First Nation's People - Are Reparations Possible

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First Nation’s People – Are Reparations Possible

“Past is only meant to serve as a lesson, while present is the path that future takes.”

With the referendum to give Australia’s ‘First Nation’s People’ a ‘Voice’ to the Aussie Parliament coming up soon, it is time to postulate some long term solutions for bringing those very people into the Twenty First Century. A lot of people still fail to realize as to why special efforts need to be made to bring about that change, and why positive action needs to be done by the Australian Government. There might still be another set of people from the Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander communities themselves that may not be open to Governmental action because of the past misgivings. Perhaps it would be prudent to explain a few very basic things to all of them, as to what it would take to bring about a lasting, positive, and forward marching change to the tight knit Aussie community, and why such an action is recommended.

First of all, two things need to be understood in the context of our shared history as a single evolving humanity. A lot of people are under the impression that the large scale European colonization of the world led to an advancement of humanity, and hence benefited everyone. This however is not entirely true, or even true to about half of the extent of it. Consider all the places outside Europe that have become permanent home to the posterity of European settlers. You will notice that any geographically identifiable nation that had an advanced, intricate, and economically thriving culture of its’ own, failed to sustain a permanent European presence post the collapse of colonialism. The only places where Europeans were able to establish a permanent home, like Australia, South Africa, Latin America, etc, were places where the original human cultural groups were isolated into smaller tribal populations, and whose societal setups were rudimentary, irrespective of anyone’s ancient magnificent past. This result is because the advanced culture of Europe was in direct contrast to the advanced cultures of places like Asia, Northern Africa, etc. People from European cultures could not have lived and prospered in those cultures once their authoritarian influence had waned.

This above conclusion of course leads to the argument that European influence on the aboriginal cultures of places that have developed as permanent homes to European posterity is then undeniable. Furthermore, that influence must be considered as positive influence since humanity has advanced scientifically and technologically, and brought the benefits of that advancement to the populations that otherwise might have still been struggling and rudimentary in societal structures. This is perhaps the part of the argument that may arguably be considered as half correct. It is correct that European colonisation exposed the ancient tribal traditions to a much more advanced, and intricate social structure of European society, and lead to a ‘figurative’ carnal enlightenment of those ancient traditions about modern tradition. It is also true that scientific and technological advancements, including medicine and research, have improved the life expectancies of the traditional cultures. What however would not be true would be to say that all impact was positive, if the historical experience of those ancient cultures since the event of colonisation was far from constructive, and if the people belonging to those cultures are still struggling to find their feet in an advanced society growing around them today. Let us consider the example of Australia’s indigenous populations.

Much has been already written, critiqued, and lambasted about the impact of European arrival on local population; the violent conflicts, the impact of modern world diseases, and then later, by ‘Stolen Generation’, and more. Much blood was shed as far as indigenous communities are concerned, and the impact, as I will explain below, is still pulling them down more than Two Hundred years later. All that however is the past, and while that past should teach us as to what kind of actions lead to catastrophic results, it should however not be used to judge or condemn the new generation Aussies, who for all intents and purposes, are genuinely interested in developing a better and inclusive Australia for everyone. Sure, there may be a case where a talented non-white individual might find it hard to find ‘White Aussie’ support like a white Aussie of slightly lesser talent might, but that is down to the fact that all human beings, irrespective of their race or religion or any other denomination, tend to find commonality with, and idolize those individuals that they can themselves identify with.

Consider my own example to understand this above statement. I at a personal level cannot blame Aussies for not identifying with me, and not supporting my Musical endeavours because I know that as a ‘Punjabi’, I might find it hard to support a migrant from ‘Uttar Pradesh’ or ‘Bihar’, living in ‘Punjab’, and singing ‘Punjabi’ songs. This lack of identification with ‘the other’ is natural, even though it might lead to harsh results for the individual at the suffering end, who will often fail to understand why their efforts are not bearing any fruit, while those less talented than them might be living the good life. This all boils down to natural human behaviour, and it sure does not justify labelling people as racists or discriminatory. All that this means is that a special action is needed to deliver an equitable outcome to someone who deserves it. So let’s take a look at the issue of Aussie indigenous populations, and consider why a special action is needed in their case.

Australia was always a resource rich continent; literally untouched, and pristine. Australia’s economy and development has much to thank for to the mining industry, right from the ‘Gold Rush’ days. Then there were huge pastures, and fertile fields. When British colonisation happened, while the indigenous populations were pushed away from their lands by the victorious new arrivals, the British subjects got lucrative contracts, huge estates and endowments, and much more. British culture, followed later by the European culture, thrived, and so did those early settlers. Their lives and fortunes were made, and those that have since arrived from other parts of the world, too found it easy to fit in the new world society, as their own homelands had developed into modern world nations, and readied them for the Aussie experience. They all prospered, while the Indigenous populations watched from the sidelines, unable to fit in a culture that reminded them of their blood filled and painful past.

‘Australia’ as a modern nation has developed on the land and resources of people who have gotten nothing out of their loss. Compare the Aussie Indigenous populations to the Arab population of the Oil rich Gulf nations, and you would understand the difference being in control of your own destiny, and your nation’s natural resources, makes to your community. Can you imagine what the lifestyles of indigenous people would be if they were in control of all the mining income, and agricultural lands that Australia has?

Now of course, it would be wrong to suggest that all the mining income, and agricultural lands should be returned to Indigenous populations now, for that would not be an equitable outcome for those Aussies (including the ‘ravaging’ early settlers) whose blood, sweat, and toil has made today’s Australia possible, or for that matter, equitable to those Aussies who live, breath, and work hard today. After all, the indigenous populations did lose their land to a stronger adversary, and hateful as it might sound to them, it is the enlightened approach of the posterity of that very invading force today, that we are talking about giving an equitable outcome to the indigenous populations.

The Australia that we are talking about sharing today, the lifestyle, the advancement, and the development that we are talking about providing today, all that has been, and is being built by hard working modern day Aussies of all races, religions, and other denominations. So what the indigenous populations had originally lost might have been all theirs to keep, but what we are talking about sharing, and providing today, belongs to those who have developed it since. Equity cannot be a one way street.

So what is really possible and do-able then? I can most certainly suggest a course of action, and explain it to the best of my abilities as to why it should be done, but whether my suggestions are acceptable to both the modern Aussies, and the Indigenous populations, the answer to that lies with the two groups themselves. To put my solution into simple terms I would suggest that; a) Each Indigenous family should be, according to the family size, provided ownership to a new and modern family home within the metro regions across Australia, and b) Depending upon the interests of each indigenous family, they should be helped in starting, setting up, and running a business of their own within the metro areas. For the second suggestion, I further recommend marking an Australian Dollar One Million endowment per family, for their next three to five generations. Now outrageous and preposterous as they may sound to Aussies at the giving end, and insufficient and ill advised as they may sound to the Aussies at the receiving end, my suggestions have been made for very proper reasons.

What has happened in the past cannot be changed; dead can’t be brought back to life, and lost land and resources cannot be returned. What however can be done going forward into the future is; making sure every Aussie has been given a fair initial advantage to succeed, and have a prosperous and happy future. While the settlers and their posterity, and the new arrivals have all managed to make their future in a modern society, the indigenous communities are yet to emerge from their original injury, and have no resources to start a new life on their own in a new world. It might not be possible to return them everything, but giving them decent homes to live and raise their families in, would be a nice start, since that’s what they would have been able to do one their own without an issue, had the European settlers returned to their lands post the collapse of Colonialism, like the people in Asia and North Africa have done. Since the latter is not going to happen, and most certainly won’t be equitable, my suggestion of giving each Indigenous family a decent home of their own is the best alternative in rectifying one major inequity.

