Sunday, November 06, 2005

Confronting Reality

Some kids burn cars in the streets, and others work at making them fly. Today we have stories about how we think of our lives, the purpose of being. We have a piece on Somali pirates attacking ships off the Horn of Africa, and we have a story about a Korean boy, about the chaos of Somalia and the dedication of Koreans to educating their children. Like it or not, people make their own decisions, and if Muslims in Somalia choose to raise their children to be garbage people the Somalis aren't going to be rocket scientists. The French are caught in the middle, and it's there we'll start this post, by looking at the situation as objectively as possible, hoping that the solution to the crisis of Somali in France can turn into a Korean solution. We approach this obliquely:

Re: Politics of Confrontation.

Shiva and I have written on this often, my take coming from the U.S. and France in the late 1960s when the New Left, (the red diaper babies,) response to their parents' old-style party-based Communism was seen to be an obvious failure in the eyes of the public, i.e. the working classes, amd the New Left left the backrooms of the union halls and took to the campuses of elite Western colleges to bring forth the people's revolution. Unsurprisingly, in spite of the high rhetoric of the New Left the working classes weren't buying into Communist revolution, given that they were relatively prosperous and paying dearly for their children's educations. Young radical students though, raised in the atmosphere of combined Stalinism and affluence, felt themselves to be intellectually and morally superior to their parents, and seeing clearly that the working classes were "part of the problem" rather than part of the solution abandoned the working classes as counter-revolutionary and as reactionary, and they took to a new constituency for support and power: the barbarians and lumpen-proletariat, i.e. the Third World peasants and the street people in ghettos, abandoning the classical thrust of socialist concern, the working people.

There arose the clear division between the Left classical socialist and the Left fascist, which to this moment most of our Leftist contributors don't understand. Briefly, the New Left, not having any base in the working classes took up with barbarians, hence "philobarbarism," and, with no support from the Old Left Communists, were cut adrift from their roots.

Like today's homicide bombers, the Left fascists had little actual power but a great deal of media awareness, which they put into action in the politics of confrontation in the streets of major Western cities, rioting, battling with police, and cetera. The idea, fairly successful, was to confront the authorities with an intolerable situation that would require, in the interests of the state, that the state act in violent response against the Left and its constituents, thereby radicalizing the marginals, drawing them in and dividing them between those who supported state reaction and those who would by necessity side with the "revolutionaries" to halt genocide. To start riots in Watts would be to expose the racism inherent in the system, would show the white police beating the black rioters, and would thereby show the world just how evil the whole system is, forcing people to take sides even though they'd rather live quietly and go to work and raise their children.

This is the "politics of confrontation" that Shiva and I write about. We feel that to stir the pot and bring to the surface the clear evidence of our problems will divide the nations' people between those who will fight and those who will side with our enemies, there really being no middle ground left. We will find that there is a problem that cannot be solved by dialogue alone, and that those who do not attempt to sovle it by rational means are part of the problem.

[Before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion that I or Shiva promote terrorist vigilantism, please search here for posts, and there are many, on the legitimate rule of law in legitimate states. cf www.jihadwatch.org.]

You may turn to the review [just singing in the rain] and excerpts from Eugene Methvin, The Riot Makers, a classic look at the mind of those who followed the politics of confrontation to its limits.
***

The riots in Paris continued for the tenth straight night, and as usual there is much nonsense about racism, bigotry, social alienation brought about by the evils of the system, and cetera. It's not only tiresome, it's not convincing to any but the most idiotic of ideologues and fools, of whom there are many. But the situation changes, however gradually, when the fire comes home, as it's doing in France. The question is when will the majority of French and other Westerners accept the situation for what it objectively is: a mass movement to primitivise the Western world in accord with Left dhimmi Counter-Enlightenment neo-feudalism. In other words, the Left dhimmi fascist agenda of destroying progress, the concept of linear historical movement in favor of cyclical and primitive agricultural existence based on a pre-industrial economy and social structure is trying to destroy the Modern world in favor of a fascistic "Return to Nature." Media-smart Leftists and sophist philosophers of Left dhimmi fascism use the primitives as proxies to destroy the industrial and technological West in the hopes of destroying capitalism and its progress toward individuality and privacy. It's not different now from the 1960s politics of confrontation; but it is we, older and wiser, and on to the tricks of fascism who can turn this table around at long last and sling our future even further into progressive Modernism if only we will.

