Monday, December 14, 2009

back to basics....

Recently I wrote the following to my sister... but it may be of more general interest...

Dear Sister,

I just want to stress that I didn’t agree when you suggested the problems we face as a family are universal ones.

It is not true to say that it is the same everywhere. The problem is not only the inevitable fact of aging. To be sure, getting old is a problem everywhere, but the problem is made worse by the social and political system in the United States.

Aging is a universal problem, but our shitty system of public transport, and the correlated system of suburbanization, together with the awful profit-driven system of medical care all combine to exacerbate the problem. What all of those elements have in common is that they were designed to serve the interests of a small minority of our population.

An additional factor is cultural: America’s extreme individualistic ethos combined with Puritanism (or Calvinism) creates shame among the poor and intolerance towards them. We, as a society, specialize in blaming the victims. “Socialism” is not universally regarded as a dirty word. And many people (rightly in my opinion) regard America as a country with anti-social values. But let’s focus on public transport and health care.

Other countries have much better public transport and a system of medical care that is not profit-driven..

These two problems are instances of a more general problem in the United States. And if it exists elsewhere, that is largely because the US in the form of the WTO has been aggressively insisting that other countries behave like the US. Every time the United Nations ranks countries according to the quality of life, the USA ranks near the bottom among developed countries—below European countries.

I am not saying that there are no problems in Europe.

Slovaks and Austrians are racists. Austrians are suspicious of so-called “Eastern Europeans” and Turks. And Slovaks are suspicious of the Roma minority.

But Slovakia provides generous support to mothers and I have experienced the Slovak medical system, and I have seen with my own eyes that there is less bureaucracy when you go to the doctor in Slovakia than there is in the USA. Whenever I have gone with Mom and Dad to the doctor’s office, they have had to fill out detailed forms. (And these are not doctors who they are visiting for the first time!) I never had to do that in Slovakia. I had a small plastic card, and I just gave it to them. No forms. No hassle.

And, what’s more, I have been told that it is the same in Mexico. When you go to the doctor you give them your health card and you don’t have to fill out forms.

So, it is important to understand that it is not the same everywhere.

In many respects, things are worse in the United States—not because God or the laws of physics or economics or psychology make it that way. It is worse because certain groups in America (a genuine ruling class) have managed to control the economy and politics so that it benefits them first, so that they retain superior access to resources. The system they have created is neither just nor logical nor an inevitable product of the laws of nature. The current system was created by self-interested individuals who wished to retain their unjustly acquired privileges. And so it continues.

And if you say or think, “It’s the same everywhere”, what you are really saying is that no one is responsible. You are, in effect, justifying and trivializing the crimes of the ruling class. You are letting them off the hook for the mess they have made in pursuit of their own self-interest.

Yes, aging is a problem everywhere; but the social and political institutions which people create can either make that problem worse or they can ameliorate it.

Change begins when you say that a piece of shit smells. Something important happens when you say that the emperor has no clothes.

And the inefficient system of public transport and the system of medical care we have in this country are both enormous pieces of shit that reek of privilege and class.

I am not picking on you. Some things are too important to sweep under the carpet.

Love,
Your Brother


PS
You may be skeptical of my term “ruing class”. If so, I would suggest that when you get online, you take a look at the following:

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/

This is the homepage of a sociologist, G. William Domhoff (at the University of California at Santa Cruz) who has been studying the class structure of the United States.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

so-called radicalization

Of course the propaganda machine is so powerful and ominpresent that it can be difficult to breathe,

not to mention say what one means...

But let us take as an example recent talk of "radicalization"

At my local coffee shop, while waiting for coffee, I commented on what was then displayed on CNN

"And what made Obama become radical? Now there's a question."

If we use words as they are defined in, say a dictionary, then the idea that you can attack any country you
want to further your ends is a very radical idea. It is, that is to say, a very extreme idea.

It is extreme to use violence when it is not in self-defense, but only to pursue self-interest.

(Strictly speaking, you could argue with me that American imperialism is the status quo, and any attempt
to oppose it would be, by definition, "radical". In that case the question becomes whether being radical
isn't a good thing. I think that in the current terms of debate being radical is presupposed to be bad.)



However, if we use the word "radical" and "radicalize" as it is currently used in discussion on CNN and
other sources of propaganda, that elementary point won't be made.

The United States has no justification for occupying Afghanistan. But the opponents of that occupation are
dubbed "radical" and "radicalized".

So words can mean what you want them to. If you oppose the wishes of the empire, you are a "radical".

