poetry in commotion...

Looks Like You've Got a Case of The Blues

I got called in to work today at Southlands, and boy that place is messed up. The place is getting run into the ground by Glen (Chong is on holiday), no one wants to work, and evryone has their own personal issues. Add these to a lot of other people I know who seem to be feeling down, and it looks like everyone's got the case of the blues. I could say I'd be happy to talk to people if they have any problems, but to tell you the truth, I don't. Not because of what you're thinking, that I'm some sort of uncaring bastard, but because I'd be happier if my friends and loved ones had no problems at all. However, it goes without saying that if you do have problems, I'm always available to talk to, but you guys know that, and I know that I'm probably wasting my breath since there are some things people just don't want to talk about, and I do them no favour by pressing an issue which isn't my business to know.

What I will talk about, is the conversations I had while working, which while interesting, is bad because it's the sort of topic I get heated up about. Now, I tonight I worked with Andy and Ciaran, and Andy is the only other person I find working in Seafood that is capable of serious discussion about current issues that don't involve which orifice the guys would enter in that girl or which chick has the bigger rack in checkout. However, it's kind of a case of mixed blessings, for although there are a lot of things we can talk about, there are also a lot of issues in which we are diametrically opposed to, which I guess is not surprising given our relative profiles. Andy is a budding playwright studying arts in Curtin, and enjoys alternative music and classic literature. He has left wing leanings, though no overly so. While I share his interests in alternative music and to a lesser extent classic literature, I study commerce and politically sway towards the right. Anyway, it started off with one of the typical hippie throwaway statistics, something along the lines of "If every government and organisation on earth stopped spending on weapons, the total amount saved could feed, clothe and educate every child for the next ten thousand years", and how if it wasn't for the military the world would be a safer place. My reply was along the lines of "Typical hippie dreamland nonsense", which probably wasn't the best reply to such a statemnt.

I won't go into the particulare nuances of the conversation, but I will cover all the diiferent points raised during this heated debate. Lets begin with that statement. The world would be a safer, happier place without all this spending on weapons. You'd agree perhaps, how it could be better spent on feeding the poor, how all this spending was a needless waste of money, or somesuch inane comment on the issue. However, there are several problems I have with these sorts of staements. That is, they fail to acount for human behaviour, and worse, is the same trite nonsense spouted by every hippie without thought or comprehension. My answer is this; the spending on military is just as important to the wellbeing of people as food and clothing is. Why is that? Let me give you a hypothetical scenario - 1939, the UK, Russia and US cut military spending to nil, and feed and clothe all those poor people in AFrica/Asia and any other impoverished countries. What could happen? We could be living under the iron fist of fascism, with Big Brother watching our every move. It is the curse of humanity that our diversity is our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness. There are many who want to be healers, helpers, artisans and builders. Yet, thre are many who would wish to become kings and conquerors, to wield the power of life and death and become, in their own way, a god. Food an clothing are important, but so is freedom. We could have everything in the world, but what would be the use if we had all our decisions made for us? We will never have true freedom, for such freedom is one without laws to limit our conduct, and freedom without consequence is prone to abuse. However, the freedom to live as we see fit without impinging on the freedoms and rights of the others, the freedom to make our own decisions to choose what we want, is the freedom that is just as essential to our health as food and shelter is. Ever seen a caged animal? They don't live as long as the free ones. Its not their bodies that die first, but their spirit. Without spirit, we are but empty husks adrift in a sea of misery.

Now what really annoyed me wasn't just that statement, but tangentially, the mindless filth that spouts from arts students and other assorted wannabe objectors, adamant in their support for an ever so stylish cause without research nor thought. This is especially true of those wearing their Che Guevera shirts while screaming "Free Palestine!", often with some play or reference to a "Final Solution" or some equally vehement anti-Israeli rhetoric. I won't get started about the Middle East, because it's something I'm passionate about, and if I start I won't stop. What I will say however, is why is it everyone screams for a "free palestine" . What is it about their plight that makes them so special to arts students/protestors everywhere? Why is it the plight of the rebels in Aceh gets no mention, despite the fact that indonesia, a supposedly democratic country and a "model example of secular rule that incorporates all the tenets of Islam" continues to occupy them without consent, and destroys their native jungle/forest with large stripmines, proceeds of which never reach the natives, as they continue to live in impoverished conditions in muddy villages. Their crops are also washed away by floods due to deforestation and the dams built to power these mine sites. This is the same country whose military, according to a Human Rights Watch report, is attributed to a role in "extrajudical executions, "disappearances," torture, and collective punishment, as well as its efforts to restrict fundamental rights of expression, assembly, and association, particularly with regard to a student-led organization called SIRA (an acronym for Sentral Informasi Referendum Aceh or the Aceh Referendum Information Center.)". This is also the same country whose military sponsored pro indonesian militia to terrorise the East Timorese, and when losing the election, stripped the place bare before they withdrew. Don't let me mislead you, both Indonesia and GAM (one of the Aceh's many freedom movements) are equally guilty in their human rights abuses, but the fact remains, one side is being occupied against their will by another. Yet where are the slogans denouncing Indonesia? Why are they fighting for a (questionable) cause half a world away, while a subjucated peoples battles for freedom practically on our doorstep?

Theres usually always a moral in every one of these rants of mine which you have to seek yourself, but I'll tell you today's one. Don't ever follow a cause without thinking about it first. Never support something you don't know much of, no matter how it seems right outwardly. Just because everyone is supporting that cause doesn't mean you have to. The whole point of those protests are to bring to light injustices people never knew existed. We already know about the Middle East, how about we support our neighbours closer to home, whose struggle remains unlamented nor supported. So the next time you see some jumped up ever-so-righteously-indignant arts student/hippy rave about Palestine, ask them about their thoughts on the Aceh issue. Chances are they won't have a clue what you're talking about.



"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud"
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

posted by jaseypoo! @ 11:48 PM