Lilies in Bloom

Well... duty or that other thing... lol

2006-08-07T19:04:00.000+08:00

Well, for this particular entry I decided to back it up with a bit of research so I logged on to wikipedia and typed up deontologism. Well, in that same entry, they had a segment on the arguments provided against deontologism. And I would like to note that they were very similar to my arguments... hehe. One was that "... it was essentially a dressed-up version of popular morality, and that the unchanging principles that deontologists attribute to natural law or universal reason are really a matter of subjective opinion" another was that, "deontologists usually fail to specify which principles should take priority when rights and duties conflict, so that deontology cannot offer complete moral guidance."

Well, I stumbled upon these two guys Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill

Aside from agreeing with them on Utilitarianism, I believe that they also happen to share the same quadrant of the political spectrum with me (libertarian left). I agree with them on several counts:

economic freedom
separation of church and state
freedom of expression
equal rights for women
animal rights
the end of slavery
the right to divorce
free trade
in defense of homosexuality

John Stuyart Mill's defense of the harm principle where he said that :"people should be free to engage in whatever behavior they wish as long as it does not harm others, acting in order to prevent the individual from harming himself is not legitimate" Is something I've always said I agreed with. Furthermore, his belief that, "we could never be sure if a silenced opinion did not hold some portion of the truth. Ingeniously he also argued that even false opinions have worth, in that in refuting false opinions the holders of true opinions have their beliefs reaffirmed. Without having to defend one's beliefs, Mill argued, the beliefs would become dead and we would forget why we held them at all. Mill argued that opposing arguments and opinions should be encouraged. The more a position is accepted the more it is important to have an advocate making the best contrary argument against it, and if one did not exist it should even be invented." is something I've always tried to live by. I say that I live by it because I always enjoy playing the "Devil's Advocate". Oftentimes I argue for the sake of arguing and to see how a person defends his/her beliefs. I don't think that my beliefs are superior to anyone else's beliefs. They are simply what I live by and I myself recognize their flaws since I often argue on both sides. I welcome critiques of my beliefs because they help me improve on them. I'm not arrogant enough to think that what I believe is flawless. I'm only human and the things I believe is right might just very well turn out to be wrong.

As John Stuart Mill said:

"Ages are no more infallible than individuals; every age having held many opinions which subsequent ages have deemed not only false but absurd; and it is as certain that many opinions now general will be rejected by future ages, as it is that many, once general, are rejected by the present"

Well, seeing as how one's ethical standpoint is the means by which a person distingushes right from wron it only makes sense that I'd have the same stance as they do on a lot of issues.

Let's play catch... or is it catch up?

2006-08-02T08:35:00.000+08:00

Ah, well I suppose I should be posting something meaningful since this is my first post in a really long while, but I thnik my brain's too fried from finishing upour markser paper due this friday to think up anything worthwhile so this'll just be me ranting and rambling until I get the urge to go back to writing the paper....

Do you know what it feels like when things suddenly get out of control? One moment you're fine, feeling like you can handle everything life throws at you, but as if that thing called 'life' (whatever that is) heard your boast, it dusts off that old gatling gun it had lying in the 'ol closet and starts firing for the heck of it and you find yourself frantically trying to catch the pieces hurled your way very much like cartoon characters do whenever they're carrying something breakable and they trip. You're jumping left and right trying to keep from tripping all over yourself 'coz you know that once you trip it's all over and you'll wake up neck deep in the shattered pieces of whatever it was 'life' decided to hurl your way. The realization that things are a tad out of control (just a tad 'coz it'll all be over once you admit that everything's gone to heck) washes over you like someone dumping a pailful of ice cold water and for just one moment, one tiny little instant, you feel like giving up, dropping everything, just standing still and not try to dodge or scramble after and just letting everything fall and shatter to a tiny million pieces and if you're unlucky, you'll still be around to pick up the pieces and try to piece them together, but maybe that's better than losing your sanity trying to keep them from shattering in the first place. But then what would 'others' think if you let even one piece shatter...no, you have to tough it out. So the feeling passes and you're back catching the next piece hurtling your way, placing it somewhere safe. It's a little cracked from the wild save, but it's still whole so everything's OK. So what if you're left with a million damaged pieces. You can do something to hide the cracks. No one ever really pays that close attention. A million fractured pieces but at least they're not shattered beyond repair. No one has to know. As long as you don't sit and stare hard, you won't even notice yourself.... everything's good... that thing called 'life' has to slow down sometime so you just have to do your best until that lull finally comes along and you can finally ease off a bit and let the tension drain... for now, you concentrate on trying to keep things from shattering beyond repair....

