BEST WISHES for a BETTER everything

BEcause, you deserve it,

BEcause, it's about time,

BEcause, it's against all odds and sometimes against the odds works better than with them,

BEcause....


Haappy(ier) New YEAR!

Intrusion, confusion, obfuscation. Athens resists... WHAT?? The LOSER syndrome perhaps???

The question is, who / what / are they resisting? Rebelling against???

In the minds of all the people I have spoken to, this is not clear.

Many (all?) feels that youth (and not so youth) are expressing something very important in a very unorthodox manner. Others, who analyse situations, have a great way of hiding behind their analyses to deflect situations.

All this lead me to speculate profusely and propose a number of bullet-point advocations.

In contemporary Greece a loser psychology seems to prevail:

• Dispense with your neighbour's goat if you haven't got one yourself. Thus you both will have nothing -- rather than try to acquire two goats & surpass your neighbour.
• Question anything and anyone who is perceptibly and subjectively superior.
• No one succeeds on merit alone.
• Multinationals are bad; they are success stories, hence reprehensible. We are glad when they stumble and make a mess of things. We forget we may be part of the mess.
  
• Whatever happens is somebody else's fault.
• Whatever happens is somebody's fault: while we debate whose fault it is (not ours) nothing is done about it.
• Whatever happens I want to dispute over it. I dispute therefore I am. I exist through controversy.
  

Is this what youth is protesting against?

Further interestingly illuminating conundrums:
In the absence of a common enemy, the enemy of any contemporary Greek is any and every other contemporary Greek.

The multiple and confusing facets of the contemporary Greek dream:
The untold dream is, money in the bank and/or property enough to live on without relying on a steady job; a Porsche Cayenne is the ultimate -- but any auto conspicuously parked on the pavement in front of the cafe is OK.
The traditional dream is, arrange for the kids (the daughters especially) to become public servants and enjoy lifetime employment and early retirement.

The major problem is that the above is NOT available to everyone. Yet, the majority of people in Greece feel entitled to the above. The disillusion of not being one of the chosen ones...

Another point: People will support a perennial corruption system hoping their turn comes around one day...

Further:
Anyone resisting any authority, except mine, is OK.
No one should be a teacher's pet, not even at 30, 40, 50... the anal phase and adolescence in Greece last forever.
Anyone beating up a cop must be OK. I mean, it's a cop, right? That's what cops are for.

Need one go on?
Maybe people are revolting against all the above and more?

If by working I get nowhere, by creating I can hardly survive and I have no connections, and the price of an average flat in town is more than 32 years of an entry-level salary... where's hope and what's the vision?

Television Democracy and Riotous Awakening

Kids entered the premises of Greek state-owned ERT (television) bandying a slogan loosely translated as, "stop watching (TV) and start walking (the streets)".

Amen!
Amen.

The revolutionary intifada has yielded at least one spark of common sense. Life seen through Greece's trash tv is depressing indeed. It is also very polarising and reductionist; cops are bad, non-cops are good, teacher's pets are bad, it's us against them (without any "them"), it's all their fault, down with authority (except mine). In other words, "Stereotype thy name is television".

Of course, all channels hastened to deplore this "undemocratic" act. Amazingly, so did some newspapers! So, what else is new?

The truth of the matter is, few (if anyone) in Greece dare challenge the media, esp. tv, despite distorted news reporting, thinly disguised short-cuts to programming, relentless tabloid content fed under the banner of "serious news and analysis". The "you know who I am?" syndrome seems deeply rooted in many contemporary Greeks; there is also a certain pomposity that comes with it. Both these traits are rampant on TV; one needs only watch the analyses and random pontifications by all and sundry whose face appears on the screen, to get sufficient grip in a very short time.

For that and more, yay to the banner -- even if storming other peoples' workplace may not be the most elegant way of doing it.

Just a thought: what would TV have to say if it were the police entering the building with a similar banner???

Athens-Riots and rebellions; a quick overview

35 years ago, there was mayhem in Athens because of a military junta. In many ways, the results of that mayhem went a long way towards justifying the sacrifice..

Yesterday there was mayhem in Athens seemingly because of the lack of a military junta. At a heavy cost in all & every way, the only ones to benefit are the television planners: they get free content. The usual soggy sincerity from the usual pseudo-scientists and analysts flows from most channels.

But let us go down there and participate and get a feel of what it's all about...
Free all that pent up hatred. I feel cornered, I cannot create, I cannot be heard.

If I cannot create let me destroy.

If I can't create, let me at least break a few windows -- through the breaking glass, I can hear my existence.
While we're at it, look over there! The usual thugs breaking a few shop-windows -- preferably shops with useful stuff: electronics, clothes, maybe a cash register/ an ATM or two for cash?
While they're at it, see the entertainment industry making the best of free content; it beats Grey's Anatomy any time (that was nearly 12.000 euro/episode, and this is free) !
And while we're at it, let's remember... why are we officially doing this ??? Oh yes, give them that 15 year-old (what was his name again???). Yes, yes, that's why we are rioting.
Of course.
After 20 years in Athens -- on and off -- someone else beat me by a few hours to what I wanted to say; he also beat me by very many strokes of very fine prose.

RowanThorpe ends his rant thus: "Educate yourselves. Or we will all drown in hate-filled ignorance..."
I would add, "...and the non-ignorant will pack up and leave."

And this is already happening, slowly. People are fleeing absurdity that can turn lethal.

Why? Riots, police shooting, riots... in Greece.

As my grandmother used to say, these things usually end badly.

This one couldn't have been worse: a 15 yrear old got killed by the police, no less.

In Greece it's unacceptable to lose one's life; it's even worse to lose it through police action.

But, unfortunately, it hasn't ended for the victim. In fact, the party has only just begun.

Robbing the grave in their usual manner, Greek television is happily saving money on content by speculating on this unfortunate youth's death. It rarely gets better than this: youth, policemen, and death -- for free!

And then there are more riots.
Why is this happening?

a) Politicians, as other rodents, hope to capitalise. "Yipee!" exclaimed the socialist party spokesman, and patted his communist namesake on the back. They both quickly resumed appropriate gravitas.

b) More importantly and aptly put by an expatriate living in Athens, Greece:
"Children, adolescents are not given any outlet to look forward to, any hope, any vision of a future... somewhere, somehow. Their schools give them no outlet, no direction, no hope for something that is there for them in the future; they live with parents who are living their own dead end.
Youth feels completely closed in and cornered, and ignored ...parents and television don;t offer much. A dream, a vision, something...
Just rules & nothing to look forward to.

So the kids lash out at the only figure of authority that's easily accessible and is newsworthy: the police."

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Police-shooting-sparks-riots-Greece-Athens-December-7-Greece-police-station/ss/events/wl/120708greeceriots/im:/081208/photos_ts_wl_afp/c2af016900785dc0ea0f5cbdc82a0547/;_ylt=AvdfZ0iSUPEVkNzsNuPxDlcFO7gF