‘No matter who you vote for, the government always seems to get in.’
You’re watching a video. You see a picture of a black-skinned child in ragged clothes, followed by footage of a combine harvester in a massive field of wheat, followed by a picture of a traffic jam. The sound is off. What do you think?
You might surmise it’s about the impact of bio-fuels on global hunger. You might even take it as further proof that the problem is on the rise. You might think it’s about famine relief and issues with logistics. You flick the television off because you’ve got other things to get on with but you take your impression with you, and never find out it was about education in sub-Saharan Africa being sponsored by a bread producer in Johannesburg. Meanwhile your initial prejudices, whatever they were, have been strengthened, with further live-footage ‘proof’.
‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’
But is this the only reason governments and bodies of power across the globe hide, obfuscate, deny, fudge and bury glaring inconsistencies in policies to be implemented? Is this why spin-doctors are some of the most powerful and influential people around, the more so in countries where people-power supposedly has a firmer hold?
A few months ago, Washington passed a bill banning states from requiring labeling on GMO products. This was touted (by the U.S. House) as ‘the first step along the way toward getting a sound policy for agricultural biotechnology in the U.S.’. Since when has not labeling foods been sound agricultural policy? How can anyone not speaking from within the confines of a straitjacket come out with this?
No doubt, partly because of pay-outs somewhere along the line. Probably at multiple places. But it’s also because millions of consumers have thrown up automatic and gut-reaction defenses to flickering images of Big Pharma killing bees, pumping unknown toxins into mass-produced crops, engineering bread that will sell your soul to the Devil and come to life and eat you in the night. They don’t have the time or the will to consider that whether you breed an organism the ‘natural’ way or you mix it up in a test tube you’re still doing the same thing.
Sure, cock-ups happen. Quite recently a herd of cows had to be put down because someone took it into their heads to create a breed that was naturally vicious. Not GMO, just plain old farming. These things went roaming the paddock like a pack of uddered Velociraptors, completely out of control. Why would anyone do such a thing? Who knows. Not coming out of a test tube doesn’t make the cows any better. The obverse is also true. But because so many people start foaming at the mouth and speaking in tongues when confronted by the GMO label, the government wants to get rid of it. Bribery, nepotism, vote rigging, fraud, scamming, global market domineering and statistic butchering occur across all fields, whether they’re engineered or home-grown.
The effect of half-arsed and scaremongering ‘investigations’ is actually to help hide issues. It doesn’t expose, it doesn’t rectify, it doesn’t address. It creates even more inconsistencies. It pushes the price of registering a new GMO product to such stratospheric heights that by definition only the biggest companies can control production. They reap profits that might otherwise be distributed more equitably. It’s a self-fulfilling cycle, repeated ad nauseam.
‘Democracy is government by discussion, but it’s only effective if you can stop people talking.’
More flickering-image-no-facts-sad-music videos came up during a recent ‘discussion’ with some Nearest and Dearest. Oh dear, we’re into vaccines. Gut-reaction on all sides, with anti-vaxxers wringing hands at Big Pharma and pro-vaxxers armed to the teeth ready to shoot all anti-vaxxers on sight. Everyone grabbing the nearest statistic or the most sad-faced ‘victim’ and hurling it with abandon at the opposite camp. If there are any neutral parties they’re felt out by each side and tested for ripeness, sometimes forced into declaring allegiances.
In a corner of the battlefield, an on-screen government representative is caught red-handed burying pertinent facts. The usual bluster ensues but there’s no denying it. The issues are eventually taken up and investigated, but whatever the outcome, it will at most result in a modification in administration or a further caveat attached to the drug. So why would the government hide it? Because of the inevitable ensuing mud-bath, obviously.
The law of consumerism is that production follows demand. We can’t moan about television being filled with crap if we consent to watch it. We can’t complain about our children being ignorant if we don’t educate them. We can’t bemoan a knee-jerking and obfuscating government that doesn’t bother to look at the real issues if we lead the way ourselves in our daily lives. Violent societies have violent governments, indolent societies indolent heads, and corrupt societies corrupt leaders. Quite often all of the above together. What a combo.
Certain Biblical sayings about sowing and reaping spring to mind.
The remedy and answer to everything? Apart from 42?
Elvis says: ‘A little less conversation, a little more action please.’ The Dalai Lama says, ‘When you listen, you may learn something.’ Those two, and 42. That should do the trick.
