Posted by BrianInSF on July 26, 2005 at 03:59 [69.110.1.213]
In Reply to: Re: Brian goes on and on about stuff, posted by A. on July 23, 2005 at 07:46
That reference to Jello Biafra made my fuckin day. Local hero of mine dontyaknow. Got several old punk friends of mine that used to watch him play back in Oakland when the Dead Kennedys were still around. Lard kicks ass but the scene doesn't exist in the same way, I like Greenday just fine but shit just aint the same since they came around. But I still getta kick out of his spoken word albums and the stuff of Alternative Tentacle. I don't know if you made that reference for me, but if ya did thanks a bunch.
Anyway, I like your post, you bring up some very strong points, ones that shouldn't be ignored or glossed over. I agree with you that a service base economy is essentialy a preamble to a social implossion in which a small minority has everything and the masses have nothing.
At the same time globalization is on us, like it or not. Best we find ways to make work for us. To quote Biafra "Don't hate the media, be the media", I think we should not hate the establishment but be the establishment. The more we can find ways of using government and purchasing power to make buisiness grow in ways that are good for all of us, the better we will be.
I think that the majority of people in busines are generaly good people that want to do good and help others. But if the not so good minority of people are constantly rewarded with higher profit margins then it's their group that grows and business becomes more and more corrupt. Frankly the majority of history has been a balancing act between the two. But the more that we can reward good corporations and punish the bad ones, the more we'll find that business isn't a monstrosity, but merely a machine that can either help us or hurt us.
I think you have an excellent point about the growing gap between the rich and the poor, in general it does seem to be a trend in history and I think of all the things you mentioned I find it the most alarming. Here I think you are correct in voicing a great amount of distress. Let me make it clear, at least in terms of little ol' me, I don't think that the rich are greedy or immoral or selfish bastards who care only about themselves(some are, but so are some poor and soom middle class people). I think we need to stop thinking of the problem in terms of us versus them, and rather look at what it is about the system and the nature of money that causes it to do this. If we can stop taking the whole thing so personaly we can find a way to make changes in the system so as to avoid a dual class system of super rich and massive poor.
Why? cause it's bad for everyone. The poor live in missery and the economy stagnates for the rich, (look at the middle east, which had a similar system, and the region which was a mecca of culture stagnated for centuries)and frankly, given an option the super rich would rather everyone be reasonably happy, they don't want to be surounded by misery, so lets find a choice cause once we hit endgame we no longer have any good options.
Yeah, I know, I guess I'm gonna revert to my old point. Sorry if I've left string untied cause I'm fucking tired. But realy what we need to do is find ways to embrace globalism which help the third and first world. It's critical for good people like A to keep tabs on wrongdoing, and we must punish those that break the law, both with our wallets and with our governments, but we must also not through the baby out with the bathwater. Globalization can be a great thing, all we have to do is put out the energy to make sure it's done right.
Wow, what a bullshit last half of a post. Oh well. Take it easy all. The minute we start agreeing mindlessley is the minute we stop making any progress. And that's all I gotta say,
Brian
Email: moboya@yahoo.com