Divinations

The Murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman: Greatest Crime in Human History

2012-03-23T08:02:00.002-07:00

I may be exaggerating when I say it is the greatest crime in human history. Because human history has experienced events such as; the Holocaust, La Violencia, Slavery, and much much more, I can only say Zimmerman’s crime is among the greatest crimes in human history. Firstly, I should say that I am not advocating that Zimmerman, the person, is innocent/guilty or good/bad. The topic is solely the act [when Zimmerman decides to pull the trigger and shoot a teenager] and that act was bad. To justify a claim that Zimmerman’s act is one of the greatest crimes in human history I will have to break down my argument:

A) George Zimmerman violated the ideology of freedom: A person is allowed to walk freely as long it is not trespassing. It is called the freedom of movement which states a citizen is allowed to travel anywhere in the state within the respect for the liberty of others. As of now, the facts show that Trayvon was not trespassing and was walking on public road [i.e.; sidewalks or streets]. For whatever reason, Mr. Zimmerman believed that Trayvon shouldn’t have been there, in that neighborhood, walking there, supposedly along the sidewalk. When Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, he decided to revoke the teen’s freedom of movement and life. I find this the most offensive part of my argument because Zimmerman’s freedom to bear arms as been immensely respected in the state of Florida yet he disrespects the fundamental freedom of movement in such a vile manner.

B) Apparently the State chose Zimmerman’s side: This is a shorter segment of my argument but probably the most absurd. The State Attorney chose to defend Zimmerman by not issuing an arrest. If you are not asking yourself why, then go pray. Now, it seems the State automatically thought Zimmerman was the victim thus chose to defend him rather than the teenage boy [this mostly will end in unemployment for a lot of people in the State Attorney's office]. I think, rather than discuss about Zimmerman’s racial views we should discuss Florida’s racial views.

C) Stand your ground statue: In Florida, you are allowed to shoot and ask questions later--you are allowed to meet force with force. However, Zimmerman’s phone call to the police revealed that he was following Trayvon which meant it was he who instigated the conflict and it was Trayvon employing the “Stand your ground” statue. If Zimmerman started the conflict and Trayvon started to beat him up badly, Zimmerman could still not use the shooting as self defense [i.e.; Zimmerman bit off more than he can chew]. When Zimmerman saw that he could not win his battle, whatever that may be, he become Trayvon’s creator and removed him from this Earth.

All of this amounts to stand as one of the greatest crimes in history. It might not be clear to you now but I will help you by multiply the magnitude of each one of these sub-arguments by a common coefficient (being human history).

The violation of the freedom of movement as grave consequences. Examples include but not limited to: the Armenian genocide, Russian Pogroms, the Syrian uprising, Palestinian conflict, on and on. Just think of any horrible event and the violation of freedom of movement is there.

Next is the racial bias and I think we all know where that goes...

Finally, “stand your ground” statue. The so called claim of self defense with deadly force has done wonders in human history. This reason has been used in the crusades, witch trials [that killed 1000’s of women], Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. But, I cannot tell you that I would like to remove self defense. Self defense has saved the “innocents” from the “wicked.” However, I would like to remind protesters and defenders of self defense to think before defending Mr. Zimmerman’s acts because the side you pick may be on the wrong side of history. Maybe it was Trayvon who was defending himself from an attacker, an attacker who clearly had a larger arsenal.

The Kandahar Rampage shows Our Injustice

2012-03-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

When a rogue US soldier [staff sergeant] murdered sixteen people in Afghanistan on Sunday, the first thought that popped into my head was; I wonder how outraged the American people will be? How long will this story trend on Twitter? Will the news outlets run this story insufferably? The Kandahar Rampage [as it is being called] is not an extraordinary event. In fact, it is quite usual. US Soldiers have been known to inexplicably kill civilians. But, this is war--it is expected to have a few loose canons or accidents.

