Category Archives: Essays
[Essay] Failure of Arms Control and Human Rights Violations
A while back I wrote a post about Jormungand’s Koko selling arms to countries for world peace, and the Balance of Power rationale behind it. This crappy hastily-written badly planned essay is the flipside to that post, when arms trade contributes to human rights violations and there’s not a damn thing anyone does to stop it. If you don’t know much about the international system, the UN’s most powerful organ is the Security Council, which has 5 permanent members with veto power: The US, UK, France, Russia, and China. Veto power means if the Council tries to pass anything they don’t like they can say SUCK MY BALLS and no one can do anything about it, despite the resolution/sanction/etc having a majority vote. Giving the US, Russia and China veto power is why most of the time the UN never gets any shit done. With that said, enjoy what a wonderful wonderful messed up world we live in! Read the rest of this entry
On Self-Publishing, Distribution, Content Creators, Circles and Critical Mass
I guess the obvious should be stated first. Publishing actual physical copies of books takes up a lot of capital, something that most of us will not have access to unless you sign up with a traditional publishing house. Counting on signing up is not recommended, as they take high royalty fees, you get drawn in to contracts, and who knows when they will even publish anything you make? Since physical print is out of the question, at least initially, the answer is to publish online.
But in what form? Read the rest of this entry
Evolution of the Role of Women in Antebellum America
Throughout history, there had always been a segregation of gender roles between men and women. The roles constantly changed and appeared to adapt to the social and economic changes of the time, or to the religious preferences that were popular. Even in the same time period, the role of women differed according to the level of society she lived in. However, the single constant factor in the gender dynamics of antebellum white American society was that the men always had an upper hand above the women. Married women didn’t have any legal rights under coverture, and had to obey their husbands. Although socio-economic and religious factors did affect the roles of women, the main driving force behind the gender roles was the influence of patriarchy that seeped into every level of their lives. The roles of women were shifted in whichever way was most suitable or convenient for the men of their respective socioeconomic classes, supported by arbitrary religious or moral claims used to support the changes.
The Scale and Implausibility of Cooperating to Minimize Ocean Acidification
This post is a reaction paper for one of my classes as a response to the article The Darkening Sea by Elizabeth Kolbert. It is not necessary to read that article to understand this post, though it is a good read.
After reading the article, I think that the Earth’s climate and oceans will be damaged beyond repair. The measures needed to save them require a lot of cooperation, which will be implausible because of the difficulties in convincing people of the importance and reality of the effects. The sheer numbers involved and human nature also prohibit many cooperative solutions.
The scale of the factors involved in ocean acidification are overwhelming. Global climate deals with the entire atmosphere and the oceans, which are massive and practically incomprehensible to the human mind. When we visit the beach we see the ocean go on forever into the horizon, and we tend to think of the atmosphere as unending because it is so large compared to ourselves. When we think about size, we tend to lose track of the reality of the scale when we go over 20-30. If someone were to say, “50 meters”, the length would exist as a numerical value but most of us would have no real concept of the length in our minds. Yet with climate models we’re dealing with millions of years and billions of tons of carbon dioxide. Although the numbers are huge, because we lose conceptual sense of the sheer amount of CO2we end up being more detached and dismissive of the possible effects it has on the environment. The scale also presents a problem on the other end, where the size of the molecules and reactions are too small to notice without scientific equipment.
CO2 and Temperature Sensor
The other problem is that most of the general population is scientifically illiterate, and treat scientific issues with almost a level of disdain. Oftentimes people don’t understand scientific concepts, and are swayed by preconceptions and/or misinformation in the media. When a scientist presents facts, it sometimes has an opposite effect where the audience is annoyed and reinforces their opinion in the opposite direction. Scientific phrases like pH, acidification, and thermosaline can be intimidating to people who aren’t already interested in the sciences. In my personal experience, people who aren’t interested in the sciences (simply taking science classes doesn’t count because many people only take them as a part of requirements) tend to shy away from any conversation involving sciences (unless it’s related to a test they have) and have a mindset of “leave it to the scientists” or “scientists are ridiculous”.
