Ariz Kader

@matthewpetti.bsky.social, visit the tomb in Ayutthaya if you ever have the chance. Would be a cool thing to document.

To me, this is just another example of countless other ones where Persians are the ultimate immigrant family.

Whether it's The Yuan court in China, or local L.A. royalty, Persians will rise to the top with grit and become more local than the locals in short order.

Tomb of Sheikh Ahmad of Qom in Ayutthaya, Thailand

The internet is a cesspool, but every now and then you can learn something new.

For example, I just learned about the Bunnag family - a Thai noble family of Persian origin from Qom that even served as Regents for the ruling Chakri dynasty. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunnag_...

I mean, yeah. For sure. Even though the biker groups are definitely more diverse than they seem. I only comment on the "deep connection" stuff people have in the U.S. that I don't feel we get close to achieving in Europe.

Thanks Joe. Could this have something to do with the melting pot concept? That is, because they are "American" now, ethnic heritage becomes defanged because it is a thing of the past?

Neither do I, nor have any solid evidence for the claim beyond social media exposure which could definitely be skewed.

Is there some unique reason this seems to happen to immigrant communities in the U.S. or is it not actually that widespread and social media just gives off that impression? Any U.S.-ians who know something about it, please inform me.

I get that the U.S. is a unique example of a nominal civic-nationalist state with obvious racial characteristics. But the extent to which U.S-ians fetishise their home countries and ethnic origins is so alien to me.

A bit of a rant here, but I grew up partly in Sweden so I have some experience with the immigrant imaginings of "back home" when you grow up in a completely different place.

But I can't really understand the apparent self-fetishisation among immigrants in the U.S.

It is a great song and I really love listening to it still, but the entire feeling when I hear it now has fundementally changed. I wonder how long we will even hve revelations like this happen now that all languages seem to be given translation options in quick succession.

I've been listening to this song for years and never knew it was about the subject matter it was about because there was really no way to even find out (very local language) unless someone who knew the language translated it to another language I speak.

The girl manages one day to get to the ocean, but drowns in her voyage abroad upon the Chiri Hari and never returns to her homeland alive.

The song is about a young girl who is born in the desert of Northern Mali and how life around her has its own beauty, though the people of the region might not understand it. "Some even call it paradise". The girl dreams of nothing else but travelling abroad and seeing the (Chiri Hari) Ocean.

YouTube video by GlitterbeatTV Samba Touré - Chiri Hari

Samba Toure's Chiri Hari is one of my favourite songs and I often listen to it while working. It is a beautiful Malian "Desert Blues" song, but I never looked into what the lyrics mean for some reason. I just read the English translation of the lyrics. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWyT...

If you accept this as the governing reason for current U.S. attempts to change international norms, you have to accept seemingly erratic, and completely "illegal" actions to be taken openly and with full challenge to what consequences the world can possibly present.

Currently, non-hegemons live with the belief that there may not be a level playing-field, but there are at least some norms agreed upon to increase stability that guarantee their security.

When those norms belong in the past, those smaller states will have to adapt to subservient relationships.

If you are betting on keeping at least some superior practical power unmolested, it makes complete sense to damage international norms that we still like to imagine as unassailable. Those pushing for this strategy imagine the U.S. not to benefit from current norms and want to change them.

If you are looking for a "why?" in regards to to the U.S. pushing for increasingly counterproductive and illegal actios abroad, the whole point is that they are illegal, but that if they conduct these actions anyway, they cease to be illegal and turn into new norms instead.

I don't really post on here anymore, but I'd like to remind people of something I remember learning early on in studying International Relations.

All rules governing international behavior only exist through powerful participants agreeing that they exist. Otherwise, they don't exist.

Business idea: A yoga/meditation studio catered to heavy-set gay dudes.

Yogi Bear.

Every time.

You may not know this about me, but I'm kind of a big deal in the infectious diseases community.

A bit of an Influenza, if you will.

I'm convinced that Nativity Scene shops are like Games Workshop for Catholic grrandmothers.

It's finally my favourite season of the year (for Chinese store knock-offs). Get your loved one some premium Coralle Klaare, Uomo, or Glavin Kelvin holiday underpants for the occasion.

Marry Christmas, everyone!

Is it just me who is wildly put out by the amount of plastic surgery in Korean dramas? I have no clue who any of these actors are, but can immediately tell who is the lead in a series by how little of their face can move.

Group identity is far more important than many liberal thinkers have accepted in recent years. If you consider yourself part of a group, and you are convinced that group is somehow under threat, you feel the urge to defend the group. Whether that is done rationally or not doesn't really matter.

For reference, this is from a kind and well-educated Italian Jewish friend of mine whom I believe is generally well-reflected. Yet, because the heart wants to believe something (like ISIS somehow supporting a candidate in an election [and a Shia Muslim one at that]), the brain has to follow.

Don't know about Americans, but lots of my Jewish European friends have definitely radicalised a lot after the Oct 7th attacks in Israel.

These days, they pretty much post daily conspiracy nonsense that is usually pretty boring. This one was hilarious.

Never underestimate the "love you bro" relationship strongmen have to one another. Obviously, Hitler hated Stalin. But in transcripts of conversations where Stalin is mentioned, Hitler calls him "the second greatest man of our times" referring to himself as first, obviously.