THERE’S an old Yiddish proverb that goes something like “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans”. Nothing hits the truth of this saying – which I’m sure also exists in other cultures with similar truthful gusto if they believe in God – than in describing the world we live in now amid the pandemic.

In education, the simplistic (and false) binary of theory and practical subjects is a good starting point for what I want to unload off my chest in this piece: aren’t beliefs the most obvious and glaring theory we all hold onto as if it’s some tangible, peer-reviewed, and empirical evidence?

Yet beliefs – and its sibling, superstition – continue to rule not only people but also opinions and grand narratives about the world and ourselves that ultimately at the end of the day, we are only barely scraping the surface of understanding. 

While a lot of the noise online and in the media recently have been about religion and politics – more specifically Islam and Anwar Ibrahim (enough already lah!) – I can’t help but see the bigger picture of the farce unfolding in front and all around us in plain sight: stupidity and ignorance winning.

I relish using the Yiddish quote above because I’m sure some who read this little insignificant column of mine might opine “Isn’t he Malay and Muslim? Why doesn’t he quote the Quran or a phrase from the Hadith?” 

Well, the answer is – I’ll quote whomever I want to. Plus, it’s fabulous, on point and concise. Shut up and go eat your pisang goreng (or goreng pisang, if that’s what you believe it should be called) and go watch your Astro or whatever. 

I’m not a non-believer nor an atheist, just in case you are curious. I consider myself a believer but one that considers all ideas that are then filtered through that wonderful thing sorely missing in the cranium of most Malaysians: logic. 

My problem is not with the beliefs itself – they are neutral and are there for the picking – but how people act on beliefs and justify their actions, which infringe upon the beliefs of others. 

If you’ve been a Malaysian most of your life, you would probably have found yourself in a position where you are the sole representative of your ethnicity or religion and suddenly the spokesman for the entire collective over a lunch or dinner conversation. 

I relish this opportunity because some questions that might fly my way include “Azmyl, why are Malays…?” or “How do Malays usually…?” I tend to answer, “Who cares? We’re all human when you take away all of these worldly and man-made trivialities” and usually the conversations take a swift turn into some new television show. Good grief.

We don’t represent anyone except ourselves. Next would be your immediate family. After that you can say whatever you want. As the legendary British rock band The Verve once said “You come in on your own, you leave on your own” in their song On Your Own.

This is the power and also danger of popular culture. It’s a meat market for any ideas or beliefs to proliferate and public figures (or at least a public face for a particular idea) have become commonplace in our commercially ridden world.

It’s inescapable. Just take a look outside if you don’t believe me: the faces and advertisements on billboards, pop-ups on your favourite news website, those annoying ads you press “skip” on YouTube, and now, even in your supposedly private property that is your so-called smartphone (a Shopee ad appeared when I browsing through my document download folder, what’s the world coming to?). 

While our phones have become smarter, we’ve become dumber. With every new iPhone or whatever launched, I see the slow but certain degradation of the human intellect.

The age of the Terminator is coming slowly and surely but the only difference is the robot doesn’t look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s an app with a cute looking colourful icon. 

That makes sense because a con man can’t look like a tattooed biker if they wanna lay down their con – they need to look as presentable as a future in-law you’d bring to see your mother.  

Similarly, ideas and beliefs work on this premise and tactics. Let’s reflect: who are we really as a person without our learnt and inherited ideas and beliefs? Mere animals?

Well, sometimes the truth is always hard to swallow. We’re all on our own now.

Amin. – August 5, 2022.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.