Stupid is as stupid do do

I'm generally quite an easy going person, I'd like to think I'm open minded, accepting and all that other good stuff, but the older I get the more I'm realizing there's one thing I have trouble overlooking, and that is stupidity. It's ok to be a bit dim, you can't help how your brain is built, and it's impossible to know everything, in some contexts I'm utterly stupid myself, but if I don't know something or if I'm confused I generally keep my mouth shut.

My latest outburst is after reading comments on an article, surely I can understand why people are upset, but I cannot understand why they reason the way they do, taking two unrelated events and blaming one on the other. How does that even work? It reminds me of when they raised the price of a product and a customer said "The bastards can raise the price of the newspaper, but they're not raising the pensions are they?". I tried really hard to not laugh at her. How can a private profit driving company possibly have anything to do with pensions? I wish this was only a one time event, but it seems to be a common thing.

In a university class, in 2010, with no sense of sarcasm and irony someone asked if the way the swedish counties hand out money to their different departments had any relation to how much money bank directors make. This time I did roll my eyes, not so that the asker could see, of course. But it makes me wonder, is the public this uneducated? Or are they that used to blaming something they can't quite picture?

Why is it so hard to learn simple reasoning? I'm fully aware that I risk coming off as a stuck up bitch in this, and there's a possibility you're right, but must stupid people speak? Do they understand how stupid they seem? And first and foremost how can we expect a good world if they're that stupid - can they make informed decisions when it comes to things such as voting? I'm getting honestly concerned, rather than listening to the sales pitches of the political parties I do my own research, not only about their values but about the numbers they present, the events they discuss to deem their arguments validated or not. This makes me the stupid one in it, I assumed everyone did this to form an opinion.

Actually none of this even has to do with intelligence, it has to do with education and learning. I hope that everyone's able to learn, at least up to a certain level, it's when you need to apply that knowledge that the difference really shows. Ask yourself, are you able to theorize and work with ideals, rather than swimming in the shallow pool? Do you ask yourself "why?" more often than you say "they say that"? Without understanding the why we can't understand anything at all. So what I need to figure out are the following. Why does stupidity bother me? Why isn't the bigger perspective seen as interesting? And why must stupid people speak in my presence?

Poems I wish I had written, part seven

Burnt Norton

T.S. Eliot

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
But to what purpose
Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves
I do not know.
Other echoes
Inhabit the garden. Shall we follow?
Quick, said the bird, find them, find them,
Round the corner. Through the first gate,
Into our first world, shall we follow
The deception of the thrush? Into our first world.
There they were, dignified, invisible,
Moving without pressure, over the dead leaves,
In the autumn heat, through the vibrant air,
And the bird called, in response to
The unheard music hidden in the shrubbery,
And the unseen eyebeam crossed, for the roses
Had the look of flowers that are looked at.
There they were as our guests, accepted and accepting.
So we moved, and they, in a formal pattern,
Along the empty alley, into the box circle,
To look down into the drained pool.
Dry the pool, dry concrete, brown edged,
And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight,
And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly,
The surface glittered out of heart of light,
And they were behind us, reflected in the pool.
Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty.
Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.

This about having dreams.

I don't remember the exact words, but it went something like this
Spongebob: I had dreams, once
Mr Krab: So what, I had kidney stones once, everything passes.
It's so delicously subtle, the two different kind of people in this world. Those who are focused on the practical aspects of life and those focused on things more theoretical and abstract. For what is a dream? It's something we don't have yet, something we can lose twice.

It's rare that I wear white, and it has nothing to do with lack of innocence, the older I get and the more cynical I become I come closer to my own innocence, there's no point to hide from it. There'll always be things I don't understand and things I'm happy I don't understand. I can however see the reasoning, the events to lead up to a certain point but my cynisism will never be greater than my hope. At other times my hope is not half as grand as my desperation. That kind that latches on to my spine and sucks the marrow out of me, leaving me barren and shriveled up in a corner. How can my sarcastic view of life help me when I fail to see the obvious, the vanity in chasing dreams.

