What the Hell...?

Hell (detail) by Hieronymus Bosch

The wave of heat has struck Portugal and forests are back to their annual immolation.

As sweat rolls down my forehead...ok, not quite; but as my pores receive the spears of fire, I look at the bright sky and think of Hell: what’s it really like?

Last year, I suggested that Hell was on earth.

This year, I accused myself of being too simplistic and refuted my own thoughts. 

No, I still do not believe in the literal Christian portrait of Hell; but I now understand what Christians mean by it; and they mean to explain that Hell equals Torment. 

If one’s soul incarnates and derails from its original track (i.e. if either it uses its time on earth to defile its existence through evil behaviour or it fails to fulfil whichever mission assigned to it); when its cycle of life ends it can surely expect to be tormented. 

Then, what the hell is the torment? How will the rebellious soul be tormented: with Anthony Weiner’s obscene pictures; with Sarah Palin interviews; with Justin Bieber’s songs...what?

Behold the following scene:

A soul disincarnates and goes back to its essence. Stripped of matter and nihilism, it certainly counts on seeing the Creator; therefore it waits for its turn to meet with Him. 

Eternity goes by. The soul still waits yet it perceives that, the minute they arrive, newcomers have access to the Maker. The lamp within begins to dim and, thus, the soul starts to feel emotions similar to those felt on earth – sadness, denial, anger, despair and ultimately total darkness.

By choosing to yield to negative emotions, the soul creates for itself an absolutely tormenting situation. Suddenly, it realises it is not alone: the valley of the shadow of death is replete of brothers and sisters in the same predicament. 

In the attempt to recreate an earthy reality, the soul hears desperate screams, painful howls and it sees “people” crawling in the mud...Hell is beginning to look more like the clinging relationship with matter. 

Eternity goes by. The Light comes to fetch the soul and informs it that soon it will return to earth. Lux further advises the weary soul that the peel of torment must come off; that illusions must be scrubbed off and that it has to seriously ponder upon its future...and so the cycle recommences.

So, what is Hell? Hell is Torment. 

What’s the Torment? To never see the face of our Maker. 

(dis)Credit

We have recently heard about the German E. Coli outbreak, responsible for the sickness of more than 1,000 people (and more than a dozen deaths).  

The Spanish cucumbers were the ones to blame (and the way this affair was handled, one could be led into thinking that Germany was declaring economic war to Spain – after all, the latter lost $290 Million/week in exports since the beginning of the outbreak). 

Of course the warning, against Spain’s produces, has been lifted notwithstanding the damage (both economic and diplomatic) has already been done. 

What is more curious is that Spain is one of the nations that stands under surveillance for fear that it may fall into the same financial quagmire that Greece, Ireland and Portugal find themselves into. 

It's nearly unbelievable that anyone would want to see Spain begging for a bailout because being this country Europe’s fourth economy, bailing it out would signify that the EU would have to disburse something like €440 billion. Can Europe afford it?

According to BBC; the European Financial Stability Facility is worth up to €440 billion (funded by members of the Eurozone) and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism is worth €37.5 billion (funded by a broader group of European nations, including the UK). 

The plot started in 2010, when Greece no longer was able to get credit to pay its huge debt. Then a controversial term began to be reapplied - “PIGS” - to refer to a strategic target: Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. 

There is one curious acronym - PIIGS – that includes Ireland, but I suspect this term was created to deflect our attention from the truth: Ireland is a test sample (since the Celtic nation serves as a term of comparison to PIGS). 

Taking advantage of the political and budget crises of the mentioned countries, certain groups commenced a hysterical campaign, with the sole purpose of putting pressure on PIGS to lead them to borrow money to meet their obligations.

Greece immediately accepted a bailout; Portugal resisted but it ended up by giving in to the pressure and this year it finally accepted the expensive handout. Italy showed them the finger and now the main target is Spain.

The stench of jealousy and fear is filling the fraternity. 

The Beauty (Paris) and the Beast (Germany) fear the might of Southern Europe. The PIGS have once ruled over the old continent’s intellect, politics, economy, art, science & technological findings; and (with a strong British alliance) it literally controlled the world. 

With their proclivity to invent, discover, conquer and toil imagine what they wouldn’t do in the 21st century. 

Therefore, they needed to be stopped.

Good Taste & Sensibility

Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto

The concept of good taste has been, over the years, suffering gradual erosion. The notion of sensibility has been victim of attempted assault. 

If by any chance, my dear reader, you fail to understand where this conversation is going; pray, do follow me to the brink of the abyss…

Feminists never cease to surprise me – they have come up with a project called “The Slutwalk”. Apparently, feminists have exhausted all the worthy causes to fight for (for instance, they pretend that: the problem of female genital excision has been eradicated; women are no longer victims of domestic violence and sexual submission; all women in the world have the right to vote and drive; all women finally achieved equal pay for equal job etc); and now it is imperative to reclaim the word “slut”. As we know, slut means an immoral, sexual promiscuous, slovenly woman; a prostitute and a dirty untidy female. So why would feminists want to claim back such epithets?  

