My Favourite Life Philosophy?

 

The other day I received an e-mail from Professor Rebus. Who? What? Who is Professor Rebus I hear you ask? Well, he's not a 'professor'. No, he is the creator of the Pitcherwits puzzle, a mixture of formal cryptic crossword puzzle clues and image clues. In his e-mail he asks for those subscribers to write, in this case, an article about 'your life' philosophy. Here is what I wrote.

Well, mine is based on three key teachings of that man who lived about 2,500 years ago in Northern India: the Buddha. In his Three Marks of Existence teaching, he stated that our everyday lives are conditioned by impermanence (Pali: annica), suffering (Pali; dukkha) and non-self (Pali: annata). What does this actually mean in my life? If I separate myself from the actual teachings I begin to acknowledge a wider picture of me and everything around me. For instance, I decide to drive to my nearest supermarket for some groceries. I'm about halfway there and my car breaks down. I get out of the car, lift up the hood, and I find the engine's run out of oil. Damn! The effect on my emotions turn from frustration to anger. Why, oh why, oh why? Had I checked the oil level on that day, or the day before, or the previous week, then this wouldn't have happened. The car engine, like everything else in life, is subject to change.

This example of impermanence transforms into anguish, torment, in other words, suffering. It's the whole pain of something happening right out of the blue; the car breaking down, the mental trauma, in that moment when life is going along just well, driving my beautiful silver Chrysler 300 to the supermarket, listening to the sweet soul sounds on the radio - and then boom! If the Buddha had been walking past my car that day he might have stopped, looked at the car engine, and then me. I would have said, "Why, Buddha, why did this have to happen? I'm frustrated!" To which the enlightened being would have replied, "If you didn't own the car, you wouldn't have broken down in the first place - simple!" In other words our very belongings, our ownership of stuff, possessions, from the Chrysler to my Samsung mobile, from my Hugo Boss three-piece suit to my Rolex Submariner watch, they are all potential examples of change and suffering.

But, and lastly, what about the person who experiences all this pain: according to Gautama, the non-self (annata)? Over the years I have dug deep into the aspects of dukkha and annica and have a full understanding about the interaction of the two. Where there is change, there is suffering and vice-versa. But non-self? The Buddha basically stated, and based on a lifetime of meditation and teaching, the so-called self doesn’t exist. Yes, it’s a difficult one to get one’s head around. But I have to say that I eventually began to get it. If there is no ‘me’ then where will dukkha and annica attach to? Absolutely! Forget this thing we call ‘me’ and ‘I’ and life begins to get a bit easier, manageable, and uncomplicated. Because all of life’s suffering originates in you, whoever you think you are.

I rest my case . . .  

Just Where is Peng Shuai?

 

Just in case you've been living on another planet during the last 48 hours, you would have seen the news that is spreading all around the world, which is the disappearance of the Chinese tennis player, Peng Shuai. The thirty-five-year-old tennis player from Hunan Province is a Wimbledon and Tour Championships doubles champion who claimed that a Chinese former vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, now 75, sexually assaulted her over a period of at least 10 years. She had written an e-mail about this on the 2nd November. The post with screenshots of the accusations was deleted from Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform, within 30 minutes of publication. Censors deleted any mention of her accusation online and her account was blocked from searchers. The post went viral nonetheless, and censors blocked keywords like ‘tennis’ and removed numerous references to Peng from China's internet.

So here we have yet another instance of the diabolical misbehaviour of the Chinese authorities. You don't need to be a Philadelphia lawyer to know that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is overseeing this whole sorry affair. I ask them here - where is Miss Peng Shuai? You must know because you control the everyday lifestyles of every single living Chinese man and woman in your country. But I'll tell you what, this isn't going to go away any time soon. I can mention the likes of Andy Murray, Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, Billie Jean King, and Novak Djokovic who have voiced their concerns; and to this we can add requests from the Word Tennis Association (WTA), the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and right up to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for evidence that the girl is still alive. Just hours ago the question of Miss Shuai's disappearance was raised in the United Nations. And lastly, the White House Press secretary, Jen Psaki said, "We are deeply concerned by reports that Peng Shuai appears to be missing after accusing a former PRC (Peoples Republic of China) senior official of sexual assaults. We join in the calls for PRC authorities to provide independent and verifiable proof of her whereabouts and that she is safe."

Of course, various Chinese mouthpieces have declared that this is some fantasy and that the girl is safe and secure in the country. Okay, Chinkies, if that is the case, tell us where she is? Provide proof. Because as I have stated earlier, this story is not going to go away and I do believe something quite devastating is going to rear its ugly head . . . is this wonderful tennis player still alive? Has she been bumped off? Is it game, set and match for one Peng Shuai?

Only time will tell my friends. I shall follow up with another related post soon.

