Celtic VS Rangers: Rooted in Sectarianism

                         I've written something similar to this a few months ago when I highlighted perhaps one of the fiercest rivalries in world football, which is the Argentinian superclassico derby between Boca Juniors and River Plate, both hailing from the capital city of Buenos Aires. Both fanbases represent two different population segments, with Boca fans are mostly working class who are proud of their Italian ancestry, whilst River Plate pride themselves as the club for the upper class. This, added with the undying Argentinian passion for football, makes this rivalry as one of the most exciting football games ever played. It shows that some clubs within a city are closely associated with one segment of the population, and some of them are proud of it.

 

                  From Buenos Aires, let's hop on the British Isles, more specifically to Glasgow, Scotland. From this city. two teams call this place home, which is Celtics and Rangers. Looking at these two teams, we instantly get the differing vibes. Hell, we can even trace one club's roots as far as when the Irish had to flee the potato famine. Glasgow Celtics, in this case is the club in question, proudly traced their roots to the Irish immigrants settling in Scotland. The club was founded in 1887 by an Irish Marist known as Brother Walfrid, with a purpose of alleviating poverty on the East End of Glasgow by doing a fundraiser for his charity, The Poor Children's Dining Table. The club was named "Celtics", but pronounced with an "S", nicknamed as "The Bhoys" using the Irish spelling and was intended to reflect the club's Irish and Scottish roots. Their club colors are green and white, their home shirt features the two colors in horizontal hoops and plays their home games at Celtic Park.

 

                  The Glasgow Rangers, meanwhile, are the original Scottish-based club formed much earlier than their Irish-clad counterparts, being founded in 1872 by four founders, brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath, all four of them were students at the West End Academy as a means to keep themselves fit during the winter months. Being the older club of the two, the Rangers played Celtics for the first time just barely a year after the latter's formation. They are known for their popularity amongst the working class of Scotland and was nicknamed "The People's Club". Rangers wears blue, white and red as their club colors, with their home kit features the combination of blue shirt, white shorts and red socks. They were stadium-hopping during 1872 to 1897, but since then, settled in Ibrox Stadium as their home base. 

 

                  Collectively, the two Glasgow clubs are referred as the Old Firm after a satirical comic strip that described them as "two old, firm friends", and whenever the two teams play each other during the Scottish Premiership or other competitions, the game is usually dubbed as either The Old Firm Derby or the Glasgow Derby. To date, in 443 games played in all domestic competitions, Celtics hold a slim advantage over Rangers with 170 wins to 169, with 104 draws between them. Celtic also had 1 more domestic trophy than Rangers, with 118 to 117, but Rangers have more Scottish Premiership titles (55 to 54), and Scottish League Cup titles (28 to 22). But Celtic has more Scottish Cup titles (42 to 34). Both teams also won one European Title, with the Rangers won the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners' cup in 1972, whereas Celtic secured their first and so far, the only UEFA Champions League title way earlier in 1967. While River Plate being the only club in the Buenos Aires rivalry who were relegated, Rangers suffered a more brutal fate, by being dumped to the Fourth Division (Scottish League Two) after the club went to administration and almost went bankrupt in 2012. Since then, they won one Scottish League Two title in 2012-2013 Season, one Scottish League One title in 2013-2014 season, and the Scottish Championship in 2015-2016 Season. During that time, Celtics steamrolled the Scottish Premiership 9 times, only to be stopped by Rangers in the 2020-21 season.

 

                  Here is why the rivalry is not only intense, but also dangerous: Sectarianism. It is well known in the Glasgow area that the city itself is practically divided between two sets of fans. Celtics fans mostly come from Ireland and have some form of Irish descent. The Celtics fans are mostly identified as someone with Irish ties and a proud Catholic, owing to the fact that Catholicism is the main religion of Ireland, whereas Rangers drew most of their roots in Britain Scotland, and often adhere to the Protestant branch of Christianity. There was an unwritten rule which is since debunked, that Rangers won't sign a player if they somehow found out that the player is a Catholic. This practiced ended when then-Rangers manager Graeme Souness signed a protestant player, provoking the ire of the fans.  In contrast, while most employees have more Catholic-oriented mindset, Celtics never impose similar restriction, actually signed more Protestant players. 

 

                  Sometimes, it goes way deeper than that. Rangers fans are known to be right-leaning conservatives with a more Loyalist ideology, favoring the administration of Northen Ireland to the United Kingdom and a staunch supporter of the royal family, while Celtics fans are mostly left-wing socialist with a Republican ideology, favoring a unification of the entire Ireland under the Irish Republic. Historically, the two clubs came from a drastically different areas, with the Rangers fans are historically native Scots and Ulster Scots from the historic Ulster Province (Now Northern Ireland), and Celtics fans who are obviously Irish Scots by virtue of the Irish immigration. This is shown whenever the old Firm is scheduled to be played, with Rangers fans tend to wave the Union Jack flag, and the Celtics who responded with the Irish tricolour. One section of the Celtic fanbase, dubbed "The Green Army" are often seen waving Palestinian flags and openly express their support for Palestine, especially during the genocide. The reason for the support is that they can relate to the struggles of the Palestinian people to the time of the British Occupation of Ireland and the Irish war. The Rangers, meanwhile, showed support to the zionists instead.

