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@kunley_drukpa

Sep 23

https://twitter.com/kunley_drukpa/status/1837594193616908798

A VISIT TO THE PYRAMIDS 🧵

Longer Thread on Thoughts on a visit to the Pyramids at Giza in Egypt

https://twitter.com/kunley_drukpa/status/1837594193616908798

APPROACH

Counterintuitively, or maybe not, the Pyramids look most impressive from a distance, from the road as your taxi takes you to the complex entrance. There is something quite compelling in the juxtaposition between the huge necropolis structures and the ramshackle third worldism of the Cairo surrounds. The still construction projects litter-strewn expansive new General Al-Sisi highways around the base, the backdrop of the Cairo slums. The slums themselves, with their trademark ‘Egyptian’ unfinished exposed facades of cheap redbricks and sloppily applied concrete, stretching into the distance. There is a large elevated carriageway that passes over the slums on the way to the Pyramids from the North and from the car window you can look down on the bustle and then you can you look up and see the pyramids out way afar - by comparison they appear otherworldly. The ruins of a great advanced civilisation and the squatters now living in the foothills of those ruins. You could say “that is what it literally is” I don’t want to be crass or gratuitous about it, rude, I wouldn’t want to go that far some parts of Cairo are very nice, you know, but just to say this is the impression one can form

THE TOUTS - “For you my friend, good price”

A lot is said about how the Pyramids today are overcrowded, covered in trash, how you will be constantly hassled by touts on a visit. To a certain extent this is true but they are ‘The Pyramids’ so you persevere. I don’t think these features are so bad as to make the whole experience intolerable, you shouldn’t exaggerate, but they detract from it. You just ‘cope’ with these things during your visit

To give an example, you could easily form the impression that there is some school nearby running very oversubscribed ‘accredited tour guide’ courses the amount of ‘accredited tour guides’ who will tell you that they can offer you ‘accredited tours’ as you enter the Pyramid Complex - “for you my friend good price.” How do you become an accredited tour guide? Are there exams? These people respawn every 60 seconds or so too after you defeat one, another one will pop out of the sand at you like in a random encounter type encounter. You can brush these people off fairly easily but as a remark on the environs I think it is one of the most dense ‘being approached by ‘for you my friend good price’ touts’ places on the planet that I have ever been to, excepting maybe India

One technique is to walk around with your headphones in, or pretend to be on your phone, walk around with your chest puffed out ‘walking with purpose’. “Just be confident.” This seems to put some touts off pestering you, not all of them because Egyptians are quite rapacious (maybe even more so than Indians who this technique can quite effectively dissuade) but at least some of them

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@kunley_drukpa

Sep 19

https://twitter.com/politicspollss/status/1836809652161683902

STARMER: “HUGE MISTAKE” TO LINK CAUSE AND EFFECT

“Causality does not occur in reality.
It is a mental construction due to the repeated and constant conjunction between the event we call cause and that we call effect. This is the problem of induction” said the Prime Minister

https://twitter.com/politicspollss/status/1836809652161683902

STARMER: “I AM A HUMEAN”

“As Hume wrote in his Enquiry, that the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition and implies no more contradiction than the affirmation that it will rise. That’s my governing philosophy, I do not believe actions have consequences”

https://twitter.com/karlmckracken/status/1836868242205463014

Starmer the Humean

https://twitter.com/karlmckracken/status/1836868242205463014

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@kunley_drukpa

Sep 13

CONVERSATION WITH A QATARI ABOUT QATAR 🇶🇦

Extended Conversation with a Qatari friend in Qatar about how he sees the world 🧵

“What do you think about all of the migrant workers in Qatar? There are a lot”

“Oh yeah well we just have them to do jobs we don’t want to do”

“Does it bother you having them around?”

“Eh, you know it’s like background noise. I don’t really care, they are just here to do these jobs don’t they?”

“Do you think a migrant worker who lives in Qatar for long enough can become Qatari?”

“Haha what do you see me? And I live in Africa I will become Black? Haha. No, come on”

“You know they think like this in Europe and America. What do you think about that?”

“We think you people fall for scams too easily haha. I don’t know whatever it’s your country but you know, it’s like when we buy African football players and make them play for Qatar haha whatever you know, it’s whatever. Whatever you say, sure if you say so. But we understand it like this you know”

“Do you have any friends who are migrant workers?”

“No. No I don’t really talk to them. I have one friend he is an expat he is Italian from Milan but that is different”

“How is it different?”

“He’s Italian”

“Which group is the worst?”

“For me, Egyptians. Always trying to scam you. Low class. They have these, uh, crocodile tears. Fuck off!”

“What do you think of South Asians? Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis?”

“I guess they are poor many of them want to come. Beyond that I don’t know I don’t think much. Some of them are very fat some of them are very skinny”

[1/3]

“Do you think the way Qatar is now, it’s good for Qataris?”

“Yes I would say so”

“So you like Qatar now? You like the skyscrapers and all this?”

“Yes of course. Yes we like this, we like the way it is now. We like the way it looks. Brother our grandfathers lived in houses of clay. Me I personally think it is good, there’s no doubt”

“Do you feel like all this modern development has made you lose your traditions and heritage?”

“What? No, how can we lose our culture did we lose it down the sofa? Where did you read this?”