Good things come to those who wait, so I'll wait while I'm scattered, not sure what I'm waiting for, maybe to meet myself as who I was, being someone without things I've done, a scaled down version of Molly.

So much for cultivated beings

For the 50+ years the UN has had peacekeepers out in the world it's been going on, sexual relations between the soldiers and the people they're set to protect. Last year Swedes were sent home for this very reason. Even though they know it's not allowed they do it, still.

I have one main question, and then some following: Why are you such horny fucks? Can you not hold it until you get home, or are you so rejected by your natives that you feel like you reached heaven when poor women are available? Nevermind world peace as long as I get laid, is that an idea the UN should stand for? Of course not. Are all inhibitions tossed out the window when put in the heart of darkness? Perhaps Joseph Conrad was on to something. The consequenses don't seem to be enough of an issue to stop the behaviour.

In Kongo Kinshasa the very center of the mission is to keep the women safe. Rape is just a war strategy, one that won't be met with guns. It's using women from two different angles. Getting them to do what you want with money or a dream of a better life somewhere else, or planting the seeds of militia in the wombs of thirteen year olds, the victims are still women. Not in one of the world's most poor countries, but the poorest country.

In lack of better alternatives we rely on help organizations as well as the UN to do the right thing, but when the good guys are breaking the rules, what can we put our faith in? And first and foremost, who will fend for those who can't fend for themselves?

Valentine's day

The name Alla hjärtans dag (All heart's day) is oh so much sweeter. Don't forget to love every day, not just when greeting card producers tell you to.

Just one more

Speaking of stupid stuff...

It never ends... I read this article, basically saying that a conscript was left standing in rain and cold saluting without gloves. This gave him a 1% disability and he recived 12 000 kr from the government for his handicap.

I love newspapers, the full story is never told. I wonder, why was he out there, why wasn't he wearing gloves, why for an hour, is it possible to get disabled from saluting in the cold? There has to be more to this story. Oh it did say that he was out there for an hour. An hour in the cold makes you handicapped. Good to know. Thank you.

Yes, another song

In lack of other things to say and in honor of my 14 drafts.

Iron-y in the loyalty

In order to remain neutral Sweden had to promise Germany that the supply of iron from Norrland wouldn't subside, so in that Germany took Norway and Denmark, while Sweden promised not to interfere. By 1944 Sweden had gotten 40 tons of gold from Germany. I guess that's the price for throwing out all loyalty. 60% of the iron Germany required after 1933 when Hitler decided to ignore the deal made in Versailles and rebuild the army came from mines in Sweden. Germany was with that depending on supplies from Sweden, and occupying Denmark and Norway was a strategic move to keep the route between Sweden and Germany open.

So basically, in order to not be occupied by Nazi Germany Sweden had to promise to give NG what they wanted. In exchange for gold, of course. Naturally there are two sides to this. Of coure I think that Sweden should have helped their neighbours. But for what, really? Would the outcome have been any different. Sweden grew richer and the following decades the economy was blooming. What would Sweden's identity have been had it acted differently during WWII?

Another aspect to concider is Sweden's historically close relationship with Germany. At the time for the war German was more widely known than English among the Swedish public. Alliances grow through common intrests. We see the same in more current events. Three countries, US, UK and Iraq. Need I say more?

Leaving history and politics to the side, people are just people, and yes we're loyal to our friends, but we sometimes need to ask ourselves, what's a friendship worth, and whose dead body am I willing to walk over to get what I want?

Something new?

Isn't it amazing that every thought you have has already been had by someone else? Every predicament is one previously experianced. You're nothing special, there's nothing new about you. It's simply human to be narrow minded and think that we matter more than we do. Surely to someone or someones you mean more than the random person three towns over, but in a bigger context you don't matter much.

The entire world is built up by individuals, and they are just that, we are just that, you are just that, I am just that. You're special, just like me.