My computer says it is processing a threat. I feel under siege from the unknown.
Under siege. Not so long ago the whole planet seemed under siege from the swine flu. In fact civilisation and the human race as such seemed doomed. And on top of that it was all Mexico’s fault. It had all the characteristics of bad journalism, sensationalism, spin and more spin, hallucinations of doom and impending disasters. The untraceable virus spreading throughout the world. Flights were cancelled. The already battered world economy took another blow. Holidays interrupted. Hotel residents in Hong Kong locked inside their building for days. The sales of protective masks skyrocketing. Hey maybe it was a plot by salesmen? I am sure somebody in Hollywood is half way through a blockbuster script already. It’s perfect for an edgy human race. Fear of the unknown. With a touch of death around it and an apocalyptic vision on top. Just perfect. The cheaper, low budget movie might be called “The attack of the swines”. The blockbuster maybe something like “Just Another Breath”. It will have a hero and a love scene. Some guarantees need to be left intact!
I think there is an urgent need for a university study on how the media spun this one way out of control. They were speeding on a highway of madness, death, doom and were looking for blood. And they were competing with each other with total loss of sight on reality. It wasn’t even tabloid-style exaggeration anymore. It was way beyond that. Paralysing hallucinations. And fear sells! And a certain moments it nearly looked like somebody was about to nuke Mexico to annihilate the source of this flu. Kill the mother of all swine.
But nobody amidst the media frenzy put it all in context. The fever was blinding and deafening. The numbers of people who died because of this flu, and even the people infected by the flu, were and are just minimal compared to - for instance - any normal flu that comes along every winter. Or certainly in comparison with the spread and deadliness of HIV/AIDS, or malaria or tuberculosis. I mean,...get real!
The media have a lot to answer for. Total paranoia. It just shows how easy it is to spread some news so out of control worldwide that panic erupts. It’s madness. Human behaviour is a mystery.
From swine to sex. It’s a strange transition. But anything goes in a free mind.
A professor in family planning has announced at a conference in the U.K. that sex is responsible for the growth of the world’s population. Ha! How long did this guy went to school for to know that? Human knowledge is a labyrinth. In fact what he was trying to explain to his fellow conference-attendees was that simple sexual drive lies behind family growth and not reasons like ethnicity or religion or economy or stuff like that. Just straight forward desire. I guess that is good news as it simplifies things. No more complex theories about the impact of your society structures and religious beliefs and all that on why certain people breed like rats and others seem on a road to extermination. It’s all and only about sex.
The same professor also stated that half of the world’s pregnancies are not planned. That is pretty serious but not surprisingly I guess. Contraception is not a topic and tool that is available to all and in all societies. Even the knowledge of contraception is probably less far spread than we think sometimes. And probably blocked by religion and tradition.
The conference discussed also how much more of you and I this world can take. It’s called ‘sustainable levels of population growth’. That’s a tough one. From an ecological point of view there are already too many humans roaming around planet earth. So too much sex in other words! Or let’s say too much sex without contraception. That’s more accurate.
So the current population growth will increase global warming and agricultural production will not be able to follow too. So we either gonna burn to death, or starve to death. It just feels like another Hollywood blockbuster. Maybe the swine flu should be spread faster and more aggressively to help limiting this population explosion. So maybe the swine flu was an invention by the environmental lobby? Sorry just joking despite the seriousness of the topic. Off track despite the challenges ahead. Population growth. Global warming. Access to food and water. It’s all urgent. But the political will to tackle these hurdles to our future is a tough one to get. The majority of voters – and that is what politics comes down to – don’t vote according to a semi-distant future. They vote for now. Something with immediate effect and gratitude. Something visible in their daily lives. And, for now, global warning and over-population is not something the majority of earth’s citizens see or feel in their daily lives and daily struggles. For many, especially in the poorer nations, the effects of both challenges are there to see. But the knowledge of what the causes are of the changes these people see and feel and undergo every day are not so known. And thus what you don’t know and don’t understand is too often just not there. Not real. Perception is reality. If the perception is that you don’t see the effects of global warming or/and population growth in your daily lives,... well if that perception is there than that is reality. Then there is no issue about the earth warming up and what consequences that might have. Or the world’s population growing madly and what consequences that might have.
