26sep2002: The world today: Asia.
The old guard in China refuses to hand over power to the younger generation,
and a fifth of the world's population remains unable to criticise its government
without a jail sentence, while the Uighurs and Tibetans within their borders
die off both physically and culturally. India and Pakistan are still holding
who's-got-the-biggest-missile-nyah-nyah-nyah sneering contests across a
buckshot-riddled valley. And in Japan, the top banker admits his plan to
bankrupt the Bank of Japan was just a ploy to force the Finance Minister's
hand, while the world's second-largest economy continues to sink under the
weight of 200trillion Yen in bad loans.
Middle-eastways, the fragile compact between
the House of Saud and Islamic mullahs in Saudi Arabia continues to churn
out millions of unemployable young men with worldviews practically guaranteed
to include jealous hatred of any non-Muslim. In Israel, Sharon pounds innocent
Palestinians, bouyed by Washington's uncritical - and apparently unconditional
- support. And apparently there's also something going down in some country
called Iraq.
In the US, Dick 'Oilman' Cheney and Donald 'Make
my day, punk' Rumsfeld continue to hold W's leash while he wags his tail
towards those juicy future oil concessions. Also in Washington, the G7,
IMF, and World Bank talk about which direction the deckchairs should be
facing on the Titanic, and - oh, just forget about that iceberg over there.
While lawmakers restrict stem cell research that could bring quality of
life to millions, all on the basis that their invisible friend might not
like it.
In London, Alan 'The Fireman' Greenspan is given
a knighthood for - er - thinking he could control national economies by
massaging the Big Board, sucking billions of capital out of tomorrow's innovations.
His Royal Toniness Prime Minister Blair finally grudgingly accepts that
it's a good idea to talk to the UK's elected representatives before shuffling
into Baghdad to face Saddam's ABC weapons (with SA80 rifles that fall apart
on contact with sand.) Or worse, face the far scarier prospect of US friendly
fire. (Advice from a British paratrooper I once met: when going into battle
alongside Americans, LOOK AT THE YANKS FIRST!)
While deep below London's streets, Tube trains start up again after
a 36-hour strike that resolved nothing. Following a weekend in which 400,000
mild-mannered rural people felt their government was so unresponsive they
needed to march on Whitehall. And also on the Thames, London's mayor, two
years into office, has achieved nothing save build a 20-storey glass testicle
to work in and recruited 500 staff who follow the Mayor's lead in shuffling
newspapers from one side of their desks to the other.
In France, JM6 turns a wonderfully solid Vivendi
into a debt-ridden shell while his country fudges a eurozone accord, further
proving the fiction that monetary alignment can happen without political
alignment. Italy continues to have essentially no government, PM Berlusconi
spending more time being Italy's top businessman. Which would be just fine,
except this non-goverment persists in sucking tax euros out of 60 million
people. Germany's economy competes with Japan for the Most Disappointing
Performance award, and for the same cultural reasons. And everywhere, nobody's
having kids, meaning there'll be nobody tomorrow to pay the taxes it'll
take to keep alive all those old folk who forgot to take out decent insurance,
foolishly expecting governments to 'take care of it'.
All this can be summed up in a single
phrase - the most worrying thought I've had in years. I don't think I've
ever had so strong an impression that...
I AM SURROUNDED BY ABSOLUTE FUCKING IDIOTS!!!
The public sector, those who
make laws, those who enforce them, and the upper echelons of business today
are a ragtag mob of absolute, complete and total, utterly valueless incompetents.
And that's the worst part. They're just - incompetent. Not vindictive; not
evil; many of these men (they are all men) are probably pretty nice guys
if you met them socially! The problem is that they're just plain stupid.
Unholy mother of fuck, I left school at 16 yet I
appear to have a better grasp of macroeconomics than anyone at the World
Bank or in most boardrooms. Why are there so few economists and executives
these days able to even read a fucking balance sheet? Or understand the
basic principles of income vs expenditure? (Heee-lllloooo, Argentina!) Or
realise the difference between right and wrong? (Hi, Ken Lay! Hi, Dennis
Kozlowski!) Or even - this is the worst - understand that they've got responsibilities
to face up to?
Of course, like valueless fucks in all walks of
life, these people are going to whine at anyone who dares to suggest they're
not doing an adequate job. They'll whine about how hard they're working,
the things they've learnt, the results they're sure to produce if you just
give them yet another chance. What they don't understand is: it doesn't
matter if you didn't get results but you know you're able to. It doesn't
matter if you didn't produce any output but think you will sometime in the
future. All that matters is this: YOU DIDN'T. And in today's world, so many
people in public life - simply - DON'T.
Maybe I should do a
'Fight Club', and try to turn the world back to zero so at least the structures
of ingrained incompetence will be gone - and there'll be a chance for better
people to take over. I've always had two sides to my personality anyway.
