Racism: something worth talking about it

Humanity. Again. I think I need to talk about something else, but whatever. And this time the topic is racism in the world, so I believe this is going to be interesting.

Racism is one of those global issues that some people believe that it's "not that important to talk about" or that it's "something not as important as, for example, global warming". And well, the latest one is right, but again, it's worth talking about it. You see, the world is full of different types of humans: white ones, black ones, asiatic, european... and this cultural diversity makes one huge issue within the world population: which one of those types is the "superior one". This problem has led humanity into some really nasty moments through History: street violence, revolutions, a sense of alienation in the population just for his skin tone or language... The list goes on and on. This problem creates a sense of "supremacy" in the powerful countries against those cultures and places marked as "the inferior ones" or "the savage ones", thus making the process of living in a place that it's not your place of birth a lot harder.

One of the solutions that I believe (and also one of my colleagues, so I suppose it's right) could be that we should make people aware of this issue from a very young age. Society has told us to mock about people who live in other places, so why not make society teach young people how to tolerate them? Besides, let's focus in the most important point of this topic: why we discriminate people to begin with it? It's just pointless! WE are humans: we go work, we feel emotions, we think... We are an entity that should get along with everyone instead of fighting like stupid animals in order to show the world which part of the human race is the most retarded.

Racism is pointless: the real human potential lies in cooperation, but not as one race, but as a whole species. If we could just leave far away this stupid idea and just improve ourselves, we could make anything that we want.   

Man on the Edge: alternative ending

The wind was growing stronger every second he was there. Gazing upon the street, the man thought that all the crowd cheering at him were just a bunch of bored people that wanted to see someone turn into a human splat on the sidewalk. Sadly, he was right. He knew that those pigs in uniform didn't care about his life at all: they just cared about ending this stupid day and go home to watch some TV. "What a bunch of disgusting bastards are in this world" he thought. And there he was, thinking about doing it. It wasn't that hard, actually: just a little step forward and everything would end quickly. Just one step forward...

Not that far away, Gary was watching the news. Some poor idiot wanted to kill himself by jumping from a 90 stories building. "What a bunch of disgusting bastards are in this world", Gary thought. He had three kids, four jobs to keep them all alive and a wife so drunk and wasted that she invented a whole new language that she spoke with belches. But Gary wasn't jumping from a skyscraper like that pathetic guy, no: he was working like no one else. But no one cheered him for his hard work, no one ever said "thanks Gary you are a valuable member of this society!" or filmed him on TV. But there he was: one guy wants to draw some attention by jumping from a tall place and everybody goes crazy about it. It was unbelievable for Gary.

By making one step backward, he decided not to jump. Yes, he lost everything he cared about, but what was the point of killing himself? She was dead, but dying wasn't the answer for this situation. This was over. He gazed again upon the street and whispered: "I'm not going to make those bastards happy today. It's over". 

Gary couldn't believe what he was watching: the man wasn't going to jump! Was he for real?! After all that stupid play, he was so scared of death that he couldn't make one single step forward?! Gary was at the edge of his seat: all of this for nothing! He was really mad. He gaze upon his wife and kids: they were all sleeping. He was smiling with his crazy eyes full opened. Why they were resting so pleasantly?! They didn't deserve that pleasure! He went into his his room, grabbed his shotgun and loaded it with five bullets. No more, no less. The last thing that he whispered before cocking his gun was: "I'm not going to make those bastards happy today. It's over".

Manga: another way to read and think

When I was young, I was an avid reader. I read every single thing that had letters on it. But when I wanted to read a book, I was a little bit more selective: I was just interested in ancient books like The Odissey or The Divine Comedy, mostly because the huge amount of mythological content those titles had. But when I grew up, I was starting to getting bored of the way they told those kind of stories. But then, I discovered something that was a more interesting way of reading: manga.

You see, not everything in Japan is weird stuff, tentacles and weird humor: they also deal with moral concepts and ways of thinking inside their plots and characters. For example, right now I'm reading two mangas: Berserk, who deals with things such as the thin line between good and bad actions and that you need to fight for the things you want because people who wants everything without doing anything are going to be left behind (and everything is told in a medieval fantasy world, so that's a plus for me); and Shingeki No Kyojin, a tale set in a world ruled by titans and the only place that humanity can survive is surrounded by giant walls. This one is also quite interesting, dealing with the concept of the fragility of humanity against things that they cannot comprehend and the censorship imposed by the people who rule above everyone. 

The thing with manga is that you can find whatever you are looking for: love histories, fantasy, epic tales, horror,... And everything is ilustrated, so if you are really lazy (like me) and you don't want to imagine something just by reading text, this is the world for you.

