Tuesday, 23 December 2008

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?

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