I don't believe, however, that my audience at the local coffee shop understood what I was saying.

They live in a peculiarly American dream-world where listening is short-circuited by dismissal.
My words must have seemed to them to be mere "cynicism" or faux cleverness....

(Is such short circuiting really peculiarly American? Well, I think on the topic of war and peace it is.
My friends outside the United States seem to have clearer views about the reality of war.
The sensitivity I refer to is usually recognized in official declarations and it is trivialized and/or
criticized. We hear about Europe's pacifism, described as something regrettable, indicating a
failure to be realistic. This was present in Obama's recent Nobel speech.)


the propaganda machine is powerful

freedom? what freedom?/Shitty Sun Metro

was in the drug store, and I realized there was a so-called security camera recording my every move as I paid.

Now that is a violation of my freedom. They are actually watching me -- just in case.

You cannot monitor people just in case. That is intrusive.

then I realized there is another camera on the bus! --just in case.

when did it happen that all public spaces are monitored? And who is doing this monitoring?

there is no such thing as the right to photograph or film anyone you right any time you like.

It is like suspecting people of crime before any crime has been committed.

We are all under permanent observation, permanent suspicion.

This is NOT freedom.

turning to another nasty subject.. sun metro...

sun metro is not FUN metro!! It is pain in the ass Metro!!

the number 15 bus must have
been about fifteen minutes late (or more) coming to university and mesa
around 4:20 or so....and...
this caused me a lot of problems and actually set up a chain of events leading me to unknowingly spill
coffee all over two books

that is the price you pay when you use shitty (or, more politely) mediocre public transport.

I was late getting to where I had to be, and this caused me to rush, and inadvertently spill a cup of
coffee over two new books. A very irritating event. Thanks to Sun Metro...

I hasten to add that the first bus I took today was very crowded. standing room only.

the second bus likewise was crowded to the breaking point.

If you want people to use public transport, it has got to be more convenient. Waiting fifteen or twenty minutes for
a bus is too long! and then being crowded with other people in that inhumane way is not acceptable.
No one will voluntarily use public transport when it is so UNPLEASANT

SUN METRO has it all wrong in Many ways.

Instead of facing up to the climate criminality of the average citizen (Do you really need to use your car?
Do you need to use it as often as you use it?), SUN METRO has an ad campaign that appeals to self-interest.

Sun Metro does not appeal to our desire to help others (Help reduce global warming. Use your car less. Use
public transport)
They do not use that motivation. Instead like good unthinking capitalists they appeal to selfishness:
save your money!

That shows something about local culture. Selfish individualism.

A while back someone at Sun Metro actually wrote me an email with words to the effect:

with the new improvements Sun Metro will be almost "perfect"

NO NOT almost perfect
Nothing like perfect
MEDIOCRE at best

The new improvements (so called; really very minor changes ) affected lines that i never use!

but that cheerful insincere language is an indication of a certain American marketing mentality mindset

something which seems invisible to most people I talk with

and oddly, while it contributes absolutely nothing to their well-being (just as attacking countries which
have not attacked us does not add to national security) the people I talk to seem quite defensive about
defending marketing and advertising.

defending bullshit

that too is a sort of culture

Or, more strictly put, a lack of culture, a sort of degraded conformist value....

Like the people I've met in the coffee shot near UTEP who don't want to hear that CNN has propaganda.

Well propaganda is not exactly the same as lying. It means using the truth for certain ends. Selectively presenting
some truths and not others.

You have to have enough truth to make it plausible. And then there's the way the conversations are framed so that
some questions just don't get asked.

All manipulation in favor of the classes who profit from war.

No it is not a "conspiracy" theory, although the USA has certainly conspired with other countries such as Great Britain
to continue climate crimes. (I am referring to the secret agreement reached in Copenhagen at the climate summit)...

What I'm talking about is class warfare. Property versus labor. The owner of the drug store versus the customers.

I have often wondered whether the use of whistles by SUn METRO at the famous downtown changing center
doesn't indicate a certain fascist mind set... but I will save that topic for another day...

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

1. Drive Unfriendly 2. Sun Metro safe?

1. I believe that the official motto for drivers in Texas is "drive friendly"

In my experience, the actual behavior, from a pedestrian standpoint is the exact opposite. Drivers are AGGRESSIVE and UNFRIENDLY.

Last week I tried to cross Executive Blvd just off North Mesa. I had a walk light. The cars refused to stop.
They were turning right at the light, and they just kept coming--even though I waved my arms and shouted.

