Journal of a Futurist

[rubydick]

Below is the latest installment from Aussie Richard Neville. I've been reading him since I was a wee lad of eighteen running around Europe. He founded a youth paper in the 60's Down Under, then traveled overland to Europe, an epic journey chronicled in his classic "Play Power: Exploring the International Youth Underground." Once in the UK, Neville founded the underground paper, OZ; his partner co-wrote the Cream song "Sunshine of Your Love."

Later, he documented the odd case of serial murderer, Charles Sobraj, who cut a dark swath through the youth underground of India, Nepal and Thailand, just as I was finding my feet in those lands.

Today, RN is back in Oz, and has lost none of his edge. For those who hanker to know what others elsewhere think, you'll do no better than to take a gander at the sharp cat scratches from the always-pointed pen of Richard Neville:

Journal of a Futurist

 

[valeria101]

How nice!

Gotta frame this one: "It’s a mystery that our Prime Minister ever got elected, because no-one admits to voting for him". Keeping a good mantra on the wall (desktop?) should do some good.

There''s a good amount of hidden Gulags, irresponsible politicians and even more irresponsible voters around here. The first two plagues are old, the third - still shiny. I wonder if Neville is not too optimistic implying some form of "voter''s remorse" - haven''t seen much of that going around.

 

[rubydick]

Ana,

Yes, voter remorse does seem in short supply, doesn''t it. I''m one of those that believes, at least in regard to the last few elections here in the US, that there''s been wholesale vote theft. I figure Kerry probably won by at least 5%. But even with that jaded view, it does leave 45% of the US voting public with a lot to answer for, doesn''t it?

Sadly, we all think it couldn''t happen here. Neville talks about Thailand, about the brave remarks of their King. What he doesn''t mention is that the current PM, Thaksin (or Toxin, as my friends refer to him), was elected with an overwhelming majority a few years ago. This is a guy who was a former minor police officer who suddenly made billions through crony capitalism. Someone elected because many thought he knew how to run a business. And now suddenly, following more crony capitalism and a slew of extrajudicial killings and dissident arrests the people of Thailand have woken up and are saying: "Gosh, what have we done?" Not unlike the Aussies or us Yanks. I can just see a whole bunch of Germans nodding to themselves. Been there, done that.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 1/24/2006 9:44:30 PM
Author: Richard Hughes

This is a guy who was a former minor police officer who suddenly made billions through crony capitalism. Someone elected because many thought he knew how to run a business.

Unfortunately, my works does not let me forget what politics looks like in 'developing' countries throughout. Thailand is not my 'speciality' but the broad lines sound all too familiar.

It was so nice of him to start the article wishing Mr. B could have issued some discourse of postmodern heaven - alternative fuels included!, but I couldn't refrains from a 'so what' reading that. Western literature is rife with virtuous examples from remote lands - bleached of all sins for the sake of some philosophic lesson (did Russeau start the trend?). The nicest speeches are told when known to be ineffective. If not precisely because of that. One more... one less, what's that gonna do?

What I find very admirable in writers like Neville is that they don't get jaded, bored, disgusted, desperate... or anything. How do they do it?

 

[Rank Amateur]

I laughed out loud when I read Neville''s three GOOD things about America. I presume after some thinkthinkthink three was all he could muster.

Some futurist. He''s been predicting doom for forty years.

 

[rubydick]

Date: 1/25/2006 6:14:35 PM
Author: Rank Amateur

I laughed out loud when I read Neville''s three GOOD things about America. I presume after some thinkthinkthink three was all he could muster.

Some futurist. He''s been predicting doom for forty years.

Finally, found another Neville fan. There are far too few. Heh, heh.

Neville''s really not quite the pessimist. Read his Play Power and you''ll understand someone who was raised in the so-called First World, but after traveling through the Third realized that colonialism did not die following WWII. It simply changed its rhetorical spots. And the beat goes on.

Think about it. We''ve gone from the war on communism through the war on drugs to the war on terrorism. The only common thread is war. Always gotta have an enemy, gotta have that war.

And just what does this mean? For the common man/woman, it is simple fear. Fear justifies the need to sacrifice an ever-larger slice of their personal income to national "defense." Fear justifies an ever-larger sacrifice of liberties. Sacrificing liberties means even less oversight, which means even more abuse, which means even more government theft.

But what does such continual war really mean? For Americans, it simply means that, for the self-declared "richest country on earth" a nice portion of their pockets are picked. While other nations put their money into public health care and education, Americans continually feed the defense department jones. While syncophants like Condi Rice run around the world speaking about the danger of increasing Chinese military spending, Americans are entirely ignorant that their tax dollars support a military-industrial complex that spends more dollars than the next ten nations combined. And most of those are our allies! Some threat, eh?

Yes, some will label this "conspiracy." I''ve left off the "theory" on purpose. Like any trial, one should examine the evidence before making a decision. It''s just that an honest decision is tough when most of the jury is asleep.

For sleeping jurists, our legal system generally provides a replacement. Sadly, our political system does the opposite. Many democracies have a voting requirement. Many declare election day a national holiday. Not us. Our "democratic" system is anything but.

Direct elections? Not us. If we had that, Al Gore, who won the 2000 election by over 500,000 votes, would be president.