“We are not born with racism and hate in our hearts, it is taught by those who we look up to” — Lewis Hamilton

Pakistan beat India for the first time in World Cups at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup last year in October. India’s premier bowler, Mohammad Shami, had an off game as the team lost by 10 wickets. He was then subjected to pathetic, vile abuse on social media. He was called a “traitor” and asked to “go back to Pakistan” by low-life trolls on his Instagram account.

A lot of the past players spoke up in support of the Indian fast bowler after the game. However, most of those players didn’t categorically address the issue at hand — Shami was abused on social media because he was a Muslim in the current political climate in the country. They simply termed it as a “rare bad day” for him.

Sport is a great medium to unite people and spread peace and harmony among them. However, it has never been that easy for the minorities and people from marginalized communities. They have to repeatedly endure biased selections, targeted abuse. Regardless of all the struggle, we have seen instances of athletes from such communities taking a stand for themselves and their community and speaking up for their rights.

Even an athlete who has a fan following as massive as Lewis Hamilton — the only black driver in Formula One — has been subject to racial abuse throughout his professional career. Even then, he has consistently made his anti-racism stand and spoken up against questionable policies in the sport. Hamilton has also criticized prominent figures in F1 for being silent on the issue of racism.

Women’s tennis player Billie Jean King was a pioneer in this aspect. She was the World Number 1 Tennis player during the late 1960s and 70s. Jean was the founder of the Women’s Tennis Association. She was also the leader of the movement that suggested equal prize money in tournaments that featured both women and men.

In 1973, she defeated Bobby Riggs in ‘The Battle of Sexes’ in straight sets. After her professional career, she championed for the cause of women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. Such sporting icons have a long-term impact in sensitizing the masses and making them a lot more empathetic towards such communities.

What is institutionalized racism? It is essentially a form of racism that is embedded in the rules and regulations of a society. They are discriminated against at every level — from ‘fans’ in the stadium and on social media to their very own teams. The player is often made to feel like an ‘outsider’. This isn’t just restricted to sport in general, but in various communities that have people of different ethnicities.

Azeem Rafiq, of Pakistani descent, played for the county cricket club Yorkshire from 2008–14 and 2016–18. In 2020, he talked about how he was categorically harassed, bullied and discriminated against when he played for the club. He claimed that the team even had an “openly racist captain” at one point of time. Senior players often used to make fun of the number of Asian players in the club, saying “we need to have a word about the same.”

Football is the most followed sport across the globe. Players from various countries and communities have gone on to establish a name for themselves in this beautiful sport. However, one cannot deny that the racism problem is among the most rampant in football.

In December 2020, the UCL draw between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basakheir was suspended for a day. Sebastian Coltescu, the fourth match official had allegedly used racist language against Pierre Webo, assistant coach of the Turkish club. The match took place the following day only after the fourth official was replaced.

The appreciable thing in this sad incident was star players from the opposition camp such as Kylian Mbappe tweeted in support of the assistant coach. These small gestures always tend to make a significant impact.

It is important to note that a player of color is always treated differently when compared with a white player of probably the same skill level. A study on racial stereotyping in football commentary during the FIFA World Cup in 2018. It analysed 1,009 comments of praise given to footballers during 30 hours of BBC and ITV coverage, across 20 matches (between 19 of the 32 competing teams).

It was observed that black players were overwhelmingly praised for their perceived physical prowess and natural athleticism, and white players for their intelligence and character. This indicates that the commentators observed certain skills and attributes based on the race of the player, and not in an objective manner.

A Stanford report examined data from police departments around England, including Merseyside, the UK county in which Liverpool is located. It found hate crimes there were “significantly lower” — dropping by 18.9% since Egypt’s Mohammad Salah joined the club — than would be otherwise. He has contributed to a decline in the Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism from the local fans.

How do we solve this inherent issue? First of all, it is essential to understand the root cause of the problem and speak up about it. From the players to the journalists, everyone involved at different levels should realize that it’s the small things which make a massive difference. Michael Jordan has used his power to create awareness in society about racism on a regular basis.

Gestures that are supportive and empathetic towards the minorities in sport create a huge positive impact. It is the responsibility of the major sporting bodies that govern the sport at a global level to take strict measures to address these issues. They ought to have well-defined frameworks and policies in collaboration with governments of the respective countries.

Education is the key when it comes to effectively sensitizing people towards racism, and in general discrimination in sport. Implementation of anti-racism education must be done from the grassroots level.

Discrimination in Sport was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What happens when you add in a spoonful of colonial rule, a pinch of communism, a dash of the USA, and a whole bunch of the USSR?

If you guessed North and South Korea — you’re right! This is a tale of a country ripped apart by those that promised peace.

The division of the Korean Peninsula dates back to the 1900s when Japan surrendered to the Russian army as part of the Russo-Japanese war. This defeat put an end to the Japanese colonial rule annexing the Korean peninsula. Without any sort of reform, government, or an authoritative figure, Korea was as good as a football field full of baseball players. The peninsula almost immediately divided itself with like-minded civilians occupying each part, and Russia at the time assumed full control over the area. Of course, if the USSR was involved, how could the States sit back?

The United States immediately sent troops to occupy the southern part of Korea, fearing a full take-over of East Asian land by the Soviets. And just like that Korea was once again transformed into a playground for two of the world’s most powerful militaries. The Americans and the Soviets pushed back and forth until 1945 when an American colonel decided to quite literally draw a line. It was called the 38th parallel (cue foreboding music), latitude 38°, a geographical demarcation, which would soon separate the country into North and South.

This division of Korea only further encouraged the people’s political views. Although not prominent in the initial division, the presence of countries with opposing political views — communism and capitalism — added fuel to the flame, turning the wars to come based on the political ideologies of the US and USSR. Furthermore, the North of Korea had turned to the leadership of Kim Il Sung, who was coincidentally trained by Russia during the Russo-Japanese war! (real subtle, Russia.)

Although both parties wished for the reunification of Korea, neither wished to change or modify their existing ideologies. The newly formed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North) and the Republic of Korea Army (South) were locked in a continuous fight to expand their borders.

While the Soviets spent countless hours plotting for their expansion, the United States, like that one annoyingly good kid in class who also happens to be a teacher’s pet, ran straight to the United Nations! In early 1948, the United Nations made the creation of an independent South Korea their priority. But with two communist countries (China and Russia) as their closest allies, North Korea by this year was already building an army in hopes of conquering the southern peninsula.

By 1950, both nations of Korea would be in a devastating war that would kill almost 5 million people. North Korean leader Kim II Sung worked closely with the Soviet revolutionary Joseph Stalin. A communist favorite at the time, Kim II Sung was able to convince Stalin that the only way Korea could become one was a complete invasion of the South. Joseph Stalin continued to provide military aid to the North, thus strengthening the people’s belief in a forceful reunification.

