Task: To Think!

§ "The whole system that we live in drills into us: that we're powerless, that we're weak, that our society is evil, that it's crime ridden, ect. and so forth. It's all a big fat lie, we are powerful, beautiful and extraordinary. There is no reason why we cannot understand who we truly are, where we are going, there is no reason why the average individual cannot be fully empowered, we are incredibly powerful beings." (TIM GALLOWAY)

§ "I think I spent 30 years of my life, trying to become something, I wanted to become good at things, I wanted to become good at tennis, I wanted to become good at school and grades and everything I kind of viewed in that perspective. I'm not okay the way I am, but if I got good at things. I realized I had the game wrong, because the game was to find out what I already was...
...Now in our culture we have been trained for individual differences to stand out, so you look at each person and immediately it's brighter, dumber, older, younger, richer, poorer and we make all of these dimensional distinctions, put them in categories and treat them that way. And we get so that we only see others as separate from ourselves, in the ways in which they're separate and one of the dramatic characteristics of experience is being with another person and suddenly seeing the ways in which they are like you, not different from you, and experiencing the fact that which is essence in you, and which is essence in me, is indeed ONE, the understanding that there is no other, it is all one.
I wasn't born Richard Albert, I was just born as a human being and then I was TAUGHT and learned this whole business of who I am and whether I'm good or bad or achieving or not, and all of that is learned along the way." (DR. RICHARD ALBERT)

§ "The old appeals to racial, sexual and religious chauvinism, to rabid nationalist fervor are beginning not to work, a new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed."(CARL SAGAN)

§ "Life is like a ride in an amusement park.
And when you go on it you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are.
And the ride goes up and down and around and around, it has thrills and chills and is very brightly colored. And it's very loud and it's fun for a while.
Some have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question is this real or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered and they come back to us and they say:
"Hey, don't worry, don't be afraid ever - 'cause this is just a ride!"
and we kill those people.
"Shut him up.
I have a lot invested in this ride,
shut him up!
Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real!"
...It's just a ride...
But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that - did you ever notice that - and let the demons run amok...
But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice - no effort, no work, no job, no savings of money.
Just a choice right now - between FEAR and LOVE."
(Voicemorphing:
BILL HICKS in "Revelations" 1993, quoted by
David Icke in "UK Lectures" 1995)

Secular Issues

When I landed in Europe I saw many religious signs in public misleading to the public eye to be a place of tremendous religiosity. In Spain crucifixes are everywhere, too much. In the UK rarely do you get to see crucifixes other than in Churches, the private sphere. It is pretty much like Uruguay, a nation of skeptics, atheists, and layman people.

I see now this debate in Italy about Crosses in Schools. In Uruguay this was an issue a century ago. Uruguay has been a real secular society and country for decades. Uruguay is technologically and commercially lagging behind, no doubt. Yet, in terms of Legislation and Religious freedom is one of the world champions.

Anger at Italy school crucifix case

The Vatican and the Italian government have reacted angrily to a ruling that crucifixes should not be displayed in classrooms.

Solidarity in Multiculturalism

Oooffff. The day before of Pay-Day I needed to take a pill so badly to cool myself down. So much stress. We are paid once a month. So, I was virtually penniless. Spent all of my money left to come here to London. Coming from Eurozone you definitely notice the change. Food is less expensive but rents are really really high in London.

I even considered moving to another British city. The thing is that there’s nothing in between London and the rest of country’s cities that you would feel more or less the same in terms of opportunity. London is 8 times bigger and the next more populated city, Birmingham, in the UK. Moving to a smaller place making the salary I earn here, minimum wage would imply much better quality of life. No commute, less rent, and working for the same money. But also it would imply saying goodbye to other benefits that living in a truly international place would give to you.

So, my situation before pay-day meant actual hunger, more than being in survival mode, it implied working for pennies and not being able to buy food: Making minimum wage and no adding the London allowance (some money you make extra for working in Central London, especially because of transportation) and paying full (expensive) transportation, the long commute, and then just to make minimum wage on a part-time job. Someone who wouldn’t dare call this not survival mode, or lack of willingness to pursue in being determined about life and looking for something better would be out of place. Getting over a situation like this implies high doses of Self-Prudence.

Here it comes what I want to write about Solidarity in Multiculturalism.

I work for a corporation. The difference about working in a small place or family orientated business and working in a corporation is the policy towards multiculturalism. So, this is the first time in my life I am in a one-on-one situation with other ethnicities and cultures.



