Iraq is in the news again - though I don't know why it's been out of the news, the conflict has been ongoing since the invasion began, but people like to forget these things happened. They catch up with their celebrity news, get caught up in the next viral sensation and look at pictures of cats on the internet. But life for people in Afghanistan and Iraq has become incredibly worse since their countries were invaded on the pretext of bringing them democracy, or trying to find weapons of mass destruction, or I forget. Because there were so many reasons, that there was no real justification. But we know the real reason, the opportunity was there, and the US wanted to take some resources and improve the President's approval rating, while allowing their warmongering friends the chance to profit from death. It's one of the greatest injustices of recent times, and they're still getting away with it. In Iraq, the town of Mosul was recently overrun by a group of 'insurgents' during a period when the US is looking to transition out of the country. Barack Obama has stated that Iraq has to figure out its own problems and look to defeat militants. What a joke right?! The US created these problems, and now they are looking to escape responsibility. You can't get out of things so easily. They have a moral obligation to oversee things now that they've been responsible (directly and indirectly) for so many deaths of innocent people. Then this morning Tony Blair said that the new developments in Iraq have nothing to do with the invasion. That man needs to wake up to reality (besides being tried for war crimes), and understand that they have created the problem. They went in blind, without understanding all the tribal sensitivities (let alone religious ones) that happen in that region of the world. They didn't have any region specialists for intelligence, or if they did, they have zero cultural understanding of the region, cause they really misjudged what would happen once the dictatorship regime was destablised. More people need to understand they have been lied to, and that other people, just like them, are being killed everyday in scores.
The thing that really irks me about social justice blogger is their current war on real equality. Everyone should be treated equally, but things don't really make sense in a real world setting. One of my favourite cartoons about equality is an image of 3 kids at a sporting match trying to look over a fence to view the action. Equality is giving them all the same stools to stand on and look over the fence. But only the first 2 can see over the fence because they are taller, whereas the third's vision is still blocked by the fence because they're short. But actual equality means handing the kids stools of different sizes. This allows them all to view the match at the same height. That's a good vision. But social justice these days seems to veer more towards enforcing double standards. That's not right, and it doesn't make any sense.
What strikes me is this level of constant production and consumerism. Let's look at the example of cars. Manufacturers make cars endlessly. But they don't reckon on the competition of other car makers, but themselves too. Cars aren't one time only deals. You're expected to use it for 5-10 years (if you buy new) and pay retail prices. Then after that, you sell that car to someone else for a presumably long use period. In that time period, how many cars would be manufactured? And cars aren't usually just 1 per person, your entire family uses it. But the rate of production for cars just goes on and on. You go past car lots and there are just thousands upon thousands of cars. No wonder they are all in financial trouble. Say what you will about boutique car makers, their cars are overpriced, yes, but at least they have the good sense not to overmake vehicles. They limit their own production. Manufacturers need to learn how to adapt to a changing marketplace. They need to set limits on their cars, and if cars do not sell, they should reclaim them and use the parts in future cars. That's how all of society needs to survive in the future, because our resources are not unlimited. We should have realised this from the start.
Just under 60 minutes to go and then I'm done. It's been a long day, that's for sure. Nothing is everything. Everything is nothing. And so it is.
Joaquin out.