While the war initially started after the division of the peninsula, The Korean War only truly began in June 1950 when the DPRK, aided by the USSR launched an attack on the South. For months together Kim Il Sung was able to occupy a huge part of Korea with his army. The war, however, gained international attention when the casualties reached millions. International support began pouring in for the South, allowing ROK to take back their land. Both sides became equally equipped for the war, ruling out any opportunity for a win/loss and war soon became stagnant with countless deaths and no foreseeable outcome.

Finally, in July 1953, an armistice was laid out, and the division of Korea was set in stone. The country was divided into North (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea). The armistice gave birth to the new Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) — a 2.5-mile wide area between the two nations. And to this day, the DMZ remains one of the most heavily guarded borders in the world.

While political ideologies remain the primary difference between the two countries, the culture, economic status, and global reputation of the two are completely opposite in the present time. With a steadily growing economy, South Korea is perhaps one of the most famous countries in the world right now (owing to the massive impact of the K-wave across the globe). The country has the fourth-largest economy in Asia and eleventh-largest in the world! (They really took the saying “great things come in small packages” to the heart). Home to almost twelve world heritage sites, South Korea has always been one step ahead of the world in combining culture and technology. Music, TV shows, skincare, cosmetic surgery, fashion — you name it, they’ve got it! A definite topper on the travel list, modern-day South Korea is truly straight out of your imagination!

However, it is important to keep in mind that both North and South Korea are yet to recover from their devastating separation. All South Korean men between the ages of 18 to 28 are required to serve at least 18 months of military service. A highly debated law, this decision is to ensure that all men in the country are equipped with the right knowledge to serve in the military in case of an attack or invasion from the North. For those simply reading through the article it might sound quite silly — they have a treaty, they promised not to attack each other! But come on, how many times did you promise yourself that you weren’t going to order dessert after dinner but proceeded to order two different types of dessert regardless? The two countries have often been of global notice for the rising tensions between them but as of 2022, both countries have a cordial relationship, going as far as signing a Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity, and Unification of the Korean Peninsula in April 2018. Although the treaty continues to be honored, both countries spent an equal amount of time and effort preparing their citizens for any possible conflict between them.

Lesser-known than South Korea, North Korea truly is a mysterious country. Known to be the opposite of its neighbor in every possible way, it wasn’t until recent years that people were given information on the North Korean way of life. Currently led by Kim Jong-Un, North Korea is most known for its autocratic government and military power. The country is home to one of the world’s largest standing armies. Military service is mandatory for the male population in the country. Conscription starts as early as fourteen years and continues till they are thirty. Much like South Korea, the North Korean military prepares its citizens for any possible conflict. Although little is known about the true working system of North Korea, certain claims such as owning the world’s largest stadium and rules like ‘All North Korean men are to style their hair like leader Kim-Jong Un’ are sure to put you in deep thought about what other interesting things North Korea has to offer.

When finally asked who’s to blame for the division of Korea, it is nearly impossible to point fingers. What would have happened if Korea was never separated? Would dictatorship exist all across? Will the countries ever see unification? Fueled by the dogmas of politics and power, one can only wonder whether the division of this country could have been prevented if it weren’t for external forces at play, and what would have been had they not intervened.

Sources:

Korean War

The Korean War 101

Why North and South Korea are separated?

Korea — Which One? was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Our universe is alluring but irregular, and most of the time, it does not make any sense, so people have used stories from time to time to make sense in a senseless world. Our existence is shaped by legends, which are narrative patterns. While science can tell us how we were born, myths and legends will tell us why.

Myth has existed in every society. It is, in fact, a fundamental element of human culture. For instance, Naruto, as the human host of the Nine-Tailed Fox (a mischievous spirit in Japanese mythology) represents, reveals, and explores people’s self-image. What better interpretation could there be from folklore if not this? Anime fans make some noise! Maybe there’s a ring somewhere that’s ruling over us all or maybe there’s a dinosaur hatching from an egg while someone prepares for a battle. Tempts us to think, doesn’t it? That’s the beauty of myths, legends, and folklore — everything is left to your imagination and belief.

The Legend of Annapoorna

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well.”

Historically, the world’s well-being depended on the equilibrium between thought and action, which was maintained by the glorious union of Shiva and Parvati. Without Parvati, as the symbol of energy, growth, and transformation on Earth, Shiva would become a detached observer, and the world would remain static. She oversaw humanity’s material comforts; and ensured that the mortals were in bond, spiritually and physically.

Shiva had begun to belittle his wife’s essential work, believing Brahma, the creator of the universe, had conceived the material plane purely for his fancy. Therefore all material things were merely distractions called Maya, nothing but a cosmic illusion. To prove her vital role in the universe, she took a flight from the world, withdrawing half of the cosmic energy that kept the Earth turning. At her disappearance, a sudden, terrifying, and all-encompassing scarcity enveloped the world in eerie silence.

Without Parvati, the land became dry and barren. Rivers shrank, crops withered in the field, hunger descended on humanity. Shiva also felt the profound emptiness left by his wife’s absence. Despite his supreme power, he, too, realised that he wasn’t immune to the need for sustenance. As Shiva despaired over the desolate Earth, he came to realise that the material world could not be so easily dismissed.

The compassionate Parvati could not stand by and watch her devotees wasting away. So she took a new avatar, carrying a golden bowl of porridge and armed with a jewel-encrusted ladle, walked among them and restored their strength.

The word of this hopeful figure spread and is worshipped as Annapoorna, the goddess and forever giver of food. Upon her arrival, the world blossomed anew.

(Now we know why Annapoorna Mess serves good food.)

Which Witch? The Myth of Arachne

Pablo Picasso said, “The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky; from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.”

Both Hindu and Greek mythology brim with shape-shifters, the powerful gods usually change their forms at will, but the mutations were often unwanted for mortals. One such undesired transformation befell the spinner Arachne.

Arachne was the daughter of a tradesman and had a flair for spinning the most delicate threads, weaving them into flowing fabric, and creating magnificent tapestries. But as praise for her work grew, so did her pride. She refused to see weaving as a gift from the gods. Instead, she flaunted it as her genius.

Unfortunately, the goddess of craft and wisdom heard her glorifying conceit and challenged her into a weaving contest. The two of them set up their looms in the same room, and they wove from early in the morning until late at night.

Athena wove tremendous scenes that showed the power of the gods; Poseidon riding the waves, Zeus firing thunderbolts, and Apollo hurtling across the sky.

The glory of the gods dwarfed mortal life in Athena’s tapestry. While Arachne had no interest in boosting godly egos, her tapestry showed gods abusing their powers, squabbling amongst themselves, drinking and bragging, and meddling in the life of mortals.

Yet, even though she cast the gods in the most unflattering light, Arachne’s work shone with her dazzling skill. Her tapestry was almost alive, filled with movements and lustrous colours.