Eh? Seems like I was in a bit of an introspective mood. LOL but, I'm feeling much better now so it's time to get back to work.

Red or Blue? Which pill will you take?

2006-07-02T22:13:00.000+08:00

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

~ Morpheus form The Matrix

This is something I had been meaning to write about ages ago but with all the distractions, I hadn't been able to get to it.

Anyway, reading the Myth of the Cave brought The Matrix to the top of my mind. I think the movie was a good interpretation. Anyway, in the Myth of the Cave, we have a person who has become exposed to the truth after being kept in the dark for so long and then when he goes back to tell his fellows of what he has learned, he is thought to be insane, shunned, and very possibly persecuted.

This scenario really isn't all that unthinkable. How many of the great thinkers were shunned or punished for being 'ahead of their time'? People like Galileo who are credited with great discoveries but who were, in their days, criticized.

Given the chance, which would you choose to be; the enlightened but ostracized or accpeted but ignorant? Would you choose to seek the truth and risk losing acceptance or would you simply accept things as they are? Given the choice, which pill would you take? The blue or the red?

Personally, I think that I'd pick the red pill. Curiosity always gets the better of me and I believe that the knowlege and the satisfaction that comes from knowing is enough to offset any of the bad effects. like they always say, "curiosity kills the cat, but satisfaction brings it back" hehe.

Revolution or Serenity?

2006-06-24T23:11:00.000+08:00

If the egg's shell does not break, the chick will die without being born.
We are the chick; the egg is the world.
If the world's shell does not break, we will die without being born.
Break the world's shell!
For the sake of revolutionizing the world!

~Touga from Revolutionary Girl Utena

I've been meaning to post something for a while but things have been going on and I hadn't been able to find the time to type this up until today. (actually, the main reason was procrastination. ^_^;) Anyway, we had discussed the concept of metaphysics and

A pic of Neo Queen Serenity
aka Sailor Moon taken from
Reeny Kingdom's Sailor Moon gallery

the debate between change and permanence. Well as I was sitting in class, paying rapt attention to the riveting discussion going on, (It's the truth! hehe) I couldn't help but be reminded of a fanfiction I read entitled Eternal City, Crystal Tokyo. It really has very little to do with philosophy and everything to do with being a mega crossover and tossing in a bunch of my favorite anime series and characters together but there was this bit in chapter 11 (that is the exact chapter I looked it up) where Utena was complaining how "the city (Crystal Tokyo) hasn't changed in years" and she goes on to say that "I like to see change and growth." for those of you who don't know, this is a reference to two anime series, "Revolutionary Girl Utena" and "Sailor Moon". Well, I suppose by now, most of you get why Utena complains about the lack of change. She is, afterall the "revolutionary" girl Utena. (I think I'll have to rewatch the series and see if I can make a n essay out of the "revolution" aspect of the series) But some of you might be wondering what "Sailor Moo

Manga rendition of Utena
taken from the gallery at
Empty Movement

n" has to do with anything. Well, Sailor Moon is the reincarnated Princess Serenity destined to rule over Crystal Tokyo (if she can manage to bring it about) anyway, that's the gist of it. Revolution versus Serenity. Change and growth as opposed to peace and stability.

Well, personally, I'm with Utena. (and it really has nothing to do with the fact that she's a way cooler lead compared to Usagi) Basically, I believe in change. Yes, it is brought about and is accompanied by instability but change is a necessity. Without change, things stagnate; there is no growth. Like the above quote say,s without change, we die without being born. Aside from that, I also believe that change is a part of nature. The attempt to keep things stable actually causes instability in itself because change is the norm. Forced stability simply pushes the friction to the background and there it builds up in pressure until the surface "stability" is unable to keep it contained then all hell breaks loose.

