Post-modern existential anxiety, or "When it all falls into place"

Let me state right from the start that this post will be self-indulgent and somewhat exhibitionistic, and I'm not really saying anything particularly new or original. The reason, both for the content and this "disclaimer" should become obvious as we move along. Right then, with that out of the way let's get to it. I had a bit of a revelation today.

The Growth Dogma

Just read an article in Swedish magazine Effekt about the connection between what's happening in the Middle East and the currently dominating "growth dogma". In short, the writer suggests that world leaders are hesitant to support the people of the Middle East in their uprising, because this might lead to a severe rise in oil prices - and that rising oil prises, while being a potential problem for households, is a major problem for an economy based on eternal economic growth. Our current economy essentially runs on access to cheap oil. One question posed in the article is why the issue of growth (or rather, the critique of our current "growth dogma") is so taboo. I have some thoughts.

Gud är död, länge leve Gud?

"Gud är död" proklamerar Zarathustra i Nietzsches verk Sålunda talade Zarathustra. Den stora tragedin är att vi försöker ta Guds plats som Herre över Världen.

Vi gör våld på oss själva

(This will be in Swedish as it indirectly concerns the upcoming Swedish elections.)

Vi lever i ett samhälle som i hög grad präglas av kontroll och dominans. Det ligger inbäddat på en väldigt grundläggande nivå, och präglar oss både medvetet och omedvetet i nästan allt vi gör. Jag är övertygad om att vi måste bryta med det förhållningssättet om vi ska ha någon framtid på den här planeten, åtminstone en framtid som jag vill leva i och som jag vill se min dotter, och framtida generationer, växa upp i.

A visit to the Shadowlands

It started about two weeks ago.

I saw an ad for a PhD position which would suit me ideally, and began working on my application. Finally I had found a way away from a life of rotting away at some customer support. I would be able to become the person I'd always wanted to be. All I needed to do was produce a stellar application.

The niqab dilemma

Following the discussion in France about a possible ban on niqab, the question is hovering on the fringes of the upcoming Swedish parliament election campaigns just gearing up. I can't help but think that this is mostly populism and some kind of attempt to counter the nationalist "Swedish Democratic" party, especially considering how few the niqab-wearing women in Sweden are. There are some dimensions to the discussion that I feel don't get enough attention in our increasingly soundbyte-ified media climate.

Operation: Mindfuck

Recently there's been some talk (at least here in Sweden) about Facebook groups that change their names once they've reached a lot of members (DN, AB). While this might seem like a perfect example of a "non-question" and it's easy to just laugh about, I think it is actually something worth thinking about. Making fun of someone at his or her expense is of course not a nice thing, and borders on bullying. And even though I suspect that is the major reason for these things, there is another point of view as well.

The Allah dilemma

An article in Swedish newspaper DN reports about the attacks on Christian churches. It is thought that these attacks are in part a response to a court ruling stating that Christians may use the word "Allah" for "God" as well, and the subsequent use of "Allah" in Catholic Malay newspaper The Herald. The article further talks about the recently growing tension between religious groups in the country, as well as the Malaysian government's efforts to keep these tensions low. The article is probably one of the more balanced ones on Islam that I've read in DN, but there's one important dimension that I feel is missing.

The anguish of finalising

Finalising things, be it an academic paper, a piece of music, a blogpost or even a single sentence can be anguish. The preceding sentence is a case-in-point. It took me a while to even type it down. Thoughts and ideas are a process in constant flux, ever changing. What happens when we try to externalise them is that we give them shape and structure, we "set them in stone" and we deprive them of their ever changing nature. In a sense we kill them.