Essays on DELI ISLAND

Why are goods more expensive in wealthy nations than in developing nations?

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

When traveling overseas, I’m always amazed at just how much cheaper certain goods and services are compared to the States. In Jordan, I can get a taxi ride into town for a dinar and a half (approximately two American dollars), a haircut for two or three dinar (about three to four dollars), and a whole roast chicken, with a side of fries, pickles, garlic sauce, and a drink, delivered to my doorstep for only five dinar (around seven dollars). At my local barbershop, a plain haircut will set me back thirty dollars. I’ve tried cheaper barbers nearby, but have always been disappointed with the results. But at a measly two dinar, my barber in Jordan will not just cut my hair, but also give me a shave, a massage, style my hair, and offer a complimentary wax of the nose and forehead, which I always tend to turn down. The massive difference in price in no way can be explained by a difference in quality, as, especially in regards to food, the quality of service provided overseas is often better than in the States.

Violence

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

There are four major kinds of violence, ordered from most human to least, or in ascending inhumanity.

The first, and most understandable, violence is tragic violence. Tragic violence includes violence on accident, unintentional harm imposed unto others. Children hurting one another in play, a traffic collision, a work accident. It may also be deliberate, as with violence in self defense, or in the defense of others. There is also the violence of the stoic soldier or conscript. There is the dedicated soldier who fights because he truly believes in the ideals he fights for, inflicting restrained violence as a solemn necessity, and there is the conscript who is aware of the suffering imposed through war and detests it, yet has no choice but to participate against his will. In World War I, it was a common occurrence that soldiers, often conscripts, would intentionally miss when firing at their enemies, not willing to kill their fellow man. Tragic violence can be seen as violence performed with tears, or an expression of agony, it is violence which displeases both the perpetrator and the victim. Often, tragic violence is seen by society as outside the scope of criminality, or at least in the realm of criminal negligence rather than outright malice. Tragic violence is seen as benign, a natural cost of living life among others.

The French (Lack of) Republican Ideals

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote this in October of 2023 and left it unfinished. Due to the victory of the National Rally in the French European Parliament election, I will publish this in its unfinished state, as I feel that the current events make further analysis trite, it can be seen clearly in what has occurred.

I recently read Shlomo Sand’s The Invention of the Jewish People, which I greatly enjoyed, and was quite taken with his presentation of the genesis of nationalism. It is important to distinguish that this is not necessarily in the sense of ideological nationalism, but moreso in the fundamental issue of how to define one’s nation and the boundaries as such. Fundamentally, the question of nationalism in this sense is that of defining the in-group.

Racialist Delusion

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Racism fundamentally attracts the lowest dregs of human society, insecure and ineffectual rejects who find solace in their caustic views. Racism itself differs from other forms of discrimination, as the social concept of race is formulated such that it is believed to be individually unchangeable, a physical characteristic determined by genetics, deterministic and devoid of human agency. Ethnic discrimination as a whole, though still deeply rooted in insecurity and a fear of the other, is not necessarily tied to ones inherent physical characteristics, but focuses on the other’s cultural practices, such as their language or dress, which can be altered to some extent by individual action. One of an “inferior” culture could assimilate, adopt the practices and customs of the prevailing group, and potentially find some acceptance among bigots. Racism, on the other hand, is the further belief that one’s ethnicity, culture, and even individual behavior is inherently tied to unalterable physical characteristics, usually genetics, and that any attempt to change one’s behavior is futile. That, by virtue of belonging to some race, one must hold certain characteristics, inferior or superior to one another.

Visualization of Asymmetric Warfare

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In attempting to visualize the state of warfare on the grand scale, we generally use maps, and thus symbolic markers along these maps, in signifying troop movements, front lines, etc. The symbols used in our visualizations have changed in accordance with the difference in grand strategies of the times. In wars prior to the conventional concept of front line warfare, which came to full fruition with the first World War, the military situation is best shown not with front line control, but with troop movement and fort control.