You’re watching a video. You see a picture of a black-skinned child in ragged clothes, followed by footage of a combine harvester in a massive field of wheat, followed by a picture of a traffic jam. The sound is off. What do you think?
You might surmise it’s about the impact of bio-fuels on global hunger. You might even take it as further proof that the problem is on the rise. You might think it’s about famine relief and issues with logistics. You flick the television off because you’ve got other things to get on with but you take your impression with you, and never find out it was about education in sub-Saharan Africa being sponsored by a bread producer in Johannesburg. Meanwhile your initial prejudices, whatever they were, have been strengthened, with further live-footage ‘proof’.
‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’
But is this the only reason governments and bodies of power across the globe hide, obfuscate, deny, fudge and bury glaring inconsistencies in policies to be implemented? Is this why spin-doctors are some of the most powerful and influential people around, the more so in countries where people-power supposedly has a firmer hold?
A few months ago, Washington passed a bill banning states from requiring labeling on GMO products. This was touted (by the U.S. House) as ‘the first step along the way toward getting a sound policy for agricultural biotechnology in the U.S.’. Since when has not labeling foods been sound agricultural policy? How can anyone not speaking from within the confines of a straitjacket come out with this?
No doubt, partly because of pay-outs somewhere along the line. Probably at multiple places. But it’s also because millions of consumers have thrown up automatic and gut-reaction defenses to flickering images of Big Pharma killing bees, pumping unknown toxins into mass-produced crops, engineering bread that will sell your soul to the Devil and come to life and eat you in the night. They don’t have the time or the will to consider that whether you breed an organism the ‘natural’ way or you mix it up in a test tube you’re still doing the same thing.
Sure, cock-ups happen. Quite recently a herd of cows had to be put down because someone took it into their heads to create a breed that was naturally vicious. Not GMO, just plain old farming. These things went roaming the paddock like a pack of uddered Velociraptors, completely out of control. Why would anyone do such a thing? Who knows. Not coming out of a test tube doesn’t make the cows any better. The obverse is also true. But because so many people start foaming at the mouth and speaking in tongues when confronted by the GMO label, the government wants to get rid of it. Bribery, nepotism, vote rigging, fraud, scamming, global market domineering and statistic butchering occur across all fields, whether they’re engineered or home-grown.
The effect of half-arsed and scaremongering ‘investigations’ is actually to help hide issues. It doesn’t expose, it doesn’t rectify, it doesn’t address. It creates even more inconsistencies. It pushes the price of registering a new GMO product to such stratospheric heights that by definition only the biggest companies can control production. They reap profits that might otherwise be distributed more equitably. It’s a self-fulfilling cycle, repeated ad nauseam.
‘Democracy is government by discussion, but it’s only effective if you can stop people talking.’
More flickering-image-no-facts-sad-music videos came up during a recent ‘discussion’ with some Nearest and Dearest. Oh dear, we’re into vaccines. Gut-reaction on all sides, with anti-vaxxers wringing hands at Big Pharma and pro-vaxxers armed to the teeth ready to shoot all anti-vaxxers on sight. Everyone grabbing the nearest statistic or the most sad-faced ‘victim’ and hurling it with abandon at the opposite camp. If there are any neutral parties they’re felt out by each side and tested for ripeness, sometimes forced into declaring allegiances.
In a corner of the battlefield, an on-screen government representative is caught red-handed burying pertinent facts. The usual bluster ensues but there’s no denying it. The issues are eventually taken up and investigated, but whatever the outcome, it will at most result in a modification in administration or a further caveat attached to the drug. So why would the government hide it? Because of the inevitable ensuing mud-bath, obviously.
The law of consumerism is that production follows demand. We can’t moan about television being filled with crap if we consent to watch it. We can’t complain about our children being ignorant if we don’t educate them. We can’t bemoan a knee-jerking and obfuscating government that doesn’t bother to look at the real issues if we lead the way ourselves in our daily lives. Violent societies have violent governments, indolent societies indolent heads, and corrupt societies corrupt leaders. Quite often all of the above together. What a combo.
Certain Biblical sayings about sowing and reaping spring to mind.
The remedy and answer to everything? Apart from 42?
Elvis says: ‘A little less conversation, a little more action please.’ The Dalai Lama says, ‘When you listen, you may learn something.’ Those two, and 42. That should do the trick.