Poisonous Western Media Propaganda

Don't you notice, that any really big news about the royal family that doesn't involve either a wedding or a surprise visit to a primary school never, ever turns up on the local newspapers? Oh, you've more than noticed. Either that, or you treat Pelita Brunei as the be-all end-all source of news, with Borneo Bulletin just a minor source for comic relief. Garfield, anyone? I don't like the new strip. I can't remember what it's called. The name escapes me. Of course everyone likes Garfield, the inoffensive, obese, lethargic cat who hates Mondays and dogs, much like the typical Bruneian. Obviously if you treat PB as the encyclopedia of all knowledge (which I know most of you don't), you won't be reading this at all.

It's freedom of speech we're talking about here. It's censorship. It's journalistic censorship.

I know that for a lot of people, the royals are untouchable. To be honest, I don't think they should be. They should be subject to scrutiny as much as everyone else, if not more. I mean, if one of the princes decides to have a massive party with generous amounts of alcohol and the Pussycat Dolls dancing gleefully somewhere (just an example, people. Hahaha), then I think I should be able to say something against that openly without fear of a KDN official jumping out of the bushes with a potato sack and a horse tranquiliser.

I know people do talk a lot about these things, but only through word of mouth. It's never in writing. Maybe people have complained. Maybe people have written. But there's no evidence of it. They're never gonna publish a letter saying that though our princes have a tendency to be madly in love with celebrities, that doesn't mean millions should be spent for the expression of that particular sentiment. I mean, I'm in love with Angelina Jolie myself (girlfriend's not here... safe), but I don't go out of my way to send her a diamond-studded baby from a third-world country.

I wanna watch Beowulf all over again. Thanks for reminding me. Virtual Angie nakedness. The next best thing to the real thing.

A Weak Update

I have to admit, I am sometimes perplexed at some of the replies I got. Some of them don't make sense, some of them are pretentious. Some of them are way off the point. A minority covers those three pillars. I'm not gonna say who.

I know, the activity in this blog is waning day by day, and it's mostly my fault. I used to update once every couple of days, at least. Now it's once a week. As I have recently discovered, I also have a life to live. My real life, not being Jason Biggs.

It's weird nobody pointed out who the real Jason Biggs is. It's the actor from American Pie. Yeah, that's the one. I don't know why I chose a virgin high-school loser to be my pseudonym. Maybe I relate to that somehow. Hahahahaha.

I need to find back that anger, that surge of rebelliousness, recklessness yet in no way thoughtless.

I need an injection of revolution into my veins, then I'll be up and running.

I will return. For real.

Oblivious Beings

Fuck it, it's not right. The oblivious overrides the obvious. The ignorant collaborates with the arrogant. The state of the state was and is in dire need for change. Revolution and evolution are the vehicles for change. The revolution of ideas and the evolution of ethics. And vice versa. The ageing wolves are in it for the long haul, they will not let go that easily. They will do everything in their power to keep the status quo, which favours them.

The preachers preach of righteousness and morality, yet in the same message they preach an embracing of hate, prejudice, oppression and intolerance. The poisonous propaganda is ingrained, and the effects are long-lasting. It's in the blood and flows through your brains and hearts. It becomes a part of your subconscious. You accept the message of hate, prejudice, oppression and intolerance because it is diluted with ideas of hope, purpose and luxury.

Apathy and complacency become obedience and submission. Ignoramuses.

The search for answers should not end at the first answer we get, because when it comes to questions that matter, it is not enough. Questions are more important than answers. False answers make for false epiphanies. False epiphanies lead to unalterable fallacies, embedded into a society reluctant to change the status quo. Questions on the other hand, can never be false. Irrelevant, maybe. But never false.

We are the generation that can initiate change. As more of us become better educated than our forefathers, then we will see beyond our comfort zone and dare to question the status quo.

The Optimistic Nihilist

When I say I'm an optimistic nihilist, I didn't think it'd be a hard idea to grasp. But when I think about it now, I can see why people do get confused.

When I say life is meaningless, that doesn't mean I don't have a purpose in life, or that I'm constantly on suicide watch. What I mean here is that the meaning of life is only asked by us because we exist and we are intelligent enough to acknowledge we exist. To me any any kind of life was never meant for anything. We exist only because we exist. Nothing else. It's the product of millions of years of evolution. If we didn't evolve into the thinking beings we are, we would never contemplate the purposes of our own existence.