So, what do we say? The staff sergeant must have had a mental condition and slipped through the psych evaluations. And maybe no other fellow soldiers observed any oddities. But what would be an oddity is this case? We expect a soldier’s vocabulary to include kill and towel head. The incident itself will experience retaliations and more of our soldiers will die [Recently, six US soldiers died in Afghanistan after the burning of the Quran] and the people of Afghanistan will view the United States as evil occupiers more than liberators. This is typical; this is expected, and this is not concerning.

What concerns me is not the actual incident but the response. In general, the American people were not outraged [I figure most did not even hear of the story]. The news outlets did not run the story on a continuous loop. On the contrary, the news outlets barely played the story past Sunday morning. Finally, the story did not trend on twitter compared to the impressive three days or so trend of Joseph Kony [#stopkony]. Which gets me thinking; What if the masses paid attention to Joseph Kony when he was relevant a decade or two ago? There’s evil in the world and most people recognize it. However, sometimes we don’t give a story enough attention because we feel helpless. When there’s an opportunity to make a “difference” we see an outpour of people [look how Joseph Kony blazed through the web]. But when there is not an opportunity or an opportunity that requires a sacrifice, people are mute.

The Kandahar Rampage will eventually become lost in history. Eventually, a book compiled on the atrocities of the Afghan war may include the incident. The next war will certainly have similar incidents. As we continue to be mute, injustice will continue and the unprincipled will rule.

This article is not only about making military warfare cleaner.

Kony Island

2012-03-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

I'm really glad that there is growing awareness for Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. No doubt has there been atrocities in Uganda over the past three decades, especially involving children. The Invisible Children organization has been around for about 10 years raising awareness for this issue and they continue that campaign today with a video that celebrates Kony [not to praise his feats but to shame them and make him popular amongst the masses]. Now, this initiative [Kony2012] is trending all over the web and, inevitably, it will become a hype. Although I applaud the intent of the thousands [maybe millions] that will join this trend to spread the word through social media, there is one thing that concerns me.

I hope that people are not joining the awareness for the reason that it is a hype. The millions of children that have died in Africa are not meant to be represented by a hashtag. I hope people are not making decisions based off of emotions gathered from a video but rather from knowledge and fact finding. Emotions are a great motivation but it is only temporary (i.e.; most people have moved past Tibet, Somalia, Libya, etc). That is, people tend to forget after the emotional high.

The problem with Uganda and the children on Uganda is not just Joseph Kony but it is a good place to start. There are hundreds of Joseph Konys around the world and in the era we live in now, we can actually target them; shine a light on them via social media. However, it doesn't have to be a person we target but a behavior as well. Rather then attack Kony, we should learn and attack the environment, the surrounding, and the influence that made him who he is.

Nevertheless, for the first time, people can dictate change in the world in a relatively simple way because the web connects us across the globe. I'm glad that people are utilizing these tools to advocate justice but don't get stuck in the moment. Use this moment to launch your campaign against injustice.

You have a voice.

How dare you forget about Baron Davis

2012-03-05T17:15:00.001-08:00

Jeremy Lin? Jeremy Lin!? I understand he’s a good player and he’s been playing great. Averaging what? 20 ppg and 10 assists per night since he became relevant. Well, he has not been relevant that long. Baron Davis or B.D. as I call him is currently Jeremy Lin’s back up on the Knicks and I feel like that’s a crime against humanity. Baron Davis as a back up to Jeremy Lin!? What has this world become? It’s sinful. I am nauseated, repulsed, and horrified by the notion that B.D. is the back up to Jeremy Lin. I don’t care about this Linsanity. Baron Davis did not need a Linsanity or a system coach in Mike D’antoni to ball. Baron Davis could ball immediately after exited his mother’s womb. He was crossing over doctors as they tried to cut his umbilical cord.

You brought shame to yourself if you thought Jeremy Lin should be the starter over a healthy Baron Davis. Since, Baron Davis as been out of basketball for a year with a herniated back I understand the caution. I also understand that he is getting up there in age. But, If Baron Davis can play like he used to then Jeremy Lin would have to worship a statue of B.D. in order to get playing time. Instead of thanking God after every game, Jeremy Lin would have to thank B.D. for letting him get any minutes at all. Do you need proof?