This is clearly visible in nature. Take earthquakes for example. The earth is stable but pressure builds up underneath until it gets to a point where it simply bursts out. Scientists think that triggering small, manageable earthquakes to release the pressure building up might be the solution to avoiding a large-scale disaster. They can't simply magic it away and it can never be held back. Trying to do so would only cause a greater disaster.

Well, the point of today's rant is this: "We shouldn't deny the instability in our everyday lives. Be it in our relationships with others, or within ourselves. We should recognize it and not allow it to build up to the point of bursting because when it gets to that point, all hell usually breaks loose." Change is a fact of life and conflicts will inevitably arise. Isn't it better to deal with these things in small doses than in one large explosion? The problem with explosions is that with everything we've kept pent up, and the things we've denied, things get confused so that we ourselves lose track of what cause this or if it was something else entirely. Everything gets jumbled up so much so that we ourselves lose track of why we feel this way or why things change. If we ourselves don't know, then how can we expect others to understand? We should just be honest with ourselves and acknowledge the instability and the changes and the friction or whatever else it is. We should never let things build up because it'll only cause a whole lot of mess.

Oh and the fic I was talking about was written by shanejayell. If you want to read his work, you can access his FF.net account here.

Ah... another apple post?

2006-06-16T12:46:00.000+08:00

Snow White as rendered By
sulev daekazu

Well, this is the second time I'll have to type up this post... 'coz my computer decided to eat it. Well, mot my computer, really. I'm using my grandmother's office computer and that's the reason I accidentally deleted my entry. I'm not familiar with this keyboard... that's my story, I'm sticking to it so nya!

Oh well, this post is regarding the story "Snow, Glass, Apples" by Neil Gaiman. Well, we were talking about how methaphysics entails looking beyond the surface "reality" of things. An I think that Neil Gaiman's story is an excellent illustration of looking beyond the surface. He presents a different take on the "wicked stepmother" and delves into the "what if". What if she had good reasons for doing what she did? What if she really wasn't the villain in the story?

Well, I've never really been content with most non-anime cartoons because the villains in most of them are evil simply because they are. There is no complexity involved and reality isn't that simple. Take the story snow white, for example. The evi

A pic of the wonderful Juri
scanned from an artbook by the
wonderful person who manages
ohtori.nu

l stepmother decides to do away with the princess because said princess is prettier? I mean, come on! What happened to them killing the current heir to get the throne for themselves. That reason, I would have accepted but for something as superficial as beauty? Evil for the sake of having someone to be evil. Of course, it really wouldn't do to have the viewers sympathizing with the wicked stepmother. And look at their portrayal of Snow White! infinitely nice, infinitely kind even the furry woodland creatures flock to her (not to mention conversing with a well and the well replying). It's just not real. Their characters are too clean cut. I prefer the intricate and often times confusing stories involved in Anime (not that there aren't any silly Anime series, there are may of those pointless stories out there but the good ones I stumble upon more than make up for the disastrous flops and fanservice fests.) More often than not, you'd have fans sympathizing with the supposed villains of the story. Take the series Revolutionary Girl Utena for example, Every single character there is so complex that if not for the insistent focus on Utena herself, you wouldn't know who the hero(ine) of the story was. (Yes Utena fans, even Akio, Saionji and Touga) Well, every single character is complex and if you take the time to look it up on google or something, you'd get flooded under the sheer number of character analyses available. That is because the story lends itself to interpretation. Each character has their own reasons for their actions and people can find themselves relating to these characters and more often than not they relate with characters other than the protagonist (Personally I sympathize with Juri ^_^ Juri-samaaaa.)

Well, the main thing I learned from Anime and what Gaiman's story bring forth is the fact that people are complex creatures with many hidden depths and although it's easy to say that he or she does something because he/she is either "good" or "bad" things are never that simple. People have reasons for their actions. They have perfectly valid reasons for what they do. And if there is one thing I've learned from my Critical Thingking and Law professors, it's that validity has nothing to do with right or wrong. The concept of right and wrong is highly subjective, at least that is what I believe.