So, let us compare the futures of our possible worlds. First we can look at the vison presented by the Left dhimmi fascists, and from there we'll look at the future Korea presents. Regarding the politics of confrontation, we leave that to the reader to consider in the privacy of his/ her own mind.
***

Pirates may have also attacked UN ship

CTV.ca News Staff

A group of pirates that attacked a luxury cruise liner were likely responsible for seizing a UN vessel in June, a Kenyan official said Sunday.

The Seabourn Spirit was 160 kilometres off Somalia when two speedboats closed in on the vessel and opened fire with machine-guns and a rocket-propelled grenade.

[.....]

Rogers said the captain evaded the pirates by increasing speed and charging their two boats. The pirates then "scurried away," he said.

[....]

Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program, told The Associated Press that the pirates are likely responsible for hijacking a UN-chartered vessel on June 27.

The crew was held hostage for 100 days, until the ship ran out of fuel. It was on a humanitarian mission to Somalia, carrying food aid.

Mwangura told AP the pirates likely belong to a group that operates along Somalia's 3,025 kilometre coastline.

[....]

The Somali coast is known to be infested with pirates, who are becoming more and more brazen.

According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), at least 23 hijackings and attempted seizures have been recorded off Somalia's coastline since mid-March.

Two days ago, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that such activity had hampered delivery of relief supplies to more than 500,000 people in the region.

Due to its impact on tourism, the Seafarers' Assistance Programme (SAP) is planning to convene Monday to discuss this latest attack -- the first on a cruise ship off the Somalia coast.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Said Barre, and is now overrun by warlords.

http://www.ctv.ca
***

Song Yoo-geun, 8, wants to build flying cars, defying Newton's law of gravity, and the physics genius which has made him Korea's youngest university student may very well drive him to that dream.

Amid scholastic achievements that have confounded experts, the public spotlight is squarely on the child prodigy and his parents, both 46 and both former teachers. What has made Yoo-geun - born late November 1997 and actually just shy of 8 years old - so special?

His parents differ from the vast majority of Korean parents who show a passion approaching zeal for their children's education.

"No fixed daily routines for our boy," said Yoo-geun's parents. "Yoo-geun has a monthly schedule only. Rather than being confined by a rigid timetable, Yoo-geun has the freedom to explore every field he wants to."

While other children his age are first graders at elementary school, he is a freshman at the Physics Department of Inha University in Incheon, west of Seoul.

Song Yoo-geun

He set a record by completing elementary, junior-high and high school curricula in just nine months - a progression that normally takes Koreans 12 years - before being admitted to university.

With no school record to rely on for screening Yoo-geun's qualifications, the university tested him through an interview in October. He surprised professors by explaining the Schroedinger equation, which is of central importance to the theory of quantum mechanics.

Experts say the equation, proposed by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schroedinger in 1925, plays a role analogous to Newton's second law in classical mechanics.

[....]

The interview was conducted mainly with the senior Song since Yoo-geun is lacking in his ability to communicate with adults.

"I think it's good to let my son do whatever he wants," the father said. According to him, when Yoo-geun is engrossed in solving math problems or doing games, he often concentrates on them for up to 14 or 15 hours. "He likes to reach conclusions, even it takes a long time."

He said his son wants his to undertake research at CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory near Geneva.

Yoo-geun's dream is to make flying cars, based on the superstring theory - an attempt by science to explain all particles and forces of nature by representing them as vibrations of tiny strings.