Solidarity from my workmates, that I feel they are the closest to what I would call a friend here, that know of my working situation. Human behaviour. One of my workmates, from another ethnicity and culture than the British or my own, gave me out some bread for free that it is not included in our diet, and also gave me some soup for free. That person knows of my current state, and did that for pure compassion-

It is a bit ambiguous because I note that the local culture promotes individualism, in the idea of “it is just a matter of either me or them to survive”-self-preservation but in this particular case there was kind of close (working and personal relationship) solidarity took place without created interest. It just was born naturally. I am amazed. I never faced such a thing. Especially, not in my birth country. But definitely yes with Uruguayans abroad since we empathized-

In Uruguay not many people, including my teachers, professors and colleagues, showed much solidarity to me. Not in Secondary School, not in College, not working as a teacher. Not as a son, not as a brother, not as a nephew, not as a classmate. Why was that? I bet it was mainly because of the cultural stereotypes that people believe in but also because I was different from most people in a society where being the same, not equal, but similar is overrated and too very much well-regarded. I am the same ethnical background than most Uruguayans (white European) but mentally and emotionally I am different from the vast majority of them. So, now and in here, where nobody knows me, where does the solidarity come from? Where are the basic values coming from? I just do not know how to explain where they come other than from the very human condition.

In Uruguay people who had some solidarity to me in terms of understanding my life and my behaviour were mainly foreigners or Uruguayans that were living or lived outside Uruguay.

In Spain the concept of Solidarity was even more linked to the same family origin than in Uruguay, in Uruguay at least some people dared to think outside the box in terms of Psychological freedom regarding family background and family values (the core of the family “ideologies” and family myths). In Spain my feeling is that the society is too much family-orientated so that solidarity can only dwell within the institution of Family. People are strongly individualist; and a type of individualism that differs from the one I see here.

People in Spain are tremendously selfish to each other, yet in terms of helping each other within the core of family there’s more a feeling to help other blood-relatives. So, solidarity is towards within Family members but not towards the other persons of society as equal people and human beings. Not towards the rest, something scary as we know the rest is part of us too because of Transcendentalism as it should be according to the Kantian imperative.

Last thing I want to say in this post is that I feel growing up, with all these experiences, ideas, living situations, closer to the concept a Philosopher should be: Intellect and Experience. Makes me feel more mature in my very own Philosophical system- More intellectually, morally, emotionally authorized source as an intellectual too.

A Very Unexpected E-mail

Yesterday I received a very unexpected e-mail. You remember about a month ago that I published a post about my experience regarding Homophobia in my school days. Well, despite that the article was sent back to the “draft” folder after I unpublished it to make it longer and more profound. It was not available on line, however a person that I mentioned there googled her name and got to read the article.

It turned out to be a good friend of mine during part of my adolescence, and she clearly remembers all that was happening to me by then. She wrote a very emotional e-mail that caught me by surprise and made me very emotional. I never got to think on the “side” effects that telling such a story would have, as a matter of fact I made it for self-indulgence, saying I need to say this, I need to tell the world about what happened to me. And, and surprisingly it turned out to be that the world was just bigger than my usual readers.

So, with her e-mail she-s giving me the courage I missed to complete the post.

During my school days when I faced homophobia there were some sort of categories of people: foes, people that just hated you for being different, then people who had empathy with you or your situation, and also people who cared nothing.

The ones that cared nothing were Laura Prieto for instance; she was really concerned about guys and romance back then.

Maria Inés Milessi, despite she said she didn’t give damn; she was a bit homophobic with her reactions. She was not a stalker, definitely not, but she wasn’t friendly. She didn’t defend me from homophobic attacks from the phobics. She was always saying “don’t beat women, the men that beat women are gay”, big mistake Maria Inés, a gay person is not the one that beat women, it is more likely a straight man would beat women, and being a stalker than gay men.

Then, there were the friendly people like Diana Calero, super funny cheek, we developed a friendship as well, Pamela Sosa, who really became a real friend. We lost contact when I changed my school shift and had to go but they were good friends, and definitely compassionate about what was going on with the attacks and my persona.

And yes, the foes were there too. Living in the school. They are part of society, they are part of the school.