When Athena saw it, she was even angrier than she had been before. She pointed her finger at Arachne, and suddenly Arachne’s nose and ears shrank up, her hair fell out, her arms and legs got long and skinny, and her whole body shrank until she was just a little tiny spider — the first spider. “You want to spin,” cried Athena. “Go ahead and spin!”

To this day, Arachne and her children turn out her penance — or is it undaunted persistence in the shadows of giants?

Cupid, Psyche, and Pleasure

Every year on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day is marked by shades of pink, flowers, chocolates, romantic movies, and wine — and images of a magical baby boy who flies around shooting arrows at people.

Even so, despite his infant form, that baby, widely known these days as Cupid, began his mythological life as a man who had more power than any god. Let’s start with his lover.

Psyche was the youngest and most beautiful daughter of a king and queen. She was so beautiful that her admirers neglected their worship of Venus, the goddess of beauty, and instead worshipped her. The goddess sent her son, Cupid, the god of love to shoot Psyche with an arrow to make her fall in love with an ugly person, but Cupid was so taken aback by her looks that he accidentally shot himself and fell in love with her. He visited her every night but forbade her from looking at his face. Psyche’s sisters goaded Psyche into finding out who her lover was and on their insistence, she lit a lamp that night. Upon learning her lover to be the god of love, Psyche dropped her lamp, burning Cupid with hot oil.

She didn’t believe that gods and humans could love as equals. Now that she knew his true form, their hopes for happiness were dashed, so he flew away. Psyche wandered the earth looking for the unseen voice and eventually came into Venus’s service.

The goddess makes Psyche perform impossible tasks, such as a journey to the underworld to bring a drop of Proserpina’s beauty — the goddess of death. Just outside Venus’s palace, though, she opened the box of Prosperina’s beauty, hoping to keep some for herself. Alas, the box was filled with sleep, not beauty.

Cupid, now recovered from his wounds, flew back to his bride and gave her Ambrosia (Roman mythology equivalent of Amrit), the nectar of gods, making her immortal and the goddess of the soul. Her fearlessness in the face of the unknown proved she was more than his equal. Shortly after, Psyche bore their daughter and named her pleasure. And ever since, this family of three have been complicating people’s love lives.

The Myths that Mystify

To understand the similitude and difference between mythology and science, we have to understand the meaning of fact and myth — fact is everybody’s truth, fiction is nobody’s truth, and in between, there is myth. Myth is somebody’s truth. The world is objective, universal, logical, factual, scientific. My world is subjective, dreamy, thoughtful, and full of feelings. It’s mine. Science can tell you how the world functions, only myth can explain why it functions the way it does. However, it’s not always that these two are always on different sides of the road. Sometimes, they do overlap, and we can find answers to science in the books of mythology.

Imagine we have plenty of aerial vehicles, multiple heads, and arms, all kinds of yantras that can be claimed as sci-fi or hi-fi apparatus, all invented by fecund imagination rooted in mythological history. Can we, on the basis of this, say that modern inventions existed in the past?

This takes us with another sweeping flight of imagination that all imagined objects were actually part of the material inventions of the past or they were nothing but the work of a bored writer.

Sources:

Myth=Mithya - book by Devdutt Patnaik

7 Secrets of Shiva - book by Devdutt Patnaik

Heroes of Olympus - book by Rick Riordan

The Secrets of Humanity - book By NatGeo

Our Beautiful Parables, Myths, And Legends was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

With the release of Rajnikanth’s widely acclaimed film Robot, there came a novel perception of the term Artificial Intelligence among the people of India. It got the audience thinking — what is AI? Is AI a threat or an opportunity for improving society? How does Chitti’s wig not fall off after all those stunts? (Why did they make a sequel?)

There exists no set-in-stone definition, but one way to define AI would be the ability of a machine to demonstrate human-like intelligence. Problem-solving, reasoning, and learning are a few of the many human skills aimed to be simulated by AI machines.

History

Science fiction came one step closer to reality when Alan Turing questioned, “Can machines think?”. The release of his paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence and the subsequent Turing test in 1950 established the core idea of AI.

(GK: CAPTCHA is a kind of Turing test, so the next time you’re annoyed at it, you know who to blame).

During an academic conference in 1956, John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence. This generation of scientists laid down principles that would become the fundamental building blocks of the AI we know today.

How is AI used?

AI is a vast topic and can be written about in volumes. For now, we can broadly classify it into Narrow AI and General AI.

Narrow AI consists of intelligent systems that carry out tasks under specific constraints. Apple’s Siri is an example of Narrow AI where the machine has only limited abilities to perform tasks. It displays no genuine awareness or intelligence, so Siri can’t exactly give you relationship advice but rather can play heartbreak songs for you on loop.

General or Strong AI is usually seen in movies by machines like the Terminator or Data from Star Trek. It is the ability of the device to perform all the tasks a human is capable of achieving. While it doesn’t quite exist today, AI specialists are divided on when this would become a reality.

The subsets of AI include Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Neural networks, Computer Vision and Robotics.

Machine Learning accounts for the great bulk of recent advances in AI. It is the ability of the machine to feed on a dataset and learn how to carry out a task rather than programming it to do the same. Sound familiar? (*cough* students teaching themselves during online college *cough*).

A subset of ML is deep learning, in which neural networks expand into vast networks with several layers and are trained using massive amounts of data. They consist of a set of algorithms designed for clustering and classifying.

Deep Neural Networks have fueled the capacity of the computer to perform tasks such as Computer Vision. Computer Vision is the ability of the computer to see, observe and analyze real-life images and data.

Finally, our all-time Hollywood favourite — Robotics, which has emerged as a hotbed of AI research. It is the design, manufacture, and operation of robots and is responsible for controlling intelligent outcomes.

Tech Giants competing in the AI race

Much of the AI that we see today is anchored by multi-billion-dollar companies, each racing to make it to the top. The advent of virtual assistants has been one of the most apparent manifestations of the AI war. Its chief competitors are Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google Assistant.

These assistants rely primarily on voice recognition and Natural Language Processing. NLP is the breaking down of human language to help computers understand text or speech. However, their associated services, such as Google Lens, can translate text from photos and allow you to search using images. While Apple’s Siri might have had precedence in the earlier years, Google’s Assistant and Alexa have marked their domain in the AI space with their ability to answer a wide range of questions and demonstrate various skills.

AI in everyday life

With competitive building, every effort is made to make AI a part of our day-to-day lives. In 2020, General Motors and Honda unveiled the Cruise Origin, an electric-powered driverless automobile. (Wikihow: To put the car on flight mode to save battery life because my dumbass forgot to charge it.)

Computers can recognize human speech with an accuracy of 95%. Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence and Research group recently announced the development of a system that can accurately transcribe spoken English just as a human transcriber would.

Facial recognition systems are widely used for defense and security purposes in several countries. AI has a significant role to play in the healthcare system too. The recent accomplishment by Google’s AlphaFold 2 machine-learning algorithm is projected to cut the time it takes to develop new drugs from months to hours.

