Morquendi The Lost Boy
pacifier photo by Jenna
Every now and then Morquendi gets a little frothy around the mouth and I have to wipe the blog down. Conventional argument doesn’t work because it’s like talking to a petulant child. Morquendi will make a point and simply repeat it over and over, getting more and more angry over time. He’s devoted to a simplistic world-view and actively hostile to research and statistics. As such, he can’t really react to contrary arguments with facts or reason (because he doesn’t believe in them). His only source is his personal experience, so any criticism of his firmly held opinions ends up getting taken personally. Sometimes he’ll say weird shit about my family or character, but it makes sense within his immature world-view. If your only source is yourself, argument is pretty much impossible without conceding personal failure. In that way, Morquendi can only react with anger and bile when he’s threatened.
Think Simple
It’s sad that the only way you can visually interpret openness is by showing a woman in the process of taking her clothes off. You never cease to surprise me with the depths to which you are willing to sink and your ability to express your inability to articulate yourself in the visual medium.
This is the crux of his criticism of my cover. Note that it’s primarily personal – he’s offended by my ‘ability to express my inability to articulate myself in the visual medium’. The criticism isn’t necesssarily of the cover, it’s that he simply doesn’t like me much. Like a child who sees the world devoid of nuance, Morq immediately files me into a category he doesn’t like. In his simple view, capitalism is evil in and of itself. He divides the world pretty cleanly into aggressor/victim. In that context a statement like,
You’re just an advertising and marketing guy and you’re doing you’re job, which is trying to sell a magazine. But you have no idea about the whole business of operating a magazine from the ‘media’ point of view. You do not know your responsibilities and your duties…but then, they didn’t teach you that in Capitalist U did they? (Covergirl)
… is reasonable. The fact that I’ve never worked in marketing or advertising isn’t even relevant. Advertising and marketing are part of Capitalism, which is an agressor, and hence de facto bad. There’s no need for nuance or depth because everything fits into the simple world view. There’s actually no point or argument in there, but since Capitalism is de facto bad, it’s not even necessary. In Morquendi’s world saying that I’m involved in advertising or marketing is like saying that I have brain damage – it should end my credibility. Any further debate just gets him angry cause people don’t ‘get it’.
It takes children a while to develop ‘Theory of Mind‘, that is, the knowledge that other people can have different perceptions. For those without Theory of Mind (like Autistics) the response to information which contradicts their framework is very distressing and emotional. In the same way, Morquendi responds to the boogieman of Capitalism with anger. He’s got a simple world-view and he’s sticking with it.
Think Ego
In Piaget’s stages of development, children first respond emotionally and instinctively to stimuli, then the enter stages where they begin to think more abstractly and symbolically. The Lost Boy, however still believes that everything he needs to know is in front of his nose:
You can talk about models and statistics and Marxism and Capitalism and lots of other things but you really have no clue about Sri Lanka or Sri Lankans or how things work here. I forgive you because you’ve never had the opportunity to get to know the ‘system’ here. For all of us here it’s a lived experience. We have grown up with the system and have a instinctive understanding of what means what. (Cold War Battle)
However, simply being born in Sri Lanka isn’t enough qualification for Morquendi. His simplistic view of the world as Aggressor/Victim requires a particular perspective.
all of you are generally unaware of the fact that a Sri Lanka exists outside of Colombo. I’m the one who’s the black sheep.
Not only is there one simple world-view, it happens to be contained within one particular boy. As he’s still stuck in the world of personal experience, he rejects any abstract or symbolic information that contradicts his world view.