"It goes against Newton's law. Everything on earth gets drawn to the surface by gravity, but in the case of flying cars, it's different," Song said. "There should exist the same opposite magnitude of power as the earth's gravity-pull. So, a balance is formed between gravity and reaction, which makes flying cars float in the atmosphere," he explained.

"To study more on flying cars and the super-string theory, Yoo-geun wants to join CERN," the father said.

Yoo-geun first made headlines in March last year when he received a certificate for information-processing, normally given to professional engineers in their 20s or 30s. A KBS-TV program introduced his extraordinary talent in physics last November.

In March this year, he went to an elementary school but after a few days said he didn't feel suited to the school system. He took a test to obtain a diploma certifying graduation from elementary school, and passed it.

But the Song family became embroiled in legal disputes with the school authorities after they refused to approve the exam result and issue a diploma.

In April, the Song family won the case. Afterwards, on April 5, Yoo-geun passed the middle school-level entrance exam, followed on Aug. 3 by the high school-level entrance exam. In October he was admitted to the Physics Department of Inha University.

Then Science and Technology Minister Oh Myung labeled Yoo-geun as "the first prodigy in science" and promised to offer him scholarships for five years. Oh said the government will provide support for him to be able to experiment at state-run research institutes and study at universities abroad.

Yoo-geun's father is basically against prodigy schools because, he says, their institutional methods prevent children from growing creatively. Plus, he added, it's absurd to produce the same number of gifted students every year.

Nationwide there are currently 23 such schools, which accept a set number of students. What about other gifted students who, unfortunately, weren't allowed to enter? The standards to determine genius become unclear, the senior Song said.

Asked if media attention is burdensome, he said "proper attention" is desirable because proper media attention can enable encouragement to be passed on. Furthermore, it will generate more interest in physics, an area which is declining but fundamental to advancing science.

Song also said he hopes media attention can help Yoo-geun become the Park Se-ri of physics. By winning many LPGA golf championships, Park became a model for young, aspiring golfers. After Park, plenty of female Korean golfers such as Kim Mi-hyun and Grace Park and Michelle Wie have figured prominently on the women's golf circuit.

"Public attention on Yoo-geun shouldn't stop here. I'd like to see more kids go along the same path, shoulder to shoulder with Yoo-geun," said Song.

[....]

"I believe, above all, the first priority in education is to make every child happy, said Song.

"The single most important thing in education is to find a favorable, encouraging environment for a kid - in other words, let him be," he concluded.

(siyoungh@heralm.com)

By Hwang Si-young

www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/11/05/200511050024.asp
***

Mr. Song has not only the right idea, letting children be, but also the kind of child one can let be. Muslims, grinding their children into the muck of Islam also let them be: feral. In Korea a gifted child has numerous schools to apply to, and if there's a shortage one must assume there will be spaces available for them at other schools abroad. Those children are wanted-- desperately. The desperate, we don't want them and we can't seem to get rid of them. Kids who make cars fly, and kids who make car bombs. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who we want and who we want to rid ourselves of.

How do we confront the issue of Muslim rioters who school themselves in jihad? We leave it for smart people to figure that out.

2 comments:

Pastorius said...

It's so funny. To this day, when I talk to my academically-bent friends and say "Some cultures are better than others," they will still argue with me. Even when I point out the ravages of Sharia.

"Are societies run by Sharia, such as the Sudan, or Saudi Arabia, as good as American culture."

"I just don't think we can judge."

Heh.

You have got to be pretty stupid not to be able to judge the difference between those two extremes. Clearly, there Political Correctness had obliterated rationality.

Dag said...

The proof that some people will believe anything is the fact that some people believe in nothing. And worse, those are the people who have all the answers for the right-wing religious bigots like us, who scream: "No free speech for fascists."

If I weren't a liberal atheist I'd pray to God that Korean children run the world, they having more sense than the lot we have now.

Oh, what the hell, I'm going to pray for it anyway, taking up Pascal's wager as the best chance I have in these sullen and nasty times.