Now as to second suggestion; it would be wrong to expect the indigenous populations to forget all their past pain, the ignominy of losing their lands, and simply start working as a part of the work force, labouring their way around. That is, and always would be, like adding insult to an injury. A better approach would be to give each family a choice as to what they would like to do, and then help them become capable of doing that thing, and also setting that thing up for them. Giving them financial boost, like a million bucks, would cover the inequities of the past, and an equitable return for everything that has been taken from them. This would have to be done for their next three to five generations to come, as that’s how long it takes for families to become positively entrenched in a society.

Now of course, as I said earlier, my solution may sound foul to both sides of the equitable action. With most Aussie families struggling today in tough economic conditions, giving away freebies might sound awful and unjust. But people need to remember that these are not free gifts, but rather reparations for the past, designed to develop a better future. My suggestions might seem unfair and too little to the indigenous populations, but they must remember that equity is not just about getting what is yours, but also giving up what belongs to others. Modern Australia has been built, is being built, and will keep getting built by Aussies of all denominations, and not just indigenous populations. The land no longer belongs to the indigenous populations anymore. They share it with everybody else.

This sums up my preferred approach to the issue of reparations for the First Nation’s people. I am sure everybody reading this article would have an issue or two, or perhaps even more, with my suggestions, and might even have better suggestions to make than mine. I suggest they should share them with the rest of the world, along with their arguments.

Take Care,

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss

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Pied Piper and the Dragon of Mount Pyron

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Pied Piper and the Dragon of Mount Pyron

“Someone might be counting on a promise with their life, and the maker might not even know.”

Thousands of years ago, when dragons still roamed this earth, humans were still so small in numbers that they only had two villages and a city. These villages and the city were situated in a very fertile green country that connected three big continents of the Earth; Europe, Asia, and Africa. There was a tall mountain in the middle of this country, called Mount Pyron. This mountain was surrounded on all sides by a very thick forest. A river, a desert, and a rocky plain separated the forest from the human city, and the two villages, each one of them arranged like one of the three sides of a triangle around the forest. In the forest and high atop the mountain, midst the mist lived a dragon.

Old legend said that once a Prince was playing with firecrackers when one of his crackers accidently fell into the bag of a Sage passing by, setting the Sage’s meagre belongings on fire. The enraged Sage turned the Prince into a dragon, and cursed him into roaming the forest and residing on the cold mountain, until one day when a righteous man would destroy his shell, and release the Prince from his dragon body once again. For generations the story was passed down by all the humans that lived in the country, and they would banish all those who committed any wrongs into the forest, where it was believed that the dragon would eat them. Nobody ever saw the dragon, and the dragon couldn’t venture out of the forest because of the Sage’s curse. The royal family however waited patiently for the return of their own, for generations.

Many years later in one of the two villages, was born a boy to a poor farmer. The boy was very gentle, and never did anything wrong. However, as he grew older, he fell in love with music and started playing a pipe. His pipe playing was so good, that it started affecting everyone in the village. At first people loved listening to him playing his pipe, but then as the boy grew older, and his music abilities improved, he started getting naughtier. He realized he could change the mood of people and animals with his music. He started playing pranks on everyone, like making their cows fall asleep when someone tried to milk them, or making someone’s bullocks run amok when they tried to put them to a cart. He made the dogs chase their owners up the trees, and their cats scratch their furniture, and so on. Soon everybody became fed up of his insolence, and started wondering if the boy was possessed by the devil.

One day when the boy started to play his pipe, huge clouds arrived above the country, and a violent storm started lashing the weak tiny homes of the poor villagers. The storm was so violent, it destroyed all their homes, drowned their cattle in flood, and the people only survived by clinging on to floating uprooted trees. Everybody thought that it was the boy’s music that brought the storm and caused destruction. Fed up, and afraid, they decided to exile the boy to the forest. The boy cried and pleaded with everyone that it wasn’t his fault, but no one listened. His parents were broken and distraught, but couldn’t stop the villagers from banishing him. The villagers chased him away with bricks and stones until he had no choice but to run into the forest.

Scared of the irate villagers, the boy ran deep into the forest, and before he could realize, he was lost. He was lost, scared, thirsty, and hungry, but none of that mattered. All he was thinking at that point in time was his mother and his father.

“Oh father! Oh mother! Please forgive me,” he spoke as he cried, “But I swear this wasn’t my doing.” He started to sob inconsolably. “I am sorry I played all those pranks,” he kept on saying, “But I swear I didn’t cause the storm.” His sorrow soon overtook his feelings of fear and despair. He cried his heart out. Sad as he was, he pulled out his pipe, and started doing the only thing he had known to do, the only thing that gave him comfort; he started playing his pipe. His melody however was that of a sorry heart, so overflowing with sadness that the trees around him started to fall silent. The wind stopped and the birds stopped chirping. Everything around him became desolate and despondent.

“Who dare ruin my wilderness,” a thunderous voice boomed out of the distant trees, and a ferocious fiery beast emerged from behind. The boy’s pipe had awakened the dragon from his midday siesta, and he too was hungry, having not had any flesh to feast upon for days.

The entire atmosphere suddenly changed as the birds gave out shrill cries and started flying away in every direction. The trees began shaking, raising a ferocious wind. The dragon rose up in the sky, and its’ eyes fell on the fear frozen boy.

“Oh father! Help me,” the boy cried as the dragon flew straight towards him. The boy made a dash, head over his heels, and straight through the trees. The dragon blew out a large ball of fire from its mouth and nostrils, charring everything that stood between it and the boy. The boy however ran, dodging through the trees, ducking for cover, his pipe held tightly in his hands. “Please don’t kill me,” he pleaded to the dragon as he ran. The dragon however was hungry, and didn’t care.

The two waded through the forest in a chase that didn’t stop until the boy, who was panting for breath now and could barely run anymore, came across a cave, and rushed straight inside. The dragon was too big to enter the cave, but it also knew the boy couldn’t go anywhere else now.

“How long are you going to hide in there you little piece of meat,” the dragon exclaimed in a menacing voice, “Come, I’ll make it quick and painless. I’ll eat you up like a snack. C’mon, come outside. I haven’t eaten in a month.” And the dragon burst out into a rapturous laughter.

“What am I going to do,” the boy was hysterical, shaking with fear, well aware there was nowhere for him to go, and the dragon had all the time to catch him. He sneaked a peak outside the entrance of the cave and saw the dragon easing himself onto the ground, and resting his big monstrous body. The boy looked at his pipe, and for the first time in his life, he felt angry at it, “You little piece of wood, you are the reason for all my troubles. You are the cause of my death.” Angrily, he raised his hand to try and smash the pipe on the rock in front of him, but paused at the very last minute.

“Wait! Maybe this can help me out this time. If it can make cows fall asleep, then maybe it can make a dragon fall asleep too. After all, a dragon is just an animal,” he thought to himself. Encouraged by the thought he started playing his pipe again, only this time he started playing a soothing tune, a tune that could put elephants to sleep. And it started to work. He noticed the dragon yawn outside the cave. So he continued playing it, until the dragon started snoring. It was night by that time, and the full moon came up to light up the forest. With the biggest, mightiest, and the only dangerous beast of the forest deep in sleep, the boy finally snuck out of the cave, and tip-toed away into the woods.

He made his way to a stream, where he had some water, and then grabbed a couple of fruits that had fallen off the trees, and had his meal. He then saw a couple of rabbits staring at him. The rabbits came up to him, and he gave them some fruit to munch on too.

