This could be the title for many things I feel I cannot stand much more of but for now I need "reality TV" to stop. I think for the purposes of this piece I will consider it unscripted instead of reality TV even though that is is questionable too.
I am not sure how much more I can take of this, being the one calling my work the Heuman condition it could be a perfect study of how people respond under stress or when they are falling in love but it is such a bunch of bull and presented so poorly that I struggle to find any value at all. The characters are chosen to show he extremes of society so right off the bat we are not working with a full deck of human emotions and thoughts. I do not watch much but from what I have seen virtually none of my friends or acquaintances would react the way the people do on TV. One also has to consider the mental state of people who wish to have their raw emotions strewn across the screen for the entertainment of others. After all in 30 seconds most people know who will and who won't be in the running for the money or the ring or whatever so many of them have to know they are fodder.
It started with just 1 show and now there nights of shows, love, fear, anger, jealousy, instincts, physical endurance, smarts, pain we see it all but in a format that makes human emotions a big joke. I think more of people than that, I am empathetic to raw emotions from real people, I want to help if friends or strangers need it, I want to celebrate when I see real joy in people from finding success, love, friendship. All I want to do when I see what TV makes of these real things is turn away.
I have an alternate reality, one which many people do not understand and make fun of. Interestingly I feel more real emotion from people I cannot see but who's words ring out through social media. The joy people have from meeting friends who have had many conversations but are seeing each other for the first time in real life. The moments of romance and love that remind us that is a part of our lives we may be neglecting at the the moment. The moments of celebration of a new family member, illness beaten, a new job, success at school or at work, something you want to share. Conversely the frustration vented in 140 characters, the loss, the disappointment, the fear expressed. These are real emotions not provoked by a producer or cut for my entertainment purposes, this is life unscripted.
Many of these people I do not"see", some I may never see but much of what I feel is real. People respond to support those who are reaching out, many are friends, some are people with similar experiences, some are just people who care. Who want to be supportive in moments when people feel most alone. In happier times it is a real pick up to see raw excitement of plans to meet friends, celebrations that take place, moments of true joy.
For me this is a place to witness the human condition, the humour, the drunk posts, the happy, the sad, the conflicts, the beliefs, the personalities this is part of my reality. The real beauty of this world is that it has lead to meet many of the people I converse with on a regular basis and increased dramatically my real world.
For those of you who enjoy "reality TV" good for you. I will take the reality of the people who friend or follow me, who chose to read my mindful and mindless postings, who engage with me from near or far and those I can communicate with. These people are far more real to me than characters chosen to shock and amuse me, my reality is my window into the Heuman condition.
Thursday 24 February 2011
Opening Shot!
I hope that my blogs provoke thought, sometimes a smile or chuckle and yes I hope sometimes they provoke complete and total disagreement. I have to say that the written word is not my strong suit. I am a listener and talker because there is so much more to be learned about people and issues that way however in this era I feel this is another way to communicate and I hope those of you who read this take the opportunity to communicate with me.
Issue #1 The budget came down today and the media response and much of the response I have read amuses me. "Alberta plunges into the red" is the headline in the Edmonton Journal. Really? This is not news, Alberta has been running an OPERATING DEFICIT now for a few years. I capitalized those words because I think they warrant the emphasis. Alberta is not borrowing the money to run the province (some say we are borrowing from our children and grand children but I will address that later). We are taking it from the sustainability fund which I like to think of as Albertan's savings account and using it to pay bills that will come due that exceed the money in our chequing account. This is not an endorsement of our current political situation but more of an on going frustration with a lack of clear understanding of the situation.
Fact 1 The money in the sustainability fund belongs to Albertans as does ALL money the government holds and allocates. It came from excess revenues over expenses, some in oil and gas revenue, some in land sales, some in excess income tax and fees to be used to SUSTAIN Alberta should the economy falter.
Surprise it did, like the rest of the world only not as bad. Good thing for us we live in Alberta. Why? because we had a fund for just such an occurrence. That we are using it to build infrastructure and keep the economy going should be a comfort to Albertans, no job cuts, no cuts in health care, education or social programs when we need these things most.
Albertans respond with "What a bunch of irresponsible people! Why are they not cutting? Why are they not slashing? Why do they spend money? Why are they not saving?"
Well my thoughts are if governments, business and consumers all stop spending, we cut people from the payrolls who pay taxes and we don't build now when labour is at a 50% discount we just might cause the economy to fall significantly further than it already has. Secondly when inflation was rising and we did not get any relief from taxes in the last boom we paid forward the opportunity to have this fund so may well as use it, damn it we earned it.