 

                  And what's a rivalry without a share of riots every now and then? There are some cases of stadium riots in the history of Old Firm, but one in particular stood out as the "most infamous case of disorder" as described by BBC news in 2011. The site was Hampden Park, it was the Scottish Cup final on 10 May 1980. At the time, more than 70.000 fans from both teams attended the match, which ended 1-0 in favor of the Celtics after a lone extra time goal by George McCluskey. After the match, while the Celtics celebrated the victory, one Celtic fan ran to the Ranger side, and kicked the ball to their direction, triggering a massive brawl involving few objects like bricks, bottles and cans. It is also important to note that at this point, both sets of fans were extremely intoxicated due to alcohol consumption. The police were unable to contain the situation. Hell, even football commentator Archie MacPherson described the riot as something straight out of Apocalypse Now. He even compared the fights to the battle of Passchendaele from World War 1. As a result, both clubs were slapped with 20.000 Pound fines and 200 arrests. This too was the trigger for the passing of a measure that bans the sale of alcoholic beverages inside Scottish sports grounds. It was partially lifted to allow sales within rugby union matches. Nowadays, the alcohol sales and consumption are restricted to the hospitality area with no direct sight of the pitch. 

 

                  The Old Firm Derby isn't just one of the oldest football rivalries ever existed, but also one of the messiest due to the fact that Scottish sectarianism is pretty visible during its lifetime. From ties to the Irish resistance to religious ties, Celtics VS Rangers always lived up to the hype, often times to the limits of human decency and often pushing it to the maximum. Nowadays, both the Rangers and the Celtics are launching joint initiatives to combat sectarianism, but the legacy of the Old Firm will still remain as one of the most hostile derbies in world football.

From Rehabilitation to The Biggest Multi Sport Event Ever: The Story of the Paralympic Games

                  If you were asked, "what is the biggest multi-sport event in the world?", most of you would straight-up answer what we've all been thinking: The Olympic Games, the biggest athletic spectacle featuring the best athletes in each corresponding sports, from aquatics, track and field, football, basketball, cycling, combat sports like boxing, wrestling and judo, these athletes dreamt of representing their respective countries at this event. Held every two years alternating between the summer and winter games (between every summer and winter games, each event is held four years apart), the Olympics is considered as the creme de la creme of the sporting world. The downside is, there are not many disabled athletes competing at these events, that's because they already have their own games, the Paralympic Games. Supposedly a portmanteau of the word "paraplegic" and "Olympics", the Paralympic Games celebrates the pinnacle of sports for athletes with varying degrees of disabilities. This year, the Summer Paralympic Games open its doors in Paris 2024, three years after the last games in Tokyo, which was suspended 1 year due to the pandemic, and as per the tradition, is held mere weeks after The Olympic Games closed.  

                  The history of the Paralympic Games itself can be traced back to the Games of the XIV Olympiad in London, 1948. At the time, there are some athletic events organized specifically for those with spinal cord injuries at the very day of the opening of the games, hosted at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and organized by Ludwig Guttmann, a German-Jewish doctor who worked at the hospital as a means of rehabilitation for the soldiers being treated at the facility. Although it's the first international games with disabled athletes ever organized, it wasn't the first Paralympic Games. That distinction instead went to Rome, Italy, coincided with the 1960 Summer Olympic Games. The next events after Rome 1960 until 1984, save from Tokyo 1964 were held in a different location from their Olympic counterparts. The same also occurred with the winter Paralympic Games from their inception in 1976 and continued until 1988. The first times these games were held in the same exact location as the Olympic games were in Seoul 1988 and Tignes-Albertville 1992. And since then, thanks to the joint cooperation between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Olympic and Paralympic Games, both summer and winter are held in the same location with a time window of usually two weeks between each event. The first games were intended only for wheelchair user and those with spinal cord injuries. Nowadays, any disabilities, ranging from physical, visual or intellectual disability are eligible to enter the games.

 

                  Speaking of disabled athletes, the Paralympic Games have a certain system imposed in each sport depending on the athlete's degree of impairment and limitation of competing in their corresponding sports. There are several types of impairment, like loss of limb due to amputation or birth defects, loss of muscle power in the lower limbs that necessitate the use of wheelchairs, visual impairments, intellectual disabilities, coordination impairments as a result of several neurological condition and short-statured athletes (dwarfism). Some sports were adapted using these classification systems. For example, in athletics, a Paralympic sprinter competing in the T11 and T12 classes are athletes with severe and moderate-to-severe visual impairments and required to compete with a sighted guide while wearing a blindfold mask, while T13 sprinters are the least-impaired athletes visually, usually with partial blindness. Other classes include T51 to T54 for wheelchair racing and T61 to T64 for athletes with lower limb prosthetics. Using this classification, higher number indicates less severe impairment. 

 

                  Other sports are also adapted for wheelchair users, like badminton, tennis, basketball, and rugby. Other sports can be performed in a sitting position, like volleyball. Cycling events are adapted to athletes with either physical, visual or coordination impairments, with hand bikes, specifically modified bicycles and tandem bikes with sighted pilot (for visual impairments) commonly used to compete. Some sports are adapted for visual impairments only. Blind football, judo and goalball (a Paralympics-exclusive sport) are the only sports with this distinction. Specifically for blind football, there are 5 players, four visually impaired outfield players and one sighted goalkeeper that would double as a guide in the defensive area, along with the coach in the midfield and an offensive guide stationed in the back of the opponent's goal. Goalball almost took the same principles, but with only three players, all with visual impairments, goals with the size of the field of play and no guides. Both sports use a special ball with bells placed inside it, so the players could locate the ball using their ears. Others are adapted to suit those who has lower limb impairments. If the Olympics have weightlifting, the Paralympic Games has Powerlifting, which is adapted by requiring the athletes to perform a single lift of the weight in a chest bench press position. Physical and visual impairments in swimming events are also allowed, but with an exception for prosthetic users, that being prosthesis is outlawed inside the pool itself.

