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Globalization a failure, complacency everywhere |
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By Thomas Terrio |
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Afterthoughts |
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Don't let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth - don't let that get swallowed-up by the great chewing complacency. |
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I have absolutely no idea what my generation did to enrich our democracy. We dropped the ball. We entered a period of complacency and closed our eyes to the public corruption of our democracy. |
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In my time, three issues have stood out above all others and they are racism, the national debt, and globalization. Racism is something I despise. It is connected to the ignorance of civilizations going back in time as recently as the murders of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy . Racism is the belief that inherent principles among various human races determines cultural or individual achievement, which usually involves the idea one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others; an idea, in my view, totally out of touch with reality. Everyone has witnessed or suffered from racism in one form or another. For example, a close friend was visiting the US in a store selling motorcycle goods, and came across a person wearing a T-shirt with “I hate Jews and love ovens,” written on it. He was justifiably upset at what to say or do. In Canada, this T-shirt might be considered a hate crime. Black people or people of African descent, Asian people, Muslims, Jews or Christians, all are people who need the basics of human existence i.e. shelter, food, clothing, education, and a hope for the future. As a person who studies philosophy, there is no omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God to whom I pray. So I am free to speak my mind about such issues of racism, money and the future of humanity. In recent news, the problem with the Horn of Africa and Somalia can be simply defined: no education or birth control for women, Muslim religious obstinacy, pirates at sea, and war that has lasted forever. Yet, they cry at my door for change in cash at the local liquor store or shopping mall—pleeease. Indeed, I am saddened by the turn of events in recent history, which has transformed the global investment landscape into an unpredictable maze of money madness with stock markets in New York and Toronto up 200 points one day and down 400 points the next. And where are all those old age pension funds now? Oh yes indeed, what are we to do, who has the answer? Well my good friends, the answer is simple: keep some cash in the house, consolidate your loans, and pay back your debts. There is no magic bullet here. Bight the bullet is a better phrase to learn and live-by for the next ten years at the very least. Stop over-extending yourself beyond your means. If you think all you owe is what’s written at the end of your monthly mortgage statement, then you are very wrong. You owe more than you think, specifically to the national debt. And best believe, the IRS or the Canada Revenue Service, will hunt you down forever for every last cent, this is not Greece. Split yourself in two will you. Thanks to the failure of globalization, that second job, if you can find it, looks like a great opportunity; well, just remember all those extra taxes you will pay. Thanks to globalization, we have basically crucified ourselves; by this I mean, sacrificed ourselves for the betterment of developing nations, who now are better equipped to overcome us or even threaten us militarily, such as China. What an accomplishment, the environmental socialists must be so happy living in their clean-air mansions, where they have convinced the US government to subsidize Ethanol, a fuel that cost more carbon to produce than it’s worth; or have held society back for the last forty years from developing safe nuclear technology; or to build much needed oil refineries in North America. Let’s not forget their latest effort to stagnate a forward thinking society, the Keystone pipeline hate program. Look out your window, does the gas-filled automobile look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon? I wonder how much money the Saudis have invested in North American environmental groups? Oh, it’s great to be free, free to listen to the bullshoot people talk about on North American cable TV, radio and satellite; free to do, free to be, while we watch our standard of living fall. This is what I think about society today: This is your life, and right now you are being sucked into a vacuum of complacency by left-leaning politicians and right-wing bankers; to a place where you are willing to accept everything without the will to fight for anything. You have become a loser, a lost cause; less than a fighter, more like a mouse who is willing to follow the smell of cheese rather than eat of it; someone who accepts what he has, rather than what he is destined to achieve by the force of his own will. You are peasants in paradise destined to be deflowered. It is a sad day, the fight is lost, the corporations and the bicycle lanes have won. There is no hope anyone will ever allow us to live a full life with true freedom ever again. Say hello to Big Brother and the CCTV that comes with it. And remember, there is one entity that will always take care of you and your every need and pain, not a friend or relation—but the state. And if you trust in that, than you are a bigger fool than you think. |
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The fight against racism and debt rest solely on our shoulders |
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Edition no. 83 October 1, 2011 |
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Page design by Thomas Terrio www.viewfromthewest.ca ©2011 All rights reserved |
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View from the West |
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Comments |
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Every country has been run by the rich and powerful or their tools for their own benefit. In Canada, we’re lucky that they haven’t been as greedy or controlling as in the USA. There they risk real revolution and could take us with them. Corporations don’t like any controls over their activities or any drain on their bottom line so they complain loudly about big government. However, they are first at the trough to benefit from government programs, aid or tax breaks. Interesting, don’t you think? I’ve never seen the rich so greedy or their media proxies so vehement in their propaganda. As I said , we are fortunate to be Canadians. It could be far worse. Rick H. Richmond, B.C., Canada |
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Edition no. 83 October 1, 2011 |