Teaching people to be warmongers

I have just read a short article in the news. It's about videogames, and since I was once a videogame junky, an addict gamer, it kind of caught my attention. And my conclusion from the article is that we're truly living in a strange age, an age where brutality and hatred have become hot commodities. And what’s even worse is that people are too ignorant (asleep) to see it.

In its launch day, over 4.7 million copies of a videogame called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been successfully sold, making it the most successful title to be sold on its launching day. As imposed by its title, it’s of course a game about war. The title tops the previous record holder, Grand Theft Auto IV, which “only” sold 3.8 million copies (for your information, this one teaches people how to be criminals). It means that approximately 4.7 million (sick) people (or more) are willing to be deluded in a situation where they go into war and kill other people for the sake of entertainment.

What makes this new videogame different and possibly more “interesting” than other games in the same genre is the feature that the players can kill innocent civilians. In other words, the players have a higher degree of freedom in who they want to kill. It holds the similar appeal as Grand Theft Auto IV, where you can kill whoever you want, steal whatever cars you want, and a whole lot of other things.

It’s a little bit ironic... Despite all the talk and advocacy on peace, freedom, anti-terrorism, anti-violence and the like, there are still so many who advocate war and hatred. While not explicitly, our young (and old) generation are most definitely getting indoctrination that could potentially lead to negative effects in the society.

Guilt

The right choice isn't always the easiest.
Especially when it comes to friendship. What we think is good, might not be good in the perception of others.

Google chrome: FAST!

I'm a sucker for fast browsers (I bet most people are). I have installed many browsers in the past, and I ended up using Mozilla Firefox, which I believe is unbeatable in terms of speed and comfort, well up until now I mean. I personally only kept Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer as my computer's browsers, with the latter being used only if I find incompatibility with certain websites. I've just installed Google chrome (beta), a brand new browser from Google, and my initial impression is: boy it's slick. I've just used chrome for around 1 hour though, so my impression might change.

At my University, Firefox lags when opening certain websites, while its blazing fast when I use it at home (commercial ADSL or broadband line), both using my Dell XPS M1210 (pentium core2 duo 1,6GHz, 1GB of RAM, Windows Vista Ultimate(JP)). The lags when using Firefox do not occur with Chrome. Maybe it's just me, but I feel that chrome is much faster than Firefox. Of course relative browser speed depends on many things, including specs, connection speed, firewall setup, proxy, etc. 

Anyway, form my brief experience, the several things that I like about Chrome are:

1. It's appearance: slick and simple. Most of the buttons that I need are located by default. Without the menu options, my small 12.1 inch monitor seems bigger than before.

2. Speed! This is what I like the most with Chrome. To me, it's much faster than Firefox, and that's a big deal.

Bottom line, I think Firefox is facing serious challenge, and have to come up with something (which is good for us users by the way).

Our wealth and justice

cross post from: here

Most people around the world have a dream, where you’ll be sufficient and happy by earning enough money to enjoy life and keep you financially secure for the rest of your life, very much influenced by the “American dream” really. This point of view affects almost every aspect of life, including how we comprehend justice. Although more and more people are beginning to be aware with our misperception of justice, let’s face it, most are seeing justice from the eyes of the powerful and rich (where the weak and poor are non-factors and dispensable).

As long as the rich are frightened to lose their wealth, and the poor struggle to stay alive, justice will always remain untrue and discriminative. At least that is what’s happening right now in my home country, Indonesia (and in many third world countries I believe). The corrupts run loose and enjoy their loot because they can afford to, while petty thieves (that often need to steal to stay alive) are often beaten to death. The rich become richer and more comfortable, while the poor become poorer and more miserable. No justice there I feel. And how often do we stand still when someone steps all over the justice we believe in?

True justice is somewhere hidden inside our hearts, covered by our interests, lust, and greed. We need to shred those individual interests, lust and greed away, in order to see and be brave to uphold true justice. For a Muslim, the best way to shred individual interest is to fully commit him/herself towards God’s sake. Unfortunately, although many people are said to be Muslims, they aren’t putting enough effort to understanding Islam and act upon the teachings.

Purifying our hearts
Islam teaches us NOT to put wealth in our heart, because wealth corrupts the heart, it will surely be exhausted (one way or another) and cannot be of any true help to us in the face of calamity, as presented in the holy Qur’an (Al Kahf verse 32-44). Wealth should not become an obsession or goal, yet should only be used as a tool to reach blessing (by helping the poor, supporting orphans, etc.). By not putting wealth in our heart, we will be able to have clearer perception on things, including our perception towards justice.

Muslims are explicitly ordered to uphold justice. If there are any Muslims doing the opposite, then they have deliberately disobeyed Allah. As said in the Quran in An-Nahl verse 90, the verse has approximate meaning:

“Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition.

The verse is very clear, direct and easy to understand. Islam brings human beings back to fitrah, our natural state, so everything in Islam should be natural for us (=easy to do).

As I have mentioned, our incapability to see justice is because it is covered up by our interests, lust and greed to what is offered by this world of ours. Everybody, no matter how corrupt they are built by Allah to have justice in their hearts. I know I have simplified many things in this post, and the problem is probably more complex. But I believe that our lust and greed is one of the main culprits. And for a Muslim, the reasons above are more than enough reason to be brave in upholding justice.