Qatar, the World Cup and Alcohol

Next year, in 2022, when it comes to football, history will be made. Why? Because the Middle East country, Qatar, will become the first Arab nation to hold the 92-year-old event. This selection happened in 2010 when the FIFA Executive Committee awarded the tournament to Qatar. Shortly after, the German newspaper, Bild, reported that there had been corrupt goings-on within FIFA and the rulers of Qatar. However, that is history. The fact is, Qatar will host the tournament next year.

Qatar, as you no doubt know, is an Islamic country and Sharia Law is the main source of legislation as per the constitution of the country. In other words, Islam more or less dominates all aspects of life. There are many things that are allowed in other parts of the world but are forbidden in Qatar; drinking alcohol is one of them - or is it? And I do have experience of this country, having worked there during 2007 - 2008.

According to Sharia Law alcohol is prohibited to be consumed while living in Qatar. It is considered a crime but I can tell you otherwise. Now if you are an Arab and caught drinking alcohol you would be arrested and, after having been found guilty in court, you'd be flogged and jailed. If you are an expat working in Qatar well it's different.

Qatar has, over the past twenty years or so, given some relaxation to foreigners allowing them to drink alcohol in Qatar. If you are an expat and a resident of the country you can buy alcohol from the Qatar Distribution Company. The Qatar Distribution Company has very strict conditions to be followed while selling alcohol in the country. Generally, they sell to only those who have the permit of residence. This means that one has to have a work contract in Qatar to buy alcohol.

But what about hotels? Well, I lived in the capital, Doha, and would get a chartered bus to my work place, the Ras Lafan ‘Industrial City’, a sprawling mass of gas plants and storage facilities about 20 miles north of Doha. Anyway, some of us expats would go out on a Saturday night for a drink. Our ‘local’ was the Sheraton Hotel. Note that there are no pubs in Qatar, only a handful of five-star hotels that are allowed to sell alcohol; only FIVE STAR!

Corruption does exist in Qatar and by corruption, I’ll say only this. Every Saturday night in Doha when we went for a drink in the Sheraton, at exactly nine o’clock, the bar upstairs where we enjoyed a pint, allowed a bunch of Filipino ‘ladies of the night’! Yes, prostitution did exist. They would come up to you if you were at the bar or to your table and basically would chat you up. No bullshit folks. In fact, we all learned that this was a controlled situation by the local police and government authorities.

As for the World Cup, well, I just don’t know how the authorities are going to cope. Yes, you can visit the five-star hotel bars and have a drink. But be warned that if, after you’ve had a heavy drink and walk to your apartment half-pissed and the cops see you, you’ll be arrested. So beware! And with maybe 100,000 football fans descending on the city next year, well, I can only see chaos. We’ll see!

Lukashenko, Poland and Beyond

 

I think we have all been a bit concerned about the growing chaos that is currently taking place on the Belarus and Poland borders. Here we have, according to some reports, more than 1,000 migrants who are now trying to cut down the barbed wire fences and, to be honest, don't look like migrants - no, more like terrorists! And the other report from the Polish Government was that there are between 3,000 - 4,000 migrants settled in an improvised camp on the border just across from its village of Kuźnica. And sat in the background possibly slurping on a large vodka is the Belarusian dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, egging them on, supporting their cause, hoping to create yet more migrant chaos not only in Poland but in Europe and beyond? Of course, he is.

Here is a dictator, not that different from the once most evil tyrant on the planet, Joseph Stalin. Lukashenko, back in May this year, had his air force intercept a flight from Greece to ‘capture’ Raman Protasevich, a Belarusian dissident living in exile in Lithuania.

As I understand, Mr Protasevich, is still under house arrest and no trial has yet has taken place. One can only wonder about the potential torture this man has undergone!! In fact, maybe the one-time blogger is dead. We might never find out.

But getting back to the Polish border. A spokesman for the European Commission stated yesterday, “This is part of the inhuman and really gangster-style approach of the Lukashenko regime that he is lying to people, he is misusing people, misleading them, and bringing them to Belarus under the false promise of having easy entry into the EU.” Lukashenko is using these so-called migrants as pawns against EU and American sanctions. It’s no secret amongst nearly all Western countries that this heinous mongrel poses a massive threat to the West. But it’s not so much as a leader but more that he has the full backing of Putin’s Russia. It was only five days ago when Putin made this statement: “We will together resist any attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of our sovereign states and Russia will, of course, continue to provide assistance to the brotherly Belarusian people – there is no doubt about that.” So there you have it, straight from the little horse’s mouth.

