A lesson from the Romans, for the USA.

Almost two thousand years ago, the Romans killed a man, who held an ideology they didn’t like. No doubt, they thought that killing the man, would kill his ideas, his ideals and his outlook, too. However, it did not. In some way, killing that man, made him more than a man. It made him into the legendary figure we know as “Jesus Christ”. Perhaps, indeed, had they not killed him (or as many Christians hold, temporarily killed him), Christianity would not have taken hold. In some ways, it was the very image of his death, that made his life all the more successful.

This week, the Americans – the Romans of today – have killed a man who held an ideology they didn’t like. No doubt, they think that killing him will kill his ideas, his ideals and his outlook. However, I feel that it will not. In some way, by making him a “martyr”, the Americans may very well be feeding the legendary quality of this man. His death might be the making of his life – just as it was with Jesus Christ.

Now, before you leap to anger and confusion, I am NOT likening Osama bin Laden to Jesus Christ. The latter had a peaceful purpose, the former, evidently did not. They are very different kinds of people – but they share several things in common: their viewpoints were at odds with the establishment of their day. They were unpopular with the most powerful state of their time. They were troublemakers (in different ways). They upset the status quo. They also were both messianic in nature – inspiring devotion in their followers and making men do things greater than, perhaps, they thought themselves capable of doing. They were both motivators of men, and leaders of “cult” like societies. It is also telling to note that the response of the greatest powers of their times, was to kill them.

Of course, there are many differences between them too. Osama’s creed led to the murder of many people, in the name of his cause – whilst the opposite happened with Jesus Christ: that is many who strove in his cause, were murdered for their beliefs. (Though, of course, Al Qaeda devotees can expect the same outcome, too).

The danger for the United States and the western world as a whole, is that there are too many similarities, in the social and political dynamic of these two figures. It could easily be that killing Osama bin Laden could transform him, amongst his followers, into a prophet-like, perhaps even God like, being. He could become a figure of much greater symbolic value than when he was alive…just as happened with Jesus Christ.

Given this understanding, it would, I think, have been a whole let better if that unknown SEAL had held off, with the gun, and quietly coshed his captive and taken him alive. Being captured, has far less dramatic value, far less of the legend about it, than martyrdom.

I rather think that the American approach may turn out to have a price, in future consequences, that they would wish they did not have to pay.

A general principle may be suggested here: when dealing with a legendary and dangerous figure, nothing should be done to enhance the legend. In particular, they should not be killed, for killing the person, has a tendency to immortalize their message. The human dies, but their legend lives on and, in time, becomes far greater than they ever were in life. Indeed, only in death, is the legend free to grow so, for it is no longer encumbered by human limits. The new limit is only the imagination of their followers and the power of their unrealized hopes.

I cannot say what the words Osama bin Laden will mean in two thousand years time. However, I can say this: the fact that the Americans killed him, has greatly enhanced the chance that those three words will still have meaning in that distant time. Indeed, they might mean more then, than they do now. The “War on Terror” might turn out to be a very long one indeed.

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The most famous man in the world.

Who is the most famous man in the world? Indeed, who is the most famous man in history? There are many, many candidates, but, at this time, one comes to mind who really, really, really should not be there.

Whom do you think is the most famous man in history? Most would say Jesus Christ. Others, more topically, might say Barack Obama. The founders of various religions, come to mind: Prophet Muhammad, Buddha and so on. However, there is one man whose fame outshines them all - and whose fame really should not, at all. I would like you to think about who that man might be.

To decide this question, we first need a measure of fame. There is one that researchers into fame have come to agree on: the number of hits, on a search of the person's name, on Google. So, we will use that.

How many hits does the name: "Jesus Christ" get from Google? Well, on the 3rd July 2009, at 10.50 pm my time, in Singapore, it received 48,800,000 hits. That is a very respectable number indeed and does show that Jesus Christ is still uppermost in many people's minds. By comparison, the film star Ewan McGregor received 3,170,000 at the same time. Ewan, while famous, is no Jesus Christ. Even Tom Cruise received only 28,400,000. So, quite happily Jesus Christ is more famous than Tom Cruise (though, perhaps, the great Scientologist would dispute that).

So, is Jesus Christ the most famous man in history? Let us look at Buddha. He receives 29,100,000 hits. That is somewhat more than Tom Cruise - but rather less than Jesus Christ. Then there is the Prophet Muhammad. Here, though, we have a problem in that many people might be speaking of him, in Arabic and that won't appear in my search results. Thus, the results for Muhammad will be an understatement since most of the activity will not be in English. This, perhaps, explains the relatively few 2,760,000 hits for "Prophet Muhammad" in Google.

Can we find anyone more famous than Jesus Christ? He has, in English, beaten the leaders of other religions...he has beaten one of the world's most famous film stars: who could be more famous than him?

Well, one name comes to mind: Barack Obama. A search on Google reveals an astonishing 102,000,000 hits for that name, meaning that Barack Obama is more than twice as famous as Jesus Christ, by this measure. Perhaps that is a reflection of the almost messianic quality he has and the fervour many people show for him. It is, also, because he is always in the news, as "leader of the free world".

So, is Barack Obama the most famous man in the world? Well, I thought so, except that a little suspicion came over me. There was one more name that I wanted to try.

This name had, at the same time as the other searches, 120,000,000 hits. So, there is one person more famous than Barack Obama, making this person, in fact, at this time in history, the most famous person on Earth and in history (though this fame may not endure). Can you guess who that person is?

