First visit in a long time. Since March '09 in fact. I'm testing the batter capacity on my netbook right now and have seen a reflection of the way I surf - little and often. This means that I'm on top of current and social affairs. I've edited and uploaded a pic, and then my mind drifted elsewhere. To communication to be precise.
I was looking at the main pages of the BBC News site and thinking what a relatively local affair it really is. I know that it's the British BC and that's to be expected but where is the quality new service with a truly global view. I suspect nowhere because it would penetrate each country to such a shallow extent that it's commercial viability would deter most people.
It's a shame really, because, as inevitably as the dawn of a new day, we are moving to a global society. And we really need to.
Our consumption in the west is largely a matter of design and engineering - how things look and perform essentially. And it's the differences in these areas that define us. Our attitudes to those differences. You can apply it to any area, food, clothing, housing, MP3 players or Yo-yos.
The differences in are utterly irrelevant to our needs but everything to our wants and it's been the desire for choice, individuality or exclusivity in these areas that has skewed the world we share to the extent we see today. In terms of food and housing, all deprivation you see around the world today, every bit, is caused by those who seek to rise above their basic needs.
I was about to say 'And that's fine' but it's clearly not. It is fine to want desire more than you need. It's in our nature and precedes civilisation itself. What's not fine is the extent to which we deprive others to provide what we want.
Globalisation is about the correction of a process that's been taking place since the of civilisation - where the benefits of co-operation met the alpha male. The idea of a utopian society was there, but to this day could not survive. And they won't. Not until we, as individuals, start to think on a global scale.
We need to feel pain and joy as a species, not as tribes.
There were three mining disasters that I was aware of this year, 2010. Chile, New Zealand and China. More than 20 people died the in the Chinese accident but it was barely reported. Perhaps there is a political motive behind not upsetting the Mae West of the global economy by exposing the price they are prepared to pay for national prosperity. Whilst that's certainly possibly I suspect that it's more to do with our levels of sympathy in the West.
We need to realise that there are things taking place out there in the name of our desires that are simply awful. We also need to realise that our ability to pay for these desires will be depleted at the top of the consumer world as the benefits of civilisation are share more equally amongst our species. Most importantly, and if we wish to achieve the incredible, we need to be okay with this.
If we go with it, if we think as a species, we'll accumulate, appreciate and grow. If not, there will be war until the last soldier gets it. So how we get there is up to us, our governments and representatives, and it can start with how you view the news around the world.