Here’s an example of the portrait of the homophobic itself. Lorena Pereyra, I will never forget her. She used to call me “el carolo”, I wasn’t Rügnitz (as we were told by our teachers and classmates) or Pablo for her, ever. I was always “el carolo” a very mean and vulgar way to call a gay person “fag”. I remember that day, Pamela and Lorena, who were quite good friends with each other went to my parents’. Close to my parents there is a nice square with play games. We were in one of the games when Lorena called me “you Carolo, you know something bla bla bla”, she called me like that as something natural, normal. I had seen something on TV related to name-calling. I remember I started to mistreat her verbally for calling me “Carolo” as something common. There were other ways to call me, but she couldn’t help using any other way but calling me “carolo, carolo and carolo”. I remember that later when the three of us went back to my parents’ house, and then again she called me “carolo, you know something…”, I couldn’t hold back on the situation anymore and started to grab her hair, I had long hair by then, and I do not remember if she grabbed me back my hair, but it was just by the time my mother was coming back from work, and saw what it was happening. Pamela was paralyzed, she couldn’t believe what it was happening either. At the end, my mother and Pamela put an end to the situation, but it was pretty awkward because I was very angry and I was shouting why this cheek was calling “carolo” the whole time. My mother didn’t get angry at Lorena when I was shouting why I was overreacting in such an aggressive way, she just took it for granted the way Lorena was name-calling me. Well, I remember Lorena was pretty much self-aware from that day on when name-calling me.

Another rule was, “it is a fag, and in order for him to become man, you need to beat him to death until he learns to self-defend himself”. That was true. The male foes were so persistent on this practice. They flocked to beat me everyday, or almost everyday. I hated School for this. Everyone knew of this situation, the teachers, my parents, the other guys’ parents, and the school principal. They did nothing to stop it, they let it on, after it was because of the much beating that I was gonna become full male. And you know, I have become very self-sufficient and quite defensive at times in my life but because of fear, social exclusion, being disregarded, aloof, and trying for my “gay” side not to come out too obvious that I have become what I am, but not for the beating, beating aches a lot at the time, yes, but goes away physically speaking but there are other types of violence, especially psychological remains.

About Homophobia in the Schools

From the very first day of schooling I was always longing for last day of school.

One big aspect: Homophobia. I was feeling so disregarded by many of my classmates in higher elementary school and of course all along Secondary school completely.

It's been a while since I have been wanting to write about this but was unable. Unable emotionally since I need to concentrate my energy in my new career and place of residence. Fortunately no culture shock this time. And, I feel capable of writing about such a personal experience as I was homophobia during my childhood and teenage years.

It all was triggered by the Article of BBC Mundo tackling a research of Homophobia in Latin America

Then I started to think of the Drop-Out Rate, and how this influenced upon my outcome as a student. It is still hard to write. Let me grab some strength and I will try to finish by tomorrow. Some points I will deepen.

Childhood
Jimena Deak (moral and verbal) Stalker

Tamara Alonso (Friendly)

Teenage years
Pablo Gomez, Ricardo Tapia and Sebastian Romero (Stalkers)

Graciana Terradas (Friendly)

Sebastian Rosales (midway stalker)

Junkies as friends for protection

Paula Jimenez (Stalker)

Teachers

Friendly
Foes

My parents
My dad ---- you are lazy and good for nothing, you are a bad student and you are the only one to blame for.
Feeling guilty

Recommendation from classmates

Happiness Economics- Aspects to Think of

Listen to the links to the Radio4 Audio I recommend below.

Aspects to consider:

Entrepreneurship, Homogeneous Culture, Well-being, Preserve the Feeling, Protestant Ethics, Idea of Contentment, Ambitions, Expectations, Politics of Contentment, Egalitarianism, (Gender) Equality, Racial Diversity, Similarity, Core of Community, Acceptance of "Society" just as it is, Modesty, Social and Personal Happiness, Business Atmosphere, Far-right, Values of Solidarity, Trust in Society, Low Crime Rate. Always everyone's well. Always happy because you have something precious. Instead about worrying about what they don't have, they seem more concerned about how to preserve what they've got.

One town's bid to cut energy costs

I am so glad to read good news about Uruguay at last and on a practical matter that help improve lives of people, not just the Priviledge ones of the very same endless times of Uruguay. There's a lot of wind in down there, so finally it exists Public Policy to approach the advantages of such phenomenon.

Solar power lights are more reliable and save energy and money

This is not a typical town square in Uruguay.

The square, in the town of Suarez some 40km from the capital Montevideo, has gone over to solar energy and LED technology.

The aim is to reduce electricity costs and at the same time light more streets.

If it works, the plan could serve as a model for other towns across the country.

In the current economic crisis and upward pressure on electricity prices, it should be a way of reducing energy costs. Read +

Economic crisis boosts Dutch Calvinism

Ruben van Zwieten is a trainee reverend who spreads the message

Five hundred years after the birth of French Protestant theologian John Calvin, his teachings seem more topical than ever.

Hard work and frugality, the values espoused by Calvinism, are back in fashion as people reassess their lives because of the economic crisis.

Nowhere is this more so than in the Netherlands, which is often described as the most Calvinist nation in the world. Calvin never set foot there, but his influence is hard to miss.

Read +