Here are Baron Davis stats during some of his best seasons;

03-04 - 22.9 ppg - 7.5 apg

04-05 - 19.5 ppg - 8.3 apg

05-06 - 17.9 ppg - 8.9 apg

06-07 - 20.1 ppg - 8.1 apg

07-08 - 21.8 ppg - 7.6 apg

These seasons may have been a long time ago but of recently, when he played for the Clippers, he was still a 15 ppg and 7 apg guy [not to mention he grabs about 3 boards a night]. Lin's numbers may be better than these but B.D. does not care if Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant or even Jesus guards him--he's going to cross them over. Lin almost cried during the game against the Heat.

I think we forget how great Baron Davis was. How he averaged 25.3 points, 6.5 assists, 2.9 steals, 4.5 rebounds in that epic upset series against the number one seed in the 2007 playoffs.

If B.D. is playing B.D. ball, there is no question he should be a starter over Jeremy Lin. It doesn’t matter how good Lin has been over the 12 or so games he’s played.We never questioned how good Baron Davis was going to be--we questioned how great he was going to be. We're still worried that Lin's performance is just a mirage.

How could you forget his dunk on AK-47 (Andrei Kirilenko)? Some of us thought he should have been arrested for that dunk cause it was that criminal.

Jeremy Lin!? Hahaha...yeah right.

Finding Your Identity Hurts...All of Us

2012-03-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Bullying is not a recent phenomenon; it has been around for ages--ask Mussolini. Far too often we witness horrible acts due to bullying such as school shootings and suicides, especially among teenagers. Although bullying is coherently the problem, indirectly it’s all our fault. The problem is that we try too hard finding our identity--trying to find a place somewhere and some of us get left out. For instance, in High School, we try very hard to fall into a category [not necessarily intentional] and we end up as jocks, preps, sluts, rednecks, nerds, and etc. Actually, no; it’s much deeper than that. We end up as guys that play football, guys that pretend to be athletic and play lacrosse, nerds that learn C++ and nerds that play Magic in the library, girls that have tattoos, girls that smoke, and girls that have tattoos and smoke. This list is only partial. [The list I compiled here is as partial as the stars in our galaxy compared to all the stars in the universe.]

Okay, that may be an exaggeration. But, it’s close enough.

Whatever forces that are working in our lives, are compelling us to join “sects” as a way to define ourselves. However, that is also limiting us mentally, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. We refuse anything/anyone that refutes our defining selves which leads to shunning. Let’s say someone at work or school wore a turtleneck everyday with white chinos. Most people would probably avoid that person because of their appearance alone.

I used to try to find a place in high school like most kids.

I gave that up when I got to college. [Inadvertently]

I don’t try to adopt an image. I don’t care to appease tendencies based off of factors, whether societal or cultural. I do what I like/want to do because I like/want to do it. In College, I followed the NBA religiously [I could give you the names of every player and where they play] and played Dungeons and Dragons [yes, the role-playing game] and Sopio [If you don’t know what Sopio is, I proved my point]

Want more? I’ll show you. These are a few of my interests:

My Yankee Candles

My Jordans

Some of my Books

Some of my Video games

A map of Skyrim on my wall

A poster of cars on my wall

My WVU football jersey (I went to Pitt)

My Bath and Body Works hand soap

Sadly, our shape is induced by external forces and a lot of today’s problems come from that [i.e.; drunk driving]. But, I'm not saying to be different because that is another category. Rejecting the expected may be a more proper thesis, here.

If you reject what is expected of you, people may begin to think you are strange.
But, who cares?

A Problem with Islam Today

2012-02-28T07:48:00.001-08:00

The lovely Erykah Badu

What's wrong with Islam these days?

Erykah Badu’s most recent concert has been canceled in Malaysia over a tattoo she has on her body. Officials in Malaysia [a muslim-majority country] claim that tattoos are forbidden in Islam. Of course, news outlets also claim this theology.

BBC reported: “Tattoos are forbidden in Islam...”