Chandare? You Googled for this information? (LTTE Kills Kadirgamar, italics in original)
I will not refer to foreign systems where certain things have worked. This is a Sri Lankan problem. We can look at other models but all states are inherently different in the same way all people are inherently different from each other and something that worked somewhere else under completely different social, cultural, economic and political conditions will not work in Sri Lanka…
If someone thinks this is a weakness then I say that they do what they do (quoting and referring) because they do not know the system here, and have no understanding of how things work here. However much you have read about a country, however much you have studied it, as long as it’s systems are not a lived experience for you, you will not be able to comment on their workings as anything but an outsider. A word from an outsider is good. But one word from someone for whom the system is a lived experince is better than the 10,000 word thesis of an observer. (My Last Word)
In fact, Morquendi displays a complete inability to view information outside of a personal and egocentric context.
Sorry. I don’t have slanted facts and stats. I don’t have a parent who was an integral part of the push for WB-proposed reforms in the education system a few years ago, and as a result of that has a very academic understanding of the issue and all the data and stats needed to counter people like me… If you speak to anyone in the NGO/Research/Data-Gatherer-for-hire sector they will tell you exactly how they slant the info so that their client gets what the client wants. (My Last Word)
In this case his response to contradictary data was to attack my mother and researchers in general. They are all personal criticisms, which don’t rise to the level of abstract thinking. In his attack on my cover he again abandoned reason and abstract thinking and got personal ASAP:
Considering the depths to which I’ve seen you sink, I wouldn’t actually be surprised if you put one of your sisters half naked picture up on the next cover (Covergirl)
Since your head seems to way up your capitalist ass, pull a video camera from somewhere there, shoot a family porn flick, put it online, make a lot of money, shut up and retire. No more running a stupid magazine and no more morquendi giving you a hard time (Covergirl)
Because he simply won’t handle abstract thought, he quickly resorts to attacking me, my parents, and my sisters. They are very base and crude arguments, like those of a spoilt child. Morquendi completely rejects research, scholarship, and reason because – like a child – his personal experience all he needs. This leads to one personal problem however, what do you do when people or facts contradict your simple, egocentric views?
Think Angry
One of the problems that kids have with their simple, egocentric views is that they are quite often wrong. There is no tooth fairy, your parents are human, and candy rots your teeth. If information doesn’t fit a child’s framework that have to reach an equilibrium (in Piaget’s terms). That means they either change their framework, or react emotionally. The Lost Boy, while developmentally handicapped, is too old to actually change his framework. This means that in the course of a debate you can throw any amount of facts and he won’t blink or assimilate any new information. He just gets angrier and angrier.
His first reaction to my cover was to express hostile suprise at ‘your ability to express your inability to articulate yourself in the visual medium’. That quickly progresses to
If you don’t mind being a cheap imitation…
you’re just a big fat hack
and finally degenerates too,
Since your head seems to way up your capitalist ass, pull a video camera from somewhere there, shoot a family porn flick, put it online, make a lot of money, shut up and retire. No more running a stupid magazine and no more morquendi giving you a hard time.
If this was a playground the next stage would be Morquendi throwing sand, dropping his boo-boo and running away crying. Never met the man, but based on his comments, Morquendi is developmentally retarded. He has a simplistic world-view, little Theory of Mind (empathy), and is childishly egocentric. The Lost Boy can’t control his emotion and has to lash out, getting more and more angry as reality contradicts his simple schemata. I’m sure he’s a nice fellow and maybe even a functional adult. Online he’s a bit of a baby.
I want to visit my friend in China before he comes back. Free place to crash and all. So, I applied for a visa to China, from Colombo. I’m not sure I’ll get it, but this is process to at least apply. For official but incomplete info, check out the 
The Mahavamsa (a history of Sri Lanka) is full of conflicts between generals and kings. Usually, the more bloodthirsty and unscrupulous would win. Our current (elected) ruler Mahinda Rajapaksa has had his own general conflicts, namely with one Sarath Fonseka. In the old days Fonseka would have staged a coup, as in literally try to cut of Mahinda’s head, and Mahinda would – if that failed – tie him to four elephants and split his parts asunder. Can’t do that shit anymore. Instead Fonseka ran for office and lost and Mahinda tossed him in jail.