 

                  As a result, there are some sports that would be exclusive to either the Olympic or the Paralympic Games. We are usually tuning in to the Olympic Gymnastics and the wrestling event, but somehow, these sports are not at the Paralympic games. Same as the aforementioned goalball and boccia, both are paralympic-exclusive sports. Unlike gymnastics that's not included in the paralympic program in the first place, wrestling was included during 1980 until 1984 summer games, all for visually impaired athletes. Since then, wrestling was never included in the program, including the Paris 2024 games. Some disciplines inside the program are omitted from the Paralympic games. In the aquatics discipline, there are no diving, synchronized swimming, water polo or marathon swimming. As for the paralympic games that has no Olympic counterpart, boccia is the most interesting one. Take it like curling, but replace the slippery ice with hardwood floors, curling stones with tiny balls, and are exclusive for athletes with wheelchairs with coordination and neurological impairments. The classifications are divided from BC1 to BC4. Again, higher numbers indicate the less severity of their impairments. And depending on their disability, boccia players may call for an assistant to adjust their chairs and/or the throwing position. Guides and assistants are also eligible for medal.

 

                  This could also extend to the winter sports program. Adapted sports included alpine skiing, biathlon and cross-country skiing, wheelchair curling, ice hockey using ice sledges and bisected hockey sticks instead of a wheelchair, and para snowboarding. Most of these events are timed events, with all events are mostly for physical impairments. There are no paralympic-exclusive sports in this program, while the Olympics have more sports in their program like bobsleigh, luge and skeleton racing, artistic events like figure skating and even some speed-based events like speed skating. 

 

                  But hear me out, whether if it's the Olympic or the Paralympic Games, there are no shortages of controversy and tragedies plaguing the games itself. With the classification system, there have been calls of inclusion involving athletes with Down syndrome. This is because most classification used in the games are for single impairment only, either physical or intellectual disability, whereas Down syndrome possesses both characteristics. This means that although some athletes can participate in the intellectual impairment class, they would be severely benefitted with their physical advantages. Doping is also a major problem at the games. Everybody reading this must be remembering the Russian doping scandal first revealed after the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. It turns out, not only the Olympians that were juiced up for the games, but the Paralympians as well. Those were huge, but the biggest controversy of them all occurred in Sydney 2000, where the Spanish men's Intellectual Disability Basketball team snatched the gold medal by the largest margins, prompting suspicions that not all members of the winning roster were intellectually disabled. The smoking gun emerged by the form of an investigative journalist Carlos Ribagolda, who went undercover to expose the cheating by revealing that most of his teammates were not medically tested for intellectual disabilities whatsoever, revealing all but two athletes of the winning squad who are actually able-bodied. For reference, in order for someone to be diagnosed with an intellectual disability, a person must have the IQ score of no more than 75. In the aftermath, Spain was stripped of the gold medals, and is still in the possession of the IPC to this day. All intellectual disability events were discontinued until 2008 games in Beijing, after a massive reform of the testing procedures.

 

                  The Paralympic Games is said to be that one exciting multi-sport event that often overshadowed by its Olympic counterpart, but still exciting nonetheless, as well as a medium to celebrating the determination and hardworking athletes to perform at their peak despite their disabilities. This year's Paralympic Games in Paris is set to be the first games back with spectators in the premises after the Tokyo 2020 games that somehow manage to be staged in the midst of the pandemic. To close this piece, Bienvenue aux jeux Paralympiques de Paris 2024, and may the best athlete win.

Attention: You Are Not Allowed to Laugh in this Game Show!

 (Warning: Spoilers ahead. Please watch the shows first before opening this piece)

 

                  Comedy, that one thing that can arguably cure depression, albeit not really a well-suited measure. In this type of entertainment, hilarity is the name of the game. Every comedian has their specific comedy routine across many platforms, be it stand-ups, sketch comedy, situational comedy, improvisational comedy, hell, even dark comedy, comedy roasts and insults, toilet humor or even some filled with endless sexual innuendos. In short, comedy is a vast open land, and comedians are open and encouraged to explore it. Naturally, whenever a group of comedians gather around in one place, a burst explosion of laughter ensues. But what if for some twisted reason, that one natural response to something funny is not only frowned upon, but also outright banned? 

 

                  That is the one exact premise of this new, unorthodox comedy show that I recently found not that long ago, when the Indonesian version of this show aired on Amazon Prime Video last July. This show, titled LOL: Last One Laughing is like a comedy battle royale, where 10 comedians are locked up in a room at the same time and must survive the next 6 hours try to crack one another without getting cracked themselves with their comedic arsenal. The history of this show can be traced to one Japanese comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto, who did this experiment first in 2016 with his show Documental, putting 10 of the best Japanese comedians and pitted them against each other. Since then, the show's been adapted into several versions, with the first one being broadcasted in Mexico, followed by other versions in Italy, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Thailand, Spain, Norway, The Philippines, and more recently, Indonesia.

 

                  As like many other game shows, Last One Laughing also comes with its own set of rules. First of all, (obviously) you need 10 of the country's best and funniest comedians being strategically placed apart from each other in separate quarantines first, before being sent to the room that they will spend the next 6 hours in. Once all the comedians have entered the room, the host will inform them about the rules of the game. And honestly, there is only one rule: don't laugh, ever. During the next 6 hours comedians are free to strategize and target several people with their jokes, quips, even props in order to elicit a laughing response from their peers. There can also be outside interventions in the form of special guests or the eliminated contestants themselves who might be out for revenge. There are only two chances for each comedian to smile, smirk, cover their faces, and most importantly, laugh. And when they get caught, a punishment system similar to football (traditional football, the one the Americans like to call "soccer) is used, with the offending party being issued a yellow card, which means one more slip-up, then they will be seeing red (card), which means they are out of the game and must exit the room and join the host inside the control room. The only silver lining is that they are no longer forbidden to laugh as hard as they please. There is a plot twist though, comedians are expected to be actively involved to the game, which means passive play is also a violation.

