ANA CHI POLY
(Anagrams, China and Polygamy)
I always love anagrams, and recently I came across this hilarious, amusing one by Tony Crafter:
Apparently, one in five people in the world are Chinese. There are five people in my family, so it must be one of them. It's either my mother or father or it's my older brother Colin or it's my younger brother Ho Cha Song Sa Chu. But I think it's Colin.
=
Inferior logic. It obviously can't be my mom or my pop, for neither venture anywhere near the Chinese restaurant. Furthermore, my brother Colin (timid poof) likes pie 'n' chips. Ho politely doesn't say a thing. Therefore it has to be... Oh hell! It's me!
What a witty way to spot the population problem in China; and what a good laugh! Unfortunately, population problem in China is actually no laughing matter.
We all know how China struggles with it- and at what cost. Currently China is of the population of 1.3 billion, and the number could have increased by a quarter if not for the one-child-per-family rule. The birth of about 300 million babies -almost entirely female- has been prevented since the policy was first in effect in 1980. We are talking about 300 million female babies who were aborted selectively, or were born and then just left to die when the family favored a son. The price of curbing the runaway population growth has been very high, but if you think the "missing girls" were the only ones to pay it, think again. Eventually the boys must also pay their share.
By 2020, China will be flocked by some forty million men of marriageable age who will not find a wife, simply because the females who might marry them were never born. Over forty million unattached males wandering off the streets and crowding around pubs with nobody to come home to- utterly scary! More than mere social problem (pimps being encouraged), it's a recipe for riot. No sane gov't would find anything funny about it.
Yet here in Indonesia we are facing a different plight when it comes to marriage issues. Unlike China, Indonesia has a constant surplus of females, thus the main concern should be of these spouseless women with nobody to support them. Just when some renowned cleric decided that taking a second wife seemed like a good idea to help the situation, the polemics started like hell. The gov't is now considering widening the ban on polygamy for civil servants to cover all officials working for the state, amidst the pros and cons of everyone who suddenly thinks he/she has something to say over the matter.
Polygamy is beyond any doubt a complex practice. Muslim males cry for their religious rights to take up to four wives, yet here and there Muslim scholars point out the deficiencies of such -allegedly- misled thinking. Aspects other than religion are also concerned: social, cultural, ethical, financial, biological. Surprisingly, the object of this practice does not respond in unison. Some women shake their heads firmly in dignity, others literally welcome the idea. But let's put all prejudices aside; let's stick to the fact: Indonesia has a surplus of females. It is going to be a bit hard to get all these spare women married when the gov't legally opts against polygamy.
So on the one hand, China is going to crave brides, and on the other hand Indonesia is about to let millions of women spouseless.
What's the logical solution of these two situations?
Crystal-clearly simple- export brides to China. Keep the number of women in Indonesia only to fit the number of men. Count the advantages: Increase on Gross Domestic Product. Cultural expansion to the massive territory of China. A boost in bilateral relation as the two families will subsequently visit each other (not to mention the possibility of small scale joint enterprises to emerge between). Monetary gain as China's economy is soaring high. It's a polygamy-less, sparkling future.
We will also have a substantial improvement in how the male members of our society treat their counterparts. No more harassment. The end of any sort of subjugation. Domestic violence will be history. Imagine the girls boldly say, "Don't mess with me, boy. Or else I'll leave you for China". Because she could.
Tony Crafter would have to create a new anagram.
Note:
An anagram is a word play; the result of rearranging letters into some sort of parallel. Perhaps it's best to define anagrams anagramically: "Anagrams = Ars Magna" (Latin for Great Art).
Examples of short anagrams:
The eyes = they see
Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one
Internet addiction = Cannot end it. I tried.
Iraq oil + arms trade = Al-Qaida terrorism
The typical blonde-haired woman = On the whole, rated incapably dim.
Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow = Known pair declare: "Robbery!"
posted by eloque @ 6:25 PM
What Say You?: 4