Again, I'm a non-believer in God, so I don't believe that we were created, less so that we were created with a purpose. In Islam that purpose is to serve under God. If that is indeed our purpose, I think that's infinitely more depressing than having no pre-set purpose in the first place. I'm a person who holds close to his heart the phrase 'carpe diem.'

I do have thoughts for the future, but most of my life is concentrated in the here and now. And most of us is like that, but to a different degree.

When I say I'm an optimist, it's because I do approach life cheerfully and do believe that for happiness to come you don't need a specific pre-set purpose that was set for you before you even existed. I don't believe in the question 'what is the meaning of life?' because with all the time you spend trying to find an answer, you've missed just living your life.

I love my life. I know a few nihilists, and some of them would rather not exist. Me, well. I don't think I mind either way. It's not really a choice, is it? Unless you think suicide is a choice.

It is, sort of. For people who feel too powerless to control anything, they must feel their own mortality are the only things they are left in control with. Which is why I find it extremely harsh that anyone would condemn someone who committed suicide to hell. The concept of heaven and hell is a very black and white process when it comes to suicide (and with a lot of other things). Kill yourself, you go straight to hell.

What kind of god would condemn a vulnerable, helpless human to hell for eternity? We know better than to ostracise any suicidal person. I mean, a vulnerable, depressed and unstable person is hardly the ideal candidate for eternal torture. This God, if He put himself in human form and spoke about suicide in that harsh manner, He would be considered insensitive at the least. Ironically it would make him a Darwinist. The weak and helpless are thrown into hell without any chance for parole. The surreally virtuous and sinless go straight to heaven. If you're inbetween, you go to hell for a few million years, then you can go to heaven, albeit naked and marked.

It took me another week to update. I think that'll be the normal interval from now for updates.

Road Trip To Fill The Void

Hey guys (and girls. And hermaphrodites). I'm back.

I apologise for the indefinite, unplanned hiatus that I had to take. It was unforeseen, necessary and now, it's all over. So. After about two weeks of no posts, here I am. I checked my jasonbiggskills e-mail account and in those two weeks I get a meager 6 e-mails, all but one from Gabrielle Moore, a sex specialist (it's spam, unfortunately, but she's got good tips), and the other from cBox asking me if I want to upgrade to premium. Hell no. I'm thinking of opening a Facebook account for Jason Biggs. Who thinks it's a good idea? I'm not sure what it would achiece, but hey, I think it'd be nice.

I've mellowed down a bit in the last two weeks, so right now I don't feel like talking about anything in particular. Sorry to disappoint you. I'll discuss about something soon though. I promise.

Oh. What about Raya?

I quite like the whole thing. I mean, sure, we go completely over the top when it comes to Raya, but it's still fun. A road trip to KB with friends to meet friends. You can not not like a road trip. Albeit in our case a very short one.

I mean, it's become a thing of culture, Raya. It's not really religious anymore. It's more of a national ceremony. You spend a thousand on new sofas, hundreds on green packets of ang pow, a hundred thousand on a new Mercedes, three hundred thousand for your wife's breast enlargement surgery, a thousand for two extra maids just for the month, and four thousand on a new television. Obviously this is an exaggeration, but hey, the whole Raya thing is an exaggeration anyway.

You know what freaks me out? Kids going to strangers' houses for money. I mean, sure, it looks innocent. And most of the time, it is. But in these paranoid times, surely some people would think that there might just be a paedophile or two drooling at such opportunities. I wonder if there are any paedophiles in Brunei. There must be. I mean, seriously, when we were kids, some of us would've met the uncle who likes being with children just a bit too much and can be a bit touchy. Most of the time we ignore it and dismiss it as nothing but a playful pinch or pat on the stomach. Sure, not all of these uncles are paedophiles, but hey, we got to be careful.

I don't have a specific agenda here. It's like a stream-of-consciousness thing. I might've got the term wrong. I'm just writing what comes into my head right now. So I apologise if it comes out as nonsense.

I'll try harder next time. I'm just filling a void.