There was a discussion in philosophy class a few days back where we were talking about wisdom and my prof said that a part of wisdom is the ability to know and act on what makes other people happy. But I realize that that is practically impossible. With our varied experiences and backgrounds we can never really know what will make the other happy. More often than not, we act based on what WE know and what WE believe is the right course of action but sometimes that isn't what the other person wanst or what they need. Because of this, arguments and misunderstandings arise. I think that it is important for us to realize that people seldom do things for the sake of being malicious and that there is usually a reason behind their actions; reasons that they believeare right though we may not accept or understand those reasons. Chances are that they think we're wrong based on their own reasonings.

If we take a bit of time to think on this, I think we'll be able to keep from hating the person. We'll be able to distinguish between not liking the person and not liking his actions...

Well, that was as preach as my doomed first draft so I'll have to lighten it up like i did the first. Here is a fun quote still in the theme of looking beyond the surface appearance of things:

Because you have to wonder: how do the machines know what Tasty Wheat tasted like? Maybe they got it wrong. Maybe what I think Tasty Wheat tasted like actually tasted like oatmeal, or tuna fish. That makes you wonder about a lot of things. You take chicken, for example: maybe they couldn't figure out what to make chicken taste like, which is why chicken tastes like everything.
~ Mouse from The Matrix.

An apple a day...

2006-06-12T01:02:00.000+08:00

Well, the blog is finally up and running. There are still some stuff I'd like to tweak and I'm really not planning on leaving my links section like that. But I think its as nice as I can make it... ^_^

Anyway, I'm back from an impromptu trip to Hong Kong and of course, the first thing I do is plop myself in front of the PC and visit all my usual online haunts (which translates to me visiting the numerous forums I belong to). Well, aside from the general rants on the unfairness of life and the ton of news regarding several anime series, I stumbled upon an interesting bit of news. Apparently turning the comicbook world on its ears with this mess with the Infinite Crisis isn't enough for DC. They've decided to "adapt to the times" well, Marvel is doing that too, but apparently there is a bigger fuss over DC's updated "Batwoman" than anything Marvel has planned.

Why the fuss? Apparently, the new Batwoman, Kathy Kane, is supposed to be "a wealthy

Concept art for the
new Batwoman

(socialite), buxom lipstick lesbian who has a history with Renee Montoya, an ex-police detective who has a starring role in 52." That is a direct quote from an article featured in the New York Times entitled "Straight (and Not) Out of the Comics: At DC and Marvel Comics, new heroes are gay, black, Asian and Hispanic. Get used to it" well, the people posting their comments on this development have mixed feelings about it but the majority of them stated that they will approach this particular character cautiously; neither accepting her nor rejecting her outright. Many of them say that they'll wait to see how DC handles the newest member of the "Batclan" before making up their minds.

Personally, I'm with the cautious ones. I'm not a comicbook scholar so I'm really not that well informed with the DC continuity and I got into comic books purely because of my admiration for the former Bargirl, Barbara Gordon, and how she handled the transition from daring caped crusader to weheel-chair bound queen of the information super highway. The fact that she's more effective and vital in her current role as "Oracle" than she ever was as "Batgirl" amazes me to no end. (It also helps that her very own team is all female) Simply put, I'm a big, fan of strong female characters. I'm going to treat this newest addition to Gotham's nightlife with caution because of the comicbook world's horrible track record of handling their female characters. And I'm afraid that the "Women in Refrigerators Syndrome" might be the downfall of this new recruit. The lack of strong female characters in many genres considered to be for males is frustrating to someone who relishes seeing females kick arse. There are a precious few who write such characters, one of which is Gail Simone who is the author of the Birds of Prey comicbook series and another is my favorite author Tamora Pierce who is currently in the process of writing the new comic book White Tiger for Marvel.

Well the sad fate of women isn't limited to comic books and

Image of Atalanta's race against
Hippomenes taken from Myth Man's Gallery

the story of Atalanta comes to mind. Here we have a very competent woman who is at the very least equal to if not better that the men of her times in the things that were classified as men's tasks. She was sought-after but she avoids being snagged in a way that asserts her competence. But in the end she eventually loses and is married to some guy all because he had the power of 'love' on his side and a bunch of golden apples.