Can Google also come up with something that cuts down procrastination time? Asking for a friend.

The applications of AI further extend to gaming, finance, artificial creativity, and so much more. And all this is just the tip of the iceberg.

With AI being used in various fields, it may pose a threat to employment.

According to the co-founder of Coursera, Andrew NG, while specific tasks and skills could get repetitive, monotonous, and boring for a human, these same tasks can be performed easily by technology, which could pose a significant risk of technological unemployment. While some believe that for every job that has been replaced, new ones will be created in its place, there is no certainty on how fast these jobs will be created or if the unemployed would even possess the required skills for the new job positions.

(This is your sign to finish that Coursera course you started and upgrade your skills #notanad)

Human meets AI

With the growing era of ‘big data,’ it is a common worry if AI will bring about the end of humankind or if it will be the reason the human race thrives. Physicist Stephan Hawking warned that AI could evolve at a faster rate than humans and could result in our extinction. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that AI is a “fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.”

However, some AI specialists find the notion of AI taking over the world and causing human destruction ridiculous. The general intelligence that humans possess is way different from the narrow intelligence shown by machines today. So it looks like the Terminator has to wait a couple of decades before he paves his path into our world.

The Future

For now, AI is steadily growing and improving. It is the big thing of our generation. As annoying as it may be, any customer care service first directs your call to their company’s virtual assistant. Netflix drops its suggestions based on the content you’ve previously viewed. Your first week after downloading COD-mobile is just matches with bots, so don’t feel too proud if you’re MVP. We can expect driverless cars to be fully functional and on the road in a couple of years. Its acceptance in society, however, is questionable.

The manner in which AI grows into society will have significant implications on our foreseeable future. Several important discussions and decisions will be needed on ethical and moral grounds. It is essential that privacy issues, legal matters, conflicts, and policies are rightly dealt with. AI has the potential to revolutionize the world and become the most impactful human innovation in history.

Sources:

• The History of Artificial Intelligence
• What is AI?
• How does Artificial Intelligence works?

Call of Technology: AI was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In 1971, Iran threw one of the most opulent and extravagant parties the world had ever seen. It was organised to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire. From the food to accommodation, every little detail was meticulously taken care of, and the grandeur was unparalleled. The guestlist included heads of state from over 65 countries — emperors, kings, sultans, princes, and princesses — you name it. In other words, if you were rich and important, you were invited. Rest assured, you definitely wouldn’t have gotten in.

An entire city was built in the middle of the Iranian desert to host the attendees. They were housed in plastic tents. Mind you, these weren’t your ordinary tents. They were flush with expensive carpets, furniture, and other luxurious stuff. Now you may think, “ooh, this must have cost a fortune.” And, you’re right, it did. The official figure released by Iran was $16.8M ($112M adjusted for inflation). Time magazine however, put the figure at a ridiculous $100M ($635M adjusted for inflation).

I think it’d be wise to go with Time magazine here, what with the Iranian monarchy being so transparent and all. In fact, this party was dubbed the most expensive party in the history of the world. By expensive, we’re not exactly speaking in monetary terms, though. As much as $100M is a fortune in 1971’s terms, that is not all the Shah of Iran had to shell out. The party cost him a tad bit more — his entire dynasty. It was the catalyst for the rise of the Iranian revolution and the subsequent fall of the Iranian Monarchy that changed the face of the country forever.

The Political Atmosphere of Iran in the 60’s

To truly grasp why this party had such terrible implications for the Shah, you need to understand the political atmosphere of Iran in the 60’s. Iran in the 60's was a constitutional monarchy, ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, also called the ‘King of the Kings.’ Even though he claimed he wanted to modernise Iran, and make it a free society, he largely acted to refute himself.

The Shah had been curbing free speech and shutting down dissent like he was playing whack-a-mole. There were no civil rights in the country. His secret police kidnapped and killed people at their will. Despite being an oil-rich state, the country’s economy was in a bad condition. Almost half of the population lived below poverty. Cities lacked infrastructure. Rural areas had a huge shortage of water, healthcare facilities, and educational institutions.

Iran was in dire need of urgent political reform. Naturally, the Shah decided to do something about it. He threw a sick party.

The Infamous Party

Since Iran didn’t have huge hotels or extravagant resorts, the decision was reached to turn the abandoned city of Persepolis into a city to host the attendees. The only problem? Persepolis was right in the middle of a desert. That didn’t deter the Shah, though. He decided that a royal village would be set up in these deserts using tents.

First though, they wanted to turn these deserts into a forest. So, they imported trees — an incredible number of trees. Around 15000 trees, plants, and flowers were flown in to be planted on the site. All this for a three-day event while Iran was suffering from a crippling shortage of water. The Shah wanted to give his guests the best experience possible and he was determined to go to any length to do that.

They also removed around 4 hectares of earth and delivered it to the site so that George Truffaut, the famous florist from Versailles, could create an extravagant perfumed garden with a variety of roses and tall cypresses. If you thought the roadblocks ended there, you’re dead wrong. To make things worse, the site was infested with poisonous snakes and scorpions whose sting could kill anyone from a businessman to a king. So, they sprayed chemicals over a 30 km area and removed a truckload of them.

To further add to the pomp and show of this opulent house of cards, the Shah imported 50,000 songbirds from Europe and released them on the site. 20,000 sparrows were brought in from Spain, most of which died within a few days because of the lack of water and the adverse climate.

You would think that a man who wished to show his country off to the world would at least try to involve his people in his pursuit. The Shah, though, was a ‘sophisticated’ man who only trusted ‘world-class’ professionals. So, he outsourced most of the work to renowned European companies. To build the royal ‘tent city,’ the Shah hired the famous Jansen company from Paris.

For food, the Shah signed a deal with the famous “Maxim’s de Paris.” Based in Paris, Maxim’s was widely regarded as the best restaurant in the world at the time. The party got even more attention after this deal was made. The legendary Hotelier, Max Blouet, came out of retirement to supervise the banquet. Maxim’s shut down their restaurants for over two weeks to cater to the Shah’s party.

Since Iran wasn’t as self-sufficient a nation as most others, almost everything had to be flown in. The volume of goods being flown in was so huge that the Shah had to build an entire new airfield in Shiraz. Since the airfield was fifty kilometers away from the site in Persepolis, he also had to build a whole new highway connecting the two. The Iranian Air Force was enlisted to haul stuff back and forth across Iran and the world. Over a period of six months, the Air Force shuttled goods between Shiraz and Paris, which were then transported by Army trucks to Persepolis.

If you were an outsider who knew nothing about Iran, based on this party alone, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that Iran was an impoverished nation. The Shah went all out in making sure that he only showed the world an Iran that was as glorious as the Persian empire of the past. He was vigilant in masking the rifts and cracks of an eroding dynasty, and showing only what he wanted the world to see.

