Wednesday 29 May 2013

Women in War

A couple of weeks ago a friend invited me to a social paintball game. Now the previous time I played paintball I was 10 years younger and 30 kilos lighter. I also just want to take the opportunity to inform the  people who mistook my cries of pain every time a ball hit me that it was not an Amazonian or Pict war cry. It was just me screaming like a girl.

This time it was different. First off I had a mother of an automatic gun. Strange how you feel less vulnerable with a massive automatic in your hands. Which begs the question does size and caliber really matter? My answer is an unequivocal yes.

For the first two games I cowered in a bunker. And lo and behold, some sniper with a gun, or maker in paintball parlance, which if I would guess shot .68 cal boomerang balls, hit me in the shoulder.

Then something happened: During the last two games something in my mind changed and it changed from survival mode to attack like a madwoman mode. I ran out, sprayed my opponents with paint balls, dived very  graciously (as gracious as a 40 something overweight woman can be) for cover. And wow, what a rush.

In the end our team lost to a very experienced team of hard core paint ballers. Age should not matter. Ok, they were 9, 10 and 12 years old. Fierce little pre teens I tell you.

But it was as if something primal came out. Being in the moment, throwing caution to the wind, enjoying a little bit of peace and quiet in such a hectic world, where racing thoughts are the norm. Such a bunch of contradictions but hey, so be it. It was just a game.

But during my research into the role of women in war (that sounds profound but I was actually looking for a name for our new paintball team) I came across some fascinating facts. If one listens to the mostly American debates about the role of women in war, one would tend to think that women's only role in combat in the past was either as nurses or as prostitutes. Strange that, women are always depicted as either saintly or fiends from hell. Another debate.

During the Second World War the Soviets had women flying bombers, they had snipers and they had all women military units. The Night Witches flew sorties and bomb the Germans and the 1077th Anti Aircraft Regiment took on a whole German Panzer Division. The women of the 1077th was all very young, untrained and ill equipped but at the Siege of Stalingrad they turned their anti aircraft weapons on the advancing German army, not stopping until their whole Regiment was wiped out by the Germans.

So besides Boudicea, Joan of Arc (who was depicted as a raving lunatic in the Mila Jovovich movie) there are a lot of examples of women fighting in active combat: The Soviet Battalion of Death, the Cuban Shock Battalion etc.

Are women more fragile than men? That debate is still raging. Are women more at risk for atrocities committed against them when they are captured? Men are also at risk for inhumane torture and even rape.

But in the end, I believe the fighting spirit is the same. Most humans will fight with everything they have to protect that which is precious to them and what they believe is right.

My experience in martial arts taught me that women are much more fierce during competitions than their male counterparts. You should see them rumble. Maybe the same is true of war. Hopefully we will never have to find out though.




Wednesday 15 May 2013

Photos

I am fascinated by photography. Maybe it is the way is which a split second is captured and nuances which might be missed by the human eye, are frozen on paper (or the electronic equivalent of papyrus sheets).

This morning I stumbled across this picture of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Traditionally, as I understand it, Chinese women did not have a lot of scope to advance as they were, like the ancient Roman women subject to a fierce patriarchal system. However, Cixi managed to become one of the most powerful women in China, ruling first through her son and after his death, through her nephew. Interesting that there were in history so many powerful women "behind the throne." 

This picture is utterly fascinating. She looks like a slip of a girl but her eyes speak of determination and ambition.


(This picture was posted on http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-rare-photographs-19th-century-chinese-women?image=10. There are several other fascinating photos on the site.)

Monday 13 May 2013

The lure of imaginary demons


“I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us - then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls.

The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.” 
― Carl SaganThe Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark


I have yet to see anything so-called supernatural in my life. And I have been looking for a long time, in churches and temples and circles, following ley lines and spirals. But these days I am more fascinated by the natural world and nature. Why do you want to proof the existence of ghosts when you can look at nebulae and coral reefs and magnificent mountain ranges?

Our world is being overrun by pseudo-medicine, pseudo-scientists and even religious superstitions. Suddenly there is a devil behind every bush. Suddenly people are avid believers in archaic texts like "Demonology" by King James. They believe that there are evil spirits inhabiting inanimate objects; they believe that ordinary people are being possessed by spirits who then make them do atrocious things like murdering their parents or setting friends alight. People believe that if anything good happens in their lives it is the result of belief in a specific deity, but when something bad happens it is because of their own human frailties and failures (referred to under the collective, vague term "sin").

In times of difficulty, be it economical, physical, emotional, people hark back to the belief that they are being punished by the divine being that they worship. Strange that, why would you choose to worship a vengeful god? If a god is omnipotent and loving, surely they will understand the reasons why you did something. And if they knew the reasons, if they understand fully, why punish you? And should the punishment not fit the crime? And what is the punishment exactly because in none of the holy texts of different religions that I've read, is the punishment described. I would have expected at least some sort of clarity, IE if you steal a goat you will be struck by chicken pox; steal a cow and your wife will desert you; if you kill someone, you will be struck by lightning.

Do I believe? Yes, I do but that which I believe in is too big for my human mind to comprehend so I try not to label it. The arrogance of humans are staggering. Some will state that what I do is not in accordance to God's will (God being the Abrahamic deity of the Old Testament). My first reaction is, how can you know what a god thinks? How can you elevate yourself to the level of an omnipotent being who created heaven and earth and tell me what that deity supposedly thinks? And how dare you question me and my life and my choices and shower me with fire and brimstone filled hatred and judgment? Because you decided to create a god in your own image?

We are supposed to try and live a good life, not to harm ourselves or other people or the environment. We are supposed to be loving and supportive of one another, not bomb the crap out of our neighbours. And one does not need to attend a church to be a decent human being. So, to everyone who ever tried to convert me, I accept that you tried to do that out of love and concern. But it is not going to happen in this lifetime.