“I mean, some people online will say this luxury makes you decadent and unislamic”

[scoffs] “I don’t think so”

“Are you religious?”

“Ahaha, what are you asking? Brother I am not perfect which man is but yes I am a Muslim yes of course”

“Do you take drugs or alcohol?”

“You know you are not supposed to, you know this. But some of us we don’t care, but it’s not open you know. Sometimes at parties at a person’s house. Sometimes we go into the desert for these parties”

“Do people have sex before marriage here? Officially you can’t stay in a hotel with a woman here unless you have a marriage certificate”

“Some do but it’s not an open thing, sometimes they shame a girl if they catch her they will call the women whores and nobody wants to marry them. Well that isn’t true but they will gossip that they are a whore. But the younger generations they don’t really care so much”

“How do you meet women here as a young man? Is it all arranged by relatives?”

“This still happens but no they go and meet them like same way you do”

“How is that?”

“Like tinder, at a mall, through friends”

“I didn’t see many Qataris on tinder here, it’s mostly lots of Filipinas and then Korean and Russian Air Hostesses”

“Brother those Russians are fucking hot”

“Yes, it would be great if you could have sex with them”

“Ahaha brother you are a ladies’ man. I see it” [pointing and grinning] “There are many whorehouses here you know, but I think they will service you for free haha”

“Just imagine”

“Have you ever had sex with a Russian woman?”

“Yes”

“Hahaha yes high-five brother” [high-fives] “Brother why don’t you marry a Qatari girl? They will like you and their father will also like this. Convert to Islam brother and you will have four wives. It is done!”

“Inshallah”

“It is done!”

“Is it true rich Qataris fly Instagram models out to Qatar so that they can shit on them?”

“Bro! Oh my God. I think some of them do maybe”

“Is it true that in Arab Culture sometimes older men have sex with boys and they don’t consider it gay?”

“Bro! What are these questions bro! Sometimes it happens but I don’t know, maybe not so much anymore. Bro it didn’t happen to me though I swear. I’m not gay what the fuck”

“It doesn’t count as gay if you are the one who gives it?”

“Something like this”

[2/3]

“What do you think about allegations the Qatari Government covertly funds Islamic Extremism?”

“It’s not all extremism some of it I think it’s good”

“All of it?”

“Some of it”

“Can I give you some people and you tell me what you think of them? What do you think of the Jews?”

“I don’t like the Zionists, no I don’t like them. I’m not an antisemite but bro these people are too much, do you know how much they control? Okay do you know who runs the world government? The federal reserve? It’s like… [talks like this for a while]”

“What do you think about Palestinians as a people?”

“Don’t get me wrong I don’t like Israel but the Palestinian people… bro they’re like Egyptians. Kind of low class and they cause trouble. Actually sometimes the Israelis you understand them”

“Africans?”

“There are more of them here recently so I don’t know let’s make them play football and basketball for Qatar” [mimics dunking a basketball with his hand] “Michael Jordan”

“Andrew Tate?”

“Yeah I like him”

“Donald Trump?”

“Yeah he’s funny”

“Vladimir Putin”

“Putin should send us some more Russian women to Qatar”

“What do you think about the Ukraine War? Who should win?”

“It don’t really think about it I guess I don’t know”

“What is your tax situation like?”

“That’s another good thing about Qatar”

“What do you like to do in your free time?”

“I don’t know see my friends go to the diwaniyah [social room for men in Arab countries], go to the mall, watch Netflix, play video games, go to masjid things like that”

“Does your job involve a lot of work?”

“A little but it’s flexible, I have a lot of free time I go in in the mornings and make good money. Bro are you calling me lazy? Haha”

“If you could change one thing about Qatar what would you change?”

“I don’t know man it’s pretty good, maybe no Egyptians I don’t know hahaha” [pointing and laughing]

[3/3]

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@kunley_drukpa

Sep 13

https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1834497900178555312

“And how is Italy reducing refugee numbers?”

“We’re deporting them”

“So you’re opening more direct routes for asylum seekers?”

“No we’re deporting them”

“Processing claims in country?”

“Offshore and then deporting them”

“You’re resettling them in rural communities, I see”

https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1834497900178555312

Glimpses of Very Occasionally Competent Pragmatism in the Second Italian Republic now

I love NATO

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@kunley_drukpa

Sep 9

AMERICAN MEDICAL STUDENT IN HAITI DESCRIBES WORKING WITH HAITIANS - A Thread 🧵

Haitians have been making the news yet again - A Short Thread once more re-sharing the Infamous Blog Post of a Medical Student’s Experience in Haiti about ‘How Haitians Think’ 🇭🇹

It has proven hard for me to appreciate exactly how confused the Haitians are about some things. Gail, our program director, explained that she has a lot of trouble with her Haitian office staff because they don't understand the concept of sorting numerically. Not just "they don't want to do it" or "it never occurred to them", but after months and months of attempted explanation they don't understand that sorting alphabetically or numerically is even a thing. Not only has this messed up her office work, but it makes dealing with the Haitian bureaucracy - harrowing at the best of times - positively unbearable.

Gail told the story of the time she asked a city office for some paperwork regarding Doctors Without Borders. The local official took out a drawer full of paperwork and looked through every single paper individually to see if it was the one she wanted. Then he started looking for the next drawer. After five hours, the official finally said that the paper wasn't in his office.

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