Another roadblock in decreasing CO2 emissions enough to slow down ocean acidification before it becomes lethal is the economical costs of adopting alternative energy. Coal power plants are by far the cheapest way to generate electricity, and many developing nations that are rushing to catch up to first world nations are using coal to speed up their economy and can’t afford to invest in alternative sources of energy.
Then there’s the issue of politics. Even on a miniscule level, humans disagree a lot. It can take a group of people a long time to decide on a restaurant to eat at. With politics, the leaders have to think about where they’re going to get support, how popular it will make them, and how much will they and/or their country gain by going into agreements. A complaint amongst developing countries is that the west was allowed to grow rapidly using coal, but now that they’re ahead they’re preventing other countries from doing the same thing. The bureaucracy of governments don’t help either, as it slows down any decision that is made.
For these reasons, it is extremely unlikely that humanity will be able to solve global warming and ocean acidification in a timely manner. The general population needs to be educated, but unless they are taught and encouraged to be interested in the sciences since they were young it will likely result in the opposite effect. There should be more focus on research into alternative energy, and finding a way to make it cheap and affordable for developing nations to convert. Some research should also go into geoengineering as a last-ditch attempt to stabilize the climate if we can’t cooperate. Otherwise we should learn to make a variety of dishes from jellyfish, as almost everything else will be gone.
Future In My Hands
“Going on and on I have the future in my hands. Getting loose from days I never could get over. Going on and on until I’m finally myself. Getting out of this dishonest world I never wanted.”
Future In My Hands – Aimee B
This is an essay that I wrote for my First Year Seminar, Co-Authoring Your Life. It cost me a lot of tears to dig up some of my memories.
[UPDATE]: I GOT AN A/A- FOR THIS PAPER! WHEEEEEEEE! Crying really does pay off XD
“I don’t believe you.” My mother’s words were resolute. My confession to being transgendered had just ended in the worst possible way, a way that even I didn’t imagine despite my tendency to go over a scenario several times with several different possibilities in my head. I began to feel numb, a deep, sinking feeling inside of me. It was like those scenes in anime where the screen zooms out from a character surrounded by darkness, those scenes that seem overly dramatic and ridiculous until you experience it yourself. It was over. The societal expectations of this country would never gain me any respect. Without even the support of my mother, how can I live a life I want? The life I need? There’s no way to escape this false life, this illusionary image of myself I held up to avoid ridicule. Or is there? If I abandon different aspects of my life, I would be free. The question is, can I make the decision?
For as long as I could remember, I wanted to be a girl. However, I was afraid of it – afraid of being different, afraid of being a freak. I was afraid of being ridiculed like the transgendered or gay people in the media, and of the gossip that would pop up between the maids working around the apartment complex. A sense of repulsion began to build up inside of me. I would avoid things that are feminine, and try to act in a more masculine manner. I would also try to avoid associating myself with other girls. This state of denial lasted until middle school, where it became unavoidable and rose up. I started to accept myself, but still believed that it was impossible for anything to change. I hated myself for wanting to be something I never could. I held it as my deepest and darkest secret, still afraid of letting anyone else find out about it.
My insecurity, some of which still lasts to this day, stemmed partially from my self-oppression. I didn’t dare to interact with people, and am afraid of all kinds of ridicule and embarrassment. I wasn’t very close with my parents because I couldn’t let them find out about it. I became insignificant, an unimportant person with nothing interesting to talk about.
It wasn’t until high school came that I started to open up to others. I never really had a group of friends before then, just a few people here and there that I sometimes hang out with. It started out as a confession to a friend, a small little step, the first time a baby walks. However, which each step I was able to walk further; the length of the steps I took grew exponentially. I told one person, then a few, and then the amount grew to most of the friends I trust. I allowed myself to use cute things and customize my personal belongings, and stopped trying to assert masculinity into my personality. I had an obsession with the color pink for a while; it still remains my signature color. I would’ve never allowed myself to own anything pink if I hadn’t started to accept myself. Perhaps my boldest statement was when I wore a bra to school, though it only lasted for a semester. Towards the end of high school I started appearing in public with female clothes when I’m out with friends – which involved hiding them in my bag and keeping them before going home to my parents.