And to finish this blog, just this morning, Lithuania declared a state of emergency in its border regions in reaction to events on the Polish-Belarusian border where big groups of migrants have amassed. But Lithuania has already built a wall along the Belarusian border to prevent migrants from entering the country. Well done, Lithuania. But my last concern is this. Just how many more thousands of migrants are on their way? One doesn’t have to be a Philadelphia lawyer to assume that there are probably thousands. But don’t you worry immigrants from wherever you come from, Mr Lukashenko will welcome you with open arms!

Economic War - UK versus France

 

Once again the French, or should I say, the Froggies, are at it again with threats issuing from the French Government to block UK exports to their country. However, the British Government has vowed to retaliate if France carries out a threat to block British fishermen from its ports over the post-Brexit fishing row. This 'dispute' has been dragging on for serval months now. Yesterday a British Government spokesman said the French ultimatum to disrupt trade and block energy supplies would be hit with “an appropriate and calibrated response.”

 Anything else to add, Froggies? Yes! Paris warned that from Nov 2nd it would be ready to "block British fishermen from its ports and that its customs officials could implement a 'go slow' approach at its borders for incoming shipments from the UK". Some idiot standing in for Emmanuel Macron said the country will “not let Britain wipe its feet on the Brexit deal.” He also mentioned that sanctions could be announced on Thursday which is, as I write, today.

Once again the French Government warned of a so-called 'secondary range of measures' that could restrict energy supplies to Jersey, that would increase the energy price, and would implement even harsher customs controls on cross-Channel trade.

I'll quote what a British government spokesman said yesterday: “France’s threats are disappointing and disproportionate, and not what we would expect from a close ally and partner. The measures being threatened do not appear to be compatible with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and wider international law, and, if carried through, will be met with an appropriate and calibrated response. We will be relaying our concerns to the EU Commission and French government."

You know what? For as far back as I care to remember - maybe it's got something to do with the six nations yearly rugby tournament when we play the Froggies either at Murrayfield in Edinburgh or at the Stade de France in Paris - that I so wanted us to beat the French. Don't ask me why but I did. I can go back to 1963 when the then French leader, Charles De Gaulle, blocked Britain's application to join what was then the EEC. There were other tensions over the years but when Britain left the EU in January last year (2020 Brexit) the French absolutely hated it - why? Because, I believe, that when we were part of the EU, the French deemed that they had a handle on British politics and economics. It's a lengthy story and shall leave it that for the meantime.

I would end this blog by saying that in recent weeks, a number of EU countries believe the French leader is using the row over fishing to attempt to secure more domestic support ahead of next April’s presidential elections. All I can say is that I wish the French vote out this arsehole, Macron, and maybe the UK and French nations will once again come together for diplomatic and economic prosperity!

As for Macron, Bon débarras aux mauvaises ordures (good riddance to bad rubbish)!

The Internet, Social Media and Social Disorder

 

The title of this blog is certainly paradoxical. If it wasn't for the Internet I would not be writing this today for people online to read. On the one hand, I just appreciate that the Internet has completely changed the way we humans go about our business and develop our careers and social life. On the other hand, it has provided, what would I call them, the cyber trolls, the Web fiends, in other words, those social dumbbells who love nothing more than to create havoc, expressing hate, racism and anger. This can be in so many spheres: sports competitions, love affairs (and beyond), education grievances, political and international politics, entertainment, all those so-called stars and celebrities - the list goes on, but . . .

The Internet as we know it goes back a long way. I still remember back in the day, years ago, when we wrote our letters on paper and posted them at the local post office/mailbox. When we wanted to talk to someone, we phoned them on a landline. We could send our messages via telegrams. Television and radio were our sources of entertainment. And yes, there were men’s magazines: Esquire, Penthouse, Playboy, etc. So how did we get from these 'old-fashioned' ways of life to the present?

Back in the 80s, the Internet was already established and personal computers were being sold worldwide. I bought my first PC in 1984, an Apple Macintosh. For me, as a writer, it was the greatest invention ever. And so we moved on and the World Wide Web (WWW) was moving fast, across the planet, there were e-mails and Usenet, from gophers o the WWW, search engines became the norm by the 90s, file sharing, hosting services and of course mobile phones were the norm - still are. It’s how all these developments were the causes of so many tragedies and social upheavals especially during the mid-noughties right through to this day. Much of this in recent years has been by the use of the following (in no particular order):

·         Facebook

·         YouTube

·         Instagram

·         TikTok

·         Whatsapp

·         Snapchat

·         Pinterest

·         Twitter

·         LinkedIn

 

It doesn’t matter whichever one of these you use, it will bring positive as well as negative responses. I could go on to Instagram and state how much I loved Boris Johnson as our Prime Minister. And I can tell you, within minutes, there’d be countless numbers of spiteful and hateful remarks. In other words, say one thing on any of the above social media and you’re sure to get the opposite/extremist response. But it’s when anger, hatred and greed get involved that things can lead to humiliation and even death. These days we call it cyberbullying which includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about somebody - anybody causing embarrassment or humiliation. And much of this 20th-century mindset is a characteristic of the millennial/snowflake generation, those born between 1981 - 1994.

