(no subject)

[sinclair_furie]

OK, so I am back from Australia. And I suppose I have many things to say, most importantly that it was cold  there and now I'm sick.
I'll give a real entry later, about music, movies, books (OMG), accents and immigrants. And Australia, I suppose, and my fear of foraging for food. And I still have to finish my "Doctor Who's Gay Agenda" entry.
Anyway.
Go read this article on Sex and Scandal at Duke in Rolling Stone, and then this response by a Duke blogger. Depressing. And rather interesting.
Also, I'm apparently hopeless on politics. I answered "Liberal" and "other" to Niyatee's question... and then explained in the comments, ruminated about Sweden,  Bangladesh and India before Keri and I decided that absurdism does not go well with politics.
So next time you ask me about my politcal views, I'll scoff and declare myself an absurdist.

Comments

[nwhyte]

Sounds very intriguing, but lunaedraconis has locked that entry! Perhaps you can repost the juicy bits here for the curious?

[sinclair-furie.livejournal.com]

AH! Sorry, didn't realise it was locked!
I said: Libertarian or Liberal, depending on my mood. Seriously. My political upbringing has been kind of spotty because I've grown up as an expat, so I get all the benefits of paying lots of taxes without actually paying any. My dad's family is Bangladeshi, and politics to them is "that relatively corrupt party we belong to or that other corrupt party that's associated with a fundamentalist muslim organisation." And like, sometimes I have a big ego and I say, well, I can make enough money to survive without the government's help and if others can't well they can deal with it.
So yeah. I'm still not actually sure if I like taxes and welfare and medical insurance and all that jazz. I mean, I plan on living as an expat as soon as possible, so mostly I'll get aong by indirectly exploiting poor people.
In the States I'll probably identify as liberal to piss people off. Apparently liberals and left-wing people are supposed to cause anger.
Wow. Long.
And then continued :
I've never understood conservatives. Not the ideology itself, but the word. Why would you want to call yourself conservative? It's not a very nice sounding word. It makes you sound old, stubborn and generally useless.
Whereas liberal just suggests open-mindedness. It's a better word, but at times an equally stupid ideology. :)
I'd vote for Ralph Nader because he's an Arab, and therefore the only non-WASP-ish party leader.
(yes, I'm useless)
Thankfully I'm a Swedish citizen and do not have to worry about American political soap operas. I'd vote conservative in Sweden, though, because, hello 60% taxation??? The conservatives try to bring it down to the paltry sum of about, oh, 40% or 50%.
:)
Then in response to Keri's remark that in Jamaica "the general consensus is that everyone in any position of political power is incompetent, regardless of his or her party," I said:
I know so little about politics in Sweden other than the fact that they're all (dirty) socialists.
My dad is Bangladeshi, which means political discussions go like this: "There's no way the Awami League can get back in power! BNP will rig the election" "Yes, well then Awami League will just have to rig back, better."
(Honestly. This was my father and my 22 year old cousin. It sounds less stupid in Bengali, but still.)
My mother is Indian, so her politics is like, "Oh, Congress party!" (I giggle about Italian Prime Ministers) "Oh, Kashmir!" (I giggle some more about corruption and how Pakistan is afraid Bollywood films will corrupt their population)
I find Socialists amusing. The entire time I was in Canada, I was all, "Oh yeah, shops close at five, Socialist country."
Really, third world countries are the place to be. Cheap labor, cheap food, and the malls are open till ten.
I'm beginning to suspect that a love of absurdism and an attempt to be serious about politics just won't go very well together.
Perhaps when people ask me from now on, I'll reply with, "Liberal? Hah! I'm an absurdist!"

[cheecheechee.livejournal.com]

i wanted sonia gandhi to become prime minister! why, i don't remember. i think i would have found it funny. also, i liked their logo better than BJP's.

... in my defense, i was a freshman.

haha absurdist seems to me a very intelligent and legitimate political standing. we should start an Absurdist Party. ohhh yeah. capital letters.

[nwhyte]

Oops, meant to reply to this sooner. As it happens my Bangladeshi uncle in London is a big wheel in the Awami League too - small world!

As for Sweden, I do recommend you start reading the fomer prime minister, carlbildt - there are not many people of his level of experience who are serious about blogging!

[queenof-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

One day, absurdists will take over the world.

[sinclair-furie.livejournal.com]

Yes.
Perhaps they already have, but don't really care. I mean, that would explain the state of the world.
I missed the last meeting for absurdists. Did they announce taking over the world?

[queenof-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

I have no idea - I missed it too. You know how they are about those meetings; sometimes we get notices about them, usually we don't...

[oohfeisty.livejournal.com]

the guy who wrote the email about planning to rape & kill, i think it was, that prostitute - his name was ryan mcfadyen, went to my older brother's private all-boys school. he was such a prick.

[sinclair-furie.livejournal.com]

Was it a boarding school?
I love all-boys boarding schools. They're breeding grounds for depressing writing, lots of smoking and beer consumption and of course the requisite homoeroticism.
I love them from the point of view of a writer. I'd never actually want to go to one, they sound scary.

[oohfeisty.livejournal.com]

nah it was just a normal school. catholic though! lots of smoking, of the marijuana variety, definitely. hahaha & oh the homoeroticism.