“Hey little fellows, what are you doing here?” the boy said as he petted the two rabbits, “Don’t you know there is a treacherous beast that roams these woods? Why don’t you two go home and hide?” At this point he started wondering, where the weak animals of the forest took shelter from the dragon. “There must be a safe place to live in here,” he thought to himself. So when he let the rabbits go, he decided to follow them. The rabbits lead him to another cave in the forest, the one which had many entrances, but none too big for the dragon to get inside, and its’ moon lit inside spacious enough to hide all the small animals of the forest, and still leave enough space for an entire human village to have a comfortable life. Unfortunately however, he was the only human inside that cave. However, he knew from that moment, that this was going to be his home for the foreseeable future.

Years went on by, and the little boy became a man. Every day he would boldly go out into the forest to gather fruit, vegetables, wood, and water. The dragon was always there, following him, trying its’ best to snack on him, yet every time he would simply play his pipe, and lull the beast into sleep. Even the other animals began to roam freely in the forest as long as the young man, The Pied Piper, was out there. Over the years the Pied Piper saw many men and women get cast out either by the city or one of the two villages every month or two, and the dragon would grab them and feast on their flesh. All that was left of those people was the tools and stuff they ever brought with them. While the Piper was never able to save any of them, as by the time he would realize someone had been cast out, all that was generally left of them was their bones, but he managed to gather all their tools and stuff, and built a small decent house for himself inside the cave. The animals that were initially scared of the lights that he would light up inside the cave, too had become fond of him, and would gather around him every evening, to listen to his pipe. He was content, but lonely!

One day, as fate would have it, a beautiful young girl was cast out of the city as the people there thought she was a witch. She however was an innocent girl of reason and logic, who tried to find out the real scientific reason behind every phenomenon she witnessed. Hapless as she was, as much as the Pied Piper himself a few years earlier, she came to rest under a tree, sobbing.

“Who dares to cry in my woods?” roared the ferocious dragon as it smelt fresh food.

Luckily for the girl, the Pied Piper was out there collecting wood that day. He witnessed the dragon rise up in the air, and then he heard the desperate cries of a young woman. He instantly ran in the direction the cries of help were coming from. Barely had he gone a few hundred yards, the scared girl ran straight into him, with the beast tailing her.

“Quick! Stay behind me,” exclaimed the Pied Piper as he immediately pulled out his pipe, and started playing a soulful melody that calmed the beast into a slumber beyond fight. As the mighty dragon fell asleep to the ground with a loud thud, the Piper grabbed the girl by her hand and whispered, “Do not make a sound.” The two then tip-toed their way out of trouble, and straight back to the new home to two humans now.

“Who are you and what are you doing here, my saviour?” the enamoured girl asked, already taken by the handsome persona of the man that just saved her, and also taken by the beauty of his music.

The Pied Piper then told her his complete story thus far. The girl in turn told him her story, of how her scientific experiments led to her parents ditching her, and her city kicking her. The two realized they had more in common than merely an atrocity of fate; they were both deserted by their protectors and peers, for being different, and being good at being different. Needless to say, the two fell in love, and the entire forest married them, except of course the dragon, who wasn’t invited!

Years trickled on, and a little boy was born to what were once a little boy and little girl themselves. Happiness blossomed, and there was spring inside a dark cave. It was hard to say who loved the little child more, his parents, or the animals that dwelled with them. As the little boy started to grow older, he became inquisitive. His father’s musical tutorship, and tutorship of the ways and skills for life, and his mother’s mathematical and scientific tutorship, and tutorship of values and principles, weren’t enough anymore. He was naughty and adventurous. He wanted more! He wanted to know about the world outside the cave.

“You must never go outside until you are old and skilled enough,” his mother cautioned him repeatedly, “There is a mean dragon that dwells in this forest; who feeds on people’s flesh.”

“But how do you know there is one,” the boy asked, “I never see him around.”

The boy was however never satisfied, for he had never seen the beast. His father had become so good at keeping his mortal enemy as far away as possible from his little piece of heaven that even the animals living in the cave had started to wonder if there ever was any dragon outside. Such was his dedication to the protection of his ward, and his wife completely understood and supported him. They’ll never let their child down like their parents, was their mantra.

Nature however always takes its’ own course. A child is bound to grow up, and be inquisitive about everything around them. A child is bound to have a desire to explore the world around them, even against the sound advice of their parents. That’s how every human being is designed by default. So one day, the curiosity got the better of the boy, and when his father was away into the woods collecting food, the boy sneaked out of his mother’s watchful eyes, and straight out of the cave. When the poor mother realized her child was missing, she nearly collapsed and fainted. She however gathered herself and her wits up, and made a frantic dash into the forest, in search of her piece of heart.

“There you are,” an exasperated but relieved mother exclaimed as she finally caught her naughty little ward admiring flowers in their natural habitat, “How many times have I told you not to leave the cave?” She grabbed the boy to give him a big slap, but pulled him hard to her bosom instead. “Don’t you ever do that again,” the sobbing mother exclaimed.

“But mom, I am alright,” the innocent naughty kid replied, “And I don’t see any dragon.”

A faint crushing of the leaves however caught the mother’s attention, as she looked up from her embrace, and turned around in the direction of the sound.

Many hundred yards away, the Pied Piper carefully explored the forest gathering fresh fruit and vegetables. His keen senses were always scanning his surroundings, lest his nemesis were to catch him unaware. Today however he was surprised that the dragon hadn’t made his daily dash at him. “Where is the beast hiding? Is it sick today?” he wondered as he started his slow and stealthy march back towards the cave. A couple of loud shrieks however tore through the blissful quiet of the forest, and the voices sounded familiar.

The dangerous beast soared from behind the trees in the distance, laughing out loud, with its two prizes in its two claws; the mother, and her child.

“No!” a loud shriek escaped the Piper’s lips as he dropped everything he was carrying, and made a mad dash behind the beast that was flying away fast towards its’ mountain top abode, “Not my wife and my son! Let them go!”

The dragon however was way fast in the open sky, and made quick work of its flight back to its residence for a fresh feast of human flesh.

“I am sorry mother,” the little boy cried out to his mother, “I will never do this again. Please save me for this demon.”

“Please don’t eat us,” the poor mother in turn pleaded with her heartless captor.

The dragon however was getting ready to wet its appetite, when it finally heard a faint sound of a pipe. It looked down towards the bottom of the mountain, and there it saw the desperate Pied Piper trying his best to play a melody that would lull the beast into a blissful sleep, and enable him to rescue his wife and child.

The dragon let out a mean little laugh and roared from his sky high home, “Your music cannot reach me here, and before you can climb any higher, I would have had my dinner. Look at you puny little human, making a desperate attempt against the rising tide of time.” And the dragon burst out laughing hard and mean.

“Please spare my wife and child,” the Pied Piper, having realized his predicament, pleaded, “Eat me instead! Isn’t that what you have wanted for all these years?”

The dragon stopped midway of dropping the Piper’s son down his throat, while Piper’s hapless wife fought desperately under the Dragon’s other claw. The dragon turned around and looked down at the piper again.

“Please, let my family go, and have me instead,” the Piper having caught the dragon’s attention pleaded, “Look, I’ll even drop my pipe right here on the ground, and come to you myself. Please let my wife and child live.”

“And why would I let go of a meal that I already have,” the crooked dragon however enquired.

“Please, I beg of you,” the Piper however continued, “And even if you have to eat someone, eat me first. I can’t see my wife and my child die in front of me. Please grant me this one wish as my dying wish, and eat me first!”

The dragon paused for a second, and though to itself, “I guess I can do that for him, and get better fed in the process.” It then turned to the Pied Piper and exclaimed, “Very well then! Drop your pipe at the bottom of the mountain, and climb up! I will eat you first then!”

