Monday, November 05, 2007

"The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it." - Abbie Hoffman

***

Quotes:

Quote me! Quote me! I want to be quoted on your blog.

I think the standard of living here is higher than in the UK.

[On answering questions] You cracked your hands. You go.

[Me: I think what she's trying to say is: were you brought in because you were white or were you brought in because you were good?] [Other student:] That is what I was trying to say, except that I didn't put it in such black and white terms.

[On post-colonialism] There's a special deference... How do you guys relate to the British in India? [Student: Bad.]

[Illustrating reflexive unreflexivity] We have a guest lecturer... She's always arguing with the British. 'I'm a developing world academic. I don't need you.' It's incredibly empowering.

[On white bashing in India] The government, when they feel like their policies are not succeeding - they use colonialism to gain support. I don't think they use it for anything else.

[On revolutionaries' education] One of the ironies of the post-colonial discussions is that in many ways the people leading the charge are very deeply implicated in these colonial institutions.

When I visit my friend in a condo, I do my white man gait and I go in. None of you guys can do that... I never get stopped. Do you guys get stopped? [Student: I get stopped in my own condo.] That's very tragic. I've never been stopped anywhere in Singapore.

[On 'neo-colonialism'] The SIA A380... They feature 2 elderly Caucasians. [Me: That's because only they have the money.] [Student 2: They don't want to promote promiscuous activities] So you're saying older people cannot-

I talk to my African friends... They get very different sorts of pressure. Not many Africans like it here... He's driving... The officers stop him... 'Officer, what's the problem?' 'Nothing. We just don't see a lot of black guys here.'... This was in Singapore.

[On worshipping whites by association] American cultural products are all over the world... Channel 8 is not much to worship. [Student 2: You'll be surprised.]

'Speak Good English'. Grammatically it's correct but stylistically it's a horrible sentence.

[On giving out surveys] I don't have enough. [Student 2: It's alright.]

[On white-bashing in India] There's this Prince of Wales Museum. They changed it to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was this guy who killed a lot of British.

[On exchange students not mixing with Singaporeans] They say that we are in our bubble... They were surprised when I went up to them to talk to get karma for my exchange later.

[On the Bubble in Singapore] I don't know where the American School is. Where do you hide it? How do you hide 10,000 Americans in Singapore?

[Student: He didn't say much about being American, except about Baseball.] Did he ask you to call him 'coach'? [Student: Yeah.] That's really weird... He talks about himself in [The] 3rd Person. 'Coach has a ball game, he's gotta go.'

China has lots of chip labour (cheap)

[On the US-China dispute] Everybody: taxi drivers, even my mother, was trying to be an expert in economics

economics issue (economic)

The presentation is going to be so good, we're not even going to ask you not to sleep.

Technical errors is bound to happen, otherwise it's not IT (are)

teet for tat (tit)

offshore tax heavens (havens)

[On double counting of value added and trade figures] Is China benefiting as much as it is? (seems to be)

China has a try'ving counterfit industry (thriving counterfeit)

[On the free will defence and murderers] Why don't the police do that, or why don't you do that? If you see the guy stalking the victim, would you say 'I wanna respect his freedom'?

[On the free will defence and miracles] Suppose this guy is dying of lung cancer because of a history of smoking. The guy and all his friends gather round to pray. And lets say God heals the person. This limits the impact of free choices.

[On apologetic disingenuousness] It just strikes me that Boyd is trying to fit his data to the curve he wants.

Unless you point to his troubled childhood, to look at what made him want to be an assassin.

[On my slapping someone's butt with my file:] Sue him. [Slapped student: He's so asexual it hardly matters.] Money's matters. (money)

What are some of the dangers of using a cheap pair of sunglasses? People will know. [Student: What the fuck.]

It's a miracle. So quiet. [Student 2: Yah, Friday afternoon.] [Me: So why did you spoil the silence?]

***? [Student: I did next week's one {exercise}] Okay. So I'll remember to call you next week.