We’re All Africans

There’s no point describing a person as being of African descent — that’s describing the entire human race.

– Xenocrates

Y Chromosome Migration map of the last 70,000 years. © 2008; Scientific American

Every time I hear people refer to black folk as “people of African descent”, I chuckle a little bit inside. What’s even more amusing is the common practice of referring to white folk as people of North Eastern European descent. Both expressions are largely incorrect. The research of the Human Genome project over the last 20 years has proven in fact that we are all Africans.

The Root of All Evil

We are only capable of good because we are intrinsically evil.

– Xenocrates

What is evil? The first thing that comes to the mind of many is the wanton and indiscriminate destruction of life by one of another. But evil is far more systemic than that. In fact, when the Bible asserts that the love of money is the root of all evil, it is being fatuously narrow minded. The love of money is merely a coefficient. The root of all evil is much, much deeper than that.

Made in China, Part 3

There are some things in the world whose majesty should only be appreciated from afar off.

— Xenocrates

Pudong, Shanghai city limits

I had a strange feeling in my gut when I was first told that I was being nominated to attend a seven week conference in China (of all places in the world). I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to be excited or perturbed. It took me only 4 days in China however to realise that I should’ve stayed home. This post covers the last four of the 10 critical lessons I learned about China.

Be warned. It gets pretty ugly from here on out:

Made in China, Part 2

Free speech is something of an oxymoron in China, since technically speaking, it doesn’t exist.

— Xenocrates

Lost in Translation – this is a huge recurring problem in China.

Have you ever been on one of those trips where shortly after arrival you wanted to leave? Have you ever been to a country where everything from the government to the culture annoyed you? That was China for me. Here are 3 more reasons why China sucked from the Top 10 Lessons I learned there:

Made in China, Part 1

China is a lot like a hot chick that is scheming to divorce you, take half of all your stuff and then sell it back to you at a profit.

— Xenocrates

Over the last couple of months, I and a few of my colleagues partook in what I could best describe as part of a grander initiative by the Chinese government in opening up China to the rest of the world. Our seven week experience however, turned out to be an ordeal that gave the expression “Made in China” a whole deeper meaning – and I’m afraid, it wasn’t overwhelmingly positive.