My mother, who should’ve supported me, instead rejected the whole notion of me being transgendered. When I finally had the courage to confess to her, expecting her to support me, she rejected me. She thought it was only a phase. Only something trivial that would come to pass. She was hostile towards it, too. Whenever I do, buy, or be drawn to something feminine or pink, she would snort and give me a disapproving look. One day, while in the car together, the topic came up and she would sarcastically say “Why don’t you just go put on makeup and wear a miniskirt and go trotting around somewhere now!?” She would also make comments about if I want to be like the disgusting butch transsexuals – more on them later. Her constant disapproval really took a toll on me, and was a source of oppression that I had to literally live with. She was also ashamed of me, and was terrified of her friends and coworkers finding out that she had a freak child. She bashed me for using a pink bag when I went out to eat dinner with her, yelling at me about the possibility that a coworker would pass by and see. In some arguments she would yell that I am being selfish for making her and the rest of the family embarrassed; embarrassed of her coworkers, and embarrassed of the workers in the apartment gossiping. Selfish for making her and my grandmother stressed. Selfish for bringing shame to the family. She held her reputation above my sense of identity, above how I feel I should be. She even created a new Facebook account to communicate with me while I’m in college so none of the people she added would see my account.
It’s better to be normal.
My first real group of friends, from here on referred to as F.F., were also unsupportive. Actually it was more of a mixed bag, like the M&Ms jumbled in with the raisins in a bag of trail mix. Sometimes they would do feminine things with me, sometimes they would insist that I am a guy. When hanging out they would play around with how I’m transgendered, but in serious discussions they would try to persuade me to stop and revert to being a boy. They would say that it is much harder to live as a transgendered person.
It’s better to be normal.
One of my friends who wasn’t a part of any of the groups I was in, EAB (ex-almost-boyfriend), also didn’t support me. He also argued that it would be a lot harder to live as a transgendered person. Although we briefly dated, he would never acknowledge me as his girlfriend and the relationship was kept a secret. Again, he thought it was just a phase. And again, he was ashamed of dating me.
It’s better to be normal.
A little past halfway through my high school career, the F.F. group began to break. One of us, who was sort of a leader and the glue holding the group together, had left to go study in New Zealand. The remainders joined with a larger group of people that I didn’t like. I endured the pain of once again being insignificant, as they talked about ridiculous things and screamed whenever someone got what they considered a “high” score on a test. Although it was hard to leave the friends that I was close with, I decided to leave the group. Through a combination of random factors, I ended up in a newly formed group, from here on referred to as K.O.R. It is amazing how random events brought us together, and formed such a significant part of our lives. It is highly improbable that we would be together if some of those random events didn’t happen – but that’s another story. This group accepted me for who I am, and helped to support me when I needed it. It was with them that I really felt secure; they allowed me to really explore who I am, as I could do anything I want and they would stay by me without ridiculing my actions. I finally found my place, an island in a sea of oppression.
Thailand has the highest percentage of transgendered/transsexual people in the world (or so I heard; I don’t know if there are actual statistics for that). You can easily spot them on the streets, or behind counters in shopping malls and supermarkets. People like to claim that the high percentage is a sign of acceptance. However, it seems to be the general “it’s-ok” and “stay-out-of-other-people’s-business” attitudes of the Thai people that allowed them to come out, rather than being accepted by society. Transsexuals are often ridiculed in the media, and people talk behind their backs (in extreme cases they are beaten up and possibly killed). Transsexuals are only accepted for low-end jobs like salespeople, and never have high-level jobs that require intelligence. There is also a subset of transsexuals that act over-the-top and are loud and obnoxious, which takes over the image that Thais have of transgendered and transsexual people in general. Although they are a small subset, they are extremely annoying and noticeable that they screw up the reputation of all other transgendered people. My mother thought all transgendered people will end up like them and kept asking me with disdain if I wanted to act like that.
