- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2466
Something that has gone missing from society in general is "Accountability". That is the premise that people and corporations be held liable for their actions.
This is of course, to be expected - no one wants to be held accountable for their actions unless the consensus is favorable, and as people and corporations assume power they generally manipulate and adapt the "system" to remove accountability from their person or office. A classic example is the extrajudicial killings by President Obama of a variety of imagined terrorist threats:
Links:
- http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/a-ray-of-sunlight-on-obamas-extrajudicial-killings/373247/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrajudicial_killing
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki
- https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/11/obama-drone-wars-normalisation-extrajudicial-killing
Now, given the abuses of position held by the President, it should come as little wonder that these same or similar abuses are perpetuated by police and security administrations. And the abundance of abuses by minor officials constitutes the single greatest threat to American Civil Liberties in the 21 Century.
We can fix this.
Link: Wiki on Accountability
Bring back Accountability. Citizens, ordinary (and by "Ordinary" I mean the democratic ideal of average, regardless of color/wealth/social status) are accountable. (OK. This is a fiction, but if you fit the arresting officer's definition of "ordinary" you will be accountable. Depending on how far above/below ordinary the officer ranks you will determine your accountability).
For officials holding Public Office - Police Officers, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Judges, etc. - Classical Tradition holds that they are more Accountable. Hence the beheading of Kings and Queens, the extreme punishment of bribed public officials, the summary execution of police officers and other officials viewed to be corrupt throughout the world. These positions - in civil service and otherwise - are positions of public trust, and breaches of that trust demand severe and expedited justice.
***
Accountability - to be properly implemented - demands a higher bar for any officials of public trust - whether they be police officers, bankers, politicians or priests. Justice for these individuals is imperative. It should be expedited, swift, and exemplary (breaches of that trust are subject to public scrutiny. The public's attention span is short, and the warning is served to all possible offenders. Public Morality is determined largely by the behavior of it's most visible figureheads.). Presidents and Heads of States should be subject to an extra-judicial review board (upon leaving office) with members comprised of elected and informed citizenry. Police should be held to the same bar. And nowhere should we see the phrase "Internal Review" - this is as much to say "Nigga-Killing-Cops-Judge-Nigga-Killing-Cops". Every like-minded thief or murderer will judge a fellow murderer or thief kindly, sadly, the citizenry is not comprised of like-minded thieves and murderers, and so "Internal Review" is an oxymoron. Any review - good or bad - has to be external. They exist to serve the public, not themselves. Policies need to be decided not by the people enforcing them but by the people they are intended to serve. Extra-Judicial means, in this instance - the expedited summary of public opinion and wrath visited upon the person perceived as having violated their trust.
***
Accountability. The first step in the right direction.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2296
There are places in society where money has no currency, or to attempt to use money is acknowledged to be wrong.
One example of this is Sex. While a woman's body is her own to do with as she chooses, we have any number of pejorative terms to describe any woman who exploits this for money (and most civilized people will have a similar prejudices against the men purchasing affections.). A slightly less obvious example of this is the Trophy wife, wherein the woman is disproportionately younger or more beautiful than her partner - an alliance of comfort or convenience, and while outwardly we tolerate it privately we observe and condemn it.
Religion and spirituality is an arena where most people realize that money has no influence. Disregarding the obvious hypocrisies of the Christian and Catholic traditions, most of it's most venerated leaders and saints have been poor, and no one of any credibility or sense would equate wealth with enlightenment.
Politics and Justice. This will be less obvious because both Canada and the US have entrenched systems of bribery, but in the purest, most abstract sense ideal government should reflect the will of the people and be uninfluenced both by individuals and companies with vested interests. Governance is both for and by the people. Allowing lobby groups and corporate interests to "donate", "fund" or otherwise "support" political parties that will further their interests is Bribery by another name, and obfuscates the value and purpose of politics. Voting and Politics are currently done on a "Per Dollar" basis, where every unit of currency has measurable influence, whereas Democracy was founded upon the principles that every individual had a measurable level of influence. While most parties currently rely on funding from the private sector to further their agenda, to have a true democracy we would need to remove this funding and create a system whereby the people allot a discreet ration of government funding to each party, providing a level playing field. Comparatively it would cost us very little and provide enormous benefits, however stopping the corporate juggernauts is not so easy.
In Justice, the corrupting influence of money is entrenched and transparent. We hear reference to the cost of lawyers, generally prohibitive, the implication that the more one spends on one's mouthpiece the "better" or "more favorable" the quality of justice one can expect. While on the one hand this is clearly true we should remove the word Justice from it, you might be buying laws or outcomes (the same laws that corporations have had created and revised ad-nauseum to protect their interests), but you are not buying Justice. The topic of corporations is the subject of a different post.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2120
The whole thing is amusing, but forward to 2 Minutes & 22 Seconds.
This short segment is not a blooper. It's what he "thinks", and it's scary as hell. It's typical of privileged white folk to think this way. I know enough of them to assure you that he isn't kidding. So there's really no surprise that it will be The Donald or The Hillary coming to office.
{embed:youtube:dDoWY3B09_8}
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2458
Principally it exists for major corporations to abuse and exploit.
For Example: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/07/photographer-sues-getty-images-for-selling-photos-she-donated-to-public/
That she should win is obvious and intuitive. A billion dollars? My mind says no, my heart says "Set an Example for the Copyright Trolls!".
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2213
Vice solicits a group of strangers to take part in the "36 Questions to Encourage Interpersonal Closeness". No, obviously it's not a magic bullet, chances will be greatly improved if you actually like the person you're asking the questions of (and presumably if you're asking them the questions chances are you're interested, so it's a failed experiment in that sense, it's value with random strangers is a bit too much of a scattershot approach), but it's an entertaining 10 minutes nonetheless.
{embed:youtube:9Fx4DVYBf8k}