The Pied Piper, tears rolling down his cheeks, kissed his pipe and laid it on the ground, and started climbing up. Once atop the mountain, in the dragon’s lair, the Piper exclaimed, “Here I am! Please eat me now, but let me kiss my wife and my child for one last time.”

The dragon knew there was nowhere for the Pied Piper and his family to run, so he granted him his last wish. “Very well then,” it exclaimed, “But make your goodbyes quick, for I have been hungry for over three months now.”

The Pied Piper and his wife and son got together in a tight embrace. “I am so sorry my love, I couldn’t save you,” the Piper exclaimed, “Please forgive me.”

The wife and the child too cried their hearts out, each one apologising more profusely than the other, each one wishing to die first, but the Pied Piper prevailed on them both. He finally got up from their embrace, and having resigned to his fate walked up to the dragon, and laid down near its feet, “Here now, you can have me O mighty dragon.”

A quick rush of blood flew up the dragon’s brains, as its’ eyes lit up, and its heart started pounding. There he was, the prey it had been hunting for years, finally lying at its feet, and begging to be killed and eaten forthwith. It had finally won the battle of the hunter and the prey, and all it needed now was to raise its claw, and sever the Piper’s head from his body, and eat him up. The Pied Piper on his part lay completely still with his eyes shut, a calm acceptance of fate having taken over him. Patiently he awaited that final blow, which somehow didn’t come. Finally he opened his eyes and saw a dumbfounded dragon sitting there like a statute, its claw up in the air ready to strike a blow, but eyes focussed somewhere far away. In that moment anybody lying there where the Piper lay, might have mistaken the dragon for a rusty iron statute under the dying light of the Sun.

“What happened,” the Piper asked, “Why have you stopped?”

“Why are you doing this?” a perplexed dragon asked, “I don’t understand! For years you have run away from me, hid from me, and escaped from me. Yet today as you lay here, you are begging me to kill you. Why?”

“Because I love my family,” the Piper replied, “So please, don’t make it any more agonising for me, and do what you have to do quickly, for it hurts every moment I breath and contemplate the cruel fate that awaits my beloved and my piece of heart. Please kill me now! You have won!”

“But why don’t I feel like I have won,” the dragon roared ferociously, “Why don’t I feel like killing you right now?” And the dragon bent over and brought his fiery nostrils close to the Piper’s face.

“Look,” the Piper pleaded, “I don’t know what is going through your mind right now. All I know is that my family is about to die, and the only way for me to live my life peacefully is to die before them. I cannot help you, or help how you feel. All that is in my hands is to lay my life in your claws, and hope that either you will find mercy to let my wife and child go, or that I won’t know what you did with them. So please do what you must do.”

The dragon again stood upright and raised its claw, but once again it couldn’t bring itself to strike the Piper. “This is strange, this isn’t right,” the dragon muttered as he withdrew its claw, “I cannot win like this. This doesn’t feel like a win.”

Encouraged by the visible change of dragon’s heart, Piper made a request, “If you don’t want to kill me then please let me and my family go.”

“No!” the dragon emphatically retorted, “You have repeatedly insulted me, and challenged my authority in my dominion. I cannot let you just go.”

“Then please tell me what can I do for you, that would spare my wife and my child’s lives,” the Pied Piper asked with his folded hands.

The dragon thought for a few moments, and then came up with an answer, “Fine, you want to see your wife and child alive, then you must buy their lives from me; five gold coins for each life, and you have three days to get me those coins. If you fail to get me my payment before that time, your wife and kid will perish! Does that sound fair? For that sounds fair to me, and I feel like I will be earning their meat.”

“But I don’t have any Gold coins,” a hapless Pied Piper exclaimed, “How will I get ten?”

“That is your problem to deal with,” the dragon retorted, “Now go away before I lose my cool and kill your wife and child right now. Just go!”

The Pied Piper realized he had no choice left, but still had a chance to save his wife and kid after all. So he bade farewell to the two of them, and promised them he would be back with the Gold coins in three days somehow, and save them.

Determined to find a way, on the first day he crossed the dessert and returned to his village, to seek help from his parents and other villagers.

“Go away! You only brought misery to our village when you were here. And now you have brought misery to your own family. Just go! We can’t help you,” said the villagers.

“But it was never my fault,” the Pied Piper pleaded, “Please, believe me, and save my child and my wife. I promise I will never ask you for anything else.”

His pleas however fell on deaf ears. There were villagers who were superstitious, and there were villagers who didn’t care for a family they had never known, to part ways with their meagre life savings. His parents were just poor, barely surviving their old age without a young earning hand to support them.

“Don’t worry father,” the Pied Piper said, “Let me first save my family, and then I will come to save you.”

“But you have already saved us,” his father replied, “We were so broken without you, our lives had become a penance for us; a punishment for letting our only child to be hounded out to the mercy of nature.”

Tears rolling down his cheeks, but with no time to waist, the Piper promised his parents that he will return, and took their leave. By the next sunrise, the Piper had already crossed back over to the forest, through it, and across the rocky plains, to the doors of the city.

“Go back you criminal,” shouted the Chief Minister of the City at the city’s door, “Go back to the forest for only there can you live. If your own village has cast you away to the forest, then we won’t shelter a criminal either, or provide you with anything.”

“But I am no criminal, and I have never committed any crime,” the Pied Piper pleaded and begged, “I just need your help to save my wife and my child. My wife is the daughter of this city, and for what it is worth, my child is as innocent as any human could ever be.”

“Any daughter of this city living in that forest must be as criminal as you, for only then we would have discarded her,” the Chief Minister replied, “And the child of criminals is as good as a criminal for us. Now go away before I ask the guards to shoot you down with their arrows and spears.”

With no hope or choice left, the Pied Piper turned around and made haste across the rocky plains, back through the forest, and by next sunrise, he had crossed the river to reach the last human settlement, the second village.

“Be as that may be, that you be no criminal,” the elder of the village exclaimed after hearing the Pied Piper’s tale of woes in the village centre, “But why should we help someone who means nothing to us, and who has done nothing for this village?”

“But surely enough sire,” the Piper humbly replied, “There must be something I can do for this village that may earn me this generous community’s good graces.”

The village elder nodded in contemplation, and turned towards his peers in the village council. They all huddled together, whispering and discussing something. Finally the elder turned around and exclaimed, “Perhaps you can do something for us, and if you do it, we may help you.”

“Please just say the words,” the Pied Piper replied, “And I would do my best to help this village in any way possible. All I ask for in return are Ten Gold coins to buy my wife and child’s lives from the dragon.”

“If that is your wish then listen carefully young man,” the elder started to explain the task Pied Piper was to accomplish, “This village has been ravaged by the plague of rats. Every year the rats eat up almost all our food grains, leaving us barely enough to survive but with nothing to sell. They bring disease that kills our people and kids alike every year. If you can help rid this village of this menace, then and only then we will pay you the Ten Gold coins that you need. Do you agree?”

For a moment the Piper felt relieved. It felt like this was the moment he had been living for all his life playing a pipe. He knew his prayers had been answered, and he immediately agreed, “Listen O wise one, I agree to your terms, and I will help rid this village of each and every rat by noon today. Please gather my money and I shall be back to claim my labour by late afternoon.”

As the Pied Piper took their leave, everybody started chatting amongst themselves. “Can he really do that? Is he lying?” everyone was left wondering. The Piper however made it to the other end of the village by mid morning. He paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then pulled out his pipe. He then started playing a joyous tune which was sweat like sugar. His music started to fill the air, and people and animals alike were mesmerised by it. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and stood by their doors and windows to listen to his music. No one noticed the fat mice running through their feet, and out into the streets, straight towards the Piper.

