Archive for the ‘General’ Category

The turmoil in Greece drew my attention at the time, eventhough I was struggling with my own issues. It has been more than a year, and now when I think “what all these are about?”, my conclusion would be ‘globalization’.

What is globalization?

Is it the integration of economic, political, and cultural systems across the globe? Or is it the dominance of developed countries in decision-making, at the expense of poorer, less powerful nations? Is globalization a force for economic growth, prosperity, and democratic freedom? Or is it a force for environmental devastation, exploitation of the developing world, and suppression of human rights? Does globalization only benefit the rich or can the poor take advantage of it to improve their well-being?

from www.globalization101.org

Good questions; If you ask me, a bit of this a bit of that, but related to all. It would be naivety to expect an exact definition for such multi-discipline trend.

What about ‘Generation 700 Euro’ of Greece? Simply, are they the employed poor in a so-called wealthy country?

 Seems like…

• Median monthly income is around 700 Euros
• 70% are ‘dissatisfied with the type of work they’re doing’ and ‘dissatisfied with their prospects of moving up in the workplace’
• 67% are between the ages of 18 and 34
• 75% work in the private sector
• 64% are women
• 89% are not related to a union and 75% do not go on strike  (Source)

During my surficial search, I collided into this article –Generation 700: Where PhDs Are Lucky to Wait Tables– by Ellen Nordahl in her blog ‘elle la mode’.

I was impressed  by her style of combining refined information and observations with the sentimentality to a coeval generation having issues. At the end she wants to trigger a discussion:

If you?ve traveled or lived abroad in Europe, what?s your perspective on the employment prospects for young workers?  Is there marked tension between the youth and the established work force?  Could you see a similar situation becoming true for the U.S. in years to come?

She is actually giving clues by mentioning “Spain?s mileuristas”, “Germany?s Generation Praktikum” and “France?s Generation Stagiaire”. On my behalf, I know that I was very close to ‘waiting tables’ as a PhD candidate. In the case of my country it is ‘the relatively strong family ties’ supporting young people’s struggle of existence (similar to neighbouring Greece).

Once more, to me all these happening are foot-steps of accelerating globalization. This is something more than ‘human resources terminology’ of Generation X, Y, R, et cetera.

My answer to Nordahl:

– “The nature of the property has been irreversibly changed; And yes, ‘every young individual with lesser establishment or old family money’ will face this tyranny.”

This systematic –haul-down– standardization of wages and opportunities is contracting people’s act capabilities;  That is the start of homogenization.

Do you think George Orwell warned us? Or these are just delusions of gloomy minds. I think the answer depends on the progress. What changed in which way? Speaking for the fate of young individuals in Greece, Spain, Germany or my country; Did anything get better for them?

I am afraid ‘no is the answer’ for where I am reporting from.

Snorkelling in Kaş

Adele singing:

Rolling in the deep

and

Hometown Glory:

A great guide to philosophy of Top 5’s

What came first? The music or the misery?

?

Frank Sinatra   from   Cake

www.thedailymash.co.uk/

Irony, sarcastism, creative sense of humor…

Analogous:

American : http://www.theonion.com

Turkish : www.zaytung.com

A blog by John H., about life and geology from his interesting point of view.

I had the chance to meet him; A real pleasure for me…

Zeitgeist means “the spirit of the times”

Synopsis of the Zeitgeist Movement, worths a read:

Fluid social change can only materialize if two circumstances are met. One, the human value system, which consists of our understandings and beliefs, must be updated and changed through education and thoughtful introspection. Two, the environment surrounding that value system must change to support the new world view. The interaction between a person’s value system and their environment is what influences human behavior.

For example, in our culture, “ethics” is really a matter of degree, for our social system promotes and rewards competition and self-interest. This perspective doesn’t just “lead” to aberrant behavior… it creates it directly. Corruption is the norm in our society and most people do not see this, for since the society supports this behavior, it is considered right and normal… or as a matter of degree.

Given this understanding, there is a fallacy that has emerged where certain groups are deemed “corrupt” and everyone else is “good”. This is the age old “us and them” world view which has no basis empirically, for it is, again, all a matter of degree.

For example, there is a large movement of people who constantly talk about “The New World Order” and this notion that there is an elite group of people who have been trying to take over the world for a long time and have manipulated society in various ways to further their goals.

This, of course, is true to a certain extent.

BUT, the failure of awareness is that this “group” is not a group at all. It is a tendency.

If you took out all the people at the top who are engaged in global hegemonic rule, it would simply be a matter of time before another group stepped in to seek the same ambition. Therefore, it isn’t the individual people or groups that are the problem. It is actually the conditions upon which those people have been accustomed and indoctrinated by. Of course, many argue against this view with the escapist notion that it is “human nature” that causes this competition and need for dominance. This is unsupported by the facts. In reality, we are nearly clean slates when we are born and it is our environment that shapes who we are and how we behave.

Therefore, in order for TRUE change to occur, we must spend less time battling the products of this sick social structure and more time trying to change the root causes. As difficult and daunting as it may be to think this way, it is the only way our world will change for the better.

We can continue to stomp on the ants coming out from under the refrigerator, but until we remove the spoiled food behind it, they are just going to keep coming.