Saturday, November 25, 2006

Racists Be honest!

I guess by now you all have heard that Kramer from Seinfeld was doing a stand up routine, was heckled by two black patrons and abused them, calling them niggers and saying that if it was fifty years earlier, they would be strung up with a pitchfork up their arse.

Well we all know what happened next don't we? Yup, the customary 'apology' (at being caught out as a racist and swift retreat so he can still work) took place. Sadly, Seinfeld backed him up by saying he made a 'mistake.' Mistake! What a load of shite! You do not say stuff like that by mistake, you say it because you mean it.

The fact of the matter is that since the time of the civil rights movement, many white racists have simply gone underground for fear of being sued. They still have the same feelings and it is in moments of stress that those feelings come to the fore. It is time that white racist people address their own sorry attitudes to people who don't look like them. They have had ample opportunities to stand up and join the human race and time and time again they don't.

I used to think it was ignorance on the part of white racists, but since coming to live in a predominantly white country I have seen the truth. The truth is that most white racist people know full well what they are doing when they behave in a racist fashion - and they do it anyway. It's almost as if they say to themselves 'Boy, you know since the black people have forced all types of legislation onto the books we can't afford to behave like we used to, calling them nigger and lynching them, so lets go underground and attack them in subtle ways.'

Kramer's 'mistake' is that he let the world see what a huge racist and by extension, damn idiot he is - chances are someone of his age and all - it will be difficult for him to see that black people are human beings too who deserve the same regard and respect as anyone else.

In the meantime I call upon black people worldwide to cease and desist from trying to get white racist people to behave honourably towards us. Trust me, your energies are better spent building yourself, your family and your community up. For the white racist, nothing we do can make them respect us or treat us properly so you might as well forget it.

That is not to say you aren't to demand that they behave properly towards you - by all means do, but don't waste time trying to get approval, or to be invited up to the big house. Put your energies into building the big house yourself and make THEM have to be invited up.

Later.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Making Jamaica a Developed Country

Was reading today's editorial in the Observer and the head of the Planning Institute has apparently said that there is no reason why Jamaica cannot be a first world counttry by 2035.

He's right. All the ingredients are there. For such a small country it should be doing fantastically well. Just today me and His Royal Highness were watching the latest episode of Stargate SG1 and there they were, the 2 major characters, kicking back in a scene with a bottle of Red Stripe each big and bold in the shot. And in another shot after that.

There are plenty of reasons for Jamaicans to be proud of their intelligence, hardworking nature and innovation.

Yet how is it that with all of these qualities the country is in the state it is?

Two words for you.

Discipline and order. Or rather indiscipline and chaos.

Talent and innovation are fine, but if they are not channeled and if they exist in a country where chaos and inneficiencies reign supreme because of indiscipline, then you will fail, time and time again.

I have often expounded at great lenght about the problems in the UK but one of the things contributing to prosperity here is that there is order in many things and by extension efficiency. If you cannot rely on things happening on time for instance there are repercussions for planning and execution especially for businesses.

Also, you can't propser in a climate of so much rampant crime.

Jamaica should be a first world country already but it isn't. And it won't if certain cultural norms persist.

Those qualities and habits Jamaicans exhibit when they go to foreign, like being on time, going to work regardless of the weather, forward planning and abiding by the law (for the most part) among other things need to pertain back home. Otherwise nothing will change.

Also there needs to be some sort of conscious effort to have a social contract whereby self destructive behaviour isn't systematically indulged in, like mashing up the already shaky infrastructure to make a political point. Trust me, the wealty politicians won't suffer if you block the road, mash things up and prevent people from conducting business, but the poor people in that very community will. Better ways of dealing with problems need to be adopted and gains and consolidations made on the talent that exists. And most importantly, people need to vote strategically for the betterment of the country, not for partisan interests.

Time for the mashing up to end man.

Many may say that living abroad is a cop out, but in all seriousness, from where I sit coming back now isn't attractive - unpatriotic though that may sound. One conclusion I came to just before I decided to leave was that it didn't seem like Jamaicans want to live in a disciplined and ordered society so I felt I was just in the wrong place and needed to flash to somewhere where the cultural norm was more conducive to order and efficiency. And I was largely right. But that doesn't mean it can't change. But people have to want it to change.

Prosperity can only come for all if things do change and the type of change I'm talking about isn't easy. Wonder when the penny will drop or will it go on and on until all the good people have either migrated or been murdered?

Peace.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

More Tax Issues

In the continuing saga that is the crazy world of British taxation . . .

Yes, folks, the latest is that some Labour politician (who is angling for John Prescott's job) has suggested that instead of placing a 'green' tax on things like plane tickets, those who earn larger salaries should be taxed to pay for the effects of environmental degradation.

Also, plans are moving ahead to charge a tax to people to use certain roads. It gets so that no matter how hard you work here, you just can't get ahead. Doesn't this nation understand that by behaving in this way, i.e. punishing people for being successful in business or their jobs, they are creating a situation where only the lazy and unambitious will want to live? Anyone wanting to get ahead will simply migrate to a country that has a more equitable system of taxation.

There is a backward and evil attitude in the UK that says that anyone who earns a lot of money, does so at the expense of those who don't, and therefore they must be punished.

Have the British no understanding of hard work, entrepreneurship, risk and innovation? Is this country so dumb that they really believe in the notion of a limited 'pie' of prosperity that means that if someone has a large slice of the pie then there is only a little left for the rest?

Come on people - why do you think that the UK has so many deadbeats living off the state in comparison to other European countries and the States? Because you can make more money sitting on your backside and collecting benefits than if you hauled ass out to work every day.

Until people are given the incentive to strive for better jobs with more responsibility and higher wages and to be innovative and to undego the risk of beginning businesses, this country is going to continue to go to the dogs. Stop taxing us to death!

Make no mistake, there are intelligent, ambitious and innovative people in the UK but they are going to get fed up and give their talents, hard work and expertise to other countries if things here don't shape up.