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
Oh NO you didn’t Indi!!! Look I know you’re vexed with some of the shit Morq says but don’t forget that you’re livin in SL ese, you don’t know who this Morquendi guy is, for all you know he could be a motherfuckin terrorist and you don’t wanna fuck with those ppl, if he knows all this shit about you and your family he could do 187 on your ass and you’ll be DOA by the time someone finds your ass. You gotta BOLO and watch who you dis over there ese, you dig?
I’m close to tears Indi. Another entire post dedicated just to me? You spent so much time on this. Makes me feel special. Wish I had the time…
I’m touched. Not being sarcastic. Genuinely :) Thank you.
By the way, this means you admit defeat in both recent arguments, right? :)
Yeah, i’m folding up the magazine and the UNP site. If you’d won those things might change, wouldn’t they?
Your arguments have never risen above the level of “you’re just a big fat hack” and “no more running a stupid magazine”. For me to lose I’d have to actually give up. I haven’t. The magazine and the site are still running and the Lost Boy is still wailing in the sandbox.
[name edited out] aka Morquendi is a fucking moron. Everyone knows it. All he does is hang around like a bad smell. He thinks he is top shit but in actual fact he is just a shit-eating bottom feeder who just likes to act all important. [Morquendi] sucks LTTE dick in his spare time, so he gets mighty angry at anyone who exposes the LTTE’s facism and terrorism.
little harsh. Also bad form to call out anybody’s full name.
Indi, several suggestions…
1) You could try to get rid of your prejudices about me and be a little more open to what I say. Sometimes other people could also be right.
2) You could try actually reading what I write, instead of missing the point in the rush to attack me. Everything seems like bullshit when you don’t read it.
3) You could stop quoting me out of context and misrepresenting what I say. That’s just a sign of your immaturity.
4) You could try answering my questions. Unless of course you’re not capable of answering them, or are afraid to do so, in which case you’d be saving me a lot of time by saying so.
5) You could stop the hypocrisy and not launch such baseless personal attacks against me simply because you’re incapable of building a solid argument against me.
Indi I know who Morq is…you’ll only probably run into him at quiz night or a gig. If there’s trouble call me – but he’s not as violent as he sounds, although he IS considerably bigger than me.
Re: Morq’s Suggestions
Suggestion 1) Sentence two is spot on
Suggestion 2) A lot of it IS bullshit mate
Suggestion 3) First sentence might have some truth to it as I have found out from experience…heh heh.
Suggestion 4) Indi – do you not answer the bugger’s questions? If you don’t your culpa.
Suggestion 5) Morq, the argument is pretty solid machan.
The great arbitrator has spoken.
thanks Sophist
1) other people can certainly be right – I try to listen to Mahangu’s and Sitting Nut’s arguments on the covergirl and commenting issues. However, I don’t think Morquendi is right to insult my family, or call me an uncreative hack. Those are just personal attacks and I won’t concede to playground insults.
2) ha, yeah
3) tried to include links back to all the comment threads, so ppl can get context if they want. Individual quotes can misrepresent, but Morq has a huge body of work that coorborates my big baby hypothesis
4) Some questions include insulting my sister or family, and I don’t see any point to elevating them to a response. Alternately other questions like ‘You consider yourself a journalist now? Please, gimmie a break’ are just insults and also don’t really deserve an answer.
The one semi-reasonable question (also wrapped in an insult) was ‘What makes you different from Ranil W’s bodyguards?’ I answered that repeatedly, saying that ‘every blog has a right to moderate its comments. That right applies whether the blog is run by a group or an individual. It applies to the UNP or indi.ca or whoever, it’s a general point.’
5) yeah, thought so. He’s so consistently negative that’s it’s a pretty easy point to make.
tsk tsk – you boys are being soooo silly
as for baby z – gosh indi are u that influential or is it just more bashing of morq because of perceived support for tamils?
again indi – some strong leadership is needed….
