The Bigger They Are (The Harder they Fall)

Feel a bit obliged to comment on the current situation in North Africa/The Middle-East. Not that I have much to say since it took almost everyone by surprise. All in all a good thing and pretty much the only way to assure a decent democracy is if the people themselves cast their shackles and demand emancipation. I might appear cold-hearted, but the rest of the world should involve itself as little as possible, at least EU and USA. Why? To make sure that the people themselves don't feel that we altered their path of development and gives believers of the old regime an excuse to way they lost. We saw it in Germany after the First World War when the nazis used the beliefs that they had been stabbed in their back by their own government. A government none of them believed in. We see it in Iraq and Afghanistan where the stubborn belief of the Western world of "shake-and-bake democracies" still aren't working after almost 10 years. Democracy can only be taken, never given (and once again I see myself in the role of a realist instead of the idealist I wish I would be).

That was my more pessimistic view, hopefully they will raise from the ashes and enter a more peaceful and stable world. It also seems to have effects beyond the Middle-East. According to one article in SvD this could be a major set-back for the North Koreans since these fallen dictators was the ones keeping their export industries floating. With the current situation of a sick and dying leader and an economic crash, we might get rid of the worst dictatorship in the world. Not that there is any good dictatorship (or is it? Could have a long discussion on that matter in a philosophical way), but there is different levels of hell, if you know what I mean.

Youth Gone Insane

Saw the best comment of the year so far, as well as the proof that the forthcoming youth generations are something to fear. It was on a news coverage about the brutal treatment of pigs that the news team interviewed a pair of teenage girls. One of them had the great comment that "good people bought the expensive meat (aka ecological)"and also pointed out that she was one of the good ones. Now, my reaction might have something to do that I don't buy the ecological products since, frankly, it doesn't always taste that good and I find the higher price a bit much to stomach in the long-run with a very limited income (which I don't actually have since it's mostly loans). But alas, I don't care about that since her sentiment actually has a much darker tone than I think she thought. Because, do you know who never buys the ecological stuff? The poor. Do you know why? They can't afford it. Actually, that is social problem for modern society. The poor doesn't get the nutritious food or the sustainable one for all our well-being. And now they're evil as well, talk about though luck.

I might be a liberal (although with the prefix social) and classified as a heartless elitist that looks down on everyone, but hell, I wouldn't call them evil. You know what I think? Her parents are some of those green, moralistic bastards who want to release the minks to save nature and animals... that then ends up eating other animals and disrupting that ecological system. Or if that isn't the case I'm really scared, because that is the future of the Swedish people. God help us all!

Battle Station

The war is on. It's blond bomb-shells flying across the sky, voices of mass-destruction and pictures that shatters the mind of any sane person watching it. Yes, it's once again time for Melodifestival... and god it's awful. Lame puns, bland songs and people acting like they were made of concrete. Other years there was at least some fun middle-act that at least had some decent music, but not this year. The whole thing is a life-less cadaver that nothing can give the pulse back.

Enough about that stupidity and let us discuss something even more stupid. Or it will at least be more stupid the more I write about it. Sociology, albeit fun, can sometimes crash into discussion regarding certain character traits, or with some generalizations, traits for a whole group. Being mostly a female dominated class you can guess who's the evil part of society. Lucky enough for the male part of the class, the girls aren't that vocal, but what help is that when it's obvious our fault. Now, I don't bother that much, mostly due to that I and the other can defend ourselves with logical reasoning. And that none is very conflict seeking (although I start to suspect one or two of the guys). The only time it became a full-on conflict was when the subject of violent video-games came up. And that's the only time I've seen such deep rift between the men and women in an academic situation. And that wasn't that hard to understand because they (the women) didn't "get" why we, as a group compared to women, preferred violent games (I hoped they meant in various degrees).