 

                  And how can you spot someone laughing though? the room itself is rigged with roughly 30 to 60 cameras that can cover multiple angles, leaving absolutely zero blind spot for them to exploit. The cameras are being controlled by the show's camera staff, and the feed is presented to the host who oversees the proceedings inside a specially made control room. In addition, each comedian is assigned one off-camera spotter that will oversee their every movement, and a logger who keeps their movement records. This way, if that comedian cracks up, they will be the first to know. Combining this environment with these feral animals who are out for blood and hilarity, and that will result in insanity of comedic proportions. 

 

                  There are endless creative ways comedians did to elicit laughs from their competitors, and some of them can be outright outrageous. During the Australian version of this show, sexual innuendos and toilet humor dominated during the first 4 hours of the game, one of them even stripped down buck naked and proceeded to be drenched in soda inside an inflatable bathtub. In Canada, the English version of the show, hosted by Jay Baruchel, saw the improv genius Colin Mochrie, from Whose Line is It Anyway? fame won it all by improved his way into victory at the very last second. During the Indonesian version of the show, former singer-turned-comedic genius Andre Taulani is infamously dubbed "The Menacing Red Cap" due to his rapid-fire strategy of disrupting others' attempt of a joke with his own disruptive comedy style, often involving dramatic quips and one-liners. Some of the younger ones contributed their elimination to Andre's comedic timing, even one of them cracked with a "cursed salon" quip. Sadly though, he got eliminated during the final 3 phase. One other comedian, Denny Cagur once performed a skit involving a "dead father", which is both hilarious and insane, due to the fact that Indonesian funerals can be used as a base to a comedy skit of this caliber. In the end, he won it all after forcing Cak Lontong, another comedian in the final two to smile at his own gag. There is, however, few instances where inactivity can result in someone's winning chances instantly disappear, often times during the late stages of the game. Some of these instances happened in the Australian and Italian version. Both hosts, Rebel Wilson and Fedez repeatedly stopped the game to warn and expel those who are inactive during it. Some can even set their own downfall with their own gag, like what Marshel Widianto in the Indonesian show and Moonchild Sanelly from South Africa demonstrated in their respective runs. Both participants were the first to be axed, and both fell to their own gags.

 

                  After watching few versions of Last One Laughing, I wonder if the USA and the rest of the UK will ever get a version of this show, considering that the concept is heavily praised and widely adapted. If the ever be a US version of Last One Laughing, please let Steve Harvey host the damn show, I bet he can bring all those infectious laughter to the LOL landscape. As for the UK version, I'm hoping either Rowan Atkinson or Monty Python's John Cleese would host it. But one thing's for sure, Last One Laughing might be unorthodox, but the viewers can benefit from this new comedy show format, often at the expense of the comedians participating themselves. If you want to check these shows out, make sure you have an active Prime Video subscription.

From Arranged Marriage to Deteriorating Health: The Story of The Last Princess of Korea

(Warning: Mental illness and suicide references ahead)

                    Many of you fine people who read this have no idea of how many royal families and monarchs that have existed since the advent of human history. Nowadays you probably only known several European constitutional monarchy royals like The British Royal Family and King Charles III, The Dutch Royals with King Willem-Alexander as the current monarch, or even the still-ruling Japanese empire with Emperor Naruhito at the helm. Others might include the likes of those in the Middle East, few of them practice Absolute Monarchy like Saudi Arabia, or even our neighbors in Southeast Asia, like Malaysia with their unique rotating sultanate policy and Brunei. In short, this form of government has existed as long and as historic as the human civilization itself. I often thought what if Indonesia adopted this form of government, but given our national history and its turbulence, it seems very unlikely. But one can only hope, am I right? 

                  Now, there are several instances where a country changed their government model from a monarchy to a republic. One can look at the history of the French Republic, who attained their independence by the way of blood during the French revolution, often involving imprisonment of several member of the French royal family and subsequent execution by guillotine. The most famous story of those is the execution of King Louis XVI and his wife Queen Marie-Antoinette. Others, unfortunately ended via occupation by another country, like the Joseon Empire, which is the precursor of modern-day Korea. Once known as one of the great Empires in East Asia, the Korean Empire was occupied and annexed by the Japanese, effectively ending the Joseon Dynasty and setting up a series of events that lead to the Korean war and the subsequent separation of both Korean territories, one in the south with parliamentary republic system, and those of the north which operates with the communism and socialism ideology governed by a dynasty with a dead guy as eternal president (The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or North Korea is a necrocracy, which means a country that is governed by a dead man, Kim Il-sung as eternal president). 

 

                  The story of the former Joseon Empire is one big piece on itself, but I want to focus on one specific figure, who was known during her lifetime as the last princess of the Korean Empire, one who was exiled to Japan and finally returned to her homeland, which is now a republic. Princess Yi Deokhye was born on the 25th of May 1912 in Deoksu Palace in Keijo (modern-day Seoul), Korea during the Japanese Imperial times after the region was annexed by Japan two years prior. She was the daughter of Emperor Gojong of Joseon and Imperial Consort Boknyeong. There are some interesting facts about the royal princess. One of them was she was not formally considered as a royal princess by the Japanese just because her mother wasn't the Queen, but rather an imperial concubine to the emperor. This too, was obviously pointed out by her nickname, which was Deokhye-ongju (the royal staff refers to her as Ongju-nim), rather than Gongju (the latter title is given to the daughters of the queen, while the former was assigned to the daughter of the concubines). But in 1917, after his father persuaded the Then Governor-General of Korea Masatake Terauchi, she was finally recognized as the royal princess and was integrated to the royal family registry. 