I repeat: There was a walk light. (In previous posts I have pointed out that the wise traffic engineers allow pedestrians
very very little time during which to cross El Paso's wide boulevards....)

I will say that again:

I was standing on the corner. There was a light giving me permission to walk. I could not step off the curb
safely because the cars were speeding by, refusing to stop.

In my experience, that is typical of the way people are in this city--at least when they are in their cars,
their cars which are destroying the environment, and which contributed to climate changes which,
according to conservative estimates were responsible for the death of between 300,000 and 400, 000 people last year....

2. Rumors about "Sun MEtro"

this afternoon as I waited for the 42 bus to take me downtown, I noticed six or eight or more men (and maybe
one woman) dressed in a "professional" manner with shirts and ties and clipboards and such paraphernalia.

I believe they did not travel by bus, though I cannot be sure. I noticed one group of four or six men
coming from the parking lot. I didn't actually see them get out of a car or van, but I didn't see them get
out of a bus either.

It would appear they were there because they are planning to build a new building in the Northgate shopping center
to replace the current changing center.

this seems to me a bad strategy. We don't need a better changing center. We (passengers/bus riders) need to
spend less time in the buses, and (above all) less time waiting for buses.

The whole idea of making better changing centers seems bad logic. It is like the idea that the purpose of airplanes
is to bring people to high-priced shopping malls in the airports...

Incidentally, I don't mind mentioning that the downtown changing center features unhealthy food.

(And a television, which I for one, could happily live without....)

Why spend money on changing centers? Is this a transportation system? Wouldn't it be better to improve
transportation? Better to have fewer time gaps between buses. The current building is fine. I don't want to spend
my life in those changing centers!

It seems to me that Sun Metro and the City of El paso have their priorities wrong.

LEss waiting time is the goal.

More buses and more drivers.

In fact, given the facts about global warming and our (USA) propensity for over-consumption, I think they should
replace the freeways with a metro system--trains, a train or elevated train or underground train, but not buses!

BECAUSE BUSES ARE JUST TOO SLOW!!!!
too pokey
and less comfortable than trains.


3. Gossip

I hear the city is planning to get rid of the experienced bus mechanics....

That would make the buses less safe.

WARNING NOTE (added November 2010) THIS IS GOSSIP; you should not believe it because you read it here.
The reasonable thing to do is to check it out at a reliable source. I was told this by someone who works for Sun Metro. that does not mean it is true. However, we do know that the policy of getting rid of more experienced, and better qualified, more competent workers is nothing new. It would not be surprising if it were happening in El Paso Texas. That does not, however, prove that it is happening. Use your mind. Don't believe everything you read.
((ThIs post should be a rough draft; I hope to return to it and beautify/clean up the prose....)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

apology to Slovakia; Shitty El Paso

when I lived in Bratislava I noticed that when glass was broken (because a window had been smashed
probably by drunks or some idiotic street level billboard had been broken) the glass lay around
for months, and no one cleaned it up..

I complained about this to my students, and they were very unhappy with me.

Now I've noticed something similar in El Paso Texas
On McCombs, a busy street near my residence, someone broke glass (it looks like glass from a car windshield)
and it has just been laying there in the street and on the sidewalk for weeks. I guess that slowly the wind
and rain will remove it, but so far no person has cared to do anything...

And then there is a bench with advertising at one bus stop.... A bus stop with no shelter from wind, rain,
or sun.....

And someone allowed a large animal to leave its waste products there... a large piece of shit...
and it smells very bad, very bad...making it impossible to comfortably sit on the bench..

and it's been there for more than two weeks.... Perhaps the rain today may have washed it away,
but no human being would bother to clean up the shit.

So the citizens of El Paso are no more public spirited (when it comes to shit and broken glass) than are
the citizens of Bratislava or Mean Wien....

Not the world itself, but the people who live in the world make this life hell on earth.

miserable El Paso

Sun Metro? The bus service won some sort of award from some organization in Texas.

If this is the best TExas can do, then Texas is in a very bad situation vis a vis public services.

I rate Sun Metro as mediocre, at best.... definitely far behind Bratislava.

And on the English home page of Bratislava metro, they mention that most European visitors complain about
the public transport in Bratislava...

America... a miserable country where so many people are, simply put, climate criminals...

Today I spent more than an hour waiting in the freezing rain and the wind,
because the City of El Paso does not think it is important to have bus shelters..

And, then again, buses are infrequent....

What an ugly city this is!