It wasn’t just society that oppressed me either; the laws and regulations of the country seem to exist only when they work to your disadvantage. You can’t change your gender on legal documents (this law may have been overturned, but last time I checked it was still there), and there is no protection against discrimination. As previously mentioned, it is impossible for transgendered people to get high-level jobs (unless they hide it), and I have heard several stories of people being rejected from engineering and medical majors for being gay or transgendered. There is also a regulation for males to pick a card from a box when they reach a certain age, and be drafted into the army if it is a red card. The only way to avoid it (besides paying a corrupt official or moving your legal address to an area with high recruitment levels) is to join ROTC for 3 years. In ROTC I had to keep a buzz-cut, and was teased and abused by the other students. I quit after one year.
Throughout my life, I had several choices. Remain in ROTC. Quit it. Live as a guy. Express myself as a girl. Run away from my family and society, or stay in Thailand. Maybe I could attend a college in a different country, though my lack of funds would severely limit my options. There was also choice to search for a new group of friends, which led me to the K.O.R group (we don’t like to include a period behind the “R”).
Although there are many forces out of my control such as my mother’s wishes and the expectations of society, there is almost always a way to counter or evade those forces. It is up to each individual to make those choices. I hated my country, and would have no regrets leaving it. I didn’t want to stay with my family either; in its oppressive state, I would rather live alone than be forced into a life I don’t want. I would miss my friends, but the ones who supported me mostly planned to study in a college in the U.S. too – I would actually be closer to them if I attend a college there. Of course, there are other benefits to attending a college in the U.S. apart from living a new life: the education is a lot better, it is encouraged to broaden your areas of study, and you are taught to actually think instead of mindlessly performing repetitive work like a zombie. I chose to abandon my family and country. I chose to discard my past. I chose to restart my life.
The Day of Revolution had arrived. I lived in the same apartment complex for the entire 18 years of my life. I attended the same school for 13 years. Within 23 hours of travel and butt-ache, my entire life was flipped upside down. I arrived in Kalamazoo, and after a night in a hotel I eagerly rode a taxi to the college. Everything was green, a stark contrast to the towering gray buildings of Bangkok. I would be sad when I looked back – so I didn’t. I looked forward with optimism, towards the friends that would accept me as a girl, towards a college environment that would give me the freedom I needed.
I always wondered how different my life would be under different conditions. What if I wasn’t transgendered, and instead was content with being a boy? What if I was born as a girl? What if my mother accepted me? What if I was allowed to be transgendered without oppression from society? These questions have always puzzled me, but in the end, it didn’t matter.
By making the choice to move away from my former life and into college in a different country, I was able to live a new life without oppression. Although new obstacles will always approach me, it is up to me to make the choices to deal with them.
I have the future in my hands.
![[Manga Review] “Ebisu-san and Hotei-san”, a Heart-Gripping Tale A very touching manga that I love, you should read it too!](http://fortyfourfennecs.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ebisu-san_and_hotei-san_ch01_07.jpg?w=280 "A very touching manga that I love, you should read it too!")
[Manga Review] “Ebisu-san and Hotei-san”, a Heart-Gripping Tale
On Self-Publishing, Distribution, Content Creators, Circles and Critical Mass![[Music] An Introduction to Touhou Music, and Some of My Favorite Songs Many in the anime community aren’t interested in Touhou Music, but I think you should be! There’s a lot of great stuff out there!](http://fortyfourfennecs.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/000-4292a661a8f91a0d30573302a6d43d3f.png?w=280 "Many in the anime community aren’t interested in Touhou Music, but I think you should be! There’s a lot of great stuff out there!")
[Music] An Introduction to Touhou Music, and Some of My Favorite Songs
