By Jagath Asoka –

DR. Jagath Asoka

Today, we are going to have fun, get to know each other, and play a game. This is our playground; if you want to play with me, keep on reading. Always, I like to play, both cerebral and corporeal games. My heaven is where I can play tennis; hell is where there is no tennis. All work and no play makes Jagath a dull boy. Before we play our game, I need to tell you why we are going to play this game. It is all about politics, stupid; you cannot escape it; even when you are alone in a cave, struggling to concentrate on your own breath, it is all about politics: your conscious mind against your unconscious. Only death will separate you from this scourge: politics.

Even though I abhor the methods, tactics, vision, white-van abductions, intimidations, collusions, thuggery, bribery, impunity, and nepotism of Mahinda Rajapaksa, I understand why some people think that Mahinda is a saint. Most Sri Lankans behave worse than barbarians when it comes to fighting for political power. Since independence, we have not had charismatic, sagacious visionaries like Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Churchill, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Mandela. There is no difference between the Sri Lankans who elect their politicians and the politicians that they elect. It is like picking an apple from a barrel of rotten apples. I was told that as far as thuggery is concerned, the way Madam Chadrika used thuggery makes Monsieur Mahinda look like Mother Theresa.

In all recent elections in Sri Lanka, some people think that Lankans are electing their devils; I mean, “They elect the devil they know than the devil they don’t know.” I totally disagree with them; I think in all recent elections, Sri Lankans had to choose between a crook who is a notorious thug and a crook who is also a thug, but not yet notorious; Sri Lankans always choose the crook who is a notorious thug because the crook who is also a thug, but not yet notorious, may turn out to be worse.

Right now, if Mahinda were to drop dead—relax, all of us are going to drop dead—because of some divine intervention or afflation, who is going to be our next president: Ranil, Sagith, Karu, Sarath Fonseka, a JVP member, a Tamil politician, a Muslim politician, Gotabaya, Basil, or Chamal?

Let’s play a game to find out what we really think of these characters who are leading us by misleading. I would like to use the Word Association Test developed by the famous psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung.

Jung used his Word Association Method to solve crimes, or to analyze the unconscious fears, desires, and phobias of his patients. Jung would use a set of carefully chosen words. For example—a simplified example would be—to find out whether a man has committed a murder, Jung would use words such as anger, door, knife, and stab. And he would ask his test subject to respond to each word with the first word that would come to his test subject’s mind. Then Jung would write down all the answers and measure the time that it took for each response. If it takes a longer time to come up with the response that means that particular word is troublesome. For example, let’s say that “Jim” and “Tanya” are my dear friends. And if you agree to play this Word Association test with me, let’s say that when I say “Jim,” you would say “idiot,” or when I say “Tanya,” you would say “bitch.” It is very easy for me figure out—I am not Dr. Carl Jung—what you think of my dear friends Jim and Tanya. Let’s continue with the test; when I say “Jim or Tanya,” if you would say “kill,” It would be obvious to me that you want to kill “Jim the idiot,” or “Tanya the bitch.” Even if you are brain-dead, it would be pretty obvious to you that any delay in your response would reveal that you have a complex, that you are trying to hide the bitter truth, and that you are unwilling to admit your crimes, desires, or mistakes.

Please take Jung’s Words Association Test that I modified (given below) and let me know your results. Please avoid profanity because the editors of this website are not going to publish profanity due to the laws, rules, etiquettes, protocols, and regulations of journalism. I personally think it is very unfair; I think we should let people express their feelings; after all they are just using words, not kicking me in the groin. As long as people do not attack each other with fists and clubs, words are always welcome, even profanity, which some people use as their nuclear option, or to display their asinine stupidity. I do not react to words as others do; so if you are using words or phrases such as “moron,” “faggot,” “Tamil terrorist,” and “idiot” or any other word or phrase to attack me, it is not going to work. These words such as “moron,” “faggot,” “Tamil terrorist,” and “idiot” that you use to attack me are the words that your own mind spontaneously generate to describe yourself. Since you cannot admit to yourself that you are a “moron” “faggot,” “Tamil terrorist,” or “idiot,” you reflect them on me. Remember what Mara did to the Buddha in his final assault; all Mara’s attacks turned into flowers; same thing is happening with your profanity, insults, and gibes when you use them to attack me. My home is full of perfumed flowers because of those who have been attacking me. Most of you have a very good sense of humor. Only a “Jim or Tanya” who is “soft in the head” would use slang and profanity; slang/profanity and humor are like darkness and light. Your diction—your choice of words—would tell me whether you are “Max,” “Jim,”  “Tanya,” “Dude,” or “Silva.” Some of you know that we know each other—my dear childhood friends—and some of you think that I do not know you. So, learn some new words and rules of grammar to improve your vocabulary, diction, and syntax. If you have trouble learning, please let me know, and I will help you over Skype; I have been tutoring people using Skype. First, when you read my articles, make sure that you not only understand the meaning of each and every word, syntax, and the ideas conveyed by each sentence before you display your sophistication, erudition, education, or asinine stupidity.  I do not know about you, but writing and reading is my bliss; writing and reading is where time is not; writing and reading is my cerebral playground. I am an educator, not a politician; before I became a medical/technical writer in 2001, I taught chemistry and science at eleven universities for 17 years. Now, I write, and writing has not supplanted teaching; writing is an extension of my teaching career.

As I am writing this article, I am going to take Jung’s Word Association Test with the following words: Ranil, Sagith, Karu, Sarath Fonseka, JVP President, Tamil President, Muslim President, Gotabaya, Basil, and Chamal.  I am going to write down the first word that comes to my mind. If my response is not instantaneous, I will notify “Delayed Response.” First, I will give the word and then my response separated by a colon, and within parenthesis, separated by a semi-colon, I would notify “Spontaneous” or “Delayed Response.”   If I cannot write my first response, I will let you know.

• Ranil: I cannot write my first response because the editors of this website would not publish it; (my response was spontaneous).
• Sajith: verbose; (spontaneous).
• Karu: Jumper; (spontaneous).
• Sarath Fonseka: unpredictable; (spontaneous).
• JVP President: Pol Pot (spontaneous).
• Tamil President: Never (spontaneous).
• Muslim President: Never, Never (spontaneous). Sorry, I violated the rules of the game; I am supposed to give only the first word that comes to my mind, but my response was faster than light.
• Gotabaya: White-vans (spontaneous).
• Basil: Mr. 10% percent (spontaneous). I am sorry, again, I violated the rules of the game; however, my response was faster than light.
• Chamal: misogynist (spontaneous).  

Well, all my responses were all spontaneous; that means I am very honest with my responses. Please let me know the results of your test with the same set of words. I always enjoy reading your comments, and I think most of you have a very good sense of humor. Those who are vituperative have not yet realized that they, too, have a sense of humor.

Please, I beg all of you, please be brief, and do not digress. Some responses remind me of the Sinhala phrase “Koheda yanne? Malle Pol.” Remember Julius Caesar’s words: I came, I saw, I conquered (“Veni, vidi, vici”): my favorite asyndeton.

I love this time of the year, here in the USA. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year celebrations, all within five weeks. Happy Thanks giving to all of my friends here in the USA; to all of you who read my articles: Enjoy, take it easy, and try to smile when I make you really angryJ.

P.S. From now on, including this article, my ten-year-old son is my typist; I dictate these articles to him. He is my typist-cum-editor; the best that I have ever know and will ever know.

If you are going to email me, email articles that you have written about Jesus, Buddha, Mahinda, or Satan, and I will read your original articles written by you. Please don’t send other peoples’ articles. It is like asking me to eat your left-over-food.