|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TWENTY SOMETHING by Ishi Dinim
I was happily surprised that there were so many responses to the first column,
through emails and meetings on the street. People of all ages replied with words
of encouragement, creative ideas, places to visit and a bit of vitriol as well.
Some recent thoughts are revolving around the heavy cultural impetus placed on
purchasing, democracy malfunctioning and food as always.
"Where does my food come from, who is producing it, and is it good for me?"
These questions were once asked by only a small minority of consumers. Now that
mainstream media is increasingly paying attention to BSE, farmed salmon, GMOs,
dangerous fats, E. coli, these and other vital concerns are in the forefront.
People who never considered that their food might be dangerous are now starting
to look for alternatives in their grocery store.
Hey, I love going out for dinner but I never really know what’s going to
be served on my plate? At least at home I know that the point of creation and
finer quality of food in the kitchen are safer and ethical for humans, animals
and our environment. Not to mention how expensive going out all the time is. Dining
out is probably my biggest contribution to the economy.
I tried to resist buying during this past holiday session. It is really challenging
to curtail consumption while being inundated at every turn with ads and newsbytes
about shopping this and sale that. I caved and purchased three second-hand gifts
from a small store.
The next wave of prescribed buying will be Saint Valentine’s Day. Prepare
yourself for the manipulation coming over the airwaves. Try doing something different
than the dozen roses or the box of chocolates that are expected of you.
Speaking of expectations, what does the private/public hybrid behemoth expect
of you? It expects you to accept the dismantling of health, education and other
institutions that benefit society. It expects you to passively watch the sanitized
made-for-TV version of the so-called war on terror. All the while you should be
spending your limited resources on purchases of questionable value, cherishing
your democratic right to graze in the fields of consumer freedom.
Power brokers know that if you do demonstrate against this domination that they
can intimidate your protests violently, discredit your message on the nightly
news, or give it no coverage at all, as if it never happened. I’m not trying
to dissuade you from participating. What is the opposite of being an activist,
an inactivist? It sure is good to be healthy and have an opportunity to do something,
anything...
I was listening to a CBC radio emission. The topic was the shrinking military
enrollment in industrialized nations. A European study found that the number of
people in the first world choosing a military career was diminishing and that
the armies of the "free world" were projected to be in jeopardy of shrinking
drastically. To counter this trend many countries are offering greater incentives,
such as a paid education and cash signing bonuses, for people generally uninterested
by a career in warfare. The study also found that in countries with high unemployment,
people were more likely to look for a career in the military. Maybe that is why
Bush is grinding his country’s economy into the ground.
Unemployment is a huge problem globally. This poses a major obstacle to peoples’
independence, but maybe nowhere more than in Iraq right now. I’ve read that
the rates of unemployment are between 60 and 85 percent.
Not only do they want jobs, Iraqis from all walks of life want Saddam to go on
trial. However, they want his old American supporters like Donald Rumsfeld to
face trial as well. What do you think the chances of that are?
Growing up I’ve watched many films with unlikely scenarios. Corrupt powers
and sci-fi futures seem more and more believable; The Matrix, Brazil, The Pelican
Brief, Sleepers, The Running Man, The Devil’s Advocate, A Civil Action,
The Stuff. Now that there are terminator seeds, terminator companies and terminator
politicians, some red flags are definitely going up for me. Our culture’s
accepted forms of entertainment celebrate crippling violence, rampant theft, prostitution-profiteering,
murder and various other deplorable acts. Why do we digest such copious amounts
of behaviour that we wouldn’t accept in our own lives? I’m baffled
at how much I consume through images of events that I would never want to experience
first hand.
Let me finish by sending a message to Prime Minister Paul Martin that Canada has
no need for a nuclear missile shield on our soil and we have no business in assisting
our belligerent neighbours in constructing one, thanks.
Quotables:
"The dangers that confront the future of mankind as a whole are greater to
the world and therefore to us than the dangers which confront the people of the
United States by and in themselves alone."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Address on Armistice Day, Arlington National Cemetery,
Fort Myer, Va., Nov. 11, 1935
"Don’t you wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence?
There’s one marked 'Brightness,' but it doesn’t work."
- Gallagher
"Who’s killed more kids in America, rock music or military recruiting
ads?"
- Jello Biafra
"You know everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects."
- Will Rogers, New York Times, August 31, 1924
"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane
every night of our lives."
- William Dement
Brain food:
www.ibiblio.org
www.bushin30seconds.org
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/casualties/facesofthefallen.htm
www.skyfishproject.org
www.prwatch.org
www.guerrillanews.com/stauber
www.nomadicalternatives.com
www.virtualom.com
www.fair.org
www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/index.html
www.forumsocialmundial.org
www.anti-ignorance.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=11
Ishi Dinim graduated from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2001, with
a BFA major in photography. He is interested in various forms of art production,
film being his greatest. Currently he lives in Vancouver, collecting cacti and
trying to discover the meaning of life. Waiting
to hear echoes back... contactishi@yahoo.ca
 Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