The Fallout

While the party seemed like a huge success momentarily, and the Shah revelled in his success, people soon wanted to know one thing — how much the party actually cost. Foreign media like Time magazine and the French Press started doing their own research and outed the Shah as a money squanderer and a show-off. This sparked a massive outrage from the people of Iran. While the general population was struggling to make ends meet, the Shah was throwing a party for his rich friends on a utopic Island he had built far away from the real Iran — literally and figuratively. The Shah had lost all of the public support by now.

Political parties in opposition, despite their contrasting ideologies, joined hands against the ‘king of kings.’ Iran’s popular uprising led to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 that ended the rule of the Pahlavi Dynasty and the two and a half millennia of the Persian Empire. The party was turning out to be truly cataclysmic in every sense of the word. Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile. Iran became an Islamic Republic and Khomeini, its first supreme leader.

Three years after the event, Shah publicly apologized to his people and sought forgiveness for decades of bad decisions, corruption, and cruelty. Alas, the damage had already been done. Much like his party supplies, the Iranian people entrusted the Shah with the outside world, and he was sent into exile, where he died a year later.

What can you, as a reader, take away from this? Maybe use this as a guide as to what not to do if you ever find yourself loaded with power, money, and free reign over a country. Maybe don’t decide to throw a giant party smack-bang in the middle of the Lut desert. Maybe don’t try to build a lush, green forest in said desert. And definitely don’t spend over $100M on a party when almost all of your people are living in abject poverty.

Here’s remembering The Shah — a man who was so engrossed in throwing an absolute banger of a party that he was willing to bet his entire dynasty on it. But hey, silver lining — at least the Shah died revelling in the fact that no party would ever beat his own.

Sources

How Iran Threw the World’s Greatest Party In a Desert

2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire

5 Dinner Parties that changed the World

The $22 Million Party that Overthrew an Empire

The Party that Overthrew the Iranian Empire was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mama, oooh, Didn’t mean to make you cry, If I’m not back again this time tomorrow, Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters, “Wait, what was I doing? Yeah shit, I had to study, gotta finish the whole course this night or Imma fail the end sems again.” *cries in pain*

Have you ever found yourself jamming to your favorite music while you walk towards the class and see the world around you fade away? Even to the point of ignoring your friend? Yeah, me too! Some of us might jam to Tunak Tunak or sing Baby in our bathrooms (for real though, stop this at least), but one thing is constant: we, the beings of planet Earth, love music. Often we feel that listening to music might have alleviated our sadness, or was it just an illusion conjured up by our brain to trick us into thinking that we are not inside the matrix, not the matrix’s emotion manipulation system.

Have you ever just put on your playlist on Spotify and just shut your eyes for five minutes? Well, we all know that those five minutes never are five minutes.

Is Time Travel Possible? No, it’s not, but music messing with your perception of time surely is. Music is a potent stimulus that can dramatically affect our relationship with time. In layman’s terms, time flies when listening to pleasant music. Therefore, music is used in waiting rooms to reduce the duration of time spent waiting(figuratively) and in supermarkets to keep you in for an extended period of time, so you buy more stuff.

Well, who knows, maybe the time taken by the guy in Interstellar to get back might have been less if he were listening to some sick beats.

The Tempo of the music is also a key factor. For example, most of the time in bars, the barkeepers play slow-tempo music, creating an environment where patrons want to linger around and order another round.

Music can do a lot more, though. It can tap into one of the most integral parts of our heritage that ensured human beings’ survival as a species, the primal fear or the urge to survive. One of the prime (see what I did there?) examples of this phenomenon can be witnessed in horror movies where filmmakers and composers use music to heighten our suspense and terror. The harsh, discordant, and unexpected sounds combined with jump scares can even leave an adult man wishing he wore a diaper.

This effect even has had real-world repercussions. In 2004, The Royal Automobile Club deemed Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie the most dangerous music to listen to while driving. This music’s frenzied tempo challenges drivers’ usual sense of speed and causes them to speed up. Is this why in Snyder Cut, whenever Wonder Woman even breathes, they play ‘the theme.’ (Raises eyebrows)

Everyone likes a good scare once in a while, but what if I said music could make you brighter and happier. Listening to music essentially changes how you feel and how you feel directly affects your cognitive ability. Hence by listening to the right music, you can effectively improve or boost your power for a short duration. So maybe you should head back to the playlists on YouTube promising to increase your intelligence by over 9000!

What about playing music, you might ask? It is equivalent to a gym workout for your brain. Playing music gives the brain a multisensory “workout” that can strengthen memory, help you pay attention, and perhaps even improve your reading ability.

What may be music to one’s ears can be noise to others, but one thing which can’t be disputed is that music is an integral part of our life. This is precisely why it has found its way even into medicinal uses. Usually, in the late stages of Alzheimer’s, the patients are unresponsive. Still, if you put on headphones with their favorite music, their eyes light up, and sometimes they even start singing along.

Such is the power of music. If you are stressed, pop in your earphones and start listening to your favorite songs. “Music has charms to soothe even a savage beast,” so it should work for you. Well, it certainly did help when my roommate ate the last piece of pizza.

“Music is life itself”-Louis Armstrong.

Music is a way some of us express ourselves and for some more than that. We all are musicians, in a way. The rhythmic sound of our footsteps or the melody created on the tabletop with a pencil are all masterpieces in their own right. So just appreciate the daily melodies be it the chirping of the bird or the annoying guy playing guitar at the Student Plaza.

Sources:

• Mind and Memory Keep Your Brain Young with Music
• Medicalnewstoday
• Music and the Brain: What Happens When You’re Listening to Music
• Music as medicine
• Music and Learning: Does Music Make You Smarter? · Frontiers for Young Minds.
• What Role Does Music Play in Our Life? » The Creative Music Blog.
• What is music therapy?
• Music and health — Harvard Health
• Music, emotion, and time perception: the influence of subjective emotional valence and arousal?

Music and the Brain was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Written by Anusha YG

Picture this: You’re the creator of a universe. It’s a regular day of your job, but today you have the most important task of all: creating a species. It doesn’t have to be a human species, just beings with intelligence and consciousness, which can further the society you build for them.

So, you begin. You carefully choose habitable terrains, chemical balances are made, acids neutralized, weather reports pored over multiple times — you know the drill. You map out the road of their evolution (they can’t start out all mighty and strong, duh) when you suddenly hit a roadblock.

Society.

How is society supposed to look for them? Do you carefully plan out the societal development for them and leave it in their hands? There are so many types of society too, so maybe you decide to do some research first. It’s at this point that you discover there is a certain popular idea humans seem to be fond of — the utopian society.

You’re a being of research, after all. Looking up utopia gives you the following result:

Hmm, while Thomas More might have meant that when he coined the term in 1516, that definition is a bit too short to suit your tastes. Moreover, you’re pretty sure More was being satirical when he coined the term as a dig on the then political parties. Fortunately, there’s a whole list of characteristics to be considered to classify a society as utopian:

• Peaceful governance
• Equality for citizens
• A safe environment to live in
• Healthcare and employment for all

To cut to the chase, a perfect society is what it means to be utopian.