Yet, searching for any mention of tattoos as a sin in the Quran leads to nowhere.The idea comes from the Hadith which is a supplement book to the Quran and represents some behaviors of the Prophet Muhammed [Peace be upon him]. Before I go on, let me mention the the Quran does not mention that Muslims should mimic Prophet Muhammed’s behavior or foresaw another holy book as the Hadith. If you don’t believe me; ask yourself how many wives did the Prophet have and how many wives are allowed in Islam? [More than one wife could be conditional, but is debatable]

According to that same Hadith, plucking of the eyebrows is also a sin.

Please! Only an asinine person would take that serious. However, I know for a small proportion of Muslims, the only differences between today and 599 A.D. are guns and oil [maybe the hijab].

And this is the problem in Islam. We never had a council of Nicaea. There is no Pope of Islam. There are not dozens of different sects that break up the religion by slightly different beliefs or political factions. Thus, when a group of benighted Muslims decide that tattoos are forbidden, they expect the rest of the Islamic world to follow and most do. The only mention of tattoos comes from a guy who said another guy said that the Prophet forbade it. Let’s come to our senses; if tattoos were an essential part of the culture to the Arabs that doctrine the Hadith as the Burqa, they would not have forbade it---I’m sure a Saudi dignitary would actually have a Fatwa in a similar manner as the Burqa stating: The correct view of Islam is that Tattoos must be present on a person’s body.

The correct view? No, that’s your view.

One must ignore other views to know what Islam truly is. Read and study the Quran. Most importantly, understand the history and the context. Philosophize an alternative and refuse any dogmatic views. You can’t view the whole picture by looking at one corner. Reciting the Surahs of the Quran and following the words of your elders will not make you a believer [In Islam, no one is allowed to claim that they represent God’s word].

I know that there are people that will say that I am an ignorant human being that constantly explores and invents things that I am aware of. But how is that any different than Sharia law, fatwas, and even the Hadith? How is that different from you?

A PhD in Islam is not excuse.

Kobe: The Greatest Being Ever

2012-02-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

Number 24 of the Los Angeles Lakers:
Kobe "Black Mamba" Bryant

Kobe, Kobe, Kobe...

Let’s be honest; Kobe Bryant is the greatest basketball player ever. Having said that, I expect the floodgates to open and the roars of men and women carrying pitchforks and torches come my way. But, settle down. Before we address MJ, let’s discuss the other culprits. For those who say Lebron “King” James, you deserve to get your face slapped off. For those who say Kevin Durant, I have never seen a toothpick win a championship. Now Michael Jordan [by default] is the greatest which leaves him entirely off of any modern compiled list of greatest basketball players. That would be like considering West Virginia University as the greatest partying school in the country--it’s not fair and eventually you have to be retired. The historians can go ahead and pick Michael Jordan but since I consider relevance I’m picking Kobe.

Kobe is not normal and he is not good either. It would be unwarranted, unconstitutional, unholy, immoral, and completely erroneous to call him anything short of greatness. Deep down, past your veil of ignorance, you know Kobe is the greatest. If the man wanted to overthrow the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia just so he can make a country-wide pool of oil: we should not question him, we should allow it, and we should aid him. He scored 81 points in a modern era game, he wins no matter season or playoffs, he invariably is awarded every season, he consistently scores 25+ points a game, he’s won championships [he’s won with Shaq and without him, he won when he was young and old, he won in this Mayan age and the last--it doesn’t matter]. His greatness is beyond comprehension.

In the past, you’ve called him adulterous, pretentious. Now, you call him selfish. Go ahead and make your excuses but stop ignoring that he is a superstar, a champion, and worldly on top of that [there are not many people more popular than Kobe around the world with the exception of Barak Obama, Osama Bin Laden, and Lady Gaga]. Case closed!

Let him speak. Let him shoot. Let him play. And shut up.

Iraninejad

2012-01-31T18:16:00.000-08:00

Atomic bomb deployed by the United States
over Nagasaki

Remember the "Bomb bomb Iran" song?

