(Source: lifemakeslove-lookhard)
I love this man.
Lately, I’ve been noticing a trend in social media. Whenever an organization trying to make a difference breaks through the boundaries of mainstream media and has the audacity to try and stand up against socially accepted norms, they are greeted with an explosion of support. For a few days. Then all of a sudden it’s like, it becomes ‘uncool’ to support them. All of a sudden, everyone turns a critical magnifying glass on that movement and starts picking them apart. Okay, fine, Stop Kony made ONE of the billions of assholes in the world famous. Yes, way too much money is going towards finding this guy and “saving” these children. And fine, PETA ends up euthanizing 97% of its “rescued” animals. Not to even mention the bad press Earth First! Has received throughout the years. But fundamentally, these people have been the revolutionaries of our generation! Focus people: would you rather stand idly by as strong corporations, rich dictators and corrupt governments manipulate the political domain which directly impacts our tiny little lives???
The problem is NOT that their methods have been flawed, or that their logic is questionable at times (because nobody is really disputing that, unless they’re INTENTIONALLY changing the subject, reallocating blame, taking the spotlight off themselves… Freud called this deflection fyi). The real problem is the lack of support they receive. That’s what renders these movements ultimately inefficient. Their “heart is in the right place”- for lack of better expression. PETA obviously doesn’t want to euthanize the animals they’ve gone through all that trouble to rescue; but the lack of response from the rest of society leaves them no choice… People can’t honestly expect them to absorb all of the costs… Can they? Were these animals better off living in disgusting environments without access to clean food and water? I mean, I guess it’s debatable. However, without getting too far off topic, think about where these animals are coming from, think about them spending the rest of their lives in tiny, underfunded cages and ask yourself, is this more humane? The argument doesn’t end there either, by euthanizing these tormented animals - who are often incapable of ever being socialized (even amongst their own kind), PETA is reducing the amount of animals who will suffer in the future. Leaving them out there to reproduce is clearly the most irresponsible thing to do (… because it perpetuates the suffering… get it?). I digress; however, I’ll attach a link to PETA’s official stance on euthanasia which you should definitely check out.
My point is that this new resistance to social efforts is… fucking stupid. Whether or not there are greater crimes being committed worldwide or locally, whether our charitable donations should be redirected (in your judgemental opinions) isn’t part of the movement. Personally, I’m just glad to see that people who would otherwise have been ignorant of these issues are finally finding a way to engage. Should we apologize that instead of ending local social inequality problems we’re sending money across the world to try to put an end to another cause? Absolutely not. Is it disappointing that very little is being done to resolve local issues? Yes, at least I would certainly say so. But you can’t force people to donate to the causes you think deserve priority. How about we just applaud and encourage any sort of philanthropy? What I think people are missing is that none of these movements are claiming to be THE solution, but they are at least taking steps towards it. Criticizing the few who stood against these powerful global villains (be it corporations, politicians, or human/animal/environmental injustices) is just counter-productive. While regurgitating these facts about the shortcomings of these foundations might fill you with a false sense of superiority because figuring out that (just like every other human made institution) they aren’t all they claim to be, does NOT put you on a higher level than the billions of masses who ‘like’ these movements on facebook or twitter. You should probably rethink your position; every single human institution is flawed in some way. Stomping out the hope that these movements inspire only destroys the possibility of moving towards greater human societies. Perhaps you should rethink who you’re standing up against next time you try to be controversial, genius.
http://www.peta.org/issues/companion-animals/euthanasia-the-compassionate-option.aspx
Alright. So. I’m writing a paper on this stuff, suggestions?
Corporate Dominance in Global Politics
With the rise of globalization, transnational corporations have increasingly become influential actors in global politics. Their influence extends past the boundaries of the free market economy, affecting the politics and economies of countries as individual states. Powerful organizations such as: the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have successfully legitimized corrupt business ethics that have had disturbing consequences on global politics and colossal ramifications on the developing world. The supervisory and regulatory sanctions employed by the WTO, such as the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement enforce monopolistic profiteering through patents and licensing of valuable information to all humankind. These organizations threaten the sovereignty of independent nations, the safety of environments and nullify basic human rights.
Originally, globalization and free-market policies were supported by neo-liberal thinkers because they promoted an integrated system that could mutually profit from sharing resources and capabilities (otherwise known as the theory of comparative advantage). However, the application of this method indicates that TNCs have gained dominance over developing countries profiting directly from the exploitation of their environment, lenient labour and wage laws. While it has been argued that TNCs create jobs and produce necessary goods and services, thus boosting stagnant economies, a thorough investigation reveals a closer truth about these claims; TNCs interests can resemble the interests of the affluent minority in developing countries, but have nothing in common with the majority. The evidence is in the numbers. Statistics show that around 1.2 billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day. This means that even if food and water scarcity are not problems in specific areas, people still do not have access to it.
“The problem of power is how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public.”
Robert F. Kennedy
(Source: hmmkates)
Find my soul and I’m yours forever.
