{"id":295554,"date":"2024-09-26T05:54:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T05:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=295554"},"modified":"2024-09-28T05:27:06","modified_gmt":"2024-09-28T05:27:06","slug":"down-with-image-tyranny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=295554","title":{"rendered":"Down With Image Tyranny!"},"content":{"rendered":"

[South Korean Lee Moon-sae (b. 1959) and Dawn (b. 1994)]<\/p>\n

Linh Dinh \u2013 Substack.com Sept 14, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

At 4:30AM, there are ten customers at the caf\u00e9 on General Uprising, all men. Testicular humyns hang out at bars and caf\u00e9s to escape home. Some drive long distance trucks or get killed in distant, voluntary wars for the same reason. Except for the pain, which may last months or even years, it\u2019s arguably worth it. Oil rig workers may only get one week out of eight at home. This male need to stray from wife and kids dates back to our hunting pack days, undoubtedly.<\/p>\n

Among the predawn regulars, there\u2019s a Vietnamese American who\u2019s around 80. I\u2019ve never talked to him. My regular seat is front and center, just inside the entrance. His is not in my sightline. The guy rarely says anything anyway. Silent, he still feels that need to be among others. When a dog walked by, he swatted at its tail. Who knows what diseases, including mental, he\u2019s breeding.<\/p>\n

It was in Philadelphia that solitary confinement became a progressive innovation. Isolated, prisoners could contemplate their sins and chat with God often. Visiting Eastern Penitentiary in 1842, Dickens immediately realized its inmates had gone mad.<\/p>\n

At 5AM, Tank Top and his son are here. Sitting right behind me, that fat kid with a vapid face is rat tat tat tating away, as usual. His only pleasure is to mow down virtual enemies. Just five-years-old, he\u2019s insane. Hearing a loud gecko, he asked his dad, \u201cWhat is that?\u201d So many kids see and hear almost nothing that\u2019s not coming from a screen.<\/p>\n

Sitting to my right, Pale Face<\/a> is mumbling more nonsense. Tank Top is ranting about the outrageous costs of international schools, \u201cThat\u2019s only for the rich. They\u2019re preparing their kids for a life overseas. That\u2019s way out of my reach.\u201d He and his son won\u2019t ever leave Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Oh, the magical West! Tank Top once blurted about a California based singer, \u201cGone overseas, she\u2019s changed her flesh, swapped her skin!\u201d Thay th\u1ecbt \u0111\u1ed5i da is the expression.<\/p>\n

Glancing every so often at the TV screen, Tank Top would swoon over yet another singer. Yesterday, it was the Saigon based Ng\u1ecdc Di\u1ec7u:<\/p>\n

Just look at that! If you\u2019re married to her, you will just stay up all night to stare at her! You just can\u2019t sleep, can\u2019t sleep. If you sleep, another man might just steal her! Or she\u2019ll tiptoe out to see another guy. Ha, ha, ha, ha!<\/p>\n

As he stared in awe at another songstress, I said, \u201cShe\u2019ll wilt soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019ll never wilt! You walk everywhere, uncle, so you\u2019re wilting! They fly around on airplanes. They\u2019ll never wilt!\u201d<\/p>\n

Tank Top is mostly focused on these singers\u2019 looks. Everyone is mesmerized by images. Remember that two-year-old Syrian boy lying face down, dead, on a Turkish beach? Alan Kurdi\u2019s demise became a symbol of Western cruelty in turning away any immigrant. Ignored was the Western role in generating millions of refugees from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Libya, etc. All those many thousands of children murdered right now in Gaza are not represented by a single photo. We\u2019re fed selected images, blocked from others and manipulated by all. Since words are better at conveying the entire story, they\u2019re degraded or turned into white noise. Few can focus on even two sentences in a row, much less an entire book.<\/p>\n

Recently, I wrote<\/a>, \u201cRelaxing, I stared at Petrol House, S\u1ef9 Ho\u00e0ng Optician and Sambal, the last an Indonesian restaurant I\u2019ve so far shunned. Mirroring the West, S\u1ef9 Ho\u00e0ng\u2019s large sign features a white woman with a black man.\u201d<\/p>\n