Somewhat depressing thoughts. But the good news is that some of us know and some of us care and some of us try to do something about it every day. That’s comforting, ...a little bit.
Throw out. Had the new Green Day album in my car last week or so. It played once and wont play again in my car. Taste is an individual choice.
C-Ya
May 2009 is ticking away
sparks
It’s been floating around over the last weeks and has rocked the United Kingdom. You know, that island that is geographically Europe but its inhabitants seriously reject that notion (grow up!). That nation that was once so powerful that its might stretched across many oceans. But it has oh so tumbled downwards towards just an average, meagre country that dreams of the past to avoid having to face today as it doubts tomorrow.
Anyway, the Queens’ Kingdom was often, and to a degree rightly so, considered the birthplace of parliamentary democracy. And thus its glorious parliament, standing mighty along the river Thames in London, was like a holy grail. Mysterious and powerful. And that House of the People is steeped in tradition and old style respect. But it came crumbling down over the last week. Crumbling down back to earth. Back to reality that its inhabitants, those elected and oh-so-has-to-be-respected Members of Parliament (MPs), were just mere mortals. Mortals with greed and lies and rottenness. Those MPs, following in the footsteps of historic British parliamentarians, were just people like any other people. In fact they turned out to be less than the common man as they cheated and stole from the taxpayer,... meaning from the man in the street. Abusing the system to just get richer. Too often it seems way deep into ridiculousness.
It has been revealed, drip by drip by a British tabloid, that those elected members cheated their expense claims. Across political parties and across gender and age. As the revelations were published I laughed and then got angry. These people should built democracy not undermine it for the sake of personal wealth. So many MPs were exposed claiming money back from the parliamentary registrar for TVs, cameras, house tax on houses they did not own, duck ponds (yes!!), fertilizer (yes!!), rental of porn DVDs (oh yes!!), and all type of house renovations you can name in any Make Over TV Show. Just endless. The grand theft within the mother of all parliaments.
And then some MPs openly on TV claimed that the system allowed it and thus why not? And what about morals, you thieves in suits??!? So nothing about the honour to be elected by people and send to London to serve those people that the MPs then represent. No, hand in the cookie jar first and for all! Human behaviour is just a joke.
Human behaviour is a joke. A sour joke. A deadly joke. An incomprehensive joke that too often leaves no laughter. The brother of my friend’s daughter-in-law got stabbed to death because he owned his killer US$10. Yes, life valued at US$10! How angry does that make you feel? If there was a God he/she should just give up on the human race and start somewhere else afresh. We are much too often a shame to ourselves. We kill each other engulfed by ethnic, religious hatred. We kill each other because passion went wrong. We kill each other because we can’t handle our feelings at a specific time and a specific moment. We kill each other because we think we can get away with it. We kill each other because we think we are better, superior than others. We kill each other because we are stuck in our boring, meaningless lives. We are a bloodthirsty, narrow minded breed. And on top of that we have hardly any respect for our environment – nature and its animals. We are heating up to this planet to oblivion in the name of progress. What progress? And on top of that we think we are oh so smart, despite showing the total opposite every day. Human behaviour is a joke.
Luckily, to a degree, there are sometimes sparks of limited hope. And these sparks just help us through another day, another week. But these sparks set against the darkness make us realize again that they are just sparks against an overwhelming backdrop. On good days we hope these sparks can light a fire. A massive fire. A catalytic fire. Fires that rage darkness away,... at least for longer than just a day or a week. Sparks like President Obama’s kick-start to his presidency. I am too often a cold realist because I have witnessed too much and had hopes dashed too often. I, from before his election victory last November, always put the brakes on delirium when Obama’s message of hope was spread across the airwaves. He is a very welcome moment but amidst a dirty and unrealistic American political system. Obama won and sparks were pushing darkness into a corner. For now he seems on a good path towards bringing some, even as limited as it will be, change and hope and fire. So we gotta give him some leeway as his thoughts and ways, and for some skin colour, go against so much of the establishment that is conservative in nature and mentality. Give him more matches so the fires can burn and burn. Ashes are a fertilizer!