There’s an abundance of confusion when it comes to word sanctions. Most people just let the word pass by as if it was nothing to be perturbed about. As if one was just saying the word irreguardless. People can’t see the criminality in it. So, when the United States mindlessly throws it [sanctions] out there when discussing countries such as: Iran, Syria, North Korea, most people don’t care. I don’t either to be honest; generally, those countries self-impose their own sanctions via moronic domestic policies. But, back to the U.S.--sanctions are actually an act of war and if you think it is not, then tell me what it is. Sanctions usually aim to put an economic stranglehold on a country, but it is not limited to that. Sanctions can famine other sectors as well. More recently, Iran was hit by a flurry of sanctions from the western world. Although it is not a simple matter, I will treat it as such. Imagine the United States government was the mafia. The mafia will go to local store owners (in this case, Europe) and tell them that if they don’t do business how we tell them to, we’ll break their legs with baseball bats and pull out their nails with tweezers. This is not literal--what I mean is that the U.S. tells Europe (mainly European businesses) to not have any economic involvement with Iran in order to continue business with the United States. Essentially, this is called a bribe and it is no laughing matter. Sanctions do not really effect the leaders or the important players in Iran. The impact is greatly felt by the people. Morally, I would not be able to implement sanctions onto any country--I would try diplomacy, first. However, sanctions are flooding in whether I like it or not and this is all over nuclear endeavors. My thought about Iran’s ambition is that possessing nuclear weapons really makes you a big boy. Although, let’s be honest, who would be so demonic, so unprincipled, so shameless to actually use a nuclear weapon (Oh wait, I just remembered). There is one pattern I see throughout the world; countries that have nuclear weapons don’t get sanctioned. This leaves us with only one advice for Iran. I think you know it.

Republican Primary 2012

2012-01-24T15:59:00.000-08:00

Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich

Why you should care about Newt Gingrich’s personal life...

Newt Gingrich’s supporters are like a high school prep rally. They mindlessly cheer for anything that that man (who quietly looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy) spits out. Even when he called the Palestinian people an “invented people” the audience hooted and hollered at the clever quip not realizing that the most celebrated invented people in history are Americans. It is expected that with political campaigns comes a bevy of erroneous suggestions by the candidates. The problem is when a candidate, such as Ron Paul, expresses a pacifist viewpoint, you don’t have to cheer but if you boo, then you probably have never seen war or a war-stricken country. Honestly, I don’t know what people cheer or boo for anymore; it seems rather random most of the time. However, certain keywords and poses invariably gets an applause. The one that baffled me the most was when Newt Gingrich firmly declared that he would not address his personal life during a recent debate. The crowd erupted as if Mr. Gingrich had murdered Hitler in front of their eyes. It was such a standing ovation that I thought I was watching a speech by ousted leader Muammar Ghadaffi. But I wasn’t. I was watching Newt Gingrich and his supporters claim that personal information was not important when it came to the issues. If you support this idea then you must entertain the idea that the issues of gay marriages and abortions are not important as well since it is an individual/personal issue. And for the pious citizens, I thought a marriage was suppose to be between ONE man and ONE woman, not ONE man and THREE women. I know, that was distasteful. Let’s be honest with each other, Republicans: nowadays it seems that you cheer a political candidate as if they represented school colors like the Alabama crimson tide or Michigan blue. If President Obama had the same marriage history as Gingrich he’d be an obamanation (abomination). The fact is that most people vote to improve something in their life. The thought is that the new government implements policies (whether capitalistic or social) that gives you a little extra so that you can buy your spouse a fancy dinner or go on a road trip with friends. We forgot how important our politicians and government are. We neglect that our vote to elect politicians can affect thousands of people domestic and aboard. If we elect a warmonger like Bush Senior, hundreds of thousands of people are affected. Politics, unbelievably, is not a sport. We must remove this attitude and stick to our principles. It’s not “my team against your team” when lives are at stake. Vote, but vote for what you believe in. And, if you haven’t studied the philosophy of Republicanism, Democracy, Liberalism, Conservatism, Libertarianism, etc, then you probably should not vote.