 

                  Like those of the royal families in the past, arranged marriages between the royals were also common in Joseon, as the emperor once tried to set up a marriage between Deokhye-ongju with a court chamberlain's nephew, named Kim Jang-han in 1919, but went bust after the Japanese intervened, and barred Kim Hwang-jin, the chamberlain to enter the Deoksu Palace. It was also on this year that the emperor died suddenly, allegedly by poison from the Japanese. In 1925, Deokhye-ongju was sent to Japan with the pretense of continuing her studies (in reality, she was exiled), and known by the Japanese as Princess Tokue. She was known as that one student who was untalkative and struggled with exercising. She was allowed to return to Korea temporarily to attend her mother's funeral in 1929 but denied permission to wear proper clothing for the occasion. 

 

                  Princess Deokhye was also known for her battle with mental illness. This condition first manifested in spring 1930, during the period where she often forgot to eat and drink. Subsequent examination revealed that the princess had developed schizophrenia, partly due to her upbringing. Over time, her condition improved, but in 1933, her condition worsened, leading to many trips to various mental clinics. The condition was further exacerbated by the grief of losing her daughter, Masae (Korean name: Jeonghye) who was reported missing in 1956 and allegedly committed suicide due to the stress of her parents' divorce. Speaking of divorce, she once married to Count Takeyuki Sō of Tsushima, after being matched by Empress Consort Teimei, the wife of Emperor Yoshihito (Later Emperor Taishō). Their marriage lasted from 1930 until their divorce in 1955, and Masae was their only daughter. It was reported that the marriage was an unhappy one, and by the time she finally arrived and resided in Korea, Takeyuki attempted to visit his ex-wife, but was denied by her remaining relatives, fearing her worsening mental state if she contacted him. After the divorce, Takeyuki Sō then moved to Kashiwa and subsequently remarried to a woman named Yoshie Katsumura, fathering 3 more children. During this time, Deokhye-ongju spent most of her time in Japan.

 

                  Then, the monumental occasion came. After 38 years, the government of the Republic of Korea invited the princess to return to her homeland, after being discovered by Kim Jang-han, now a reporter inside a mental institution. Initially, South Korean authorities refused the return of the last royal blood, due to the president at the time, Lee Seung-man wanting to avoid political chaos. After some persuasion by Kim, Princess Deokhye finally stepped foot in her homeland after arriving at Kimpo International Airport in Seoul on the 26th of January 1967, and was greeted by few figures of her childhood, including her kindergarten classmate, her nurse, and her remaining family members. She was also able to restore her Korean citizenship, despite being born there, now as Yi Deok-hye. The princess spent her last years in-and-out of hospitals, and in 1983, she once admitted to Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital due to old age. And on the 21st of April 1989, Princess Yi Deokhye, the last royal princess of the Korean Empire passed away at the age of 76 at the Sugang Hall, Changdeok Palace in Seoul, and was laid to rest near her father and her half-brother in Hongryureung, Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.

 

                  The story of Princess Deokhye is nothing sort of a tragic one across any royal history. Once the princess of her homeland, she was exiled by the occupation government and was forced to an unhappy, arranged marriage to a Japanese count, developed a mental illness which had worsened over time. There are few literatures that can be used to study the princess, but the 2016 movie The Last Princess directed by Hur Jin-ho is by far the best way to help those who studied Korean history to examine the life of the princess, from her upbringing, her marriage, her mental struggles, all the way to her return and passing. Yes, her life might be a tragic one, but remember, she was a member of the Korean royal family, those who governed the region as Joseon, and her life is to be celebrated as the last ever princess of Korea who finally returned home after a lengthy exile.

The Dark Side of Professional Wrestling: The Tragedy of Chris Benoit

 (Warning: Reference of suicide ahead)

 

                  As I have iterated in the past piece related to the sport of Professional Wrestling, that this sport, in reality is part soap opera and part combat sports, although those who held wrestling championship titles treated as equally legitimate as other branches of combat sport like boxing and mixed martial arts. Although mostly scripted, pro wrestling can (and sometimes inevitably) cross over to the real life, even though in the old days the lines between kayfabe and real life is often enforced. It could also lead so some real consequences as a result of constantly putting bodies (and sometimes even lives) on the line for the sake of entertaining the fans (that's why former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) chairman Vince McMahon coined the term "sports entertainment" to emphasize this element). Some names suffered this after constantly performing high-risk moves and taking brutal bumps, especially if the wrestler in question is known for their hardcore antics, like a Mick Foley or New Jack type of guy.

 

                  But this one is probably the most tragic and controversial case that's ever come out from this world of highfliers and brutal bruisers. There are many true crime cases that involved one or multiple professional wrestlers, each with their own story to tell. But this one is so controversial in light of the circumstances, one wrestling promotion subsequently omitted and erased his name and accomplishments from the history books. Of course, I'm talking about the tragic life and death of one Chris Benoit. The Montreal, Quebec, Canada native was born Christopher Michael Benoit on the 21st of May 1967, but mostly spent his childhood in Edmonton, Alberta. His fascination with the world of wrestling was evident from the early age, as he already idolized Tom "Dynamite Kid" Billington and wrestling hall of famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart. At the tender age of 12, he began his wrestling training under the tutelage of Bret's father Stu Hart in his famous Hart family Dungeon in Calgary, often hailed as one of the best wrestling schools in the world, as it's run by the Hart Dynasty. As a result, Benoit's style has the reference of both Billington and Hart, he even used the latter's submission move "The Sharpshooter" as one of his finishing maneuvers.

 

                  After his stint at the Dungeon, Benoit wrestled in Stu's promotion, Stampede Wrestling. His wrestling style at the time was similar with The Dynamite Kid, as he adopted several moves like the diving headbutt (a move that would cost him later down the road) and the snap suplex. He debuted in a tag team match on the 22nd of November 1985 teaming up with "The Remarkable" Rick Patterson against Butch Moffat and Mike Hammer. He later won the Stampede Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship in 1988, and also held 4 International Tag Team and three British Commonwealth titles. After Stampede closed its doors, Benoit went to New Japan Pro Wrestling, and subsequently trained in the "New Japan Dojo" with the young guns to further polished his abilities. In this promotion, he was one of the wrestlers who feuded with another wrestling legend, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, over the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. He also won Best of the Super Juniors tournament twice, as well as the Inaugural Super J-Cup tournament in 1994. Bear in mind, while being contracted with New Japan, he also wrestled in places like Mexico and Europe, he even won the UWA Light Heavyweight Championship.