Michael Jackson is now the most famous person on Earth, according to Google.

Now, that is really something unpalatable, in my eyes. You see, the question has to be asked: is a man who wrote songs and danced to them, really deserving of being almost three times more famous than Jesus Christ? Or over forty times as famous as the Prophet Muhammad in English? What, exactly, makes Michael Jackson more deserving of our attention than the founders of the world's great religions? It is absurd. Michael Jackson's fame is completely absurd.

Michael Jackson's significance, in real terms, is dwarved by Jesus Christ, Buddha or the Prophet Muhammad - yet he is, at this time, more famous than any of them. All he did was create rather simple songs and dance to them. That is all. His songs are not particularly complex, not particularly indicative of great musicality (to my ears) - as music, in fact, they are outclassed by the works of many dead European composers. Yet, Michael Jackson is feted, in death, as if he were God himself. Frankly, it is both silly and disturbing. Yes, it is sad that a man who had so many plans, should die before achieving them. However, it does not merit, in any way, the 24/7 attention by the news media, he has received since his unexpected death. The only kind of death that WOULD merit that kind of response is that of a great genius, the founder of a world religion, or a humanitarian who had improved the lot of millions of his/her fellow humans. A song and dance man does not merit this kind of response.

There are those who call Michael Jackson a "genius"...well, to do so, is to kind of forget the nature of the contributions of true geniuses in music and other areas, in the past. The work of true geniuses is, always, of greater richness, complexity, depth and value than the entire body of Michael Jackson's works.

However, nothing I say will make any difference to the avalanche of eulogies and praise that has followed his death. I have no doubt that the attention will roll on for many more years to come. The whole global population will be steadily brainwashed into believing that the death of Michael Jackson is one of the most significant events in the 21st Century - and that the world will never be the same without him. Yet, none of the media manipulation will alter the bare facts of the situation: a song and dance man, of some skill, but not one of the world's "great geniuses" has died, somewhat before his time. That is all.

Of course, Michael Jackson deserves a fair measure of fame, simply for being one of the world's best selling "artists"...but he does not deserve to be the most famous person in history. That is ridiculous and, in a way, reflects how shallow modern society has become, that it should elevate to the position of "most famous" a man of such relative insignificance, in the great scheme of things. Were we living in deeper times, with people who had higher standards for what they regard as important, Michael Jackson would have received, for one day only, a brief mention, in the middle of most newspapers - and then they would pass on, having said all that needed to be said. However, in these shallow times, the death of a creative minnow, has resulted in a whale of a response. Indeed, the response, in some ways, seems more of an entire ocean, than a single whale.

Watching the endless publicity attendant on Michael Jackson's death, I was left to wonder how did the world treat the death of someone who had truly made a significant contribution: Albert Einstein? If you, my reader, were alive at that time and have memories of Albert Einstein's death, could you comment below about what the posthumous publicity was like? Was it as great as now Michael Jackson is receiving? If not, something is wrong with the world...for if a person of truly significant achievement receives less attention than a song and dance man, it says, most clearly, that the modern world doesn't know what is truly important (or that they didn't know in the 1950s).

Memories of Einstein's passing, below, please...if you have them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Ainan walks on water - an experiment

Ainan doesn't know about Jesus Christ. He doesn't know much about any religion, in fact. That part of his education has been omitted for we live in a mixed environment: which religion should he learn of, when he lives between alternatives?

For now, he has not been strongly immersed in any of the religions. He knows of them. Yet, he does not know them explicitly or deeply. In some ways, his scientific bent precludes much inquiry into the matter, for he takes a scientific view on all things.

Thus, Ainan doesn't know about the miracles of Jesus. He hasn't heard the stories told by christians everywhere of the loaves and fish feeding the five thousand; of the water turned to wine; or of Jesus Christ walking on water.

It was funny therefore, that Ainan independently set himself the challenge of walking on water, on Sunday, at the pool. He didn't know that this was a biblical thing to do. He didn't know it had religious overtones reminiscent of Jesus. Yet, he tried to walk on water.

Being Ainan, he adopted a scientific approach. Firstly, he took two pieces of styrofoam that he had found from some box and placed one on each foot. Then he stepped into the pool. He sank - but with a noticeable slowing. He noted this and decided to test it further. He jumped into the pool without the foam and sank quickly to the bottom. Then he tried it again, holding a piece of styrofoam in each hand. He sank to the bottom again, but was noticeably slower in doing so. He remarked on this.

Finally, he took a large float of the kind used by trainee swimmers and stepped onto it. Then he jumped into the water. He didn't sink to the bottom. His descent stopped at just below his shoulders and there he floated in the water, head above the surface, balanced on the board (quite a neat physical feat that).

So, in a limited sense, Ainan succeeded. He didn't exactly walk on water, but he didn't sink either. He was supported from below and didn't submerge.

What I found interesting about this is the precedents to the situation. Leonardo Da Vinci also tried this, unknown to Ainan. He invented shoes that would allow one to walk on water (if memory serves me right). His shoes were impractical - less so, in some ways, than what Ainan did.

The difference between Ainan and Leonardo Da Vinci, is that Da Vinci would have known about Jesus Christ. Ainan didn't. So, in a very real sense, his experiment was a creative act, from Ainan's knowledge perspective.

Anyway, it was fun to watch - especially when he half-succeeded, spookily balanced in the water.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, thirteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.