The game isn’t as fun if you can only play one (race) card. If you’re having trouble making an argument, please contact Optus Internet on 1300 300 951 for assistance. This blog is pretty much unmoderated, if you want to make a point go ahead. You don’t need to wait for ‘leadership’ from me or anybody else.
Ahh i get it, it’s a game … silly me i thought it was people’s lives… any chance you might become a teetotaller – you sure are grumpy these days :-)
If you don’t want to stick up for tamils thats fine – I guess this why they are all so disillusioned about the elections – ie. the UNP is supposed to be the better choice…there’s the aarsehole racist & then there’s the polite racist …
it’s your blog & you’ll cry if you want to … now isn’t that what you accuse morquendai of doing all the time???
holy shit, was that the race card again? What will you come up with next?
ps – thanks for the optus tip, I thought that was an attempt at humour but since you still interested in playing games – I guess not huh
don’t forget – to reclaim your mojo, it’s lots of sleep, lots of water, no more wanking & definitely no more fumbling around in the dark
Oh look it’s that Tamil racist Ashanthi crawling into Indi’s blog and gushing with verbal diarrhoea. Please don’t try and bring Tamils into this like you do with everything undet the sun, because the world does not revolve around Tamils if you haven’t realised. You’d best run and bitch and moan to the LTTE who have been doing a smashing job of winning “freedom” for the Tamil people by running around and butchering Tamils left and right.
Just tell me, why the fuck should any Sinhalese stick up for Tamils? Unless its reciprocated I don’t see why they should.
This blog is obviously on a stratosphere all on it’s own with bloggers called “someone” leaving comments here. Don’t think it’s me that brought out the racist card, have a read of your own comment again “someone” now that you’ve stopped frothing at the mouth. Don’t even know why anyone should make the assumption that I’m a Sri Lankan Tamil?
Ashanthi has her own blogspace & I believe as many admirers & supporters as Indi. I’ve been leaving comments around long before she even worked out how to sign up. I’m also quite a few many years older (possibly wiser :) than her too). Not sure if I left them on this blog but might have, can’t remember. Might be wiser to be less of a know-it-all, take a break from the LTTE bashing which seems to start everytime you think that anyone might be Tamil. Racism runs a lot deeper than “thinking that the world revolves around Tamils”. It’s plain to see in the language you use that the issue lies with you.
There are hundreds of thousands of South Indian Tamils , don’t forget. Not too sure how they view your zenophobia and they definitely do think the world revolves around them, I assure you. Bit like the Texans in Texas.
Sorry Indi, my teasing you about a few bits of idle gossip about your technique in bed has resulted in this but you know the ladies do talk . Not to mention the boys. Take that with a pinch of salt & some soda water :).
Pardon my poor grammar , I believe I speak the Queen’s English but sometimes my fingers are a bit lazq :)
I agree with a lot of your stuff, find your photos very interesting & occasionally visit (not crawl, you rude little bitch) here. I am merely curious as to why you and Morqeundai have this running issue. I also make the point again of saying that Morquendai seems to get the most amount of abuse when he tries to be impartial.
All hell breaks loose when he tries to navigate some very difficult issues with a modicum of impartiality on his blog. I also noted that those that leave racist and denegrating comments on his blog are treated with much warmth & respect by you. I merely asked that you don’t encourage such bloggers & as someone who is obvioiusly in a position of influence that you show some leadership. You don’t want to , thats fine and also noted. Will pass it on next time I meet with a few of my friends from the UNP .
The UNP , Indi has a lot to answer for, ask any old JVP commrade. However, you know full well they have the support of Sri Lanka’s Tamils at this point in time & Ranil has a lot of support from foreign governments. Shall we also say other concerned people from the subcontinent? In this sense, he has my total support. I hope he is able to reign in the likes of you & set you on the right path. He is a politician though and of course not the best mentor a boy could have, especially one so grumpy.
In short, we would prefer to see you and Morquendai working together not spitting the dummy as you have so aptly shown visually. Build a bridge young man, loose the real dummies here and build a bridge.
