Hang up the bunting, pull out the streamers & don your best glad rags. I am told a party is in order for soon one of my charges reaches adulthood, soon she will be entitled to vote, drive, drink (legally) & get the much argued about tattoo without her mothers permission. This sudden swell of birthday sentiment in our household got me to thinking about the world she is coming into. Just as people offered their pearls of wisdom and prophetic views as to the world i turned 18 in I got to pondering what, in all fairness, she has to look forward too & I concluded not a lot.
If, like me, you read the morning paper over your coffee you will be only too aware that her adult life is going to spent growing gills due to global warming, never leaving the house for fear of a terrorist attack, working more hours than are in an eight day week just to pay for the poor management of the economy by world governments she didn't and couldn't vote for. Her children will listen to her harp on about films that were remakes when she was young, music that had been originally recorded before she was born then laced with an electronic drum beat by an 11 year old computer nerd in his parents attic. Fashion, if it follows the current trend, will get stuck in this 40 year loop where the grunge look will be back when her daughter is old enough to buy her 1st doc martins and get her first nose piercing.
My point is this, every generation has an obligation to make their own history, to leave their own mark on the world, a stamp saying we were here and this was us. The children of the 50's gave us slicked back hair, quiffs, hot rods & Elvis, the 60's 'Y' generation gave us free love, tye-dye, Bob Dylan & the CND symbol. The 70's kids stomped their footprint in history with punk hairstyles, Monty Python, Tartan trousers & The Sex Pistols. The 80's gave the world Madonna, Shoulder Pads, Blue eye shadow & the much feared Don Johnson from Miami Vice look (oh dear the memories), and even the children of the 90's gave us Nirvana, Summer Dresses with 14 hole doc martins, The TV show friends and outdoor raves. However i look now at the 70's punk hairstyles & face piercings, the remade 50's Elvis songs slapped together on an i-mac with a drum beat borrowed from any 90's dance track, the fingerless lace gloves Madonna wore in the 80's & the tree hugging environmentalists still spouting the same rhetoric that the 60's hippies did & i wonder what this generation has given?
In my last muse I pondered the young peoples need to have everything new, the latest of everything... Now i think i understand, it's because their culture is all old, all borrowed from generations gone by. They have nothing they can call their own, they create nothing of their own culture so material goods are their only way of feeling original. They call it 'Retro Chic' yet fail to notice that nobody went back to the horse and cart over the motor car, people didn't throw out CD's to go back to vinyl & I don't think schools have banned calculators in favour of the abacus and trigonometry tables. This i find very sad, but i can offer them one glimmer of hope, one shard of light in the never ending darkness of plagiarism.... Keep your clothes, your i-pods, your fashion magazines and your haircuts because in about 25 years when your mid life crisis kicks in... its all going to be in fashion again.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Everything Shiny & New
What ever happened to making do? To getting by with what you had and being thankful it was at least enough? Now it's all got to be brand spanking new, today's generation 'Y' don't want second hand, they wont settle for having enough, they want it all and they want it now.
Of late i have been discussing a car with one of my young charges who is currently terrorising road users with her 'L' plates. I suggested something a few years old perhaps about 10 years with a few scratches already in place, thinking that this hides the few that will get added to by all new drivers. Something small with low power, cheap insurance. I thought back with fond memories to my first car, bought by mum & dad a little 1.0L Metro in mint green with a brown interior was my first chariot to Independence, but that was fine, hey it even had a tape deck in it with four yes count them four speakers. Yes it was slow, no i wouldn't have chosen the colour, but that car never broke down on me, it carried me and my friends everywhere we wanted to go and cost less than a packet of smokes to insure per year.
Alas I'm told this is not acceptable, and may lead to the need for physiological session where young people blame their parents lack of support for the 12 deaths of school mates they just inflicted with a semi automatic rifle. No second hand wont do, its got to be new, its got to be the right colour, its got to have air con (hey my metro had windows what more do you need?) its got to have a CD Player that will plug my I-pod in and blue tooth my phone. It better not have a dull interior, or windows that require manual labour to open them. More over it's got to be all these things for $15,000 which I'm going to take out a 6 year loan for in an economy that's dying, which I'm going to pay for with the complete lack of job security everyone faces today... oh and would you sign the loan papers to say if i cant pay it you will?
Now to clarify i understand fashion, i get the need to be seen in the right places, wearing the right clothes, on the right mobile phone to the right kind of people, i think its bloody stupid, but i do understand it. This driven social acceptance has always been there, but it seems somewhere since owning Levi 501's and a pair of Nike trainers was all you needed to be in the 'In' crowd someone raised the bar. A car is an important purchase, and one that reflects the person which is why most peoples 1st car was a drab old little run around where a glove box light was considered an optional extra. This is fine as it reflects its owner.... poor.
