mason-dixon oder deutsch-deutsche grenze

Having lived in Germany for an extended period, I have found it’s impossible to forget that certain canopy of history whose partition lasted up until a quarter-of-a-century ago with the division between East and West and the innerdeutsche Grenze.  I knew such separation-anxieties were hardly unique and reunification is certainly still pending for some, however, it was not until a recent trip to the Deep South in America did I appreciate how real some abolished borders can yet be. Though circumstances were very different and more distant history than what partitioned Germany and Europe, quite a lot of sentiment over the US Civil War (called alternatively the War of Northern Aggression) lingers.
It is not only in the monuments that extol rebellion or the city hall of Macon, Georgia that was for a time the capitol of the Confederate States of America—for history is, no matter how inconvenient or painful should not be sequestered and compartmentalised—but more immediately and undiluted by time in attitudes that have changed little since the cease-fire. Not that it is not getting better and not that we ought to resign ourselves to the patience of generational strife and contend with prejudices with an unnatural longevity necessarily for any parallel line-in-the-sand, it’s just that resistance to change can sometimes be glacially stubborn and there are few equipped to accept it at any pace.

fearbook

Dangerous Minds has a features an excellent profile on a magazine whose run in the late1950s and 1960s appealed to a certain niche readership and had quite a devoted following. The periodical Famous Monsters of Filmland not only showcased the distinctively creepy artwork of Basil Gogos on the cover but also invites a discussion on such cult phenomena since fandom is always something well-documented for those wanting to know more or to rediscover what was formerly frowned on as a poor investment of time and energy, unlike say Cat Fancy.

uncanny gulch

H introduced me to this fun but slightly unsettling Chinese app called myidol. One takes a shapshot of one’s face and the app (all in Chinese but intuitive and guiding enough to figure out—though a bit offputting since one is not exactly sure what one is consenting to, like most of the things on this platform) and allows one to create a three-dimensional paper-doll avatar that one can put in miniature animated adventures, like a cowboy in a Wild West shootout, motorcycle daredevil, cheerleader, etc. The rendering is seamless and an accurate reflection—the character coming across as a Voltron pilot.

human rights watch

At a very urgent juncture, the world was administered extreme unction in the aftermath of World War II in the form of the United Nations whose working-group applied the aspiration of universal human rights, which is a very good and needed model to aim for. This convention, however, is somewhat effacing to if not the true underlying factors then at least to that propaganda that inspired much of the outrage and tragedy that is failing to impart any real lessons unfortunately.

The mass deception and hysteria broke out owing in part (if not wholly) by appealing to scapegoats and the worst of people’s prejudices, applying the template of a host majority’s fears on minority groups, defined as outsider or other by the prevailing, dominant outlook. Of course, those draftsmen would prefer those others to be loyal adherents to progressive causes and progressive thinking, but the concept of a universal right worth protecting also obligates recognising a cultural identity—by that very difference—which may be in stark opposition to what’s been enshrined. There’s plenty of room for interpretation and the notion that one could choose to worship any way he or she sees fit or not at all or the inherent equality among the sexes, as I feel and values I cherish, could become quite a problem for others (given that this lack of choice in the matter is the way and the way it has always been and there’ve not been complaints worth registering), as could peddling a certain style of democracy over others, as the Swiss, for instance, might regard governance American style wholly inadequate and theirs the highest standard. Not that we should not hope for egalitarian goals and convictions that respectful of others nor that a certain set of ideals engenders greater foreignness but we ought not forget that the notion of rights is something malleable and conceived to protect those that may not ascribe to them.