Nations or Corporations

I had a really interesting discussion with my friend the other day regarding nation states and nationalities, borders and illegal immigrants and various corporate political monopolies. The more I dug in to my knowledge of history, the more I found getting angry inside on how things are working in the present world.

No doubt that I love the world in the western hemisphere and the people who live in this part of the world, its just simply tough to make most of them understand that there is no such thing as 'us' and 'them'. My friend I was talking to is one of the wise people here and she is totally against the existence of nation states that thrive on paranoia and patriotic egotism.

The way I look at nation states is that in various units of functional economies around the world that go from village, town, city, district, province, state all the way up to country; nation states are like big corporations with extended financial interests in a particular economic area. And the national flags are nothing more than the corporate insignia. And the whole concept of patriotism and nationalist egotism is part of brand loyalty. Every country is like a corporate brand, and one person usually pays a certain brand (taxes) to thrive in the corporate race.

These corporate brands would sometimes fight each other for economic survival over petty issues such as area of interest (borders) or disloyal customers (illegal immigrants). Usually when a brand has too much monopoly in one particular area and its customers (citizens) get really blinded by all the corporate advertisments (mass media makeup), they willingly agree to any injustices committed by their corporate brand (country) against any other corporate brand. And when one brand gets too much power, money and monopoly, it would go to any extent to make sure that its customers are very loyal and obedient. To make sure that they are obedient, some of these corporate brands use sophisticated means to make sure that brand loyalty is stricty maintained (IRS in USA).

These corporate brands have paid employees (army) who fight with employees of other brands over egotistic sentiments that have no ground and only lie in thin air. To give meaning to their egotistic patriotic sentiments, most brands use the local differentiating point to garner up support of employees (soldiers) and customers (citizens). These points could be language, skin color, religious ideology or just a fake idea of so-called glory.

The concept of nationalism and 'belonging' to a particular cast, color, creed, religious, political or economic ideology is so lame and outdated that I am surprised people still agree to it and consider borders drawn on maps as some real geographical landmarks that you can see. Most of the average people believe in the corporate advertisement (patriotism) so blindly that they willingly agree to not to look at the larger human history. Most of the people would never sit down and think that these corporate brands (nation states) and their areas of influence (borders) are more fluid than any other thing and they have never been static and will never be static. But in their short lives, most of the customers (citizens) do believe in all the (nationalist) crap that is thrown at them. And this larger-than-life image of a corporate brand (country) makes these people even die for their brand without thinking in the first place that its not the ordinary people who benefit from their 'valor' and 'bravery' but actually the corporations who thrive on strife, turmoil, political chauvinism, war and destructive showdown. In the end, people are just a fodder in this grand struggle for corporate monopoly.

Nation states and religion are literally the last standing barrier between a true human and humane society on this small planet!

Back from New Orleans.

I came back from the Mardi Gras weekend yesterday. It was an awesome 2 days in New Orleans. Saw the great city! The jubilant people celebrating life and having good time. Saw some really awesome street musicians who did not budge and leave their place when a big police SUV honked to pass through. Saw some craziness on Bourbon street and saw the beauty, life and colors on canal street parades. It was one of those pilgrimages you do once in your lifetime, just like going to a U2 concert or spending a night out on the ocean beach.

Of all its misgivings, America has been the one that provided me with all the above-mentioned things. And one thing that I would definitely it provided me was my freedom. I was shocked, and still am in shock because of the compromise I had to do for the level of freedom I am getting, but then this world is not a Utopian dream either. So, I live happy being here, and to have reached here with Sehar is like a dream come true.

I have been really lazy in writing this blog. I did start writing a hand-written journal daily, and I am glad I am carrying on with it. I really need to make a good time table for my guitar-playing I do not want my finger calluses to 'melt away'. In fact, I think I will have some coffee and than play some guitar before I work on my paperwork today for the Massachusetts thingy. Its already 11:44 pm and I am soooo drowsy! Hmmm... I think I will just sleep for a little while and than make coffee, finish my paperwork and than play before I leave for university at 7 30 am in morning.

Haha... it feels like I am thinking by writing. For a second I felt so lazy in writing today's blog but its really easy to write your thoughts only. Because it does not require extra effort to think. You just think on your laptop keyboard! Alexey is right now listening to an awesome 80's powerballad and really like it. Those rock ballads were so monstrous and awe-inspiring. They still give me shivers and jitters sometimes. And so does any good music. Oh yes!! Eva came up with a really awesome song for the chord progression she had thought out. I think it is an incredible song. In fact, when she showed it to me, I thought its like U2's 'I won't go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight'.

A lot of these thoughts and talk looks disjointed but its because I did not write a lot of stuff for a while, and I feel too lazy to write it all down. So many new people have come in to my life. So many things are changing with time that sometimes you are yourself surprised. It takes a while to even fill up a journal if I miss 2-3 days, so it definitely would be tough to write the chronology of everything since I came to US last July. All I can say is that things have been pretty fast but pretty good!

:)

12 days later...

Its been 12 days since I had my last post on 1st February. Following things occured. I did 2 sets of sections in my lab. A couchsurfer arrived from UK and her name is Jude. Its been a good 2 days talking with her.

It snowed like crazy in Jackson. The TV said it has never snowed that much ever here. It was fun driving in the snow this morning. A sort of relaxed Friday. Am so excited about this weekend as we all are going to New Orleans tomorrow for Mardi Gras. I hope it will be fun!

Long day!

Today was a sort of long and busy day for me. Mondays and Fridays are by far my busiest days at UMC. Its 1:00 am and I need to do some studying before I head to my bed. Am slacking on guitar playing, but since I have loads of other stuff to do, I won't blame myself for it right now. Will go one step ahead with organization!

Here's a toast to the young and beautiful night with my coffee. Will finish studying cholinergic synaptic transmission tonight.