It is a fact that a lot of economic problems suffered by young people, not just now but since time inmemorium, are a result of over taxing their income. It's a deluge of store credit, interest free, personal loans, credit cards for youngsters now, a rob peter to pay Paul mentality where they pay their visa with their MasterCard because all their wages are outgoing on loans meaning they have to use the ammerican express to do the weeks shopping. People my age blame banks, credit card companies etc, we argue that they act irresponsibly giving these 'Kids' all this debt, but i say no! It is society that puts pressure on these youngsters, demands for the sake of social acceptance they spend $200 on a pair of runners, commit to 2 years of debt to own the latest Nokia phone or 6 years of abject poverty just to drive a car that will be worth 1/3 less than they paid for it ten minuets after they drive out the garage.
So stop i say, you don't need electric windows, you don't need a blue tooth stereo, you don't need metallic paint and more the point you can't afford it no matter what your friends say.
Of late i have been discussing a car with one of my young charges who is currently terrorising road users with her 'L' plates. I suggested something a few years old perhaps about 10 years with a few scratches already in place, thinking that this hides the few that will get added to by all new drivers. Something small with low power, cheap insurance. I thought back with fond memories to my first car, bought by mum & dad a little 1.0L Metro in mint green with a brown interior was my first chariot to Independence, but that was fine, hey it even had a tape deck in it with four yes count them four speakers. Yes it was slow, no i wouldn't have chosen the colour, but that car never broke down on me, it carried me and my friends everywhere we wanted to go and cost less than a packet of smokes to insure per year.
Alas I'm told this is not acceptable, and may lead to the need for physiological session where young people blame their parents lack of support for the 12 deaths of school mates they just inflicted with a semi automatic rifle. No second hand wont do, its got to be new, its got to be the right colour, its got to have air con (hey my metro had windows what more do you need?) its got to have a CD Player that will plug my I-pod in and blue tooth my phone. It better not have a dull interior, or windows that require manual labour to open them. More over it's got to be all these things for $15,000 which I'm going to take out a 6 year loan for in an economy that's dying, which I'm going to pay for with the complete lack of job security everyone faces today... oh and would you sign the loan papers to say if i cant pay it you will?
Now to clarify i understand fashion, i get the need to be seen in the right places, wearing the right clothes, on the right mobile phone to the right kind of people, i think its bloody stupid, but i do understand it. This driven social acceptance has always been there, but it seems somewhere since owning Levi 501's and a pair of Nike trainers was all you needed to be in the 'In' crowd someone raised the bar. A car is an important purchase, and one that reflects the person which is why most peoples 1st car was a drab old little run around where a glove box light was considered an optional extra. This is fine as it reflects its owner.... poor.
It is a fact that a lot of economic problems suffered by young people, not just now but since time inmemorium, are a result of over taxing their income. It's a deluge of store credit, interest free, personal loans, credit cards for youngsters now, a rob peter to pay Paul mentality where they pay their visa with their MasterCard because all their wages are outgoing on loans meaning they have to use the ammerican express to do the weeks shopping. People my age blame banks, credit card companies etc, we argue that they act irresponsibly giving these 'Kids' all this debt, but i say no! It is society that puts pressure on these youngsters, demands for the sake of social acceptance they spend $200 on a pair of runners, commit to 2 years of debt to own the latest Nokia phone or 6 years of abject poverty just to drive a car that will be worth 1/3 less than they paid for it ten minuets after they drive out the garage.
So stop i say, you don't need electric windows, you don't need a blue tooth stereo, you don't need metallic paint and more the point you can't afford it no matter what your friends say.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Everything You Hate About You
"When you list all the qualities that you despise And you realise You're describing yourself " - S. Hogarth
It has been a while since i pondered some of the less important things in life, but recently i have noticed a shift in people which in turn led me to look into the mirror. As i have grown older i have become more cynical towards life, people and the interactions between the two, I have also become less and less tolerant towards the idealistic points of view of the younger generation. Upon realising this I began to postulate the cause & came to the conclusion that my intolerance of 'the perfect world' is not down to cynicism, but due to the painful reminder that i once held the same views, but that life's twists and turns have devoid me of them ever becoming a reality.
When we are young we hold to dreams of a better world, without poverty, without racism, without fear. Then we slowly have those dreams eroded by life. Yes charity is a great thing, indeed lets make poverty history, pity the starving, support the poor and destitute. These are the voices of the young, these hopes and optimism that we can make a difference, but then we start to earn, we struggle with mortgage repayments & use our very limited spare cash on a few special things. I have started to wonder why I should go to work all day to pay for the starving, the poor & the under privileged, and i think i have found why.
I am unequivocally sick to death of scroungers! I feel that the moaning dole bludger's, the single mothers, the disabled and every other drain on my pocket have diminished the needs of the truly destitute to a point where many feel that charity donations are now paid in their income tax. I already support a range of charities such as the I can't be bothered to get a job foundation, the Because I'm a worthless tramp with 5 kids by 5 blokes you have to support me charity, and my personal favorite the I broke the law and now feel society owes me something funding body.