I seem to recall you saying your Mother reads your blog, it’ great to hear. I suggest you ask her what she thinks about you putting to rest your ongoing dispute with Morquendai. She would have to be quite a special lady and one of a very few of her age in Sri Lanka who takes an interest in Blogs.
Dear Ashanthi,
Please fuck of without wasting the bandwith of other people’s websites with your whining. No one wants to hear your sob stories about the poor little Tamil and so on because we’ve heard it all before and frankly no one gives a flying fuck about it because we’re busy living our lives and trying to make the best of it.
It’s easy to pull out the racist card isn’t it? That’s all you ever do when you’re trying to hound Indi and ground him to the ground because of some petty grudge that you have (gee, he doesn’t spend 24 hours of the day going “awww, there there poor Tamil, how can I comfort you, being the evil Sinhalese that I am” so why not crucify him eh?) It’s plain to see that you’re a complete asshole just posting here at his website trying to victimize Indi. Does that make you happy, you little fuckwit?
Why don’t you spend sometime undoing the tight knot in your panties and provide some much needed blood to your brain? Or is it that your brain is located in your ass? Wouldn’t be surprised if it were to be honest.
If you’re South Indian Tamil and have a problem with the Sinhalese, do pack your bags and fuck off back to Tamil Nadu.
No one wants you in Sri Lanka. It’s the truth.
Once again, in case you’re a blind bat: Why the fuck should any Sinhalese stick up for Tamils? Unless its reciprocated I don’t see why they should.
Oh my how strong that statement is mainly as a result of the use of the word f u c k. You must have gone to that great big school in the sky that says use the word f u c k and you will win any argument really. No t so, you tragic little bitch.
I’m not sure where Ashanthi is, all is quiet on Nittewa, but I note she has never left a comment on this blog along with a whole heap of others. I think that says something. However, if it is so totally impossible to think that there might be more than one person that disagrees with you and thinks you are a low little cow, then delude yourself and keep calling me Ashanthi.
The “poor little Tamils” as you say aren’t that poor though are they? Good for you trying to live your busy little life as best you can. You stand guard on this blog & hiss at anyone who dares to offer a different opinion and heaven forbid if it happens to be anything remotely perceived by your small brain as being pro-Tamil.
I suppose an ambitous young man about town like indi needs all the friends he can get. But as Ivap said, with friends like you, who needs enemies?
uh, I think I’ll take Shanthi’s suggestions here. I’ll stand up for Tamils cause they’re, um, people… and Sri Lankans. They’re also people I work with and hang out with so of course
The Sinhalese have definitely done some horrible shit to the Tamil people, and that’s only hurt Sri Lanka has a whole. One of my biggest regrets is that we lost so many great intellectuals, writers, artists, businessmen to rioting and diaspora. If Sri Lanka (starting with Bandaranaike I) had been more inclusive then Sri Lankan culture would have been so much richer.
Also, I like dhose, and those fried donut-type things, so I’ll say that Tamils are definitely welcome in Sri Lanka. Upcountry, Jaffna, Colombo, whatever. As to your er, points.
I do, so that’s a lie.
I don’t think you need to expect anything in return when you’re standing with fellow Sri Lankans and humans, but – for the record – Lackshman Kadirgamar and Neelan Tiruchelvam have done a lot for all Sri Lankans. I dunno if it’s even possible to reciprocate enough.
Ashanthi (aka shanthi_now),
Time to pull your hand out of your nether regions and concentrate on what’s happening here – which, put simply, is about a dumb broad like you trying to hound Indi to the ground and playing the “racism” card. Quite sad really. Do you honestly have a life? Or do you spend the whole day prostituting yourself at websites like this because you have nothing better to do? You might want to try downtown Colombo if you’re having trouble picking up customers for your racist campaign.
