Curiouser and Curiouser

My new blog, 'Curiouser and Curiouser', which will be solely dedicated to random knowledge and fun facts that is of interest to me (a collection of my varied interest in (hopefully!) diverse areas), as distinguished from this 'personal' blog. Feel free to drop by if interested ;)

http://stillshehauntsme.blogspot.com/

For those who are wondering or are unfamiliar with the phrase, 'Curiouser and Curiouser' is a very famous statement made by Lewis Caroll's protagonist, Alice, in the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The original quote came from Chapter 2 of the book:-

"’Curiouser and curiouser!’ Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). ’Now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!’ (for when she looked down at her feet they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off)."

The phrase "curiouser and curiouser" has overtime become a literary shorthand for feelings of wonder and disbelief, and is widely used by writers to evoke those feelings, hence the reason I chose it for this new blog (besides being enthralled by everything Lewis Caroll @ Charles Dodgson for some time) i.e. because the blog is to contain things; knowledge and facts; that I have come across and which has evoke in me feelings of excitement, of wonder and disbelief.

And the reason I use "stillshehauntsme" in the URL of the blog is because the phrase "still she haunts me" also comes from a Lewis Caroll poem on Alice, whereby the poem illustrates the origin of the book. "Still She Haunts Me" is also the title of a biographical work by Katie Roiphe on Lewis Caroll, the allure of the phrase is actually due to countless speculation surrounding Lewis Caroll's fixation with the 'real' Alice (which most of them I find ridiculous due to non-understanding of the mores of Lewis Caroll's era, you guys can Google them up if you want to know further). An excerpt of the poem:-

"Still she haunts me, phantomwise,

Alice moving under skies

Never seen by waking eyes."

And also because all the other URL's I wanted to use for my blog is not vailable anymore, such as:

1. 'aradia' - my online name for so long, which I got from the character of a blind witch maiden in one of the Night World series I used to read in my teenage days, Black Dawn, Night World being a book series on the alternate world of vampires, witches and warewolves. Yesss, long before the world became obsessed with vampires and Twillight and Edward Cullen, I have gone through that stage looooooooooong ago! haha

2. 'alltheworldsastage' - "All the world's a stage" is a phrase from William Shakespeare's play As You Like It, which begins a monologue by the melancholic character, Jaques, in Act II Scene VII.

So guys, do check out my new blog Curiouser and Curiouser!

WE THE PEOPLE WILL HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/analysing-bersih-3.0-malaysian-in-the-us/

Just would like to post here and share, my comments on FB to Farhana's posting of this excellent article from the Malaysian Insider. My comments reflect some of my thoughts post-Bersih 3.0. :-

"Precisely. The stupidest thing to me is that the government (via police) is justifying their actions of the whole brutal shenanigans- tear-gas, hauling people in masses to the police station, etc- because it is an illegal assembly. But why must it be illegal in the first place? The government made it an illegal assembly! without justifications. It is still beyond me why people cannot be allowed to gather peacefully so long as their cause is not "supportive" of the government. Then we might as well be a communist country then. Just obey, no questions asked.

When such a large number of people gathers (remarkable!), and some violence did ensue, then the problem is that it is impossible to positively determine who started it off. Because once it is started, of course there will be a chain of reaction, as people caught in violence (both sides) would have no choice but to defend themselves. Here it is going to be a he says-she says situation. Bersih participants started the violence. No, the police started the violence. Both sides are personally involved, and hence none of their words can be taken in value. THEREFORE, we turn to the words of the IMPARTIAL observers, the international observers and international journalists, etc, who were in the middle of it TO OBSERVE AND REPORT with no personal stake involved. (Now those who says the international people are actually biased because they want the opposition to rule so that the West can exploit the country and destroy Islam, etc, u know the usual, are clearly delusional. Malaysia ni tak sehebat mane pun untuk diorang nak exploit. Bukan lah kita ni kaya sangat dengan minyak pun. Bukan lah ekonomi kita ni mantap pun. Bukan lah kita ni Islamic sangat pun, tengok lah perangai2 majority Muslim kat Malaysia ni. So sila sedar diri sebelum nak perasan negara luar nak ekspolit kita.) And I saw on the Singapore news (ok ni pun mesti ada orang akan argue "oh Singapore memang nak menjatuhkan Malaysia". Please. The reason I watched the Singapore news is because of course la these kind of report would not be shown on Malaysian governement-controlled news channel), INTERNATIONAL observers, from India, etc, Australian ambassador and so on, stating that they were in the midst of it and the people were indeed gathering PEACEFULLY, and the brutality and tear-gassing from the police were totally UNPROVOKED. (I guess the police were attacking just for the sake of it being an 'illegal' assembly as their justification, as above)

Now, I am not blaming the police, and yes we should not maki hamun the police (I read someone's status saying what if polis2 tu mak bapak kita and kita tengok org lain mencarut2 tentang polis), but we should instead blame the people WHO INSTRUCTED THE POLICE i.e. our beloved government. Seriously, nak tergelak tengok press statement Najib on why it is ok to use tear-gas on the people. Because using tear-gas is better than if lost of lives were to happen. Problem is, if the brutality was unprovoked, i.e. it is the police side who started the violence, then why are you using fear of lost of lives as an excuse to tear-gas the people? You, yourself incite the violence, then u use that as an excuse to further attack the people. Brilliant. (It is not that you can just use tear-gas whenever there is a large crowd gathering for 'fear' some lives might be lost if the gathering continues. You only use it when the crowd gets unruly and HENCE threatening lives. But not when YOU are the one being 'unruly'. Please understand the fine distinction here MR. Prime Minister).

To me, whatever has happened, BERSIH 3.0 is a success. Why? Because more important than the actual demands made by Bersih 3.0 is the MESSAGE that it seeks to send to the government. That is, the people will not lay idle and let you make a mockery of our democratic system, let you run rampant with corruptions, let you trample on our rights, and let you do whatever the hell you want just because you are in power. WE THE PEOPLE WILL HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE."

Now, I would like to add.

Yes I am pro-Bersih 3.0, for the MESSAGE that it seeks to put forth to the government- Accountability. But I am also a realist, therefore I know sentiment would mean both sides would try to put the blame 100% on people on the other side of the fence. BUT, what is important now is how this nation MOVE FORWARD post-Bersih 3.0. And so on this point I think Art Harun says it best on his blog (and I quote):

"I say, apart from that, the Bersih rally reveals a nation which is not at ease with her people and on the other hand, a people which is suspicious of their nation. It shows that at times, all of us could lose our head and descend into some kind of a contagious sickness.

I just pray that soon, all of us would regain our collective consciousness; regain our rationality and reasonableness; regain that missing piece of humanity. And then perhaps we would sit down, with a cup of coffee in hand, and ponder whether we would want to continue with our waywardness.

Or whether we would want to heal this nation; get back on our feet and move forward as one people with one purpose.

In unity."

Whatever it is, for my thoughts and admittedly my sentiments, underlying it all is my utmost and unshakeable belief in the Rule of Law (NOT the Law of Rule) wherein every democratic government, as Malaysia claims to be, must be reminded lest they forget, that WE THE PEOPLE WILL HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE.