- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 34,479
Oh Really? 
I love playing chess.
Somehow it's stimulating while being relaxing, much like exercising but for the mind.
Now in my so-called "declining years", I find this especially true.
Even here in the US when I tell people I love chess, some respond, "OMG, chess!?!
Pffff! You must be a brainiac."
What is it about healthy strong minds that many find so threatening ... critical thinking maybe?
Historically totalitarian leaders hate, imprison, deport or even kill intellectuals.
Smart people are a threat to unreasonable or unjust power.
Slower minded docile people are easier to control.
Hence dark powers suppress education, that is unless it's early religious instruction, long before the brain is even finished developing in the late 20s.
Sound familiar?
SNIP from above link:
... "But Iran — which neighbors Afghanistan — has been at the heart of other chess-related controversies. Over the past eight years, at least four women chess players and a referee participated in a tournament in another country and were observed not wearing headscarves (which is mandatory in Iran). Fearing punishment, they decided not to return home.
They include Dorsa Derakhshani, who now lives in the U.S.
She told NPR that the Taliban's chess suspension didn't surprise her. "Classic dictator 101 move," she quipped. "Chess helps you think critically," she said. "If there's a dictatorship, they don't want thinkers."
I love playing chess.
Somehow it's stimulating while being relaxing, much like exercising but for the mind.
Now in my so-called "declining years", I find this especially true.
Even here in the US when I tell people I love chess, some respond, "OMG, chess!?!
Pffff! You must be a brainiac."What is it about healthy strong minds that many find so threatening ... critical thinking maybe?
Historically totalitarian leaders hate, imprison, deport or even kill intellectuals.
Smart people are a threat to unreasonable or unjust power.
Slower minded docile people are easier to control.
Hence dark powers suppress education, that is unless it's early religious instruction, long before the brain is even finished developing in the late 20s.
Sound familiar?
SNIP from above link:
... "But Iran — which neighbors Afghanistan — has been at the heart of other chess-related controversies. Over the past eight years, at least four women chess players and a referee participated in a tournament in another country and were observed not wearing headscarves (which is mandatory in Iran). Fearing punishment, they decided not to return home.
They include Dorsa Derakhshani, who now lives in the U.S.
She told NPR that the Taliban's chess suspension didn't surprise her. "Classic dictator 101 move," she quipped. "Chess helps you think critically," she said. "If there's a dictatorship, they don't want thinkers."
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