Things That Go Bump In The Night

Friend: do you know how I love linguistics
Dodo: how could anyone love linguistics
Dodo: its the biggest mistake I’ve ever made
Dodo: I wish I’d chosen literature
Friend: even though I haven't studied it formally
Friend: I find it so exciting
Friend: language is so powerful
Friend: and more often than not underestimated
Friend: I would have loved to study Semitic linguistics
Dodo: yeah there are some interesting classes
Dodo: very rare classes
Dodo: it all depends on the professor
Friend: when I look at a language I see a puzzle irresistible to solve
Dodo: more like impossible
Dodo: there are so many aspects to language
Friend: exactly
Dodo: you wouldn’t even know where to start
Friend: there's so much to look at
Dodo: I still prefer literature
Friend: literature is nice too
Dodo: maybe if I’d majored in that I would've been more decent at writing
Friend: I don't think it can manufacture ideas for you
Dodo: it can help me organize whatever buried ideas I might have and bring them out of whatever abyss they're lost in
Friend: organize, sure
Friend: but bringing ideas out
Friend: wallah madri
Dodo: it might've stimulated something
Friend: you need an inspiration
Dodo: yes!!!!
Dodo: and literature does that
Friend: not necessarily a course or two
Friend: just try to read high-end poetic works on your own
Friend: that should teach you enough
Friend: or get you going
Dodo: high end? all we have available around here is trash like the Da Vinci Code
Friend: you know I still haven't read that
Friend: 3naad!
Dodo: me neither; and I don’t want to
Dodo: exactly
Friend: az3ajouna bah hal 3alam
Dodo: it's waaaay too mainstream; like the coffee shop phenomena
Dodo: I don’t want anything to do with it
Friend: they're going to start selling it in vending machines
Dodo: I need to get my hands on the really juicy stuff like Selman Rushdi's Satanic Verses or something
Dodo: that would make my day
Friend: I thought of getting that a while ago.. laken 6a7 3azmy
Dodo: why
Friend: madri anshe'3alt b omour thanyah
Dodo: you're in KSA aren’t you?
Friend: no
Dodo: I was wondering how you could get that into the country
Friend: lao a6eer w awagge3 ma legeit hal ktab b KSA
Dodo: a friend of mine tried to bring Ali G's gospel to KSA
Dodo: serious flop
Friend: mn Ali G.?
Dodo: he’s a Pakistani Brit
Dodo: got a comedy show
Friend: oh I see
Dodo: makes fun of everyone and everything
Dodo: he wrote his own version of the Bible
Dodo: really funny
Friend: mhaboul
Dodo: yeah... have you seen Madonna’s 'music makes the people come together' music video?
Dodo: the one where she’s wearing a cowboy hat and sitting in a limo
Friend: unfortunately I'm not so updated with pop/mainstream culture
Dodo: he was just featured on it that’s all
Friend: aha
Friend: Ali G
Friend: I'll remember that
Dodo: and what’s even more funny about him
Dodo: is that he’s got a reeeeeeeeally heavy British accent
Dodo: you can hardly understand anything he says
Dodo: but he dresses up like gangster-wannabe's
Dodo: the bling and Fubu clothes and baggy pants
Dodo: so he looks really pathetic
Friend: eeh a'3lab al hnoud bel UK ketha
Friend: laken what can you do
Friend: I say it's become the minorities' culture
Dodo: what is?
Friend: and more than that in some cases
Friend: the 'gangster' state of mind
Dodo: its spastic
Friend: a culture of the minorities
Dodo: there’s this guy who hangs out in Virgin
Dodo: like 24/7
Dodo: every time I go to Virgin ashoof 5ishita
Dodo: he dresses up EXACTLY like Tupac
Dodo: the same chains
Dodo: the same hair
Dodo: the same clothes
Dodo: all the way to the bandana thingy on his head
Dodo: sooooooo sa5eef
Friend: this is what happens when you have a culture void
Dodo: its like these guys don’t have an identity of their own
Friend: yes
Friend: it's disappointing really
Dodo: its sad
Friend: since the middle east was the cradle of some of the greatest civilizations
Dodo: they think its cool; its just downright lame
Friend: in time
Friend: ya Dodo; wallah maneb aloomhom
Friend: msakeen
Friend: faraa'3!
Dodo: faraa'3.. so what
Friend: aimless life
Dodo: don’t they have brains to think with?
Dodo: inah.. oh my life is so pointless.. let me do something constructive with it?
Friend: it's got much to do with the nurturing scheme to which they've been subjected
Dodo: they're walking talking zombies I swear to God
Friend: a scheme that pretty much paralyzes any intellectual process
Dodo: paralyzes? it's non-existent
Friend: 7araam
Dodo: but the majority are infected; cant help but wonder if its ME who’s got the problem and not them
Friend: everyone's a product of their individual experiences, subjected to personal dispositions, nurture and the surrounding environment
Dodo: true; so why did all those people end up being the same mechanical robots?
Dodo: their mentalities are so similar
Friend: imagine the different possibilities in each of these factors
Dodo: did they all go through the same brainwashing system?
Friend: yes
Friend: pretty much
Dodo: shlon pretty much if everyone is subjected to different things 3la goltik
Dodo: why did it all boil down to the same result
Friend: I was referring to your probably different experience
Friend: but the persons you are referring to have states of mind that are sadly products of much greater 'policies'
Dodo: this is on the verge of turning into a political debate; I don’t want to go there
Friend: you may be lucky enough to realize it
Friend: of course it's inevitable
Dodo: 3arab mako fayda
Dodo: always blame it on politics
Friend: the politics of the Arabs!
Friend: not of anyone else
Friend: Arabs that become rulers from within Arabs
Dodo: aaaaah come on.. at the end of the day everyone’s going to point their fingers at Israel and say it was their fault
Friend: Israel is at fault because it is allowed to
Friend: and only because of that
Friend: it acts as dictated by its inherent role
Friend: I wouldn't expect it to do otherwise
Friend: on the other hand
Dodo: well if I was Israel and I saw a herd of blind sheep, why would I stop myself from manipulating them?
Dodo: its their choice
Dodo: they were willing
Friend: we have options and have consistently chosen the irrational one over time
Dodo: not anyone’s fault that they're such ignorant morons
Friend: exactly
Dodo: Allah ybashrik bil5air
Friend: we talk about a Collective here
Friend: with a shared system of belief
Friend: which has as Sovereign a player which enforces that system of belief
Dodo: enforces?
Dodo: its hardly enforced
Dodo: mn bara allah hallah oo mn da5el ya3lam Allah
Friend: and that is exactly how it's being maintained!
Dodo: honestly you better stop; politics confuse me
Dodo: I’m lost enough as it is
Friend: if you insist
Friend: atsfina ashar
Friend: I tend to sway away from excessive emotion
Friend: it's very distorting
Dodo: emotion makes it personal
Friend: (for the truth)
Friend: yes of course
Dodo: most people have just turned a blind eye to the bitter truth
Friend: some of the truth, of course
Friend: and that too
Dodo: well if you were in Kuwait maybe you'd understand better
Friend: perhaps
Dodo: you don’t understand how severe its gotten
Dodo: the degree of brainwashing is just amazing
Friend: in what sense?
Dodo: in the sense that these people would be better off dead
Dodo: and saving some space, energy and much needed oxygen
Friend: sorry I meant brainwashing
Dodo: oh
Dodo: well
Dodo: people aimlessly cruise malls and streets
Dodo: bdoon hadaf
Dodo: everyone does it
Dodo: they sit in coffee shops glassy eyed
Dodo: probably without a decent thought going through their heads
Friend: a3ooth bellah
Dodo: other than how to nail the next easy target
Friend: ok well to an extent it's the same back home
Friend: what target
Dodo: most likely a member of the opposite sex
Friend: what are we in Amsterdam?
Dodo: no we're in the Middle East where everyone only has one thing on their mind
Dodo: their genitals
Friend: is it the excessive luxury?
Dodo: its the lack of motivation
Dodo: the lack of anything else to do
Dodo: like you said, you cant blame them
Friend: that's painful
Dodo: no one’s providing anything that can stimulate their minds
Dodo: well I don’t think that’s a good excuse
Dodo: they expect things to be presented to them on silver plates
Dodo: instead of going out there and doing something worthwhile
Friend: well it shouldn't be an excuse as much as it should point to the crux of the problem
Dodo: the other day I took my sister out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant
Dodo: and she sat there flipping through the menu
Dodo: then she calls the waiter... 3baly 3indaha salfa
Dodo: she’s like.. shino hatha?
Dodo: and the poor guy just stood there and he’s like
Dodo: he thought she was kidding
Dodo: then hes like.. hatha maay
Dodo: she was asking him what Perrier water is
Dodo: and to make things worse, when she read tonic she asked him.. is tonic the thing they use in the 9alon to make my hair shine?
Dodo: I swear to God I wanted to crawl under the table and die
Dodo: and its not just my sister
Dodo: these people take being air headed to a totally different level
Dodo: a criteria of its own
Friend: wallah as I always have thought about similar problems
Friend: or problems of such scale
Friend: no individual action could attain the desired change
Friend: there must be an external effort, a policy, that must act affirmatively to disentangle what might seem as a social coordination problem
Friend: a social trap
Friend: to push the Collective as a whole
Friend: towards change
Dodo: and that will never happen
Dodo: amal iblees biljanah
Friend: otherwise any interstate transition will eventually culminate in a fruitless end
Friend: ella
Friend: I think it can happen
Friend: 'prioritizing'
Dodo: you're asking for a total upheaval
Friend: certain key areas must start to change
Dodo: a revolution like that will never happen
Friend: not at all
Dodo: the 'forces' would never allow it
Friend: upheavals induce 'destructive' change
Dodo: you want to destroy brainwashing
Dodo: not every destruction is negative
Friend: no positive change can ever be achieved without the Collective's will
Friend: only when society matures enough to realize it's priorities
Dodo: where would politics be without religion as its backbone
Friend: 5allek mn al religion for now
Friend: lets stop blaming it for a bit
Friend: whilst ignoring our more real and tangible problems
Dodo: well the damage as I see it is beyond repair
Dodo: people are comfortable in their numb state of mind
Friend: no damage is beyond repair ya Dodo
Friend: and they will continue to be so!
Friend: until a process of mind-changing is to be expedited
Dodo: and the higher powers are happy that everyone’s contempt and well shut up
Friend: this will not take a period of ten years
Friend: or 50 even
Friend: much more.
Dodo: too bad we wont be around to see it
Dodo: but by then the whole world would've evaporated.. thanks to the likes of that madman in Iran
Dodo: no need for change
Dodo: just blow everything and everyone up
Dodo: arya7
Friend: and start from scratch
Dodo: why bother
Dodo: mashroo3 fashel mn asasah
Dodo: God would be much better off with his dinosaurs and plant kingdoms
Dodo: bala 7anah bala 3awar raas
Friend: this is all for a reason ya Dodo; it is of His absolute fairness that we observe what we do
Friend: the laws of Physics!
Dodo: I’d like to know what the reason is
Dodo: coz right now, Gods plan just seems like a sick, twisted, perverted idea to me
Dodo: something from the Twilight Zone
Friend: if we assume that a Utopia was his original intention then this may be true
Dodo: Utopia?
Dodo: look at where we are now
Friend: well it is not
Dodo: how could His plan have gone so badly wrong?
Friend: exactly!
Dodo: its not a minor deviation!
Dodo: He must’ve wanted it to be this way all along... which makes my belief that God is mad even stronger
Friend: does it even need to be a minor deviation from perfection to qualify as imperfect?
Dodo: any deviation is imperfection
Friend: any deviation is imperfection - correct
Dodo: and all these lunatics are mere reflections of Gods current state
Dodo: which must mean that I and the likes must be reflections of the devil
Friend: can you tell of the intention of Mr. Anton Wong who is maybe right now situated somewhere in Cantonese China?
Dodo: yes Satan defied God
Friend: you are only assuming Dodo
Dodo: I don’t know what anyone’s intention is
Dodo: I’m only trying to make sense of things
Dodo: putting 2 and 2 together
Friend: exactly, and neither will you know of God's, if you maintain a notion of His existence
Dodo: He exists for sure.. but as complete madness
Friend: it's not putting 2 and 2 together at all
Friend: unless you are assuming
Dodo: its an assumption that’s making sense to me
Friend: and building upon it
Friend: well many things might make sense while they have nothing to do with the state of truth
Friend: two things occur at a given time
Friend: does it mean that they both cause one another?
Dodo: not necessarily
Dodo: but you have to collect proof
Dodo: and analyze
Dodo: and think
Dodo: you’re bound to end up with a conclusion
Dodo: which is exactly what I’ve done
Friend: well proof is sufficient
Friend: and it's usually no piece of cake
Friend: proof?
Dodo: the proof is in the people you see every day
Friend: you've maybe proved a correlation
Friend: but not causation
Dodo: madry
Friend: well they're both very different things Dodo
Dodo: anyway I take comfort in knowing that nothing makes sense to me anymore anyways
Dodo: I don’t give a crap anymore
Dodo: let everything burn to hell for all I care
Friend: and that's a totally different thing as well
Friend: assertion on the basis of proof gives you truth
Dodo: are you religious?
Friend: while if one prefers not to be involved and adopt a neutral state
Friend: does not burden them with the liability of truth
Friend: religious in what sense?
Dodo: as in you're not a hypocritical Muslim
Friend: hmmm; I hope I'm not
Dodo: anyways
Dodo: if you end up in heaven and I end up in hell
Dodo: ask God for one tiny favor
Dodo: drag me along and say I was only a confused, lost soul
Friend: I'd rather ask for this favor right now
Friend: as we all get similarly confused at times
Dodo: pass me the opium will you
Friend: the faithful opium isn't it always
Dodo: yes
Dodo: the saints and prophets drug of choice
Friend: the politicians drug
Friend: and lets not go there again
Dodo: well the church has power over most western countries
Dodo: the church IS politics
Friend: had
Dodo: had?
Dodo: no way
Dodo: everyone still listens to the Vatican
Dodo: its like cancer... the silent killer
Friend: and at the same time it's not constitutionally recognized as the SOLE political entity
Dodo: but still it has leverage
Friend: that's a big part of the West's achievement summarized
Friend: the separation of church and state, ONLY WHEN there was a conceivable conflict between the two
Friend: because the Church was indeed a political institution
Dodo: anyway who gives a shit.. tomorrows just another extraordinarily ordinary day in the big master plan
Friend: well you seem to realize very well that we are in a state of 'given'
Dodo: are we?
Friend: I leave you on how you are going to deal with it
Friend: "tomorrows just another extraordinarily ordinary day in the big master plan"
Dodo: will that stop me from going to bed every night with tears in my eyes about how aimless and pointless this life really is?
Friend: wella I misunderstood?
Dodo: we're born, we live, we die
Friend: ok you're struggling
Dodo: how pathetically simple
Friend: and this automatically conveys an element of discontent
Friend: which almost always constitutes the impetus for treatment
Friend: and 'dealing with it'
Dodo: I AM dealing with it
Dodo: its too bad no one approves
Friend: well as long as you are
Friend: I'm sure you'll eventually stumble upon an answer
Dodo: well I sure hope not
Dodo: the answer will probably be more painful that the perpetual dizziness I’m in
Friend: perhaps a temporary detachment or withdrawal will help you regain focus and relieve you from the overwhelmed-ness
Dodo: I haven’t been out of my room for 2 weeks now
Friend: detach from your state of mind
Dodo: locked up like a hermit in my room with nothing but my faithful PC
Friend: don't cause any more complications
Friend: that will make you regain focus
Friend: not just finding solitude in your room
Dodo: sometimes the only way to get an answer is to look for it in the midst of a storm
Friend: closing your door
Friend: well that's good
Dodo: I’ve turned my back on 'the human race' as I know it
Friend: that's even more ambitious
Friend: if you think this is true
Dodo: aaah I’m only ga3da atfalsaf
Dodo: I don’t know what I think or believe anymore
Friend: you shouldn't have this much trouble
Dodo: like I said.. I’m a lost confused little old soul
Dodo: may God have mercy
Friend: it's ok
Friend: just one thing Dodo that will probably do you good as to many
Friend: do not make any unverified assertions in the meantime
Friend: the search for truth requires a true sense of objectivity
Friend: and surely dislikes unverified states of ‘swayness’
Dodo: I’m not going to put all my eggs in one basket
Dodo: swaying is good... I get a little bit of everything
Friend: I hope I am not misunderstanding
Dodo: tiny pieces I need to collect to end up with a final 'bigger picture'
Friend: or I hope I am
Friend: of course
Dodo: 3ady I don’t understand myself
Friend: but settling for a humanly conceivable 'incomplete' picture is our worry
Friend: not to make any premature suppositions
Dodo: I’m willing to accept if it does come down to that
Dodo: maybe it was meant to be incomplete
Friend: well Dodo, one might argue that it is impossible to fully reconstruct the truth otherwise belief won't be what it is
Friend: exactly
Friend: that's why I said humanly conceivable
Friend: meaning that I could physically reconstruct the missing part
Dodo: maybe God wanted it to be open to interpretation
Friend: I would hate to impose my own thoughts or seem as that
Friend: so I shall leave it to you
Dodo: nothing wrong with enlightening me
Friend: I can only enlighten myself - and lucky if I do - since I'm aware of my own deficiencies
Friend: but not of others’
Friend: Allah y6aamenk besmah w yhadeena wyyak
Friend: because it is a serious matter
Dodo: yes it is