 

I'll end this blog by telling the awful story of SR (name withheld). This was a lovely 15-year-old girl who just loved helping others. She had dreams of joining the fire service and was passionate about drawing and spending time outside with her dogs. SR had overcome challenges before; her mum, a drug addict, abandoned her when she was little but in her final year of life, it was cyberbullying from her peers that would ultimately end in death. It was said that kids started making fun of her red hair and braces. And this went on for months. The bullying continued on social media and in school but it was the taunting on Facebook, Instagram, and other messaging platforms, where classmates would tell her to kill herself. Her parents contacted Instagram headquarters but they didn't do anything about it. Her mother eventually smashed her phone and broke it in half. Seemingly her phone and social media ruled her life and in June of this particular year the bullying had already taken its toll - SR hanged herself.

 

Is there any way out of this 20th-century Internet social media dilemma? I hate to say but I think not. Yes, the invention and subsequent expansion have many positive aspects but away in the background there is the dark, murky underworld which seems uncontrollable and I think can only get worse.

Chinese Whistleblower Exposes Horrific Treatment of Uighurs in Internment Camps

 

Yesterday I watched a Sky news item covering the treatment of Uighurs in the so-called internment camps in the Xinjiang region of northwest China. I first learned about the round-up of these Muslims back in 2019 and, as usual, the Chinese denied all reports of what could only be considered as human rights abuses. I saw hundreds of these innocent Moslem Uighurs - all men - kneeling on the ground, blindfolded, with hands cuffed behind their backs. The first time I saw this I just couldn't get my head around it. What was going on in China?

As I mentioned in a previous blog, China probably has conducted more demonic crimes against humanity than any country on the planet as I described in a previous blog about their bloodcurdling treatment of Tibetans during its invasion of that country back in the 50s. What is it with China and religion? Well, let's face it China, and by that I mean the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), just wants to stop ALL free religious belief systems and they have decided that Islam is an unwelcome example and should be extinguished. Because if you believe in a religious system whether it be Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, etc, then you are a target for mind control, separation and, with the Uighurs, detention in what I can only describe as Nazi-like concentration camps.

So, getting back to the Sky report, this revolved around a Chinese ex-policeman's description of the treatment of Uighurs in these detention camps. And I must warn you the following are quite terrifying accounts by the man who went by the false name of Jiang who now lives in secret in Europe. In what appears to be the first eyewitness testimony by a Chinese official, the former policeman (later a detective) spoke wearing a face mask about the extreme abuse used to extract ‘confessions’ from around 2 million Uighurs rounded up by the Chinese State. This was all about obtaining confessions from the imprisoned Uighurs about their Islamic beliefs and accusations about street protests and them being so-called enemies of the State.

Of course, this is all bullshit. Jiang described how new detainees were beaten during their first interrogation to obtain a confession which, back in 2016, included men, women and children as young as 14. He said he and his colleagues would "kick them, beat them [until they're] bruised and swollen" and "until they dropped to the floor crying". He went on, "If you want people to confess, you use the electric baton with two sharp tips on top. We would tie two electrical wires on the tips and set the wires on their genitals while the person is tied up."

From what I gather, torture in police detention centres stopped only when the suspects ‘confessed’ at which time they were transported to one of hundreds of internment camps referred to as ‘vocational training’ centres by Beijing. No, Beijing, these were fucking concentration camps! Jiang declared, "Those rounded up were accused of terror offences." But Jiang believes 'none' of the hundreds of people he arrested had committed a crime. He said compassionately, "They are ordinary people."

He said one "very common measure" of torture and dehumanisation was for guards to order prisoners to rape and abuse the new male inmates, Jiang said. One detainee, Abduweli Ayup, a 48-year-old Uighur scholar from Xinjiang, said when police picked him up at the Uyghur kindergarten he had hoped to teach young children their native language. The cops then drove him to his nearby house, which he said was surrounded by police carrying rifles. On his first night in a police detention centre in the city of Kashgar, Ayup says he was gang-raped by more than a dozen Chinese inmates, who had been directed to do this by "three or four" prison guards who also witnessed the assault. He said, "The prison guards asked me to take off my underwear," before telling him to bend over. He said, "Don't do this, I cried. Please don't do this." Rape, the most horrific of crimes, pure and simple! He said he passed out during the attack and woke up the next day surrounded by his own vomit and urine.

So, this is a true and disturbing report of Chinese hellish atrocities towards a group of their own countrymen who are suffering human rights abuse. One reporter said it was genocide! I shall leave you to make up your own minds.