Atalanta's story is one of my favorites because of the things I read into the story. First, we have Atalanta who is a competent woman. Next we have Hippomenes, a guy who decides he likes Atalanta on the basis of her abilities and her looks and on top of those two I think that her unattainable status played a big part on his decision to pursue her. Then we have the pesky goddes of love, Aphrodite who makes it her business to see to it that all women who swear off love find themselves married off. And last, we have the three irresistible golden apples (which i think symbolises qualities that Atalanta found irresistable). In the end, not only does she find herself married, but she also finds herself turned into a lion!

Well, I think that Atalanta is like many of the working women in today's society. They are the equal of their male counterparts and they know what they want. They value their independence and stave off the advances of men as long as they can. Then comes Hippomenes who just happens to decide to ruin the order of things. He'll appear at just the right time with all the right tools with the power of love on his side and some time later, our heroine will find herself married with a bunch of kids and a husband to tend to. Which really isn't my ideal Happily Ever After but I'm me and if I were one of those characters in a greek myth, I'd probably be one of those characters like Atalanta who sends Aphrodite into a frenzy because of my loudly proclaimed disinterest in finding love. But hey, maybe one of these days my very own Hippomenes with all the right combination of traits might one day show up to sweep me off my feet. But I sincerely hope that when that day comes, I won't have to give up the things I love to do just so we can get together. Maybe in that way, I'd end up with a better lot in life than poor Atalanta... (",)

For more information and to react to the new Batwoma, click here
To understand what I mean when I say "Women in Refrigerator Syndrome" visit this site.
To learn more about Tamora Pierce's stint with Marvel, I urge you to read this interview.

This is the reason I love Tammy (Tamora Pierce) so much: (This is taken from the above interview)
Newsarama: Tammy, first of all, we’d like to introduce you to the core comic book readers demographic, which is for the most part is perhaps somewhat an older and more male than your core audience as a novelist. You’re best known for writing young readers fantasy fiction often starring young female protagonists? Is that right?

Tamora Pierce: My base audience is usually readers 12 and up (“up” running between 40 and 80, over the last seven years or so). And I usually phrase it that I write girls who kick ass [laughs]…

Okay, around parents I say "Girls who kick butt." Parents are so delicate!
.
.
.
.

NRAMA: As mentioned earlier, the demographic of comic book readers is generally more adult and male. That said, will your series be geared towards what's become your core demo? Will this be written with younger, perhaps female readers in mind?

TP: You really must meet my regular audience sometime. You might want to wear armor.

Honestly, my regular audience is whoever keeps up with me. Tim and I will write White Tiger the way we always write - battle scenes, conspiracies, plot twists, and baskets of fluffy kittens.

Oh, wait. I don't do fluffy kittens. Scratch the kittens. As it were [laughs].

White Tiger plays with the big guys: Daredevil, Spider-Man, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, the Yakuza, and a truly nasty guy named Cobra, who wants to put a bone-crushing squeeze on her. And when this Tiger plays with the kind of bad guys that infest her neighborhood, they break. No more toys. Too bad there's more where they came from - but she's waiting for them, and she knows where they feed.

And look at what Gail Simone had to say:

Wow, a kickass female writer who writes kickass female action heroes?

I am so down for this. Can't wait to see it.

Gail

test post

2006-05-30T23:00:00.000+08:00

Book cover for Tamora Pierce's
upcoming novel Terrier

Yo! Testing 1, 2, 3... I can't view my blog until I post something and I really was planningleave it at 1, 2, 3 but well, I thought I might as well make to something out of this post, but seeing as how I still have no idea for a philosophical rant at this moment I'll just start with this:

The book cover for Tamora Pierce's upcoming novel, Terrier is floating around on amazon and I have to say that I love the cover art. The art on this one has the same feel as the recent re-release of her books and they look a lot better than her earlier book covers. (I really wish i had enough money to dump my current collection and buy the hadrbound re-release) And look, notice the little kitty hiding behind her? Could that be Faithful appearing 200 years before the time of the Alanna books where she first appeared? The suspense is killing me! The book is scheduled for a US release date of October 24, 2006. Who knows how long I'll have to wait before either Fully Booked or Power Books decide to make copies available here?

Anyway, for more info on TP and her other books, visit her official website.