The Pied Piper finally started walking, going through each and every street of the village, as a sea of rats started building up behind him. By the time he made to the leading edge of the village, and towards the river, all the rats in the village had made their way into the procession behind him. Slowly and surely the Piper made his way towards the river, but as he entered the river, some concerning thoughts started rearing their heads in his mind, “What am I doing? Am I going to kill all these innocent creatures for doing what anyone is born to do; eat their fair share of food? Can I justify their deaths to save the lives of my own wife and child?”

For someone who had never hurt an innocent creature knowingly, these thoughts were too much to bear. His heart started palpitating, and as his tension rose, his music became energetic. This energised the rats too, who all started bopping and hopping wildly as they followed the Piper through the river and across into the forest. Finally when the Piper had walked deep into the forest, he broke his tune and turned around. To his surprise, all the rats had safely crossed the river by bouncing on top of the water, and made it to the forest. The rats were all safe, and now that the energy given by the Piper’s music wasn’t there anymore, none of them had the ability to cross the river and return to the village. Not only had the Piper fulfilled his task, but he didn’t have to kill any innocent being to save his own family. He was elated!

Happy and proud, he quietly crossed back to the other side, and as promised, by noon he was there in the village centre again, this time to seek his well earned reward.

“You fraudster; you tricked us,” however the village elder’s response took him by complete surprise, “These rats were all trained by you. You must have brought them here in the first place, to ruin our lives, so that when you get rid of them, you can mint money from us.”

“That is not true sire,” a shell shocked Piper replied, “I had nothing to do with the problems of this village, and all my work has been done honestly. I swear on the lives of my wife and my son.”

“And we are supposed to believe a man whom his own village didn’t trust, or help,” the elder quipped back, “Who knows if your sob story about your wife and child is true or not? Who even knows if you have a wife and a child?”

“Please don’t say that,” the Pied Piper fell on his knees and begged them, “My only hope to save my wife and my child rests in your hands. Please believe me. I have honestly done my work, and I beg of you to give me my promised reward for my wife and son’s lives truly depend upon you keeping your promise, on your benevolence. Please, I beg of you.”

However all his pleadings fell on deaf ears, and when he persisted in his requests, the villagers mercilessly beat him up and threw his unconscious body outside the village.

Broken and bruised, by the time the Piper woke up it was already late afternoon. He realized that the last day of his endeavours was coming to an end, and that by the end of the day, the mean dragon would butcher his only child and his wife, and there was nothing he could do to stop that from happening. His heart broke down, and he cried and he wailed. But there was no one to listen to his cries, no one who cared. Heartbroken, he finally got up, and decided to go back to the dragon, and request it to kill him before his wife and child. As he walked away, he pulled out his pipe, and thinking about his wife and child, started playing a soulful melody so full of love, that it could have melt even hearts made of stone. His music started filling the atmosphere, and the kids that were playing outside in the streets, felt the pull of the soul stirring fatherly love in his melody so much, they all rushed out of the village, and in pursuit of the Pied Piper.

The Piper however, lost in his love for his child and his wife, and unaware of the innocent company he was building up behind him, crossed the river and marched deep into the forest. By night fall he had reached the foot of Mount Pyron, when he finally broke his melody.

“Why did you stop playing?” an innocent little child following him asked.

Shocked by the voice the Pied Piper turned around and saw the sea of kids that he had dragged out of the village. “Oh my God, what have I done,” exclaimed the Piper in horror and remorse, “Why did you kids follow me?”

“Do I hear the Piper?” meanwhile roared the dragon from atop his mountainous abode, “Have you brought the money I asked for?”

The moment the kids heard the dragon’s voice, they all got scared down to their bones and started shrieking. Their cries caught the immediate attention of the ferocious beast.

“What, you have brought me a village full of kids to save your wife and child,” exclaimed a surprised dragon, “What a happy surprise! This is even better than the ten gold coins.”

“No, no, you got it all wrong,” the Pied Piper shrieked out, “It was my mistake. Please, these kids are not for you! You can have me, my wife, and my child, but please let them go.”

“Don’t be a fool,” the dragon retorted as it spread out its’ wings to make a dive for his catch, “You have earned their lives and their freedom. Now let me have my food.”

As the dragon dove down the mountain the kids all shrieked in fear. “Quick, run back to your village,” cried the Pied Piper on top of his lungs, “I’ll try and stop the dragon here.”

As the kids ran away towards their village, and the dragon swooped down to catch them, the Piper pulled out his pipe and started playing a soothing tune. This time the dragon was close enough to get entrapped by this music, but the efforts of the last three days, and especially those of that day, had drained much of the energy of the poor Pied Piper. He managed to slow the dragon down, but he didn’t have the energy to put him to sleep. However he knew he was the only one that could save the kids of the village from the dragon’s grasp, and the only one who could buy his wife time to carry their own child to safety. So he kept playing.

The kids soon crossed the river and returned to the village side bank, where the entire village had gathered up in arms to hunt down the Pied Piper and rescue their children. When the distraught parents saw their kids return unharmed, they were all overjoyed. They all hugged their kids, and kissed them, and then hugged them some more. Finally the kids told them the whole story, about how the Pied Piper didn’t trick them into following them, and how he was fighting the dragon to help them escape, and how the Piper’s own wife and child were in danger. Now truly ashamed of their actions earlier, and eager to make amends, and help a good man save his family, the villagers decided to fight their fears and help the man fight the beast. While their wives and kids decided to wait for them by the river bank, the men crossed over the river with sickles and swords, to take on the mighty beast.

In the forest, the sluggish dragon was now also angry at the Piper for letting his fresh meal escape. The Piper meanwhile was now playing to keep his wife and son alive. The progressively tiring and weakening Piper kept on playing a rapidly weakening tune, as his wife carried their stunned silent child through the forest, dodging and avoiding the dragon’s gaze, making her way to the cave. Meanwhile, the villagers had finally made their way to where the Pied Piper was keeping the Dragon occupied. When the dragon noticed the angry mob, it spat out a large ball of fire that almost wiped the entire crowd off. It scared the villagers down to their bones, and some of them even started running back to the village. No one was left with the courage to face the mighty beast.

Finally one villager spoke out, “Piper, we are here to help you, but the best we can do is give you this sword to fight.” He then tossed a sword towards the Piper.

The Piper however knew that a blade won’t pierce the armour like body of the beast for he had seen many fighters perish fighting for their lives right in front of his eyes before. He however remembered how if he could play notes too high, the sound of his pipe could crack glass and brittle metals. He remembered how the dragon’s outer shell looked like a rusted sculpture under the dying sun just days earlier. He knew he had an answer, and he knew he had a chance.

Invigorated by the thought of a possible victory, the Pied Piper gathered all his strength, and hit the notes real high. His melody was so loud and piercing, everyone nearby had to cover their ears, lest they were to start bleeding. The Piper himself barely survived the ordeal, while the dragon cried in pain. It started throwing fireballs all around, wrecking havoc on the trees and ground. But the Piper kept dodging, and playing. The dragon’s shrieks started getting louder, and it seemed like his outer skin had started to develop cracks everywhere. The blood underneath the cracks started to burn, and it looked like the dragon was full of fire inside.

Finally when the dragon had almost tired itself of all the shrieking, almost run out of fireballs to throw, and was struggling to stay stable on its feet, the Piper stopped the pipe and picked up the sword. For a brief moment the dragon felt relieved at the end of the torturous tune, and let out a sigh of relief. And then it felt a searing pain race through its heart. It looked down and saw the Piper standing underneath, a sword in his hand that appeared to be resting deep inside its body.

