When he returned to America, he continued to establish his teachings, including writing this book.

 

The thing that caught my imagination on first reading it was that he died on March the 7th, 1952 which was exactly seven days after I was born. Of course, during that time the hippie era was coming to a close. This was an age when many of us took to smoking dope, dropping acid (LSD) and practicing meditation. I gave up on the drugs and began practicing meditation every morning before going out to work. And so my interest in Hinduism evolved especially the subject of reincarnation. Why was it that, me a born Christian, suddenly found myself embracing Hinduism?  However, to cut a very long story short, I eventually got involved in Buddhism from my Hindu studies and became a practicing Buddhist in 1975.

 

Obviously, I am not going to go into all the details of the book. You can purchase it online via Amazon, eBay, etc and I am telling you, you shall be amazed!

So I shall just finish with the death of this wonderful yogi. As mentioned above he died on the 7th March 1952. The Mortuary Director of the Forest-Lawn Memorial park, where Yogananda's body was temporarily placed, gave an account of the body. Here is a part extract of his account.

"The body of the blessed master, Paramhansa Yogananda, was laid down on his bed three days after his passing.  The phenomenal state of immutability that manifested itself at his death appears to be God’s dramatic way of calling mankind’s attention to the soul-revealing science of yoga. The absence of any visual signs of decay in the dead body of Paramhansa Yogananda offers the most extraordinary case in our experience . . . no physical disintegration was visible in Yogananda’s body even twenty days after death.  The body was under daily observation at the mortuary from March 11, 1952, the day of the last public rites, until March 27, 1952, when the bronze casket was sealed by fire.  During this period no indication of mould was visible on Yogananda’s skin, and no visible desiccation (drying up) took place in the bodily tissues.  This state of perfect preservation of a body is, so far as we know from mortuary annals, an unparalleled one."

Away Back to the Sixties

 

So I've always wanted to take a look back at the 60s and to write about how I felt about this exceptional era when I was a lad. Of course in this blog, I am recalling the basic history of those years age between 1960 and 1969. My overriding observation when looking back was the then ceremonial phrase, The Swinging Sixties. Shall touch upon that shortly.

So what inspired me to write this blog? Simple, the extraordinary TV series, Heartbeat, that great drama series based in the fictional villages of Aidensfield and Ashfordly in North Yorkshire. When I started to watch the repeat series - this would have been around 2015 when working in Leatherhead, Surrey - it just captured my imagination, all those throwbacks to the 60s, the music, the counter-culture, costumes, hairstyles, just amazing. You can Google search and you'll find tons of episodes online.

So, the 60s, and just what was going on? Well, we all knew about the Swinging Sixties as they were known by some. Those were the years, especially in California, where the hippie movement began, a hedonistic mix of music and drugs, and in 1967 we had the Summer of Love and the incredible Woodstock Festival of Music. Again, Google it - you can watch this whole awesome event online. Many of the greats of the time appeared on stage: Joan Baez, Santana, Canned Heat, The Who, Joe Cocker, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; yep some of the greats of the day.

 And the memorable events over and above Woodstock. Of course, there were many. So here are a few. The dance craze ‘the twist’ arrived in discotheques. Marilyn Monroe passed away; they reckon it was an attempted suicide by overdosing on barbiturates. It’s weird that her one-time lover, the then President of the United States, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The Beatles made their first tour of the United States. Miniskirts turned up on our streets. Seemingly women were wearing them as far back as 5400BC - what? The great Walt Disney died of lung cancer in 1966; seemingly he was a life-long chain smoker! Sorry to continue in a dreary note but Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of his hotel room. It’s recorded that in a speech the previous day, he said, “I’ve seen the promised land and the coming of the Lord.”

On a more positive note, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. It was July, 1969, when he stated, “Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  As I mentioned at the start of this blog, I was a young teenager during the 60s. Looking back, the 1960s was a decade of rapid change. Blink for one second and you would have missed it. Of course when it came to drugs, if you remembered anything about the 60s, then you weren’t there!! It was the period that finally allowed people the liberty and individuality people who had fought for and what we take for granted nowadays. The 60s began bleak and restricted, but by the end, people were full of hope and optimism for a better future.

And so just a few more memories. Coronation first aired in 1960 and is still going. And then BBC 2 arrived on our TV screens in 1964 and was the first channel to have colour in 1967. Dr. Who arrived and was played by William Hartnell. Everything we bought was paid for in £SP (pounds, shillings and pence). A gallon of petrol cost approximately, £0.28 whereas today it's around £5.80! Transistor radios arrived on the scene and a colour television would set you back around £250 in today's money. I mean I could go on but will stop it here. 

And here were are in 2021. Is there any optimism for a better future? Sorry, but it doesn’t look like it. We’ll see.