Loud Thoughts

This is not class warfare. It’s math. — Obama, Sep 19, 2011

These few days, a group of people are occupying Seattle by camping in the busy Westlake Park. They claim that they represent the 99%. The general idea is that 1% of the population control all the societal resources. The rest — the 99% — must take it back.

Let’s see. We have divided the society into two halves: us and them. We are the 99% and they are the 1% (therefore we are the majority and must be right). They are evil (and they always are) and we are unfairly disadvantaged (and we always are). We have been wronged (and we always have been) by them. We had it! And this is the time to take action. Whatever action, as long as it takes from them and gives to us.

This sure sounds like class warfare to me.

Class warfare are always — sad, sad, sad — internal: brethren against brethren. Class warfare redistribute resources or wealth. They destroy value in the process. They don’t produce new values or increase the net assets within the society. At the end of the class warfare, the society ends up poorer. Most of the time, the poor remain poor, or even poorer. Only the rich change from one group to another.

It turns out “Occupy Seattle” is part of a bigger movement called “Occupy Wall Street.” It is “workers against corporate and wall street.” The Guardian said, “Millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes and their life savings because of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street.” Really?! Because of? If I waive a magic wand and the entire Wall Street disappears, would the problem go away?

This movement is pitting “99% of the population” against an abstract concept, not a specific group of people or a social or legal structure. Do they propose to exile Bill Gates and confiscate his money? Or they want a new constitution that do away with the congress? Maybe new tax laws that turns the rich into poverty? I have learned, long time ago, that the word “fair” has no meaning. It is always not fair against us, whatever the definition of us happens to be.

These people will smash some windows and feel good about it. For the society to change, occupying Seattle or Wall Street is not going to cut it.

Yep, day dreaming…

Gatemage is someone who can create a portal that consumes no energy. Any object that enter the mouth will appear instantaneously at the exit, no matter how long the distance. A gatemage can create or close such gates at will and at any location. He or she can also move the mouth and the exit (gates are uni-directional) of an existing gate wherever they wish. Now, this is a very cool skill, or “ability” as they say in X-Men. Let’s see…

• Obviously, commute to work will be super easy. Create a gate from the door to door. Step out of the house and step into the office. Very easy.
• Travel, to anywhere in the world, will be a snap. Pack the bags, reserve the hotel, enter gate, and you are there. Wait, no need to reserve the hotel, since you can come back home to sleep. Come to think of it, there is no need to pack the bags either. How about a day trip to Mt. Everett? No problem.
• FedEx will be out of the business. I can deliver packages instantaneous and guaranteed. Neither the client or myself need to even leave home. The package can be swallowed by the gate mouth and then appears at the exit, the doorstep of the destination, just like that. I wonder how much I can charge for this service.
• That took care of money. I don’t need to work. I can be the best delivery service in the world and charge very high prices.
• If I make a gate to capture a falling object and make the exit above the mouth. The falling object will exit on top of the mouth and create a suspension in the air. Although the object actually enters the mouth and comes out of the exit repetitively; it appears to be suspended in the air to an observer. If I apply this to myself, I can essentially defy gravity. Wow. How cool would that be?
• Wait. Then I essentially created an infinitive energy source. Let a heavy object fall into the mouth and exit from above. As it falls, I harvest the energy.
• What can I do if I have infinitive supply of free energy? Hmm… The possibilities seem endless. That’s a different blog. But is there a problem by having too much energy? Things usually explode.
• Wait! Is it possible to have infinitive energy source? No! But SciFi must adhere to the laws of physics. OK, that makes Lost Gate a fantasy instead.

Toronto’s National Post had this week-long series on the 10th anniversary of the event. The question was, “Who won this war on terrorism?”

We knew that Bin Laden was killed. We knew that Al-Qaeda has effectively been destroyed. We also knew that America spent several recessions’ worth on wars for reasons we have forgotten (yes, test this on your random sample of colleagues and friends). American’s way of life was forever changed. Not only we have the Patriot Act and Homeland Security, Americans also have been living in fear. Jack Bauer, an agent fighting terrorism with a fervent and righteous belief, has become a house-hold name.

But what is American’s Way of Life? George W. Bush said, “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America.” What does it mean? To this immigrant, Hollywood answered definitively.

It is the Thanksgiving, that pilgrims pursued religious freedom, overcome great harshness and established lives for their descendents. It is John Wayne’s wild, wild west and Bruce Willis’s Die Hard that glorify heroism. It is Will Smith’s The Pursuit of Happyness that anything is possible if you “put your heart to it.” It is Anne Hathaway’s insistence on independence in Love and Other Drugs.

Has any of those changed since 9/11?

If the complaint is on the fact that Americans are now living in fear, wouldn’t those complaints themselves the self-fulling prophecy? Isn’t it not enough that we are reminded every time we go to the airport? Why do we keep on reminding ourselves of Bin Laden’s achievements? All those media coverages has guaranteed him a spot in the history book as the one who “successfully terrorized America?”

Honestly, everyone. The best way to get back to our American Way is to stop talking about 9/11. Doing so is to honor Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

And I will stop now.