The so-called “slutwalk” was born, if you will, after a Canadian police constable stated that women should “avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised”.  

Clearly, this is a stupid chauvinistic statement; cause Talibans execute Burka-wearing women for showing their wrists or bear-hands (which, according to them, constitutes a clear sexual incitement), and Iman Al-Obeidi wasn’t exactly wearing skimpy clothes when she was raped by Libyan troops. This being said, it is not a question of what a woman wears but a question of whether a man is a criminal animal or not. 

Going back to our adorable feminine fighters: they get offended by the witless words of a police officer and yet they want to claim the right to be tarts, harlots, whores, hookers, wenches, Cyprians and trollops. I am not sure their approach makes much sense. 

I totally support rebutting thoughtless, disrespectful, statements made by people; but Feminists really need to re-think their strategies and the way they have been dealing with certain issues lest offering the impression that they are a bunch of immature, shallow and idle little women seeking for attention.

Pride Parades...

Whenever gays parade, every year, practically nude in the streets they do not appear to be proud of what they are at all; they seem to ignore the sense of dignity and they fail to conquer respect (as individuals).

I loathe homophobia, but hurting heterosexual susceptibilities is not the right way to combat it. 

All humans must never forget that with Rights come Duties: if gays want to be free, they must respect other people’s freedom; if they want heterosexuals to view them for whom they are and disregard their sexuality, then they shouldn’t flash it on their faces. 

Gays have the right to practice their nature, they have the right to social benefits and civil rights, they have the right to be served and protected, but they do not have the right to aggress society with what should be kept in the privacy of their home. 

Humans often have to fight for behavioural evolution however anarchy must never prevail and, even in the battlefield there’s always room for a fair dose of good taste and sensibility. 

The Restoration of Portugal

Portuguese National Flag: borrowed from Here

Just like in 1640, on the 5th of June 2011 the Portuguese engaged in a life-changing political action: they restored Portugal - this time by ousting the Left and bringing the Right back to power. 

This time we have a Right Wing President and Government. It won’t be like in 2004 when the Socialist President, Jorge Sampaio, sabotaged our rightist administration by dissolving the parliament (in the midst of relevant reforms that could’ve prevented our present crisis) in a concerted political plot to put José Sócrates in power. 

I’d like to congratulate the 58.9% of the Portuguese Electorate for having fulfilled its electoral duty and for having respected the memory of those who fought for the right to vote.

To the remaining 41.1% who were “too busy” to vote, I say: shame on you and you are a sham! You call yourself a national citizen, you benefit from the country’s welfare, you pretend to be patriotic and then spit on the memory of the forefathers who fought for the right to be heard; who were tortured and killed for, and in the name of, Democracy.

No, politicians are not all the same and politics doesn’t have to be dirty – frankly, people who use this argument, not to cast a vote, are pitiful, embarrassing and disrespectful. 

PSD (centre-right, with 105 MPs) and CDS/PP ([Christian Democracy] right, with 24 MPs) have the majority and are now in place to begin fixing our crisis. 

PS (centre-left, with 73 MPs) left the nation in total bankruptcy. It lied to the parliament and to the electorate; it embellished the public finances; it forced the Portuguese Banks to buy Public Debt in lieu of pressing them to lend money to small and medium businesses (to avoid high rates of unemployment, for instance); it pushed Portugal into external aid and now the Right Wing Government has to abide to the Austerity Agreement PS signed with the IMF, ECB and the EU, while at the same time generating growth – it will be tricky, but PSD and CDS have the proper vision and technicians to do it. 

PCP (communists, with 16 MPs) and BE (far-left, with 8 MPs) still resist, but the aim (following the European example) is to obliterate them once and for all – for that to happen the Right must build the foundations to create jobs, increase the minimum wage (presently +/- €480 [+/- US$570]), generate wealth, pay back the IMF as quickly as possible and increase the number of the middle-class citizens. 

Before I go, I’d like to add 3 final things: 

• Lisbon hadn’t elected PSD (founded by Sá Carneiro) for the past 35 years, but last Sunday it changed the course of history, by a sounding majority, when it chose Pedro Passos Coelho – congratulations!
• Passos Coelho said “O PSD de Sá Carneiro está vivo e recomenda-se!” (Transl: Sá Carneiro’s PSD is alive and I recommend it”). Francisco Sá Carneiro had a vision for Portugal: Political Democracy (among other things, holding the government accountable for its actions); Economic Democracy (the predominance of the public interest over the private interests, meaning that the welfare of the Nation comes first); Social Democracy (assurance of the fundamental rights - health care, welfare - just and progressive fiscal policies) and Cultural Democracy (equal access to opportunities: education, culture and encouragement to individual culture expression). 
• The present leader of the Conservative Party (PSD); Passos Coelho, finished his victory speech with the National Anthem – a clear call for the Nation to stand Tall, Proud and United to face the difficult times ahead and help the government to put Portugal back on track.