 

                  Sometime during his stint at New Japan, Benoit was also working with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and worked in several matches, one in particular was a tag team match that put himself and fellow Canadian Biff Wellington against Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger, their first meeting outside of New Japan. It was in this promotion, where he returned in 1995, where he was approached by "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair to be a part of the New Four Horsemen stable alongside himself, Pillman and Arn Anderson. It was also here where Chris met his future wife Nancy, at the time married to WCW booker Kevin Sullivan, which whom he was feuding with. At first, the "affair" started as an on-screen angle involving all three parties, but then evolved into a real-life affair between Nancy and Chris. This angered Sullivan, and this affair was used to leverage their on-screen feud. Aside from Sullivan, he also feuded with several wrestlers like Booker T, and won several titles, including the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

 

                  He also worked for Paul Heyman (then known as Paul E. Dangerously) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) where he was the main booker, at the time the only promotion in America who allowed weapons and foreign objects in matches, where he received the moniker "The Crippler" from Heyman after putting Rocco Rock out. But this nickname is further solidified after a freak botch involving Sabu where he accidentally broke the hardcore legend's neck during the opening seconds of the match. Sadly, the only title he won was the ECW World Tag Team Championship with Dean Malenko and was forced out of the company when his work visa expired and failed to be renewed in time by Heyman. He returned to ECW in 2007, now part of WWE after being drafted to the brand. He was supposed to compete for the ECW Championship but didn't show up because of a "family emergency" (this will be relevant later), and he was replaced by John Hennigan (At this point known as Johnny Nitro) who won instead.

 

                  Benoit's exit from WCW became WWE (then World Wrestling Federation/WWF) gain, as he joined the promotion during the end of the Attitude Era. along with his friends Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Malenko, also WCW alumni, he formed and debuted the heel stable known as The Radicalz. Benoit's first championship was the Intercontinental Championship which he won in a two-fall triple threat match at Wrestlemania 2000 pitted him against Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, with both the latter's Intercontinental and European titles at stake. In this two-fall event, Benoit and Jericho pinned each other, the first one with Benoit winning, and the second one where Jericho won. This is a rare occurrence where a defending champion lost their championship twice in a multi-man match without conceding a single pinfall. Honestly, I hate being Kurt Angle at that time. But this is not the only Wrestlemania he participated and won a championship. At Wrestlemania XX in Madison Square Garden, New York, he won big by securing the World Heavyweight Championship (Former WCW World Heavyweight Championship) by submitting Triple H with his patented submission move the Crippler Crossface. Other titles he won was the WWE Tag Team Title (4 times total) with Angle, Jericho and Egde, and the WWE United States Championship (3 times).

 

                  Back to the ECW incident, Benoit was supposed to work in a match where he would have been won the ECW Championship by defeating CM Punk as indicated by WWE executive Stephanie McMahon but was a no-show due to a "family emergency".  Chavo Guerrerro, the Late Eddie Guerrero's nephew tried to call Benoit through his phone and his American residence in Fayetteville, Georgia, but didn't respond. At this point, Chris already in deep sadness after losing Eddie, who was his best friend in 2005 due to a cardiac arrest that cut his wrestling career agonizingly short. Due to this no-show, WWE requested a welfare check on Benoit and his family, where on the 25th of June 2007, Chris, along with Nancy and his 7-year-old son Daniel was found dead in his own home. The day after the deaths, WWE put together a tribute show on one episode of Monday Night Raw focusing on Benoit's accomplishments, and doing so, also overshadows another angle involving Vince himself under the character of Mr. McMahon, who in kayfabe died in a limousine explosion. But after the circumstances became clear, WWE swiftly disavowed him by deleting all of his archived matches, refused to acknowledge his name and title reigns, and censored any references about Benoit. To this day, the name Chris Benoit became some sort of a taboo, and he is also denied a spot at the WWE Hall of Famer.

 

                  During the three-day period, it was revealed that Nancy and Daniel were killed on the first two days, with Chris took his own on the third day. Toxicology report indicated that Nancy had xanax, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone which were found at the therapeutic levels, Daniel's results had xanax, which indicated a sedation attempt before the killing by suffocation, and Chris was found to have xanax, hydrocodone, and elevated testosterone levels, indicating an extensive steroid use. But further investigations found no connection between Benoit's body and the double murder-suicide. There are some theories on why Benoit did it in the first place, it might be because of his grief of losing Eddie Guerrero that led into a long depression, or some "roid rage" claims, but the most plausible theory was when Chris' brain was examined by neurosurgeon at West Virginia University with the blessings of Chris' father Michael Benoit, who found an extensive brain damage resembling an 85-year-old Alzheimer patient. He was also reported to have an advance form of dementia, but most importantly, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a neurodegenerative disease linked to multiple traumas to the head. This theory is supported by the fact that Benoit himself primarily used the diving headbutt, which is a move involving him jumping off the top rope using his head to finish off opponents,  and also many bumps he took during his career, often involving chairshots to the head, which has been banned since. 

 

                  Chris Benoit was a pro wrestler who has achieved everything imaginable in the wrestling industry. His work as an in-ring performer regarded as one if not the best the world has ever seen. Hell, some wrestling legends regarded him as one of the best that ever laced a pair of boots, but what he did during the last moments of his life that destroyed everything for him. In another life, he might have been a member of the WWE Hall of Famer and regarded as one of the legends of the Squared Circle, but after this tragic murder-suicide, his name is erased forever, buried deep inside the pro wrestling lore, never to be discovered again. The tragic occurrence of the Benoit family serves as a harrowing reminder that professional wrestling, no matter how heavily scripted they are, still presents a real physical and mental consequences bore by the wrestlers we come to know and love. There is a reason the phrase "don't try this at home" was put up during any wrestling program, is to prevent any occurrences like this from happening again.