Keywords: An Nahl verse 90, Al Kahf verse 32-44, justice

The not so scary economic depression

The prediction of an economic collapse is a pretty scary thing for most people, especially for ones who have enjoyed their lives through the means of economic stability. The effects of a likely depression seem catastrophic. People losing their jobs, stock prices fall drastically, price raise of consumer goods, etc., which in turn will cause the raise of criminal actions, stressed people, acts of violence, etc. But is it really that catastrophic when we compare to other things that happen around the world (such as famine, war, and military oppression)?

The fact that economic stability has become the real religion/belief of most people in the world is undeniable. Most people in the world strive at their mightiest to reach for economic stability. You can try to find people who say they have a religion, be it Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, or whatever, who are not affected by the ups and downs in economy, and I believe you will find only a few.

Every religion has a guideline to help their followers reach goals they have to reach. In Islam, our goal is to become Allah’s best creatures by being most beneficial and blessings for every other being in the universe. It might sound cliché, but Islam does give the guidelines to reach it. How Muslims conduct those guidelines however, is a different matter. Nowadays, most Muslims are also trapped in economic motives, disregarding Islam.

I’m not an expert on economy, but some reports from some medias (here and here) say that the signs of an economic depression in the US are fairly obvious (the articles explain what is happening). What happens to the US in terms of economy usually happens to other parts of the world as well, as they are one of the most influential players in the world’s parallel economy (which is said to be eclipsed by China and Europe). Not to mention the upholders of the "new religion”.

However, as I have mentioned before, all of the fuss about the catastrophe caused by an economic depression shouldn’t even have the slightest affect to Muslims (and maybe all religious people), except having the consequence to have to adjust slightly towards the situation. Having money or not, being rich or poor, being un-jobless or jobless, being sick or healthy, all we have, and all that happens to us is inevitability, and should be faced with a big heart and full belief in God. Everything that happens is for the best, and God has made lessons to learn behind them.

May we be people who are guided to Allah’s path, who are strong in whatever situation we face.

Being Imprisoned...

"The one who is (truly) imprisoned is the one whose heart is imprisoned from Allah, and the captivated one is the one whose desires have enslaved him."
-Ibn Taymiyyah-

I'm imprisoned
by school,
by culture,
by photography,
by football,
by the internet,
by technology,
by songs,
by Hollywood,
by delicious food,
by the NBA,
by sports,
by fun,
by money,
by desires,
by life...

The things I think I like and love
Are actually a web of traps
Wasteful things
To eat up my time, my soul and make me lose my way
Distorts me from being noble, righteous and free

Freedom is just a few rejections and steps ahead
With a hard head and hard heart,
Let us conquer life, rather than be conquered by it!!

Searching for that small bit of happiness

As with everybody else, I like to do things that make me happy. Happiness differs from one person to another. Some achieve happiness by reaching greatness in their careers, some by creating marvelous pieces of art, some by immersing themselves in video games, some are happy to party with their friends and get drunk, some by following their natural instincts and some reach the highest level of happiness by spending quality time with their family. But bare in mind that we have to be careful, because there are so many forms of false happiness...

I've done many things to make myself happy. And it's kind of interesting to find that I've lost interest in many things that I used to do for it.

1. Video games
It's amusing that I'm not into games anymore. It's even more amusing with the fact that I kind of hate video games now, as I've realize the amount of time that I've wasted on them. Not to mention that they definitely had toll on my mentality, as me becoming the uncompetitive, and self centered guy that I am today. I'm really glad that I am able to break loose from video games. The good thing is that I have learned from the experience, and am going to try my best so that my son isn't negatively influenced by them. Educational games are OK, but as a parent, I also need to watch out for horrible games like Grand theft auto, mafia, and others (I played, and wasted a whole lot of time on the first two titles that I mentioned...).

2. Photography
I have always loved taking pictures, but since I decided to buy an expensive (expensive for me anyway...) digital SLR, photography kind of became an obsession. I wanted to create better pictures and dedicated most of my time to it. I read many articles, books, and blogs about photography, but the worse part is becoming obsessed in buying new gears (which aren't cheap by the way). Lenses, flashes, dslr bodies... Consumerism in its very best. I don't have that much money, and it definitely had bad effect on me and my saving balance... :(
But now, I don't know why, the obsession is gone, and I'm kind of happy with it. I haven't pressed the shutter button in over a month now! I believe that photography itself isn't bad, but when consumerism follows in with it, you definitely have to be careful...

3. Smoking
It didn't actually made me feel happy, it was more of a way to pass time. The only times it made me happy is when I gathered with my friends and shared stories while doing it, but that period of my life is long gone, and to tell the truth, the stories were the interesting part, not the smoking. I've just quit 2 years ago, since my wife came to Japan to join me. She being pregnant gave me stronger reason to quit. I really feel better now that I don't smoke. No bad breath, no stinking clothes, no burnt t-shirts, and (hopefully) better health.

4. Football matches
I used to stay up until 4 am (or not sleep) to watch a champions league match when I was in high school and college. And to tell the truth, who won or lost didn't have any effect towards me in any way (except being sleepy at school in the next day). I actually could've just read the morning news to find out the results. It's different when it comes to my national team though...

Nowadays, I'm the happiest guy when I spend time with my wife and son (not so if I'm sick though), read the Qur'an and whenever I give or help people in need. Try it, you'll feel awesome!

Sometimes we try to seek happiness (or run away from our problems) by doing things that are actually useless, time consuming, and even destructing. And I don't blame anybody for doing them. The world that we currently live in is full of these kind of traps (to do useless things), that we don't even realize are bad... So one thing for sure is that we should try to be more aware of them.