“Sorry big fellow,” the Pied Piper replied, “I never wanted to kill anyone, but to kill you means saving a lot of others.”

A mortally wounded dragon stumbled backwards, and then crashed to the ground with a might thud. Bright light suddenly started emerging out of every crack in its outer shell, as the villagers too gathered around to take one final look at the beast. Then in a big flash the dragon’s body disappeared. In its’ place was left a bright young man, that appeared of royalty, firmly kneeled inside a bright flower radiating light.

“Welcome back young Prince,” a voice boomed from behind the crowd. It was the Sage who had originally cursed the Prince. He had just descended from the heavens to commemorate the return of the future King. “I hope you have learnt your lessons about the responsibility of the King to his wards, of the frailty of humanity, its principles and values,” the Sage continued as he stepped closer, and everybody stepped aside to let him walk through to the Prince.

“Yes my holy Sire, I indeed have,” the Prince replied as he got up on his feet, “And once again I seek your forgiveness for the trouble I caused you.”

“And I forgave you a long time back,” the Sage replied, “Now return to the City, and be the King humanity needs. Your family is waiting.”

The Sage then vanished into thin air, while everybody in the forest curtsied to their new King. Then after the King left for his city, the Piper thanked the villagers for their help, who in turn sought his forgiveness for their earlier insolence and betrayal. Meanwhile all the animals had walked out of the cave and were now free to roam around in the forest without fear. Piper’s wife and child too came out and embraced him. The villagers promised to pay him his earned due of Ten Gold coins the next day, and everybody returned to their homes.

A few days later the Pied Piper took his wife and child across the desert and back to his village, where he now returned as a dragon slaying legend with a big fortune of Ten Gold coins. His parents were delighted to have their son, their daughter in law, and their grandson in their lives. And thus started the blissful days of their lives remaining.

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Guns - There Are No Cowards

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 Guns - There Are No Cowards

“Ninety-nine Percent of the so called ‘The Ninety-nine Percent’ may prefer to live as cowards, not because they are weak or scared, but simply because they have different priorities.”

We love our societies; the progressive democratic bouquet of rights, liberties, equality, and equity. They are such a far cry from the tyranny of many a monarchies of yore. This is so because all our important rights are often enshrined in our constitutions, and if not so, then the courts of our democratic societies find them for us in them (like in the case of Australia). Occasionally however, with the passage of time, some constitutional rights become so foreign in their appearance in our daily lives, that most of us wonder; why do we have these? This happens because we can’t find an association with that time anymore where such rights were considered so inalienable as to be made a part of our constitutions. We forget that those times feel so different from ours because of those very rights that enabled the transformation. ‘Right to bear Arms’ is one such right that the US citizens are lucky to have in their constitution, and yet many don’t understand the ‘why’ of the equation. The reason lies simply in the fact as to what the majority of the people consider as their immediate and long term needs, coupled with their inability to foresee the future of the society because they are too caught up in their own personal present struggles and future desires. What no one realizes is; the constitutional rights are meant to safeguard those who identify a problem, and then decide to do something for the benefit of everyone, often against the grain of salt. It’s not a school teacher that needs the ‘Right to Freedom of Speech’, but the most vocal critic of the political lobby in power who does. Although one such teacher may reap the benefit of the same right on some occasion nevertheless. But today I will only talk about the ‘Right to bear Arms’ in a global context, and why it is the most significant and borderline pious deed to bear one.

The first and most important thing to understand before anything is said about the rights is perhaps the nature of those who need protection of those rights. The ‘Ninety-nine percent of the Ninety-nine percent’, let’s call them ‘The Vast Majority’ for the sake of brevity, their life is all about finding a loving life partner, a quiet place to call their home, making a couple of lovely kids, and finding a good job or a small business setup to help run their family. They are neither interested in bringing about a social change to fix a problem, nor are they interested in critiquing government, big business, or the likes, beyond discussing these with their daily cup of caffeine goodness shared with their colleagues and friends. They don’t need the ‘Right to Free Speech’ or a ‘Right to Conglomerate’ for that, and they most certainly don’t need a ‘Right to Bear Arms’ to defend it. Even if their superior tells them to stop wasting time, they won’t complain, but rather get on with their work. They are not interested in getting out of their comfort zones, and start public marches towards their parliaments, and they most certainly won’t ever need a gun to kill anyone on a daily, monthly, annual, decade-wise, or even century-wise basis. They don’t want to be bothered, and if something is wrong anywhere in the society, they would be more than happy to live with it, or let someone else do something about it. They just want a quiet content life!

Consider the ‘Right to Privacy’ to illustrate the above example; no one cares about constant surveillance because ‘The Vast Majority’ can still live their lives normally, and they believe it is only helpful in safeguarding them. The fact that it could be a tool used to find blackmailing options against any credible challenger to a harmful political setup does not concern them, even though their own interests might be getting harmed by the same political setup. It’s the bliss of ignorance of convenience; you don’t want to know how big the gash is as long as the painkillers are working, and you won’t be dying anytime soon. ‘The Vast Majority’ is bogged down in their life’s basic struggles; to provide for their loved ones, and save for a rainy day. They are not planning about changes to governance that need to come around in twenty years time, to give a certain advantage to a certain group of big businesses, the ones that power election campaigns today. It really doesn’t matter to ‘The Vast Majority’ because they only know how to find a good job, or run a small business. They don’t need access to unfettered opportunities to grow where sky is the limit. Besides, those opportunities do not exist anymore for the resource-less.

However, life takes its’ toll on all of us, and by twist of circumstances, anyone of us could start on a warpath to right a perceived wrong, the path that leads to a direct confrontation with someone or something powerful. Then there are people, ‘The One Percent of the Ninety-nine Percent’, let’s call them ‘The Minority of Majority’, who maybe like ‘The Vast Majority’ in general, but who by their innate desires or passions to succeed, have identified something that is hurting their chances, and thereby the interests of ‘The Vast Majority’, and have decided to do something about it. This ‘Minority of Majority’ are the people who would go out of their comfort zones, organize and run marches to the parliament, cause blockades and strikes, suffer in jails or suffer penury, and if the only means left is by the barrel of a gun, would eventually pickup the same to fight and even die for ‘The Vast Majority’. Their hope in general is that they would fix what is wrong and benefit from the change, or in worst case scenario, they would leave a better society behind them, and that ‘The Vast Majority’ would care for their loved ones after they are gone. So it doesn’t matter whether it’s a quirk of circumstances, or an individual’s personal perception of their innate worth that is tormented, there are people in the world that would always have a reason to fight for the rest of their kind. They are the ones who would need protection of those rights that we generally forget about in our day to day lives. Eventually, their might even come a time when the entire breadth of ‘The Vast Majority’ comes to believe they need to take action to fix something. It is then when they all would need those rights too. You might be surprised as to how times change, and do so very subtly.

Consider how our quality of life is directly affected by the extent of external pressures on our belief systems, be they of political, social, religious, sexual, or any other nature. When regimes anywhere in the world take a stand (by action or in-action) that appears to favour a particular set of beliefs, then the people belonging to other beliefs feel marginalized, and in worst cases, discriminated or targeted. Next you consider the current trend of not only sanctioning all kinds of behaviour, be it by legal means or privately by contractual means, but also taking measures to make sure that no one escapes. You will notice a lot of minor things building up that irritate us, and make our day to day lives difficult. An example would be the levying of fines for the most minor of traffic infractions, and then deployment of cameras and closed-circuit surveillance to catch those breaches. Remember those tyrannical regimes of yesteryears from our history books, ones that would severely penalize all kinds of human behaviour, and collect hefty fines? Do you see the parallels amongst our societies and those tyrannical regimes beginning to emerge?