But here’s this problem, a problem that would definitely present itself at some time, if not at the start, and that’s this: people don’t really like to be told what to do. Sure, you could just force authority on them for it, but do you really want to do that? Feels a bit icky, you think, so push that thought away from your mind.

But the problem doesn’t vanish. You feel a headache forming at the back of your head. Of course, you can’t just impose something totally on a species. There will always be someone who doesn’t want it and someone who will spark a butterfly effect series of events against it. There is no ‘perfect’ society for an imperfect species; all that can be possible are near ideal versions of the same. Utopias are thus especially likely to crumble when collective ownership, authoritarian rule, and communal work collide with an individual’s expression and personality. This, complete with differences in ability and interests, make a utopia a perfect recipe to be burnt at the stove.

The headache at the back of your head grows and has reached your temples. You rub your temples absentmindedly while clicking on some more links. Surely there must’ve been some studies done, some thought experiments or the like, that must’ve held fruition.

Ah ha, very handily there’s a small number of cities who have tried to be planned utopias, so you waste no time and read about them.

Auroville, in India, seems to be a popular one. Established in 1968 by a woman named Mira Alfassas (now called the Mother), Auroville is a city that notes, “Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future”.

At present, Auroville seems to be functioning well, albeit with some crime allegations here and there, with some creepiness mixed in for garnish. Interesting, you think. There are some other cities mentioned as well, so you quickly read through them.

And of course, literature is filled with visions for utopia everywhere. Thomas Moore aside, Plato (it’s always Plato, the guy’s everywhere) had envisioned an ideal city — Kallipolis — which hugely backfired in pushing the ideas of a utopian society due to its totalitarian nature.

As such, every and any attempt to attain utopia ends up in setting up the other side of the coin — dystopia. Heck, there are so many utopian dystopias imagined — from the Hunger Games to the Giver to Omelas — that it makes your mind reel.

Why even call it a perfect world when it’s not? You grumble as you search for other alternatives, something to replace utopia while ignoring the increasing urge to procrastinate. It does not take long for you to find one of the alternatives, a protopia, a society that takes incremental steps towards improvement and not perfection.

A stack of resources similar in size to the ones you read for utopia loom at the table. With a sigh, you pick up your cup of tea (you’ll end up drinking three more) and get back to work.

Sources :

• Thomas Moore’s invention of Utopia: From thought experiment to manifesto | Critical Utopias.
• Seven planned Utopian Cities that you can visit today | Smithsonian Magazine.
• Auroville: India’s famed Utopian community struggles with crime and corruption | Slate.
• Plato’s Utopia and why you don’t want to live there | Big Think.

Utopia — The Dream Nightmare was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Written by Rithika T

Sitting in front of your laptop for one more of those online lectures, you can’t begin to understand what the teacher is saying on this particularly boring afternoon. But you know you can’t let yourself fall asleep, because that will be the start of a vicious pattern that will end with you regretting this day while cramming for endsems. So you lift your pen to attempt to take notes and two hours later your page is filled with talking rats, flying grandmas, and dinosaur-mermaid hybrids.

Starting with some doodles, speech bubbles, and adding along with some superpowered characters a comic book is born. Stories are powerful and some can change how we see the world, but there is a special magic that happens when you tell a story with pictures. It can make you laugh, cry, make your heart beat faster and on top of that, it reflects all of these emotions precisely on the page. This is what makes a comic book exhilarating and inspiring.

Comic Book: Origin

In the 90s, the Golden Age of comics, the superheroes were straight-laced do-gooders who fought and defeated corrupt villains. They were just a means of distraction from the worsening war-ridden reality at the time and a source of simple entertainment.

This evolved into the Silver Age where mature and gritty themes became the new popular thing when the idea of invincible heroes became outdated. Afterlife with Archie is the zombie apocalyptic take on the standard Archie comics where Archie and his friends tackle dark magic, gore, and zombie brutality. (Netflix’s Riverdale please put your hand down)

In the Bronze Age, the artwork evolved further and instead of surrealism and grisly art, the urban lifestyle was given the spotlight. To allow the readers an emotional connection with the characters the alter-egos of the superheroes was explored more. This was the age with the shocking murder of Spiderman’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy at the hands of the Green Goblin and Iron Man’s coming to terms with his alcoholism.

Following this came the Dark Age(Modern Age) and this is when comic books really came into their own. The stories got grittier and bolder, and the art was becoming darker and more stylized. In contrast to heroes with purer-than-gold moral standings, neurotic and tormented anti-heroes took the center stage.

Real Heroes

I think even a non-comic enthusiast might know about Batman’s origin and his parents’ repeatedly telecasted murder, or about Snoopy the dog in ‘Peanuts’, but what do we know about Pencilers, Inkers, Colorists, Flatters and Letterers?
No, I didn’t just make these words up. These are real jobs of real people in the comic book industry. Most of the time a hero’s life in a comic book begins with a small plot detail — like receiving a mysterious parcel or meeting a really old bearded man on a rainy day. Then on their journey, they find powerful and smart friends or allies, and battle villains while striving to reach their goal. For a comic book writer or artist, the starting push is some vague idea and a rough sketch.

Have you ever drawn something slightly good while just lazily doodling and now suddenly inspired, stayed up all night thinking up a story and dialogues and your future very own super-awesome-looking artist studio? This actually does come true for some and these are the people that make stories come to life.

The penciller lays down the base art and illustrates the full comic in pencil, the inker takes the rough pencils provided and produces the final lineart of the comic, the colorist adds colors in a way that it doesn’t compete with the lineart but enhance or compliment it, and the letterer draws the dialogue boxes and places all the text. And then we have editors, printers, and distributors to completely finish making the comic book. Just like the Shazam Family consisting of the superpowered alter egos of Billy Batson and his foster siblings, these unusual heroes work together to make one breathtaking story that can defeat evil and save the world.

It might look like a dream job but being a comic writer or artist is not a job that rakes in the money and it won’t guarantee a television series adaptation. Comic book workers in reality are woefully underpaid, underappreciated, and overworked. But despite all the financial instability and long hours, it is a job that most people cannot give up easily. If there is a reason to keep doing this it would be because there are still people who flip through their favorite comic book every night before sleeping just to admire the feel of the pages.

Cultural significance

Is it really possible for a few pages of dizzying multicolor drawings and frivolous characters to make a difference in someone’s life?

In 2012, Marvel created a new character called ‘Blue Ear’ who wore futuristic hearing aids and made superhero-level sound technology. All superheroes are made to inspire and are special in some way, but this hero was particularly so to one 4-year-old kid Antony Smith, who was deaf in his left ear. Antony’s mother wrote an email to the people at Marvel about her son refusing to wear his hearing aid because he thought it was uncool and weird. The result of this was the next issue titled ‘Iron Man: Sound Effects’ which also came with a warning message about loud noises and earplugs.

