We're not so different, you and I.

Have you watched the winning videos of YouTube Video Awards 2007 yet? It's kinda like the Oscars for YouTube.

Apparently, it's a biggie to a lot of people. Even CNN mentioned the awards. YouTube has really become so much more influential than we care to admit. I mean, if you think about how often people upload videos to YouTube, coupled with how easy it is to record a video clip on your handphone nowadays, you get a little scared. I know I do.



It makes you feel like you're under surveillance almost 100% of the time once you're out of the house.
It means that everything you do or say has a possibility of being recorded by someone who owns a camera phone, which is practically everyone! So be mindful of the stupid things you say or do when you're in public places lest it becomes entertainment for millions of people one day.

Of course, this doesn't stop people from acting crazy in public (unfortunately). But I've always wondered just how much it will affect you in how you carry yourself in public? Do you notice that sometimes, when there is a car accident, there will be scores of handphones pointing towards the scene to capture or record whatever it is so interesting about the accident. Some to get the car number involved for TOTO or Magnum maybe ;P

What do you think? Do you think about this when you're about to engage in an argument with someone on your way to work on the subway?




Anyway, one particular YouTube award winning video caught my attention. It's titled "Stop the clash of civilization".



The political situation in the our country is not so different from everywhere else in the world or even on a global scale, where race and religion takes center stage in the clash of idealism and the way different people think the world should be run. It's funny when you consider that wars are fought just because we think differently. I mean, aren't we supposed to be different? What starts wars is when one party feel the need to impose their opinion on how things should be to another group of people, who normally are in a situation and context very different from the initial party. Opinions can be a powerful thing.

One particular experience struck my mind on this issue. On Christmas last year, I was stuck in Dubai Airport for a 10 hours transit to come back to Malaysia from an oversea trip. Spending 10 hours in Dubai airport is a unique experience.

Just walking around the airport, I'm surrounded by so many people of so diverse origins. The thing is I don't really feel any different from these people. Really, when you look past the face, color of the skin, even with different religious and cultural background, you can see that we don't act and behave that differently. We all can be courteous to each other (most of the time, anyway). We have the same basic needs, we can learn pretty much to behave the same way like most other people do. All men go in the loo with the "male" sign and we pee standing up, next to each other. We're like the most adaptable beings on earth, and yet sometimes we find it hard to live with each other. I mean, we can learn so complicated a maneuver as peeing at the right place, the correct position and with correct manners and hygienic habit to wash our hands (most of us, anyway) afterwards, yet we feel the need to bomb each other into pieces occasionally.

Just when will we realize that despite having different opinions, we're not so different from each other. Sometimes, it made me think that we're born with an innate need to argue and be in conflict.