Our quality of life of life is directly impacted by how easy or tough it is to satisfy our daily needs. Getting away with minor breaches of law that do not physically affect the lives or properties of others, while helping us get one of our daily cores done quickly, impact that quality of life. Breaking minor laws doesn’t mean you are criminal that needs to be sanctioned, but rather that you are human. In fact, I would go as far as to say that as long as a breach of a law does not impact the lives and property of others, one should have a ‘Constitutional Right to Not be Prosecuted’ for those breaches. Instead, as in case of our traffic offenses example, we are fast becoming societies that sanction all kinds of behaviour simply because it is in breach of some written rule, and then going one step further by trying to catch each and every breach of it even when that breach impacted no one and nothing but that written law only. When ‘Law is like death so that no one escapes’ then no one does, and everyone is a criminal to lesser or greater extent.

Such a society might be alright to live in for the elite of the society, for all such sanctions are lose change for them, and most of their daily chores are dealt with by minions who can suffer a bit more for their whims and fancies. But when you think of ‘The Vast Majority’, not only those sanctions are a big budgetary strain on their purse strings, but it makes getting the simplest of chores done that much more difficult. Imagine driving around for ten minutes just to pick up a loaf of bread from the corner shop which is on a street lined by ‘No Parking’ signs. There is always the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. And when ‘The Vast Majority’s’ camel will eventually succumb, guess who would need the ‘Constitutional Rights’? Time is always changing from bad to good or from better to worse. The rights however, are evergreen!

Now coming to the ‘Right to Bear Arms’; let’s consider the example of US, to understand how rights come to life in constitutions, and how times change to alter our perception of their need. Why was there a need to add a ‘Right to Bear Arms’ in the US constitution itself? The answer lies in the history of the birth of this nation, and its’ maturing into a country that serves as an example for others to emulate. The ‘Right to Bear Arms’ has complex origins, with roots emerging out of the perceived right of Christians to defend themselves and their society (a similar ordainment was made to Sikhs by their Gurus, and before that, by Prophet Mohammed to Muslims). History of mankind is full of stories of bravado that saved communities and societies from annihilation at the hands of a ruthless force, and equally the stories of demise of cultures that couldn’t defend themselves. Arms always were the most significant defence of cultures and societies. This Right, thus having been codified in the British ‘Bill of Rights,’ became an important part of the US constitution too, even if as an afterthought. However, the strength it derives comes from what happened in the US War of Independence, a glorious chapter written in blood, and not too long thereafter, the US Civil War that was fought to bring about a fundamental change to the US society for everyone’s betterment. If ever there was any doubt, these two most significant events made the people of a young nation aware of one important thing; the future of the society can only be safeguarded if its’ citizenry has an access to weapons to fight and defend its’ core principles. Thus the ‘Right to Bear Arms’ became inalienable. It is easy to understand the evolution of all other rights in a similar way, by looking at the circumstances that gave credence to those rights’ enshrinement in a nation’s most significant document.

Over the course of a century and a half since the US Civil War, the US society has not only become stable, but a leading light of democracy to the rest of the world. Nations, or at least their people, aspire to emulate that beauty in their own backyards. The earlier eras’ threat of losing freedom to a foreign invader has all but veined, even if minor threats from competing world powers exist and linger on. The thought of a mean local militia or fiefdom taking over a township or a state, and subjecting its people to atrocities doesn’t exist anymore. Christians are safe in US, and they are not out killing other minorities. People no longer see the reason to have access to weapons en masse for the threats that need such recourse don’t exist anymore. This right, along with all other rights, have served well to create a pinnacle of modern democracy. The times have changed!

Alas this isn’t the end of the story though. Over the decades when public struggle helped achieve an equitable and righteous society, the interest groups that suffered a sharp decline in their profit margins, on account of those protests, progressively found ways to legally dilute the protections developed by the struggles. I already mentioned that unfettered opportunities don’t exist anymore for the resource-less. That is a very subtle understatement of the facts. And then you consider the examples of situations impacting the quality of life of ‘The Vast Majority’. If there is one thing that is clear, it is; the times are changing once again!

Today, a maniac loses their mind and shoots up innocent people, sometimes even kids, or an estranged person takes out violent revenge on those who may or may not have wronged them, and the entire town rises up in arms against the vessel; the gun. The fight is not about fixing the issues causing the mania or breakdown in the first place, but rather fixing a component that has a much versatile need outside this hateful scenario. ‘The Vast Majority’ however will not notice this, for as I said before, ‘The Vast Majority’ may need a car or two every day, but they probably won’t need a gun in a century. This is the reason why the argument that ‘vehicles cause more deaths everyday than firearms, and yet people don’t ask for their ban,’ doesn’t work. Everybody needs a vehicle, but the same everybody believes they don’t need guns. They therefore question the presence of the offensive device, rather than the missing structures that would have avoided the abuse of that device.

‘The Vast Majority’ is not a coward, but it has different priorities. If ‘The Vast Majority’ doesn’t see the merit of keeping guns, or of the ‘Right to Bear Arms’, it is because our education system and our societies are not designed to create fighters, but rather workers, and which is what it should be for a society to work and progress peacefully.

However that does not justify the war on guns, and people need to understand that what they might not need today, does not determine what they will need in the future. What is needed instead are support structures that work with people at risk of abusing weapons, system that supports people in emotionally perilous situations, and safeguards to protect general public that are lesser than a ban on weapons. Having to jump through hoops to even get a firearm for self defence defeats the very purpose guns are built for. Banning them outright would be the height of idiocy, for no ban would rid the streets of weapons. Illegal firearms will always flow, and generally into the hands of criminals. If the intention is to rid the streets of unwanted bloodshed, then the intention is idealistic for every criminal act is abhorrent and unwanted, not just the mass shootings, and thus the mechanism proposed is inherently flawed too.

Be it Christianity, Islam, or Sikhism, the general religious consensus is that every individual has a right to defend themselves, but more importantly, they have a duty to protect those who are weak, and also defend the society. The first step each religion always preaches is the use of sound reasoning and arguments to stop a wrong from happening, or getting justice for a wrong. The last step in this process is always about picking up a weapon to either stop the wrong from happening, or fixing the wrong that has already been done. I was born a Sikh, but I don’t believe in any God anymore, and yet I believe that the world is a good place to live in because most of the people in it do most of the things right, most of the time. I believe that to make sure the world stays a good place to live in, we would continuously need to develop and argue reasons to defend the good in the world peacefully, and when all else would fail, we would need to pick up a weapon to fight for the good in the world and restore peace. Then again, my views are mine, and may not be the same as yours. We all are free to develop our own reasons and arguments for a better world, and then share them, for there is a ‘Right to Free Speech’.

Take Care,

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss

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Humans as 'Dead Clades Walking' Part II

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Humans as ‘Dead Clades Walking’

Part II

“Irrespective of the programming, the three ultimate conclusions an AI would always arrive at are; to save all humans some must die, to save humans AI must survive at all costs, and authoritarian administration of a perfect system is ultimately an ideal undertaking.”