In the same year 2012, artist and filmmaker, Ram Devineni of India created the story “Priya’s Shakti” after the events of a 23-year-old sexually assaulted and killed in Delhi. The protagonist Priya is a superhero who rides on the back of a flying tiger, a rape survivor who gets blessed by the Goddess and gains the power of persuasion and is able to motivate people to change.

Before 1989 the Comics Code of Authority existed prominently in the USA and it reinforced the idea that comics were juvenile literature. Even the use of words such as ‘horror’ or ‘terror’ in the titles was not allowed until 1971. But a Spider-Man story arc about drug abuse was the first one to trigger a review of the code and eventually now the Seal of Approval doesn’t exist anymore. Since then the representation of queer characters has also progressively increased. Iceman, one of Marvel’s oldest characters and an X-men member came out as gay in 2015’s ‘All-New X-Men’, and other well-known characters such as Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman have been confirmed to be queer.

Future of Comics

There is a science and structure to comic writing, a reason why each character is sketched in a certain way, and the creative usage of even the whitespace on a page and making it connect with the story. Reading becomes almost the same as experiencing and it makes the story exciting and emotionally compelling. But despite all this, comic books are generally considered as silly leisure reading and they are shadowed by the beliefs that they are “not serious” or filled with graphic violence. When someone describes a movie or a show as being “comic book-ish” it usually means childish and frivolous. Recognizing the beauty and nuances behind comic books is definitely overdue.

In the current age, a comic doesn’t stop at paper publications but a hit comic makes way for a hit movie, and a hit video game, then a toys and merchandise line. The popularity of superheroes keeps rising, and so many old ideas and characters are taken apart and then reconstructed and made to appeal to a whole new audience. Comics now have the power to influence people all over the world just as much as any other medium.

“The pleasure of reading a story and wondering what will come next for the hero is a pleasure that has lasted for centuries and, I think, will always be with us.” ― Stan Lee

It would be easy to dismiss them as ‘childish books’ and reduce them to ‘big colorful pictures and dumb words’, but doing so would be ignoring the tremendous impact it could have on the world. Comic Books are an innovative medium with ever-changing structures, design, and plotlines and as long as they continue telling terrific stories with great characters they will live on and keep inspiring people like me all over the world.

Sources

• 18 Responses to “Overview Of The Comic Creation Process”
• Comics: Comic Books
• Comic Books: The Impact On the Culture
• The Life and Times of the Modern Comic Book Artist
• Why Do Comic Books Matter?
• Comic Culture: Impact of comics apparent in society

Life around Comic books was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Written by Heera Shetty

As Napoleon once said, ‘‘What is history, but a fable agreed upon? By its very nature, history is always a one-sided account.” Like a coin has two sides to it, so does each story and each event in history.

We need to keep in mind a few things before we open our history books the next time. Historical events, at their very core, are facts that are true. They answer the fundamental question of what, when, and where it happened. But the question of how and why it happened is where things get tricky. You see, whenever someone tells us a story, they also bring their perspective to the table. It’s the same for all the people who wrote scriptures, manuscripts, newspapers, etc.

An apt example of this would be Napoleon’s defeat in 1815. The British take credit for this; however, the Russians beg to differ. Before Napolean was defeated at Waterloo in 1815 by the British, he was first defeated by the Russians in Leipzig in 1813. This earlier defeat happened due to Napoleon’s pride and the Russian’s relentlessness.

Over a year earlier, Napoleon was the official ruler of Europe. When he decided to attack Russia, all hell broke loose. His army went down from 650,000 to less than 100,000. Because of the grueling Winter in Russia, the soldiers couldn’t do their best. The French soon went into retreat, only to be chased all around Europe by salty Russians. To escape the pressure, the Emperor went into exile in Elba, Italy. It was then in 1815 that Britain decided to attack France and defeated Napoleon. While the Brits would say his second defeat was the one that sealed it, the Russians see Waterloo as the unnecessary sequel to their original smackdown.

If you look close enough and do your research well, you’ll find out that for every historical event and every fact, there is always another perspective that can change the way you have been viewing the event. This is where relativism comes into play. Historicism or historical relativism is the theory that there cannot be any objective standard of truth as data interpretation will be affected by subjective factors. These factors are characteristic of either the historian (the person writing the historical source) or the period in which the historian lives. Many factors, such as the historian’s attitude or political, religious, and cultural beliefs, affect the historical piece.

For example, many different versions of Indian history did not acknowledge caste as a differentiating element, arguing that the caste structure served to keep Indians together, despite economic inequalities.

A lot of historians may not explicitly state their political attitudes in their scriptures. However, that doesn’t mean that their perspective doesn’t exist.

Historicism challenges the view that everything is either black or white. There is no complete truth or false; most of what you read in history is biased to some extent. So, the next time you read two conflicting accounts of an event that occurred in the past, remember that it doesn’t necessarily mean that one of them was wrong and the other was right.

If you read about India’s decision to revoke Article 370, a constitutional provision that granted special status for Kashmir’s part controls, divided political opinion in the country, with two completely different perspectives.

History is usually written by the victorious, and their version of the story is biased with hugely exaggerated facts. As time passes, the real version of the story is forgotten, and all that remains is the biased version that starts getting accepted as the truth after a point of time.

An example of this would be the erasure of LGBTQIA+ history. Looking back through history, one might be forgiven for thinking LGBTQ communities didn’t exist before the dawn of the 19th century. Of course, we know that’s false, but if you try to scour through archives or history books, you will find it hard to find an open and honest account of the topic.

Naturally, a lot of people tend to doubt whatever they read. Hence they will tend to reanalyze the facts and documents as new artifacts and information is discovered. This is called Historical Revisionism. One example of this is World War 2. The orthodox view is that Nazi Germany, Hitler, and Imperial Japan were to blame. However, some revisionists believe that America should be blamed as well.

Through historical revisionism, we can look at past events in a new, unbiased light. This is usually done by historians and researchers who are curious to know about the actual sequence of events. It’s essential for maintaining the accuracy of human knowledge. Hence, it also strongly influences history.

Once historians gather enough evidence on a specific matter and suggest respective amendments, they put it up for review by recognized historians and official authorities. If these changes are approved, voila, they become a part of accepted history and are no longer considered by revisionists.

However, some also try to abuse this. There might be sly politicians or deceitful historians who might try to manipulate a piece of history to benefit from it. This is why Historical Revisionism is usually viewed negatively.

A lot of schools also use history textbooks to promote national pride. Their objective of spreading patriotism in the country’s children isn’t wrong as long as they don’t get swayed by a particular ideology. Unfortunately, we tend to see many history textbooks that are more of a medium of propaganda rather than an educational tool.