I am traveled thanks to hard working parents who were generous enough to allow me the opportunities to see much of our world, I have seen the starving in Africa, I have seen the poor in Egypt, and although i sympathise with the cards life has dealt them I will no longer give up my hard earned for them, not while i give up so much of it for western societies dregs.
So I propose something to any and all who read this blog, selective taxation. If you are a tax payer read on... if your not stop reading and go get a job, you shouldn't be able to afford the Internet anyway. I suggest that we should be allowed to select the charities our taxes to towards. That unemployment agencies should be a charitable organisation that is only able to hand out that which it has received in donations. I am not against income tax in its essence, but i do wish i could say no to certain things. If $5 of my income tax is going towards people on social welfare in a country where work is available then i would like to opt out and give that $5 to something i feel needs funding such as children with cancer.
In my country the government are giving more and more to those who don't and taking more and more from those who do, this is wrong & tax payers should not have to foot the bill for a day spent eating McDonald's, watching Jerry Springer & filling out more claim forms from the social services. The simple argument is this... I work, You don't why should i pay for you to have an equal quality of life to me? now the dole scroungers (unemployed) will argue that they don't and that i should try living on what they do, well bad news I'm afraid dole bludgers, i have, and i do. My income does not exceed many of the households who live on social handouts, so stop bloody moaning and get a job, that will cut my income tax and you will be helping me have a better standard of living, but hell will freeze over before you do that wont it?
The only solution is revolution, stop paying your taxes, on mass, today. The worlds governments are going to find it very hard to pay outgoings of benefits with the income from taxation, then and only then will they see that tax payers are like anything, if you keep bleeding them they will die then you will be left with nothing.
It's been a disjointed post i know, but i have many things rattling inside my head at the moment so settle in for a few more over the coming weeks as i attempt to put the world to rights.
It has been a while since i pondered some of the less important things in life, but recently i have noticed a shift in people which in turn led me to look into the mirror. As i have grown older i have become more cynical towards life, people and the interactions between the two, I have also become less and less tolerant towards the idealistic points of view of the younger generation. Upon realising this I began to postulate the cause & came to the conclusion that my intolerance of 'the perfect world' is not down to cynicism, but due to the painful reminder that i once held the same views, but that life's twists and turns have devoid me of them ever becoming a reality.
When we are young we hold to dreams of a better world, without poverty, without racism, without fear. Then we slowly have those dreams eroded by life. Yes charity is a great thing, indeed lets make poverty history, pity the starving, support the poor and destitute. These are the voices of the young, these hopes and optimism that we can make a difference, but then we start to earn, we struggle with mortgage repayments & use our very limited spare cash on a few special things. I have started to wonder why I should go to work all day to pay for the starving, the poor & the under privileged, and i think i have found why.
I am unequivocally sick to death of scroungers! I feel that the moaning dole bludger's, the single mothers, the disabled and every other drain on my pocket have diminished the needs of the truly destitute to a point where many feel that charity donations are now paid in their income tax. I already support a range of charities such as the I can't be bothered to get a job foundation, the Because I'm a worthless tramp with 5 kids by 5 blokes you have to support me charity, and my personal favorite the I broke the law and now feel society owes me something funding body.
I am traveled thanks to hard working parents who were generous enough to allow me the opportunities to see much of our world, I have seen the starving in Africa, I have seen the poor in Egypt, and although i sympathise with the cards life has dealt them I will no longer give up my hard earned for them, not while i give up so much of it for western societies dregs.
So I propose something to any and all who read this blog, selective taxation. If you are a tax payer read on... if your not stop reading and go get a job, you shouldn't be able to afford the Internet anyway. I suggest that we should be allowed to select the charities our taxes to towards. That unemployment agencies should be a charitable organisation that is only able to hand out that which it has received in donations. I am not against income tax in its essence, but i do wish i could say no to certain things. If $5 of my income tax is going towards people on social welfare in a country where work is available then i would like to opt out and give that $5 to something i feel needs funding such as children with cancer.
In my country the government are giving more and more to those who don't and taking more and more from those who do, this is wrong & tax payers should not have to foot the bill for a day spent eating McDonald's, watching Jerry Springer & filling out more claim forms from the social services. The simple argument is this... I work, You don't why should i pay for you to have an equal quality of life to me? now the dole scroungers (unemployed) will argue that they don't and that i should try living on what they do, well bad news I'm afraid dole bludgers, i have, and i do. My income does not exceed many of the households who live on social handouts, so stop bloody moaning and get a job, that will cut my income tax and you will be helping me have a better standard of living, but hell will freeze over before you do that wont it?
The only solution is revolution, stop paying your taxes, on mass, today. The worlds governments are going to find it very hard to pay outgoings of benefits with the income from taxation, then and only then will they see that tax payers are like anything, if you keep bleeding them they will die then you will be left with nothing.
It's been a disjointed post i know, but i have many things rattling inside my head at the moment so settle in for a few more over the coming weeks as i attempt to put the world to rights.
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