Sparks like the Indian elections. The biggest in human history. And all went reasonably smooth for the scale we are talking about. But then you wake up, put on the radio and hear that the schizophrenic dictatorship of North Korea has done a huge nuclear test – the size of the bomb of Nagasaki at the end of World War 2. And then you’re looking for new sparks...
Ending with a throw out. A spark. Yesterday I discovered a new band called Razors In the Night. From Boston I think. Nice alternative tunes.
C-Ya
the end of May 2009
Anyway, the Queens’ Kingdom was often, and to a degree rightly so, considered the birthplace of parliamentary democracy. And thus its glorious parliament, standing mighty along the river Thames in London, was like a holy grail. Mysterious and powerful. And that House of the People is steeped in tradition and old style respect. But it came crumbling down over the last week. Crumbling down back to earth. Back to reality that its inhabitants, those elected and oh-so-has-to-be-respected Members of Parliament (MPs), were just mere mortals. Mortals with greed and lies and rottenness. Those MPs, following in the footsteps of historic British parliamentarians, were just people like any other people. In fact they turned out to be less than the common man as they cheated and stole from the taxpayer,... meaning from the man in the street. Abusing the system to just get richer. Too often it seems way deep into ridiculousness.
It has been revealed, drip by drip by a British tabloid, that those elected members cheated their expense claims. Across political parties and across gender and age. As the revelations were published I laughed and then got angry. These people should built democracy not undermine it for the sake of personal wealth. So many MPs were exposed claiming money back from the parliamentary registrar for TVs, cameras, house tax on houses they did not own, duck ponds (yes!!), fertilizer (yes!!), rental of porn DVDs (oh yes!!), and all type of house renovations you can name in any Make Over TV Show. Just endless. The grand theft within the mother of all parliaments.
And then some MPs openly on TV claimed that the system allowed it and thus why not? And what about morals, you thieves in suits??!? So nothing about the honour to be elected by people and send to London to serve those people that the MPs then represent. No, hand in the cookie jar first and for all! Human behaviour is just a joke.
Human behaviour is a joke. A sour joke. A deadly joke. An incomprehensive joke that too often leaves no laughter. The brother of my friend’s daughter-in-law got stabbed to death because he owned his killer US$10. Yes, life valued at US$10! How angry does that make you feel? If there was a God he/she should just give up on the human race and start somewhere else afresh. We are much too often a shame to ourselves. We kill each other engulfed by ethnic, religious hatred. We kill each other because passion went wrong. We kill each other because we can’t handle our feelings at a specific time and a specific moment. We kill each other because we think we can get away with it. We kill each other because we think we are better, superior than others. We kill each other because we are stuck in our boring, meaningless lives. We are a bloodthirsty, narrow minded breed. And on top of that we have hardly any respect for our environment – nature and its animals. We are heating up to this planet to oblivion in the name of progress. What progress? And on top of that we think we are oh so smart, despite showing the total opposite every day. Human behaviour is a joke.
Luckily, to a degree, there are sometimes sparks of limited hope. And these sparks just help us through another day, another week. But these sparks set against the darkness make us realize again that they are just sparks against an overwhelming backdrop. On good days we hope these sparks can light a fire. A massive fire. A catalytic fire. Fires that rage darkness away,... at least for longer than just a day or a week. Sparks like President Obama’s kick-start to his presidency. I am too often a cold realist because I have witnessed too much and had hopes dashed too often. I, from before his election victory last November, always put the brakes on delirium when Obama’s message of hope was spread across the airwaves. He is a very welcome moment but amidst a dirty and unrealistic American political system. Obama won and sparks were pushing darkness into a corner. For now he seems on a good path towards bringing some, even as limited as it will be, change and hope and fire. So we gotta give him some leeway as his thoughts and ways, and for some skin colour, go against so much of the establishment that is conservative in nature and mentality. Give him more matches so the fires can burn and burn. Ashes are a fertilizer!
Sparks like the Indian elections. The biggest in human history. And all went reasonably smooth for the scale we are talking about. But then you wake up, put on the radio and hear that the schizophrenic dictatorship of North Korea has done a huge nuclear test – the size of the bomb of Nagasaki at the end of World War 2. And then you’re looking for new sparks...
Ending with a throw out. A spark. Yesterday I discovered a new band called Razors In the Night. From Boston I think. Nice alternative tunes.
C-Ya
the end of May 2009
Human behaviour
For whatever reasons, one more obvious than the other, there are two recent issues that stick to my mind. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other – besides human behaviour.
But then again, as a good friend of mine says all the time, “it’s not the end of the world”. Which is dead right, because if it would be the end of the world then not a single issue – big or small – matter anymore because the end of the world,..... well is just the end of everything. And being a non-believer, the end of everything is really the end of everything.
Back to those issues. First one that in content is from below the equator but in practice a worldwide topic for sure. Corruption, special favours, I-know-you-and-you-know-me, gifts with strings attached,...
South Africa just had elections – flawless, free, fair. A proof that not all African elections are rigged. And after voting, a new government is formed. Normal practice. Now the new transport minister was previously a regional (provincial) transport minister and a regional Premier – which you can compare with a State Governor in the US. And a minister of transport here is like a secretary of transport in the US of A.
As he is sorting out his new desk, new staff and new business cards he is invited to a big ceremony in the province where he was previously the man in charge. It’s a ceremony organised by a large road construction and transport company that wants to thank him for the work he has done in that province. The THANK YOU comes in the form of a brand new Mercedes, petrol vouchers, champagne glasses, a large wide screen TV,... and 2 cows. The cow thing is pretty normal in African tradition, so no disrespect there. The new minister and his wife are being captured on TV and in newspaper photos with big smiles on their face in the Mercedes and with the cows. The Mercedes is really a symbol that you have made it into the new class. Like a stepping stone for upper-class movements. It comes with the new suit, the trendy sunglasses and the latest model cellphone (or mobile phone as some people call it too).
But the ceremony and the smiling faces were the start of a media storm and an outraged public calling into radio talk shows, writing text messages to websites and emails to newspapers. It is clear to all that a private company giving such expensive gifts to a minister clearly wants something in return sooner or later. Rather sooner please. The smell of corruption was starting to stink. There are no freebees in this world, and certainly not between the corporate world and public servants – which minister are. The minister as such did not understand the fuss at all. Here he was with this lovely Mercedes that showed his family, friends, colleagues, neighbours , sportsclub members,... that he really made it in life. He was up and coming and loving it. But the storm just kept blowing and coming down harder and harder. And yes, yesterday the news dropped that the minister would give a press conference. And hours later, there he was still saying he did not understand the fuss but to avoid further hassles he was returning the car and the cows. He would keep the TV and the glasses! I am still surprised he still did not see that getting such large corporate gifts undermines any future decisions from which that company might benefit. It’s very simple, isn’t it?
But then the image remains. Minister gives back Mercedes and cows. How African tradition and the new bourgeoisie comes together in one. The old and the new. The tradition and the new status symbol.
How to move to the second issue as there is no link between the Mercedes, the cows and the second topic? Besides, as mentioned earlier, human behaviour.
Anyway. I am a regular – probably daily - visitor of music blogs. And the last days I have witnessed on one American, alternative music blog – the name is of no importance here – a very active thread about bloggers looking for specific releases. In theory the blog entry was only about out of print tunes but as it goes it becomes a free for all. That is all fine by me. So people ask for something and then mostly within hours somebody else pops up a mediafire, rapidshare or sendspace link with the downloadable zip of that requested album. All fine and great worldwide sharing! But then a few bloggers put a download link in the thread but then add the line ”not my upload – got it from another message board (aka blog)”. I mean, how really childish is that! Just copy and paste and put that download link in the blog if you join in this thread; if you think music sharing is evil then leave it alone. It is such a contradiction. These bloggers do not wanna upload (illegally in theory) music but are willing to spread the (illegal) download links. Don’t know why the following example pops up in my head but it’s like a cocaine dealer defending himself by saying “hey I am not growing the shit”. How really stupid is that! Human behaviour will never seize to surprise me.