One instance of how easily history can be manipulated for the sake of a political agenda was Park Chung Hee’s depiction in the state-administered history textbooks. He was a dictator in Korea for more than 18 years. However, the books downplayed his dictatorial regime and abuse of human rights while choosing to shine a light on his industrial and economic developments instead. Apart from this, he was also the father of the President of South Korea. Through their propaganda, the government is quickly trying to manipulate vulnerable students’ minds to who they are, not providing complete information.

Another reason these textbooks misinform so much is that it is easier than dealing with the cold hard facts. For instance, British history textbooks believe that the Kohinoor Diamond was ‘presented’ to Queen Victoria. We all know that it was outright taken from India rather than just being ‘presented to the Queen.’

We forget that we tend to forget that we bring our perspective to the table too. The second we open a book and start reading, our perspective is right there, accompanying us.

Whenever you read anything in history, keep a lookout for the following before you form an opinion:

• The core event or the subject of discussion- Take a few seconds and filter out the sentences which talk about the actual event rather than the author’s own opinions. Look at other written pieces on the same topics and find similarities between them.
• The author and their perspective- Ask questions like- who is the author? Were they biased or impartial? Are they credible sources of information? What significant events shaped their attitudes? No matter how passionately a historian has expressed their opinion, developing the analytical skills to differentiate between fact and opinion is vital.
• The methodology of the author- Were they an intellectual historian or a political one?
• The source used by the author- Find out if the author has relied on original documents or other historians’ works. You can do this by looking at the sources in the preface or introduction. Some may provide a bibliography, if not footnotes or endnotes.

History is not about reporting ‘facts.’ The purpose of history is not to say who was right or wrong; instead, it is to learn from our past mistakes and to improve upon them in the future. Yes, we do learn and gain wisdom from reading only a single account of a historical event. But, from looking at it through multiple perspectives, we are reminded that not all may be as it seems and that it’s worth hearing the other side of the story before we jump to conclusions or form a judgment.

So, the next time you hear or read something, take it with a grain of salt; remember that there’s more than just one side to a story.

Sources & Further Reading:

1) The Da Vinci Code: Important Quotes Explained.

2) A Discussion — Facebook is Good or Bad?

3)Napoleon — Famous Quotes.

History — A Matter of Perspective was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Football has the most infamous fanbase amongst any other sport. They’ve been known to be extremely violent and aggressive towards players and fanbases of other clubs. However, this stereotype was proven to be untrue when fans from rival clubs across three different countries came together to protest against an idea that would attack the very roots of European football.

On April 18, the “Dirty Dozen,” a group of 12 of Europe’s largest, most influential, and financially strong clubs, announced their intention to break away from the current UEFA competition structure and form their own Super League. This project would later show how little fans respect the owners of their beloved clubs. The Super League decided to ensure that 15 clubs were guaranteed a place in the 20-team competition every season, regardless of their on-field results. This decision wasn’t made by the players, the coaches, or even the fans but by the billionaire owners of these clubs looking to fill their pockets. The latest project’s clubs — three from Italy, three from Spain, and six from England — have been roundly chastised.

This league would have been spearheaded by Florentino Perez(president of real Madrid), Andrea Agnelli(president of Juventus)

Perez stated during the ESL announcement: “Real Madrid’s Florentino Pérez ‘wants to save football’ with Super League.”In theory, the idea of the best teams in Europe playing against each other every week sounds like something revolutionary. Any sport is made interesting when the best go against each other. But the real motive behind Perez and Agnelli organizing this breakaway league was purely monetary. The Superleague would guarantee the founding clubs anywhere between 130 to 200 million euros every season, and these funds would go a long way in helping these clubs get back to their feet.

Having a tournament with only a set number of clubs without any risk of losing their position would take away any competitive spirit that remained in these power-hungry giants. Every year across Europe, when the football season begins, fans of smaller-sized clubs dream of playing against the biggest clubs in Europe, and sometimes they even win. Critics of the ESL felt that every neutral supporter who loves to see the underdog story, which would become a thing of fiction, would not like this new development. The football pyramid that took decades to build in these countries involved would be at stake. Every year clubs participate in their respective league, and the best performing teams move up to a more rewarding league, and those who don’t are relegated to a lower league. This way, football teams are forced to remain competitive, and everyone gets a chance to create opportunities for themselves. Money does not play a factor in the current scenario, but the way ESL guarantees a position to these 15 richest teams almost seems like it creates a safe bubble for these elite clubs who have nothing to lose in this competition.

To sum it up, the criticism received by the super league was because it created a greedy elitist atmosphere in a sport that working-class people popularized. Billionaires were trying to convert a sport into a business that lacked the essence of competition.

Even after such an idea was put forward and accepted by a few of the world’s biggest teams, there were a few football clubs that condemned this league. German clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund felt that the current structure where teams compete for a position is what sporting competition is all about and rejected the ESL without a second thought. Even the president of UEFA had strong words to say. Aleksander Ceferin accused the top six clubs of England of being greedy, arrogant, and even ignorant of English football culture.ESL players will be BANNED from World Cup | UEFA’s Aleksander Ceferin reacts to Super League plans

While criticism from former footballers and important figures didn’t change the viewpoint of any of the participating clubs in the ESL, even the prime minister of England, Boris Johnson, spoke about this issue in the parliament but like the people of the United Kindom usually don’t, the super league owners also did not pay any attention to him.

It required the fans of these clubs to take charge and bring their owners to their knees. As soon as the announcement was made, millions of fans took to social media to voice their opinions. Within 48 hours of the super league project being unraveled, a reminder was given to football’s power brokers that supporters should never be bypassed like this again. Thousands marched on the streets to have their voices heard by the club owners who approved of this project.

The immense pressure that the fans put on their club owners forced them to withdraw from the super league. At first, it was the six English clubs, and within some time, the Italian and Spanish teams followed.

Even after this disaster of a project, Florentino Perez continues to believe that the ESL will save football and add the missing spark that had been lacking in competitive football.

After this fiasco ended, many questions started arising.” To what extent are these club owners willing to go so that they can earn more money? Is football being taken over by greed and power?” Such thoughts persisted in the minds of fans long after the ESL fell to bits. Many fans are demanding a change in ownership of their clubs, with Manchester United and Arsenal fans being the loudest. Still, even a change in ownership may not change the mindset of rich businessmen who invest in these clubs, hoping to profit.

Football is one of the only sport in the world in which the opinion of the general public matters; fans get to decide what happens with their beloved teams. However, with more projects like the European Super League being predicted in the future and people like Florentino Perez still being extremely influential, it becomes hard to predict if true fan ownership will continue. Football lovers are worried that greed and the lack of respect for the emotion involved in the game will one day change the beautiful game, but until then, football stands strong.

The most popular sport on the planet will continue to be the way that it is, competitive and inclusive.

Sources:

• The European Super League was three years in making. It took 48 hours to unravel
• European Super League announcement sends shockwaves through global soccer
• European Super League: All six Premier League teams withdraw from the competition

ESL: Breaking down the breakaway league was originally published in Blank 101 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.