Sex Pistols vs Rostropovich: Contrast

The British rock band Sex Pistols and the famous cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich are really different ways of listening to music. Sex Pistols was a punk rock band born in England in the late 70s. They were famous for making a huge impact in British culture with his music style and their aggressive concerts. One of the most noticeable members was Sid Vicious, the bass player. He had a short life full of drugs and alcohol, thus dying at the age of 22. However, Rostropovich is a little bit more relaxed with his music predilection. He was a Russian cello player who was left the Soviet Union in 1974 and he is considered one the greatest cello players alive. He is also recognized as loyal advocate of human rights, and he was awarded with the Award of the International League of Human Rights. As you can tell, the punk band and the Russian cellist are very contrasting ways of the music in the 20th century.

Overthinking about... Batman

Okay, first of all: I am a big Batman Fanatic. With a capital F. I could talk about all the things I love about it: his way of dealing with criminals, the enemies he faces,... The list goes on and on, but right now I want to focus in one thing that I really enjoy: His psychological profile.

You see, when I look at Batman, I don't see the "masked vigilante that delivers justice to his foes". In fact, what I see in The Bat is a crazy person. Let me explain a little better: I believe that Bruce Wayne is just a mentally scarred person that needs to hit people (without killing them) in order to believe that he is doing the right thing.

I mean, if you know how Batman was formed, you shouldn't be surprised at all with this opinion: his parents were killed by Joe Chill in an alley when he was around 8 or 10, he has an entire fortune in his hands and he made the choice of becoming a symbol of justice in Gotham City by training his abilities to an almost inhuman level and then returning home becoming the Cape Crusader. You know, usual rich boy stuff.

But the punchline of this joke is that Bruce does not believe that Gotham can be a better place under his surveillance: Gotham is nothing more than his playground. I mean, let's take a look at his opposed "ally" in the battle against crime: Superman. For the spirit of Bill Finger, he is an alien that arrived in a humble house in Kansas and when he discover his abilities he make the choice of becoming the protector of the Earth! A place that is not his real home! But what does Bruce go for instead? Becoming a guy that cripples people just because "killing is the easy way".

Despite all of this nonsense, I love Batman. Seriously, if you have the time, read a few comics about him or watch The Animated Series (one of the reasons I became a huge Batsy fan by the way). And yes, I said comics and the animated show, but not movies. The only one that I really believe it's worth it is the 1989 film directed by Tim Burton. But don't worry, I'll talk about the other movies soon.

Talking about... the concept of "Justice" (opinion)

We humans always want to maintain balance in our societies, and to do that we make laws and create social concepts, such as "Justice". But actually we don't really know what is Justice.

So, let's pretend that you are going to get yourself about 12 years in jail because you kill someone. "You are a true monster and you deserve nothing more than a painful death rotting in a cell!" and "Who do you dare to end the life of a human being?" are probably going to be the lovely words of those that just know that killed someone. But let's think for a second that the one you killed was someone that was making your life a true nightmare and nobody knows that. "But I killed him in order to put an end to this madness! I did it because justice wouldn't help me!" I hear you say. But do you really believe that people are going to change their way of thinking just because you thought that it was "the right thing to do"? It's not that easy.

If you want to know my point, I don't believe in justice: it's something so complex and abstract that nobody believes in this idea the same way: some people think that people who steal things like humongous amounts of money should get more years in prison than a common thief, some others believe that murderers deserve death, and so on.

Justice it's not the way to deal with things in my opinion, because it's not one of the fairest systems in our society, and it shouldn't be the "most important concept in our world".

Let's describe my sister

Sometimes I believe that there is some hope in humanity, that somewhere in this world, someone can be friendly, humble, able to help people without wanting something in exchange,... You know, good qualities for a nice human. But then I see my sister and I lose hope immediately.

 She is one of the dullest, craziest person I've ever met. Her body is covered with really bizarre tattoos, she's quite thin and she's always angry with something or someone. She's not really bright and sometimes she can be a real headache, but at least she can be friendly when she's in a good mood and she's one hell of a painter. But of course, you'd think that the logical thing to do when you can paint good is selling your work, but no way if you are my sister, because she thinks that it's better to keep the paints inside the house.

You see my point of view, right?

Guernica and feelings

My feelings towards this paint are the same as its composition: a huge mess.

When I see it, I feel anger. Well, not full rage, but I get angrier the more I see it, and that's probably because the scene is really chaotic (or maybe it's because I had to study this paint for a long time, who knows). I also feel a little bit uncomfortable when I watch the "faces" of the characters, like they were in deep sorrow or something like that.

I cannot describe it very well this emotion, but I would say that it's something between anger and sadness. Mostly anger. Yes, I think I'm going to go with anger more than with anything else.

Feelings are kinda hard to describe, just as hard as trying to understand this picture.