Online Fintech Lending (and Gambling) Is a Pain in The Ass

 (Warning: Strong languages and rants ahead)

 

                  Imagine yourself working hard day and night to earn a decent living wage to either sustain yourself or to fulfill your dreams of buying stuff or go on your dream vacation using your hard-earned money. You might be feeling rewarded after all those work that you put in day in and day out. Now imagine that same money, instead going into some sketchy things like online gambling. Even worse, you lost substantial amount of money on those online gambling sites and ended up taking online loans. Now that is a recipe for disaster.

 

                  I want to stress two things in this piece: One, your financial condition is the product of your own management. And two, everything nowadays needs money, even just for menial things. Nowadays, with recent technological innovations, you can easily access your bank accounts from your smartphone. And that includes getting a loan. Online lending has become a recent trend in today's financial world. This can roughly be traced to the recent pandemic, where the world suddenly stopped running itself. When money is tight, and you need a quick buck, you can just download an app that allows you to access quick loan for a decent amount of money with various payment options. This can also apply to online shopping, specifically with the "buy now pay later" scheme. 

 

                  Sure, this will ease the burden of paying right away for purchases or for someone who in dire need for a quick buck in tight situations, but there is a dark, disturbing and possibly disgusting underbelly that has plague this section of the financial industry. Since the lenders and the lending party are anonymous, some criminal-minded asswipes would purposely take some loan and proceeded to not pay the loan. And that is probably the worst thing that could happen if you are the one who is giving the loan, but this is not what we are here for. 

 

                  Let me just say this to set this up for you dear readers: ONLINE FINTECH LENDING IN INDONESIA IS A CESSPOOL FULL OF MONEY-HUNGRY CAPITALISTS AND HEARTLESS DEBT COLLECTORS. There, I said it. Online lending is by far the most accessed financial service in Indonesia, which is in itself, is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan/OJK). You might be thinking, since it's regulated, these online fintech companies can just adjust their rates to the regulation, right? You are DEAD. FUCKING. WRONG. Even when the relevant organization is established to regulate themselves, the AFPI, or Asosiasi Fintech Pendanaan Bersama Indonesia (Indonesian Fintech Lending Association), these heartless motherfuckers behind these online lending apps always find their way to terrorize their customers.

 

                  There are two ways online lending apps did to trap their customers. One, is to formulate an interest rate that looks convincing enough that the consumer who got attracted started using their services, usually for extra cash to buy anything and everything imaginable. Currently, the interest rate is at 0,4%. But here's the kicker: The app can set whether that 0,4% can be applied daily, monthly, or even weekly. This then, allow the total fund to be returned to snowball to a point of impossibility. Imagine you borrow IDR1 million, only to find the number swelling to around IDR 3 to 4 million after interest. And that's not all, sometimes, the payment window can be set to the minimum time possible. Making the customer's effort to pay all those debts even harder. They then, were forced to seek another loan to pay off those debts, and when the payment is due, they scrambled to find another lending app to pay off another debt, not realizing that the debt could only grow rather than shrink. It's like digging a hole to cover up another hole.

 

                  And what happens when the customers fail to pay them on time? Debt collectors then spawn from the deepest parts of hell. Supposedly, debt collectors are task to remind the customers of their payments and/or collect those payments face to face. Then, what's the kicker then? These collectors often use their position to terrorize their customers into paying their debts, often with a mounting interest. And these bastards are quite heartless as well. There are too many cases of online debt-related suicide over the past 4 years. All with similar motives: They are tired of being hunted by debt collectors and their own debts. I can still recall a sensational case that once went viral on X (Twitter) about a man who took his own life over his debt. The story went like this: The man borrowed roughly IDR9 million through Adakami, one of the "legal" fintech apps under OJK, only to discover that the fund he needed to return snowballed so much, it was twice as the initial loan, at IDR18 million. It was speculated that either the interest rates or the administration fee that were manipulated so extensively to cause that number to increase. Knowing this, the man tried to pay off all those debts, but soon find himself out of money. And that's where the calls started. Initially the calls only come to him or his family, but somehow, the collectors managed to reach his place of employment, causing him to be fired unceremoniously. And instead of stopping, the Adakami debt collectors then deploy their sinister tactics, by flooding this man's address with fictitious online food orders, online shopping packages, even some mundane services like the waste management and even fire fighters and ambulances. The neighbors were kind enough to take those orders, but good things can't last, and in the end, the man took his own life because of the massive debt. But even after his death, the collectors still terrorize his family. If that does not constitute someone's behavior as heartless, I don't know what is.

 

                  And this is not limited with apps that only have online collectors. Field collectors can cause massive damages as well. Some apps have commissioned either internal field collectors or third-party vendors to assist them. And usually, these ones that cause a massive pain the ass. One time, a bunch of field collectors once camped outside a debitor's house to demand the payment of their debts, often causing distress to the consumers themselves. And they are willing to dumb themselves enough for the sake of a bonus paycheck to degrade, harass, even insult the debitors. Some of these fellas often not certified and only paid cheaply. And once they got arrested for causing a disturbance, the fintech app that hire them would swiftly disavow them. Those who do work for them often got away with a slap on the wrist, ready to torment another person for another day.