Albertan's also respond with "What about the children?" Well new schools and health care help children, after all if we don't have those things opportunities would be decreased. We are not spending all the savings there is still a fund of over $15 billion earning some interest. But maybe most importantly the generations before us never said lets ensure future generations don't have to find their own way, work hard and build their own future lets do it for them. Why do we feel the need to do that for generations to come in this fiscal way. Land use, water, air quality I get all those things but I don't understand the need to take being helicopter parents, hovering over the young at every turn, to a provincial level. Do we think they are not smart enough to find ways to succeed? Do they not have enough work ethic? Do they not care enough to find ways to take Alberta forward? If anyone thinks that they have not listened to or watched many of the young people today. I am not saying leave them with nothing but I think we short change them if we stop moving forward today so they can have the money so they don't have to innovate and work hard tomorrow. It is a hallow victory for the future if we sacrifice jobs, social programs, health care and education today.
A note: I always want people looking for wasteful spending and finding better uses for tax money. I do not think any government in the world is doing all they can to be efficient and effective. I endorse looking for new ways to do things and eliminating things that no longer make sense. I hate the term "because we have always done it that way" as much or more than the next person, I just think before people go off half cocked about job cuts, service cuts and saving money they realize that SOMEONE is on the other end of the result of those cuts.
One more note, not all or even most of my posts will be political in nature although the world of politics is certainly an area for huge study of the heuman condition. ;-)
Issue #1 The budget came down today and the media response and much of the response I have read amuses me. "Alberta plunges into the red" is the headline in the Edmonton Journal. Really? This is not news, Alberta has been running an OPERATING DEFICIT now for a few years. I capitalized those words because I think they warrant the emphasis. Alberta is not borrowing the money to run the province (some say we are borrowing from our children and grand children but I will address that later). We are taking it from the sustainability fund which I like to think of as Albertan's savings account and using it to pay bills that will come due that exceed the money in our chequing account. This is not an endorsement of our current political situation but more of an on going frustration with a lack of clear understanding of the situation.
Fact 1 The money in the sustainability fund belongs to Albertans as does ALL money the government holds and allocates. It came from excess revenues over expenses, some in oil and gas revenue, some in land sales, some in excess income tax and fees to be used to SUSTAIN Alberta should the economy falter.
Surprise it did, like the rest of the world only not as bad. Good thing for us we live in Alberta. Why? because we had a fund for just such an occurrence. That we are using it to build infrastructure and keep the economy going should be a comfort to Albertans, no job cuts, no cuts in health care, education or social programs when we need these things most.
Albertans respond with "What a bunch of irresponsible people! Why are they not cutting? Why are they not slashing? Why do they spend money? Why are they not saving?"
Well my thoughts are if governments, business and consumers all stop spending, we cut people from the payrolls who pay taxes and we don't build now when labour is at a 50% discount we just might cause the economy to fall significantly further than it already has. Secondly when inflation was rising and we did not get any relief from taxes in the last boom we paid forward the opportunity to have this fund so may well as use it, damn it we earned it.
Albertan's also respond with "What about the children?" Well new schools and health care help children, after all if we don't have those things opportunities would be decreased. We are not spending all the savings there is still a fund of over $15 billion earning some interest. But maybe most importantly the generations before us never said lets ensure future generations don't have to find their own way, work hard and build their own future lets do it for them. Why do we feel the need to do that for generations to come in this fiscal way. Land use, water, air quality I get all those things but I don't understand the need to take being helicopter parents, hovering over the young at every turn, to a provincial level. Do we think they are not smart enough to find ways to succeed? Do they not have enough work ethic? Do they not care enough to find ways to take Alberta forward? If anyone thinks that they have not listened to or watched many of the young people today. I am not saying leave them with nothing but I think we short change them if we stop moving forward today so they can have the money so they don't have to innovate and work hard tomorrow. It is a hallow victory for the future if we sacrifice jobs, social programs, health care and education today.
A note: I always want people looking for wasteful spending and finding better uses for tax money. I do not think any government in the world is doing all they can to be efficient and effective. I endorse looking for new ways to do things and eliminating things that no longer make sense. I hate the term "because we have always done it that way" as much or more than the next person, I just think before people go off half cocked about job cuts, service cuts and saving money they realize that SOMEONE is on the other end of the result of those cuts.
One more note, not all or even most of my posts will be political in nature although the world of politics is certainly an area for huge study of the heuman condition. ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)