Now if you have a problem with Indi, why don’t you run along and tell that to your “freedom fighters.” I’m sure they can lend you a cyanide capsule so you can put yourself out of your misery instead of spending your time screaming like a rabid dog about India and everyone else who doesn’t follow your warped facist ideology?
Hope you enjoy reading this:
“Just look at the plight of the Tamils today. We are like the monkey which had his tail wedged between the two parts of a partially sawed log!”
http://tamilweek.com/DutugemunuStrategy_EllalanResponce_1030.html
again, proving Shanthi more right. Some Sri Lankans, like Someone, are pretty racist and I in no way support that. They can still comment all the want, but I personally believe that Sri Lanka needs all the diversity it can get. Writing off all Tamils as terrorists or paraya Indians just hurts Sri Lanka as a whole and I’m all against it.
Also, I’m not against flaming other people per se, but attacking Shanthi for being a woman is about as original as telling Sri Lankan Tamils to go back to India.
I think Ashanthi (aka Shanthi_Now) deserves it Indi; she’s a super slut.
Oh and Ashanthi (aka Shanthi_Now) see how Indi comes running to your defence out of his decency? But no, you can only run around like a little bitch trying to stab him and scream and whine like a dumb fuck about how “racist” he is.
Tamils who have a problem with the Sinhalese can:
(1) Jump into the sea
(2) Go back to Tamil Nadu or
(3) Go and live under the glorious freedom of the sole representatives
Those who don’t have a problem with the Sinhalese – they’re the nice ones (few in number, but do exist).
uh, i guess i didn’t make this clear. You’re a jack-ass. Racism is so 1983.
Thanks Indi, this is exactly what I meant. These last few comments aren’t particularily thrown towards me, someone just despises Tamils. You are right, we all know how bad the racism can get. You hit the nail on the head when you say it’s bad for the Sri Lankan image, my word I can’t tell you given that your nearest neighbour is Tamil Nadu. Not everyone who reads & observes these comments, comments in turn, but there are consequences. As you know Indian Tamils are very proud of their culture & heritage. The attack on Indian Tamils in particular has always been a thorn in our sides.
Look it’s cool. I’m not going to take the ramblings of a blogger called someone who keeps repeating themselves & cannont accept that there is more than one opinion out there, seriously. If anyone reads all the comments in totality they will see who the real facist is here.
So young buddy, you haven’t agreed to a ceasefire with Morquendai, which was why I got involved in this debate in the first place? Ah well, I can but hope.
Flamming people is fine too, yes but again if one is the owner of a blog & the flamming is , as in this case, unreasonable & downright racist, a bit of moderation is called for. Just a point of difference, lol, another one between us.
I guess when you get to my age, as the Dalai Lama says, everything in moderation, including moderation.
Ps , I love the Perahara photos, are they downloadable? I would be happy to pay you for them by Paypal or?
please just download the photos, there should be an ‘All Sizes’ link at the top if you want bigger versions. I’ve licensed them on Flickr so people can do whatever they want with them.
As for Morquendi, the fighting is really good for traffic, so I don’t see any point in a cease-fire. It’s one case where ‘war’ is good for the economy.
No Ashanthi (aka Shanthi_now), the comments were directed at you. Because you’re a racist little broad out to hound people like Indi and ground him to the ground because of some petty little grudge you hold in your bitter, twisted little heart. Having fun? Hope you are because you’re going to get all the same medicine you dish out to other people.
And you think I give a rats ass about Tamil Nadu? LMAO! Please fuck of back to that shithole if you hate Sri Lanka and/or the Sinhalese because as we all know it is just paradise on earth right? Oh yeah! Where people still shit on the main roads of the capital – bliss!
Hopefully this will make you think twice before playing your crummy little “racist” card again.
So pathetic you are.
Thanks Indi, don’t mind if I do actually. I think the Elephant shots will look amazing blown up to poster size on a great big white wall.
I quit with the Morquendai truce request, though I’d say it was more garbage you were attracting as opposed to traffic :)
Thanks again for use of photos .