And everyone from the guys (cornered in the back of the classroom) spoke up against that generalization (as well as the hinting that it was pointless). It more or less boiled down to our defense position being that in order to be alive and human, you need to feel, and the only way to get that adrenaline rush in a legal circumstance, we play video-games (or watch movies, or read books). Now who is the group protecting our right to be emotional, eh. Say what you want, this is at least an academic discussion, what is troublesome is when you get into similar discussion in swedish newspapers (especially in Aftonbladet). Recent debate is mens objectifying views on women in media and popular culture (written by a female leftist no less in her 60's making me wonder what she really knows about modern culture). And then you read the comments. This my friends is the reason why it's a miracle why democracy is the preferred form of government. The one thing that make this worse is that when I watch music videos, listen to them, read books and watch TV, I knows that it's fiction, but reading the comments I know that they are actual opinions of people. Somehow fictional stupidity can never be worse than the real deal.

Before The Fall

Wow, less than a week since the last update. I'm back on track it seems. Maybe it have to do about failing in the Economics once more so I can moan about still have a fricking macro exam after me. WHY OH GOD did it have to be so hard. In the long run it will probably boring to read (and write), but hey, agony seems to be one of the selling points on the internet. Then again, I don't seem to care that much either.

Now to something completely different, hows things in the sociology course? I never have taken such an easy course. It's just memorizing most things since I have a fair grip on most of the subjects in the course and this is just 2 weeks before the exam. My ego is going to be bigger than the moon if this continues. Than there is the possibility that Murphy's law kick in. Or that I find everything so easy now, take the exam to easy and don't clarify my thought enough and putting me down a couple of points from the desired (but not necessary) VG. After all, I probably have to score highest on the test after my "subtle" hinting of my "advanced knowledge", nothing else than a full score is perfect. Otherwise... DEATH!!!

Or maybe not. Besides that it's also fun to analyze the group dynamics in the class. Sitting at the back, asking questions and constant whispering ideas and thought with the neighbor probably given me a "bad boy attitude" (whatever that is like with a nerdy political scientist). Me and the other felt a bit of clashing between us and part of the other guys in the class with the more... outspoken women in the row in front of us. That seems to have gone away now after a quick team-up which ended in laughter instead of discussing the questions at hand. And that someone else seems to be more obnoxious than us. Some guy no one has seen since the first lesson just shows up and makes comments and asks questions that has nothing to do with the course (or at least from our point of view). With a common object to distance us from we have all come closer together as a group. It's actually very interesting to analyze that from a sociology perspective, read up on that and try it.

... And again time just fly by. Is it already February? Once again I have to excuse myself for the inactivity as of late. Some of it is justified in that I had to finish of the B-course in Economics with 2 exams and handing in a paper and a seminar. And getting my examinations papers (that actually is almost 1 year old, but who cares?), searching for a job (already applied for 100 % more jobs than last year... maybe not that difficult when it only was one last year) and starting up my final course (sociology that is). Of course I could have taken some time at least for a weekly update, but I'm lazy as well so.

Sociology is actually very fun, but mostly because it's a very known subject for me since we touched upon this subject in the political science courses. It's of course an A-level course and I have a 4 year education behind me so there will be no problem here. The funny thing is actually to study everyone else in the course from a political standpoint. First there is the fact that a majority of socionoms is left-leaning (although for some reason some of the famous ones are a liberal prime minister and a former liberal party leader) according to statistics so that's the first thing to look for and than a majority of the students are female (also a larger statistical leaning toward the left). Gonna be fun to see the conflict erupt when we discuss different views hehehe... am I too nerdy for a political scientist? Also there seems to be a very separated division between boys and girls since all the boys sit in the back-row and the girls in the rest of the room (except an almost blind guy, but that is understandable). Also an age difference since if you then watch the women the oldest is in the front and the younger behind them.

There is one problem though and that is I feel so old among them since I've been studying for almost 5 years. So to cure that we had a little reunion with my project management group. Once again I was among the younger people around, but we could have decent discussions about anything. Enjoying a good dinner and then an interesting game of Trivial Pursuit, ladies vs. gentlemen. Having a steady lead before us we then pulled forward and jumped around to get to the middle. This gave our opponents time to regroup and being just one step behind us. A war of attrition broke out to see which team could answer a question in there weakest subject, ours culture, there's sport (talk about stereotypes). After an endless stream of question we achieved victory. At least I avoided to watch Melodifestivalen... OH GOD, it's everywhere, RUN FOR YOUR LIFES!