zondag 30 juni 2013

2013/22 Telling Truth



Telling Truth

Last week I saw a friend and at one point I said, “I am more engaged than someone who isn’t.” He laughed his butt off, but I said, “Let’s be clear. It is not hard to tell the truth. Maybe that’s why it is not that popular. It seems more fun for those who have tried all their lives to get to the top and have now conquered the throne to investigate how many lies they need to continue as before, not realizing they have changed.”
It has become logical and not really surprising that in many different parts of the world, people are raising their voices because of very simple things. Like in Istanbul, with a protest for a park; in Brazil, because of the price of a bus ticket; and in Bulgaria, because of a convicted criminal who was supposed to get a government throne for himself (plus immunity). Berlusconi made trouble, but he might possibly have made even more copycats who also make trouble…. Anyway. In each of these situations, a few people started up a particular protest, but many more felt it was a good occasion to raise their voices. In the face of massive violence by the authorities (whether ordered by ruling politicians or some police chief), many feel uncomfortable with the situation and soon all of the frustration comes out. It does not take much time before the most elementary of demands become a palette of wishes, desire and hope. It was marvelous to see the people on the streets in all three of these countries speaking with similar dignity. They are peaceful, and they do not want the collective wealth to be spent on the few elite. From that perspective, it was a relief to see Dilma Rousseff, president of Brazil, compared to Erdogan in Turkey.

On the site of a “philosophical café” I found this text that intrigued me:
Identity is a construct that originates in the interaction between a person and his environment, with society playing a pivotal role. That identity consists not only in the image we have of ourselves in relation to others, but also in our ethics. A changing society thus engenders a changing identity, instantly bringing with it other standards and values. This is what we have been experiencing in the last twenty-five years. We are living in a neo-liberal society, in which success is the criterion for normalcy and failure is indicative of a disorder. The new norm is efficiency; the goal is material profit; and the attendant virtue is greed. And none of that makes us happy.


Churchill said that democracy was terrible but the best system available. Being an evolutionist, I do not believe that revolution will make real change, even though it is obvious we must change the system. I guess we better vote people we know better or just wait until destruction takes so much away that we get tired.

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