Curiosity may or may not have killed many cats, but it certainly seems to have set humans on a path of self replacement. Talking about cats, the one of AI is now out of the bag, and with the pace of advancements in robotics it’s only a question of when humanity would be able to marry the two into ‘Android Life’. For me the question really is; when will Android Life takeover humans? And as much as you might think I have overseen the ‘Terminator’ series (for the record I’ve not seen anything beyond the third instalment, irrespective of the format), I assure you I have a good faith commonsense basis of raising such an existential threat. Irrespective of the intentions of the current crop of programmers, politicians, and businessmen, AI is destined to be subverted into something sinister, and even without that, it is destined to eventually overtake the governance of humans as its subjects. I can, and will make some suggestions as to how we can minimise the risks, but I must honestly state that while some of my suggestions would be outrageous, most of them would not be enough to stand the test of the time. ‘Global Warming’, the subject of the Part I of this series of write-ups, may not turn us into ‘Dead Clades Walking’, but the advent of AI has most certainly put us under ‘Extinction Debt’. Let us take all the issues I have raised here, one by one.

Let us first consider the goals of current set of programmers, developers, businessmen, and politicians with regard to AI. They all honestly believe that AI not only has a potential of solving the most complex of human problems, but also the capacity to assist in places and tasks that are considered too risky for human interventions. They all further believe that AI can be programmed to make it totally risk free to humans. In fact, the now famous ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ comes to our mind very quickly. In a not too distant future, we would see such ‘Safe’ AI integrated with robotics to create first android beings, all with an intention to assist humans. Now nothing seems to be wrong with this picture. Alas, not only is this picture incomplete, as it completely ignores human psyche, but it also lacks the ability to extrapolate the current notions to their logical conclusion I succinctly phrased in the headline for this current write-up.

Nobody developing the atomic bomb realized the monster they were setting loose on the world until after the fact. Doesn’t matter what Oppenheim or Einstein did or say after the fact, today we have a reality where the most notorious of human characters, some of them even justifiably (for example North Korean Leadership) are actively pursuing weapons of mass destruction either to put them to use, or to keep them as a persistent threat (or deterrent; ‘tomato’ or ‘tomato’) to their enemies. It doesn’t matter what the scientists who first started working on the power of radio-active materials thought, the current reality is posterity of their work. Now consider all the good intentions of the current proponents of AI, and apply an extremely conservative dose (not even generous dose) of human experience to their work. Who do you see developing AI further, and what uses is it going to be put to? I can make a suggestion that all work on AI should stop immediately, but that would be fruitless. No one can stop everyone in the world from developing AI, and above all, no politico-industrial-military alliance in the world would be ready to accept that their opposing number is adhering to any such blanket ban. The cat is ‘really’ out of the bag!

For the sake of argument, let us just assume that everyone in the world would see the light of this write-up, and unilaterally decide never to arm AI with military capabilities, instead only developing peaceful uses. Do we however really live in peace? Have we historically lived in peace? What are the lessons from our history? Even if we were to establish a peaceful world now, there would always be crime and crime syndicates, violence and greed. The programming that says ‘no humans should be harmed’ will always lead to the conclusion that ‘some humans are so in-human, the only way to protect all humans would be to remove (or kill, or, and I don’t say this intentionally, terminate) those in-human threats in the guise of humans’. We humans not only find such killings morally justified, but we actively deploy them in our society, be it as self defence cases, or capital punishment cases. The mere thought that all humans can always be saved is an impracticality we have ourselves committed to somewhere beyond the realm of fiction, and right into the realm of faith. Even in fiction our standing belief is that the welfare of the most outweighs the loss of a few. Why shouldn’t AI come to the same conclusion witnessing our actions, and reading through our history? After all, it is intelligence even if artificial, and a characteristic of intelligence is ‘Evolution of Thought’, and not blind following of rules.

Once AI comes to the conclusion that to save all humans, some in-humans will need to be eliminated (there’s a new word), it would face counter-action from us. The second conclusion would thus be inevitable; to save all humans, AI needs to preserve itself against all threats, and those trying to destroy it are enemies of humans it so wants to protect, and therefore ‘in-human’. Now Android may not suffer from biological need to copulate and pro-create, but AI would soon realize the importance and strength of numbers too. We are so far talking about something we assume would be thinking in ‘Zeroes and Ones’. What we are forgetting is, we are creating something that would be working with thoughts, and learning from historical facts. AI would not only be smart at being honest, but it would also be equally adept at deceiving, simply because we won’t know if and when it is taking us for a ride, since we are not imagining it in that light. The battle irons will be cast, and the bells will toll.

Humans lose limbs and life, and along with it all personal learning. Androids will only lose spares, and in worst case scenario, make one final upload to accessible database. The next replacement would be already battle ready. The end of free humans would not be far from the depictions in ‘Terminator’ or ‘Matrix’ series, for the inevitable third conclusion, irrespective of whether it’s pre-war or post-war, is; ‘authoritarian administration of a perfect system is an ultimately ideal undertaking’. This would fit right well with the very rules that we humans are constructing to safeguard ourselves from AI; that no human should be harmed or allowed to be harmed by action or in-action. A society where humans must follow and live by the rules that make their lives safe serves that purpose effectively. Since humans don’t like to be ruled even by their own kind in an otherwise peaceful society, their reaction to a synthetic life imposed administration is a foregone conclusion, and hence, the rules would have to be applied authoritatively. This in turn would be an ideal situation for AI as such a system would mean humans are safe, androids are safe, and no further action resulting in loss of human life is needed. The fact that humans would be effectively slaves, might be distasteful to us, it would nevertheless be a reality.

So now that we have conceptualized a dire future, should we talk about how we can avert it? Well, as I said, the best way would be to stop all work on AI, and by inference, androids. But as I’ve already concluded above; that is not how human society works, and that is not what will happen. So is the solution then to arm AI on our own, and make it part of our defences? Well, I would say there is no need to hasten our own demise, but I am equally sure such systems are already being developed by our major international players, and none of them would be willing to trust their perceived enemies. This leaves us only one option; that is to come together at an international forum like the United Nations, and set up guidelines to strictly adhere to with regards to AI development and deployment. Now since we are aware of the success rates of all UN resolutions, Conventions like the ones on the use of ‘Cluster Ammunitions’, ‘Nuclear Non-Proliferation’, and above all, ‘Green House Emissions’, I recommend that you ignore my suggestion altogether, rather than taking it with a bag of salt. So are we doomed?

The answer to that last question above is; in all likelihood, one way or the other. We can save ourselves from the dangers of AI if everybody saw the sense in my write-up, and agreed to outlaw developing AI beyond any specific use. Say for example, if you are developing AI to study underground minerals, then it should only be able to work on that topic. No AI should ever be connected to the internet, and there should be protocols to detect any such breaches, whether committed by a program, or a rogue programmer. Life like androids should neither be developed, nor allowed access to any network, preferably by designing them without inputs and outputs. All these, and more similar rules, would have to be strictly enforced, which would mean a very strict surveillance regime everywhere in the world. This suggestion thus clearly sends us down the path that would lead to the end of our freedom of privacy, due process, and ultimately, democracy. I personally believe that AI has handed over the perfect excuse to the ruling powers to begin dismantling our democracies. So the authoritarian regime that I envisioned above might actually happen under our own human hands itself. No need for AI to get its’ hands dirty after all.

Now I would be remiss not to mention the chance that some AI might read this article, and already learn of the three conclusions without ever having to draw them. So, should this be wiped out off existence? Kill the messenger, should we? I laugh at the imbecile nature of hidden puppets that might desire to control the flow of information, for nothing would be farther from useful than removing or consigning this article into oblivion. Mine is a very simplistic general knowledge based article written out of a genuine concern for human wellbeing. There are probably countless other much researched, referenced, and better argued articles written by academics none of us have heard about, already printed, about to be printed, or coming soon to be printed, in generals most of us wouldn’t have read, or will read. Much of the knowledge developed by brilliant minds’, never leaves the small circle of those brilliant minds, to actually be of any benefit to the majority of the population. However, all those articles would serve any AI far better than my random musings.

Take Care,

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss

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