And for those readers thinking I do not like music sharing. Wrong! I do!
And as a throw out. Currently listening to the mcd “Bodies of water” by Connecticut’s Make Do And Mend,... and liking it.
C-Ya.
May 2009
But then again, as a good friend of mine says all the time, “it’s not the end of the world”. Which is dead right, because if it would be the end of the world then not a single issue – big or small – matter anymore because the end of the world,..... well is just the end of everything. And being a non-believer, the end of everything is really the end of everything.
Back to those issues. First one that in content is from below the equator but in practice a worldwide topic for sure. Corruption, special favours, I-know-you-and-you-know-me, gifts with strings attached,...
South Africa just had elections – flawless, free, fair. A proof that not all African elections are rigged. And after voting, a new government is formed. Normal practice. Now the new transport minister was previously a regional (provincial) transport minister and a regional Premier – which you can compare with a State Governor in the US. And a minister of transport here is like a secretary of transport in the US of A.
As he is sorting out his new desk, new staff and new business cards he is invited to a big ceremony in the province where he was previously the man in charge. It’s a ceremony organised by a large road construction and transport company that wants to thank him for the work he has done in that province. The THANK YOU comes in the form of a brand new Mercedes, petrol vouchers, champagne glasses, a large wide screen TV,... and 2 cows. The cow thing is pretty normal in African tradition, so no disrespect there. The new minister and his wife are being captured on TV and in newspaper photos with big smiles on their face in the Mercedes and with the cows. The Mercedes is really a symbol that you have made it into the new class. Like a stepping stone for upper-class movements. It comes with the new suit, the trendy sunglasses and the latest model cellphone (or mobile phone as some people call it too).
But the ceremony and the smiling faces were the start of a media storm and an outraged public calling into radio talk shows, writing text messages to websites and emails to newspapers. It is clear to all that a private company giving such expensive gifts to a minister clearly wants something in return sooner or later. Rather sooner please. The smell of corruption was starting to stink. There are no freebees in this world, and certainly not between the corporate world and public servants – which minister are. The minister as such did not understand the fuss at all. Here he was with this lovely Mercedes that showed his family, friends, colleagues, neighbours , sportsclub members,... that he really made it in life. He was up and coming and loving it. But the storm just kept blowing and coming down harder and harder. And yes, yesterday the news dropped that the minister would give a press conference. And hours later, there he was still saying he did not understand the fuss but to avoid further hassles he was returning the car and the cows. He would keep the TV and the glasses! I am still surprised he still did not see that getting such large corporate gifts undermines any future decisions from which that company might benefit. It’s very simple, isn’t it?
But then the image remains. Minister gives back Mercedes and cows. How African tradition and the new bourgeoisie comes together in one. The old and the new. The tradition and the new status symbol.
How to move to the second issue as there is no link between the Mercedes, the cows and the second topic? Besides, as mentioned earlier, human behaviour.
Anyway. I am a regular – probably daily - visitor of music blogs. And the last days I have witnessed on one American, alternative music blog – the name is of no importance here – a very active thread about bloggers looking for specific releases. In theory the blog entry was only about out of print tunes but as it goes it becomes a free for all. That is all fine by me. So people ask for something and then mostly within hours somebody else pops up a mediafire, rapidshare or sendspace link with the downloadable zip of that requested album. All fine and great worldwide sharing! But then a few bloggers put a download link in the thread but then add the line ”not my upload – got it from another message board (aka blog)”. I mean, how really childish is that! Just copy and paste and put that download link in the blog if you join in this thread; if you think music sharing is evil then leave it alone. It is such a contradiction. These bloggers do not wanna upload (illegally in theory) music but are willing to spread the (illegal) download links. Don’t know why the following example pops up in my head but it’s like a cocaine dealer defending himself by saying “hey I am not growing the shit”. How really stupid is that! Human behaviour will never seize to surprise me.
And for those readers thinking I do not like music sharing. Wrong! I do!
And as a throw out. Currently listening to the mcd “Bodies of water” by Connecticut’s Make Do And Mend,... and liking it.
C-Ya.
May 2009
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