Ibane’s ramblings
“The biggest danger, that of losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc is bound to be noticed.” S. KierkegaardArchive for Politics
A decade of emptiness…maybe?
The other day discussing with some friends about music, art and Tiger Woods, I raised the question ‘What would they consider the movement including music, fashion, art,…that could define the last decade? As for example punk did in the 70s’. The answers were vague and there was not for example a band that we could agree to be like the band of the decade. A bunch of good bands but not the band that you will listen to them in 20 years and you will say ‘that’s so 2000’.
I have done this exercise with different groups of friends and people from different backgrounds and the answers are as different as individuals. My first thoughts were that the inability to find what would be the cultural movement that represent the decade means that we have left behind a decade of emptiness and decadence in creativity. Later, thinking about it a bit more, I thought that this decade is the decade of the facebooks, twitters, myspaces, blogs,…it has been the decade where everyone feeling some creativity inside could share with millions and millions of people almost instantly, and if something cool is happening it gets old-fashion as quick as it gets trendy. So it might be that we have lived some good moments during this decade, it might be that we just missed it because we were busy with facebook.
In any case, there are still some days to end this decade so there is time to have some band of the decade and all that. Oh no…Enrique Iglesias singing again. I guess not then.
achievements
The other day I woke up with the story that for first time in history there will be more than 1000 million people hungry in the world (according to World Food Program). This kind of news always puzzles me and leaves me in shock. No because of the dimension of the tragedy, which it is, startled because next to that story you can read things like how many millions of euros/dollars bankers will distribute in bonuses or similar. I know, I can be accused of demagogic thinking, not seeing the global picture, that it is more complicated than that and all that crap. But the fact is that despite of having several organizations like UN, UNICEF,…with very important people leading them, in addition to that, hundreds and hundreds of non-governmental organizations fighting against admirable causes and having as contributors a lot of westerners with bad conscience, despite of Bono and his friends with their concerts, Angelina with her programs and Madonna adopting children, despite of all that, we are achieving that today people are dying because of hunger, as of the beginning of the times. Here the word evolution lost its meaning.
So I think that there is no more left that congratulate everyone because of the good job. Good morning and good luck.
P.S.: Please Bono another concert no.
European politicians and some ramblings
Here I am, writing in an Iberia’s flight in my way to Madrid. Surprisingly the flight is on time and the flight attendants are not bitter, these two marks are usually distinctive in Iberia. Another fact that supports this, in Iberia Magazine, the CEO has a letter to the passengers apologizing by the mess (I guess he has different templates, since he must be using them so often). So here it is a bit of advice, if you visit Madrid, try to avoid as much as possible Iberia and Telefonica Customer Service. You will thank me. Obviously, if you have masochist tendencies I strongly recommend Telefonica Customer Service, and try for example to change your DSL line to a different address, it is going to be very tasty for you.
My flight is going through Brussels, which means that we are loading our plane with different European politicians and European civil servants. I don’t know how many of those guys are in Brussels, last time I have read that there are like 800 European MPs, plus 25000 staff. Then I was leaning in my seat, looking through the Belgium sky, and the figures start to fly, travel expenses by 800, translators, assistants, laptops, hotels,… and I got dizzy. I guess that with the European Parliament and European Commission we are trying to give an example of inefficiency, waste of resources, useless approach with no benefit for the citizen so it can be shown as a lesson not to be repeated later. Don’t get me wrong, I am in favor of a European Union, and I think that the way to go is to strength it, but with this army of bureaucrats overlapping competences and structures I am not sure if it is the way. Nowadays, we might have up to 4 directives or laws to address the same issue, one from your local government, another from the Regional Government, another from Central Government and the European one. As a tax payer, I get really uneasy when I see these legions of politicians traveling for example to support trade, the case of Spain for example, we have regional governments going to China to strength our commercial relations between Cataluña or Madrid and China, then 2 months later we send another bunch of them (this time we include our King in the trip, for the pictures, I guess) for the same, and finally we send a commission of Spanish European MP and at this point you don’t know any more.
The other day I got the papers to vote in the next European elections, and being honest I don’t feel like voting, I don’t share the current view and I demand more efficient institutions that really represent the interest of the citizens and not a bunch of guys bullshitting in Brussels with the translators, with lorries moving around tons of papers in 37 different languages and all that. European MPs, you need to work harder to get my vote.
By the way, as usual, Iberia lost my luggage…
Consumer confusion
As a consumer I feel really confused with the labeling of the products. Nowadays going to the supermarket has become a real quest. If you consider the moral part, then you need to know the differences between organic, ecological and fair trade. In some cases, still not clear, and also this raises a question inside my little brain. If by mistake or because the fair trade bananas have run out it happens that I buy ordinary bananas, what does it mean? since these bananas are not fair trade, does it mean that I am helping some evil corporation who is using children to collect them? is it not this something that my Government should take care of with my tax money. I mean, if every time that I do my grocery shopping I need to run a deep investigation about how this product has been produced to keep a calm conscience, then what for is my Government? You might think that I am stretching too much my point making responsible for my evil bananas to the Government, but I am sure you are getting my point.
If in your shopping you decide to be health-oriented, then it is better you start with your Masters in Chemistry, for example I have found lately that to buy a yogurt has become more complicated than solving a Rubik’s cube. The offer is so wide, with Bifudes, with A+, with A-, fat-free, without lactose, with some very healthy bacteria,organic…I just want a yogurt!!! Also the organic stuff puzzles me, because it usually is far more expensive, and if I decide to buy non-organic stuff, does it mean that I am contaminating my body with toxins? what are the real bad one? how in the past survived without this mess?
I am not sure but these days I feel that more and more the individuals are bearing more responsabilities for certain things that should be somewhere else, and especially others who is their job description is to take care of exactly what they are not doing now.
Ibane's ramblings 