Thanks for information about Dennis Orn - one has to hope some can survive our jungle. I want to believe in Obama, but frankly don't. It's so difficult to imagine anyone can survive our political party systems (anywhere) and remain an OK person. Our own MP and councillors are pathetic in a way Obama is not - the corruption is at very low levels. It might be interesting to poll on whether any of us really do know any politicians like 'Orn's Dennis'. I was in a relationship with a government minister some years back (argh! my future is all behind me!), having known her as a political activist years before (I was on the 'other side' then despite my leftie leanings). I had really liked her and we almost married. She turned out to be utterly useless other than in feathering her own nest once she was on the inside track, all the democratic politics forgotten (was it ever real?) - and I still quake at my own deception. We met fairly recently as she did talk about the old days and how the 'corruption' got to her. This wasn't much different from what some old cops say about being on the inside of things and it being disloyal to make them public. It was a difficult meeting as I still tend to see her as I did then and it's rather swooning. I've never felt she was just an opportunist, but even the union road is littered with turncoats. We held hands and laughed at some documentary footage of the enemy (here the Conservative Party) doing much the kind of local case work with crime and domestic violence victims she used to get me into - the laughs being about the 180 degree turn in who was doing this. There were some tears about where the compassion went, some talk of means to ends and being convinced everything was too complicated once you had to do deals.
I've just turned down a job in Iran (partly because I'm not fit to cope but also because I can't see me doing any good and some fears on personal safety). I think answers might lie in international project collaborations - on farming, construction, education, policing - because 'ordinary' people are the only answer. Here, I think (say) that Vam and I swapping 'duties' and countries with our families could do more good than the 'Noble' stuff, if enough of us could do it and there must be some virtual way into this on a large scale. I suppose, simplified to the extreme, I think we could change leadership by being able to ignore it. Vam and I could swap without fear of the English Defence League or its Indian equivalent - but there are parts of the world this is not true of. Withering away this kind of idiocy (which is not just abject racism) would also wither away the need for that part of the State that 'protects' us from it. The Ignobles have become all-too-Noble these days Don. We'd have to refuse one! Changeri was in the frame for the Nobel (Zimbabwe) and we don't really know if he is just a Mugabe in waiting. Kissinger got it for ending a war that was still going on he had expanded into other countries. Maybe Obama shouldn't have been humbled and insisted he is too worthy to accept? On 9 Oct, 13:27, Don Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > Picked with a two week resume, he joins the Nobel club with such > luminaries as Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat. How fitting. Dividends > from the World Apology Tour '09. > > Time to expand on that Ignobel list Archy. > > dj > > > > On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 4:18 AM, frantheman <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > So, the prize committee chooses Obama, less than a year after he has > > begun to operate on the world stage, before many concrete results have > > been seen. > > > Spontaneously, I see this as a gesture of thankfulness and hope; > > thankfulness to the American people that they have elected a successor > > to Bush, a man who did so much global damage, a successor who works > > with different visions and ideal-structures, a more positive > > fundamental view of what it means to be human and what societies > > (local, national and global) can and should be doing and achieving. > > > Hope that he will realise some of this vision and trust that his > > country and the world puts in him. The past few months have made me a > > little concerned that the experts and lobbyists, advisors and > > professional analysts are wearing him down with detail and > > realpolitik. > > > Maybe this award will strengthen that "Yes, we can" impetus, in the > > face of the everyday inertia of the thousand arguments of > > complicatedness against changing anything, against daring to hope. > > > Francis --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