A black reader, KEH, responded, \u201cDo you shun the Indonesian restaurant because its sign features a \u2018white woman with a black man\u2019?\u201d No, I explained, the sign is at the optician, where I bought a pair of glasses. Having eaten great Malay food in Malaysia and Indonesia, I shun it here. Too upset by his misreading, KEH canceled his paid subscription. We\u2019re well into postliteracy.<\/p>\n

Now at C\u00f3c C\u00f3c, I can see that sign right now. A great looking couple, they\u2019re not bad for selling glasses, but should writers be good looking? Of course, not. Andre Dworkin\u2019s Intercourse<\/em> is polemical poetry. She\u2019s lit. Singers, too, should be judged by their voice and soul. Janis Joplin rules.<\/p>\n

My concern for those deemed ugly is clearly altruistic. Born achingly handsome, I don\u2019t have the slightest idea what ugliness feels like. Is it like a stench emanating from all your pores causing even geckos and cockroaches to flinch in your presence? Even the word stench baffles me.<\/p>\n

The ugliest waitress at C\u00f3c C\u00f3c quit. All tatted up, she never smiled. It\u2019s quite possible her unhappiness caused her to look so ugly. Young, she fears being unloved, even falsely, forever.<\/p>\n

Our fixation on images prevents us from seeing ordinary beauty. There\u2019s nothing wrong with any plain face, unadorned. To various degrees, we\u2019re like Tank Top\u2019s pitiful son. Soon enough, he\u2019ll try to mask his ingrown ugliness with fashion and a sense of style.<\/p>\n

With C\u00f3c C\u00f3c closed for siesta, I\u2019m at my third caf\u00e9, B\u1ea1n Tr\u00e0 [Tea Friend]. Only my second time here, I\u2019m learning it\u2019s a teen hangout. Since the drinks are pricey, these kids are better dressed, though still goofy. With more protein and calcium, the teenaged barista is nearly a head taller than me. His hair is dyed slightly orange, and he has three ear piercings. Even after we had moved to the USA, my father kept cutting my hair. That wasn\u2019t cool.<\/p>\n

Compared to the First World, Southeast Asia is less pretentious, thus more natural. Though the burden of looking cool, tough or sexy is creeping in, most people haven\u2019t gotten the hang of this. Kids, especially, are just kids. Appearing suddenly at a kindergarten window this morning, I was greeted by a joyful barrage of \u201cCon ch\u00e0o \u00f4ng!\u201d Basically, \u201cHello, grandpa!\u201d<\/p>\n

Down, then, with this relentless emphasis on appearance! Without makeup, Amish women are most beautiful, and their children angelic. In Harrisburg, I watched in awe as an Amish teenager made me a turkey sandwich. Such serenity or beauty was so rare.<\/p>\n

Almost daily, we read about feral American teens attacking some helpless person. So narcissistic and stupid, some even upload evidence of their crime. Since the pettiest fame is the only meaning they have left, they resort to pranks and unprovoked violence. Selfies get old quick.<\/p>\n

After four black coffees, I just had an epiphany! I haven\u2019t been canceled for going on about Albert Bourla or Rochelle Wallensky, but for being, well, not as photogenic as Nguyen Qui Duc, Phong Bui or l\u00ea thi diem th\u00fay! What\u2019s up with the lower case, Th\u00fay? As for Tyga, he\u2019s in a league by himself.<\/p>\n

A boy just walked in with a black and white striped outfit that accentuates his slimness. He\u2019s carrying a male purse that looks just like a vintage radio. Dangling silvery earrings frame his unsmiling, porcelain like face, so delicate. Even alone, he\u2019s afraid to fart, I\u2019m sure. \u201cGolden Orchid\u201d it says on his back.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

[Nguyen Qui Duc in Tam \u0110\u1ea3o, as published in his New York Times<\/em> obituary on 12\/6\/23]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

[Phong Bui, editor of the Brooklyn Rail, <\/em>as published in the New York Times <\/em>on 11\/1\/15]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

[l\u00ea thi diem th\u00fay, as photographed by Random House]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

[half-Vietnamese rapper, Tyga]<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Postcards from the End is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re fed selected images, blocked from others and manipulated by all. Since words are better at conveying the entire story, they\u2019re degraded or turned into white noise. Few can focus on even two sentences in a row, much less an entire book. Linh Dinh explains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":295555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=295554"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295563,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295554\/revisions\/295563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/295555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=295554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=295554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=295554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}