Failasuf Chi-Town

As Malaysian dissidents gear up for this demonstration,

meanwhile I’m planning to attend this one instead. It has nothing to do with me specifically, but I haven’t attended any demonstrations for quite a while now. Last time I took to the streets was during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. And here’s my proof.

Fenomena melaungkan tajdid mengembalikan amalan kepada tafsiran literal Qur’an dan Sunnah ini bukan perkara baru. Lihat sahaja sejarah Eropah ketika zaman Reformation. Zaman ini penuh huru-hara, pecah-belah dan pertumpahan darah. Peristiwa inilah yang menjadi titik tolak kepada falsafah sekularisme dan pemulauan institusi keagamaan Kristian di benua tersebut. Dalam penilaian saya, konsep dan kerangka pemikiran puak Reformation ini tidak banyak bezanya dengan golongan yang melaungkan tajdid kembali kepada Quran dan Sunnah yang kita lihat hari ini. Beza sebab Reformation untuk Kristian, dan Tajdid untuk orang Islam. Itu saja.

Tak percaya? Mari kita lihat apa kata sejarawan akan tajdid penggerak utama Reformation – Luther, Zwingli dan Calvin:

Martin Luther

He divided Christianity into two separate churches and that second division, Protestantism, would divide over the next four centuries into a near infinity of separate churches; [...] finally, Luther (and all the other reformers) saw themselves as returning Christianity to its roots, they believed that they were setting the clock back; in reality, their ideas irreparably changed the world and pushed it kicking and screaming, not into some ideal past, but into the modern era.

Ulrich Zwingli

Zwingli’s theology and morality were based on a single principle: if the Old or New Testament did not say something explicitly and literally, then no Christian should believe or practice it. This was the basis of his critique of indulgences. In 1522, for instance, Zwingli mounted a protest against the fast at Lent, a standard Catholic practice. His argument: the New Testament says absolutely nothing about fasting at Lent so the practice is inherently unchristian.

John Calvin

The core of Calvinism is the Zwinglian insistence on the literal reading of Christian scriptures. Anything not contained explicitly and literally in these scriptures was to be rejected; on the other hand, anything that was contained explicitly and literally in these scriptures was to be followed unwaveringly. It is the latter point that Calvin developed beyond Zwingli’s model; not only should all religious belief be founded on the literal reading of Scriptures, but church organization, political organization, and society itself should be founded on this literal reading.

Tak percaya jugak? Baca lagi di sini

Pada hemat saya, kemasukan falsafah tajdid lapuk ini ke dalam masyarakat Islam adalah perkembangan yang tidak sihat. Melainkan jika anda inginkan sekularisasi dan peminggiran insitusi ulama’.

Apa bezanya tajdid lapuk ini dengan tajdid yang segar? Baca sini

My sister was kind enough to pass on her old Sony Cybershot to me when I touched American soil about 2 years ago. It was a decent camera to be fair. I didnt have much expectations given that it was my first time ever owning a digital camera. But taking it with me to Fes for a week the past summer demonstrated its glaring shortcomings and how much I could do with a more up-to-date camera.

The Sony took some cool shots and has been a worthwhile companion all my two years in America. I loved it’s video recording capabilities, and it’s all that really mattered. I even recorded the whole Native Deen performance at MSACZ last year with it. Apart from it’s bulkiness and lack of optical zoom, it was a perfect gadget for my crafty exploits, which includes taking a

It was all about the Sony’s fast-startup time, silent operation, video compression capabilities and non-protruding lense that allowed me to make those maneuvres. But above all, it was due to the fact it was an old camera that I got for free and therefore I couldn’t care much less if it got damaged.

But I believe I’m missing out on too much if I continue with that old workhorse. It’s poor low-light pictures, high noise level and bulky size was enough for me to trash it. Well, more accurately, I plan to use it as a secondary camera now that I’ve purchased a more up-to-date camera, the Casio Exilim EX-V8.

It was an extremely difficult and time-consuming ordeal to choose between the gazillion excellent cameras in this increasingly competitive market, and in the end I went for the EX-V8 exclusively for reasons similar to what I had been using the old Sony for – the espionage factor (high optical zoom, small size, fast startup) and its video features (ex, 1.5 times file compression smaller than normal MPEG-4, with even a Youtube-optimized setting). I didn’t mind its sub-par picture quality though I really wished it could take better indoor pictures to complement all my other needs. Low-noise and accurate colors are only a priority if you need to print out large size pictures, and I’m definitely not that type.

The next best in the market is the Panasonic Lumix TZ3, which is about $30 cheaper with a whopping 10X Optical Zoom (15X Optical at 3MP) which is twice as much optical zoom as the Casio with far better picture quality. But I ruled it out immediately due to its unacceptable bulkiness. There were also various other much cheaper options, such as the top-selling Canon SD1000, and Casio’s own EX-Z1080 but I think it’s lack of features will prove costly as money can never buy back precious moments gone by. The financial fear was further allayed by the fact that I do have plenty to spend as of now thanks to JPA’s generous allowance increase.

So here I am, awaiting the arrival of my new digital camera from Amazon. Expect frequent Youtube and Flickr updates from me soon…