 

                  But what does is the correlation between these assholes and online gambling? Back to the statement early, quick buck for quick buck is needed for someone to participate in online gambling. They started small, and after gathering a good amount of winnings, they started to bet bigger and bigger, until they realize that they lost too much, they need quick cash to continue playing. This is where online fintech entered the fray. The player thought by borrowing an innocent amount of money, they can win back the loss, only to suffer more loss and their debts piling up. And when they realized that they would never win anything back and becoming addicted as they did it, it would be too late. Debts piling up and they have to sell everything to cover their loss, while destroying themselves and their families in the process. Granted, these people got into online gambling through influences by other people, often times through ads on social media. Not only that, but several recent investigations also revealed that there are major players that associate themselves with this illegal online gambling sites, mostly government official and even some law enforcement brass. The sad part is the majority of online gambling players are blue collar workers and those who fell below the poverty line. A combination of those factors could only lead to disaster of epic financial proportions.

 

                  I have friends who are either currently battling or already paid off their debts, and most of them are online fintech debts. I can’t help them all the time, but I can relate to some experiences, since I lend some money to some people in the past. Some paid me back, some didn't. But to waste all of your hard-earned cash on online gambling and turn into online lending, both legal and illegal, is nothing short of a stupid, destructive move you've ever done. Save your money for important events and stop screwing around with things like gambling.

A Little Insight into My "World"

 

(Warning: Strong languages, mentions of self-harm and suicide ahead)

 

 

Quite frankly, I don't want to sit and write this. But this has been a burden on my side, and I want to release it once and for all. Everyday, every minute I really wished that I would be someone walking in the background, unnoticed, undetected. Sometimes I even wish that I don't really exist. I simply wished that I was never born at all. I don't expect you to understand, but for me, I would rather stay in my bedroom for hours doing things that would please myself, rather than engaging with the society. Don't get me wrong, I still have family, friends, even a girlfriend. But sometimes, being alone, or spend some time with the one that would love you unconditionally and no questions asked is the best way to escape the burden of being alive.

 

During my childhood, I was a misfit. Even if I wanted to play with some of my colleagues, all I get was rejection or a cold shoulder. I spent most of my childhood living with my grandmother, and to this day, she is the only one I feel most comfortable with. If my grandpa would still be here, he would have been the second person that I can freely interact with. I never understand how friendship works, and how to manage it. Hell, I don't even know what I was back then and to this day, no matter how much I try; I am still struggling getting know of myself personally. Overtime, all I know is I might have massive number of friends or relatives, I always a lonely person inside. My grandma said to me once that it's like I am living inside my own bubble. And frankly, I'm okay living inside this bubble, as long as I'm comfortable with it. Most of my years of my life, this "world" that I'm living at is mine and mine alone. But thanks to certain someone special, she is now part of my world, my inner bubble. The one that I can freely express my thoughts and grievances about life.

 

The fact that I have an untreated mental condition doesn't help the case either. As far as I remember, I never visit a single psychiatrist apart from the time I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 5 years old. Everything that I do must always be wrong in the view of others, even my parents. I have always wanted to tell you this, but I guess that all those words that coming from my mouth are useless to you apparently, but I am struggling to control this otherwise uncontrollable physical body and this brain of myself. It's involuntary, and the urge is sometimes irresistible. The impulse is out of control. Not to mention that in the heat of the moment, when my mind is so focused on one thing, several other important things are pushed to the side. As a result, I can be quite forgetful of those things. But I am now come to terms that I am always an idiotic waste of space. Yes. I am an idiot. I just happen to be an idiot with a bachelor’s degree. I'm not lazy, I'm just an idiot. Not that it would matter anyway. Afterall, I only do things for the sake of others, not me. And I'm fine with that. 

 

My relationship with my parents is kind of an up-and-down affair. Sometimes we get civil with each other, but most of the time, it's tiring with all the scolding, shouting and any of that "tough love" bullshit. Especially with my father. For him, there is something wrong with whatever I do. Even some chores I did must always have some flaw. Like the floor that is not clean enough (but let's face it, my father is a MASSIVE clean freak). My mother on the other hand, when it comes to personal relationship, is more like "just a friend" type. We rarely talk about much unless it's about important matters. Moreover, since I lived with my grandma for the most of my childhood, I rarely meet them. They are either working or study in college (my mother was a medical student when she got married). So, in return, I never feel really close with them emotionally. There is a lot of emotional distance developed between them and me. I guess my brother has better luck when it comes to this, huh? Good for him. That's why I prefer to shut myself out. You can't get scolded for doing something wrong if you didn't do anything in the first place, right? Sometimes, when I get scolded (or yelled at, with a tiny sprinkle of threats of violence), I thought, "If you don't want a kid like me with all this disability or doesn't want anything to do with me in the first place, just tell me. I would gladly take my own life by stabbing my chest with a knife straight to the heart, for the sake of liberating you from this humongous burden." Hell, I always have this urge to at least bang my head as hard as humanly possible to a nearest wall, preferring some sharp edges, so I can cut myself more quickly and easily. But I guess that won't kill me fast enough. But yeah, if you are tired of me, I'll just kill myself then. Afterall, I'm nothing but a dead weight.

 

"But they are your parents." Yes, they are. But loving parents don't spew threats of violence just because of some garbage that I forgot to put away because of sudden distracting impulse that I can't control. Loving parents don't constantly compare two siblings just because the other one is "squeaky clean and an accomplished kid" and the other one is "a useless waste of space". If this is what it turned out to be, I'd rather be aborted as a fucking fetus than being born this way. Nobody was asked to be born. I didn't ask to be born. In this case. I'd rather be alone in a crowded space than being in the same place as my parents to be completely frank. 

 

Naturally, with every single shit that I have to endure, I had to seek some external output just to temporarily relieve myself from my home life. From plucking fingernails to the point of constant bleeding to practically seeking pleasures outside of home become the main part of my life. Hell, on weekdays, especially when my father is around, I've always made sure to leave the house to work a bit early and go back from work a bit late. So that at least I have as minimal interaction as possible.