believe me good will come

lost in a cloud of ambiguities 

clouds had gathered all around my head 

Every day thousands of people starve to death. Tens of thousands more die because they don’t have clean water or basic medical care. Millions of people are denied their basic human rights: they are killed or imprisoned for their political or religious convictions.

Yet people will probably be more offended by my use of the word “fucked” in this post’s title than they will by anything else I type here. Somehow, through some remarkable intellectual sleight of hand, we are able to ignore the starving millions and go on living our lives. Birth, school, work, marriage, house, children, retirement, death.

Millions go to bed hungry while I’m surrounded by people who eat too much. Basic products such as sugar, cocoa (and thus chocolate) and coffee are sold to us cheaply because they are bought for a pittance from poor farmers in the developing world – farmers who damage their local ecology and way of life in order to grow these ‘cash’ crops. The clothes I wear were made in Chinese sweatshops, where workers labour for sixteen hours a day. It would take them two weeks to earn what I am paid for an hour’s work.

The whole global economy thrives on exploitation. The powerful and wealthy countries and corporations exploit those that are weak and poor. Trade barriers ensure that the rich stay rich at the poor’s expense. [Some] third world debt is written off with great fanfare, but no measures are put in place to prevent the debt from re-accumulating. “Congratulations, you’re back up to 0. Only a few hundred billion behind us. How about another loan?”.

War is still the preferred means of many for settling differences. There are more conflicts now than ever before. The vast majority of those killed in modern warfare are civilians. Something clearly isn’t working when the five permanent members of the UN Security Council also happen to be the five biggest arms dealers in the world.

But the systems, countries, and corporations that I deride are merely expressing on a global scale what I act out on a personal scale. Despite all my best efforts I still have an innate tendency towards selfishness and laziness. I don’t cycle to work even though I know it would be better for my health, better for the environment, and – given the world’s bloodlust for oil – better for global politics. My purchasing decisions are determined largely by how much the product costs. I have more clothes than I need. Indeed, I have drawers full of clothes I hardly ever wear because they aren’t fashionable.

Superficiality plagues me. I am bombarded by advertisements for products that will give me bigger muscles, whiter teeth, shinier hair, and smoother skin. Equally useless products promise to make me happier, more popular, and more attractive. I know none of this is true and that I have more of everything than I need. But I still desire more.

Of course I want to change things, but I know it will mean a fundamental change in the way I live my life. I’d rather live a comfortable, secure life and do just enough to ease my middle class conscience – sponsor a child, buy fair trade coffee, sign some petitions [whine on my blog] - isn’t that enough?

tell me, tell me the story
the one about eternity
and the way it’s all gonna be

Flashback to China: 

So that’s no vehicles over 4m in height, no exploding cars, no trucks, no motorbikes, no trumpets (no one likes brass), no cars, no bicycles and no people…  

“Cannon, is in the war of inhibit sex weapon, it is an ancient explosive of the ego country since invention….The cannon is such of many, who again issue several cannon once and personally? Dear friend, display the fort in Xiamen, the one and only.”

A few more here. 

The debate was very entertaining and both sides made some very good points. The most apparent thing was that, beyond the rock-star sloganeering, poverty reduction is an incredibly complex issue.

For example, five countries are praised for having met the UN target of 0.7% (Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden). Yet they are all part of the EU which has a “combined influence of subsidy and tariff protection in agriculture amounting to a total tariff equivalent of about 50%“. (In other words, they give lots of money in aid but then trade unfairly with developing countries).

Some other posts on this topic:

Fi - On increasing NZ aid

Sarah - Soapbox #7

Peter: “Yeah, that was a swell vacation, much better then that time I was stuck on that desert island with Bono.”
*Flashback to desert island*
Peter: “Bono, stop screwing around and open up that damn crate of food.”
Bono: “Peter, I’m saving this for the starving children of the world in case we get rescued.”

see the clip

Now use these coins to discover ultimate truth.

“Is my name Mark?” – No.
“Are you sure?” – No.

Good, cleared that one up.

“Is there a God?” – Yes, No, No, No, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, No, Yes.

After failing to conclusively prove or disprove the existence of God, I decided to establish some guidelines on how many coin tosses I was allowed per question. From now on, only one:

“Will monkeys one day rule the world?” – Yes.
“Is Snakes on a Plane a good movie?” – No.
“Is Elvis dead?” – No.
“Are we alone in the universe?” – No.
“Is money the source of all happiness?” – No.
“Are bananas the source of all happiness?” – Yes.
“Do you always tell the truth?” – Yes.
“Is this post more interesting than Pete’s post?” – Yes.
“Am I better looking than Pete?” – No.
“Ok then, am I smarter than Pete?” – No.

Stupid coins. They clearly don’t work.

“Were you just messing with me for the last two answers?” – No.
“Are you sure?” – Yes.
“Really?” – Yes.
“Or are you really not sure?” – No.
“Or are you not really not sure?” – No.

Finally!
I think the jury is still out on whether or not tossing coins is the best way to make decisions or find out the truth.

“Is the jury still out on whether or not tossing coins is the best way to make decisions or find out the truth?” – Yes.

The coins have spoken.

Heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers are all far more frequent in the fat than in the thin. Last year, in the United States, obesity overtook smoking as the main preventable cause of premature death. Many believe that their genes have caused their plight. Obesity certainly runs in families - but what does that mean? Overweight parents do tend to have overweight children: but fat people also tend to have fat cats.

- The Dominion Post, 18/8/2006, p. B5. 

[T]he United Nations has just issued a stark warning: that death from excess has now overtaken that from deficiency. Eight hundred million people are hungry, but a billion are overweight - and the figure is rocketing up.

[from the same article]

Further inquiries found that Bright had swiped $13.17 of fresh fish, sticking it down his trousers before leaving without paying. Defence counsel Julian Hannam told Judge Murfitt in New Plymouth District Court yesterday that at least Bright did the right thing by paying for it after he was caught. The fish was not in a state to be resold.
- Dominion Post, 7/7/06

The fish was not in a state to be resold. Brilliant.

[seen at Victoria University, Wellington]