Hope Dies Last

I have just started reading a book by Stud Terkel (Hope Dies Last). Just reading the introduction reminds me of the 2008 Socialist conference I attended in London. The book talks of activists and how it is they are who bring us hope, despite the fact that change rarely ever takes place in this country. I couldn't help but feel almost embarrased when I sat in that lecture room and listened to socialist members speak about how they were going to change the world and about how Socialism is the way to go. All I could think is "You haven't really thought this through, have you?". Fair enough, their ethics and policies sound great, but how do they expect to be able to completely change the system that our society runs on and make it work?
Who really wants to be equal anyway? If I was subjected to earning the same amount of money as everybody else (due to socialists wanting to tax high earners the majority of their money) I'd be left with no hopes, no dreams, and no determination to do anything with my life. You'd get out of education and it would be like "This is it...this is all you have to look foward to!". At least with Capitalism you have a chance to get to that level where you can earn shit loads of money, and look at everybody else and laugh (that sounds harsh, but it's true). You'd start to question the point of your existance.
And what would be the point of even going to University? Yeah sure you'd be more intelligent than everybody else and you could get that job that earns you more responsibility, but for what? For the government to take it all from you and share it out between everyone else? Bullshit.
Of course, if you're on the other end of the spectrum, and you have absolutely no chance of ever reaching that big pay cheque, socialism sounds wonderful. In fact the majority of socialist members are suprisingly poor students. Ones who have spunked all their loans on shit they didn't need and now think "Oh crap, if only we lived in a socialist society, then I wouldn't have to pay for University at all".
Anyway, back to the book. My Dad recommended this book to me, and I can now see why. My Dad is a left wing 'activist' (or so he likes to think). He was recently involved with the protests and campaigns against the closure of the Southampton Fords factory. However, I think he's now wondering why he ever complained as he's just received a £70,000 redundancy package, plus a pension. Just three pages in to the introduction the book mentions how autoworkers sat down in the General Motors plant in Michigan for 44 days, and reading that i thought "Oh here we go...".
I don't know if I have the patience the continue reading it. My hope has already died. If I do continue I'll let you know how it goes :)

Post Office Queue?!

Recently there have been mentions of a new system that could be brought into action in the bars and clubs. This system would involve customers queuing at the bar in single file in order to control the amount of alcohol consumed by each individual. Thats fair enough because it's true that young people these days drink far too much. But think about it this way...if you have a single file queue, only one member of staff is needed to serve at any time during the night. Now that fact worries me because I work in a bar and that means that I could possibly lose my job! There's enough bloody problems at the moment with unemployment due to the recession that it would be stupid to bring in a campaign that just loses more people jobs!
Not only does that make me question this post office style queuing system, but also it would kill business for bars and clubs. Who on earth wants to spend half their night queuing in an orderly line? You might aswell be back at school. It would be impossible to enjoy a relaxed night out with friends when you get treated like you're 10 yrs old again every tim you get a drink. Punters are only going to go to the places which don't have this silly system in place, and the places that do are going to suffer finicially.

War

I am currently reading a book called 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' which tells a story of a young girl growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the Taliban rule.
The first time I became aware of the war in Afghanistan was on September 11th 2001, when Al-Qaeda terrorists hi-jacked and crashed two planes into the Twin Towers - before that moment I was oblivious.
Earlier this evening I was flitting around the house, tidying, with the news on the television in the next room. I caught the sound of a name that sounded familiar - Abdul Rashid Dostum. Dostum was a leader who fought as part of the Mujahdeen in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the late 1980's. There were many other powerful leaders in the Mujahdeen, and once the war was over they no longer had a common enemy and instead turned on eachother. These honorable leaders (as they were once seen as in the eyes of Afghans) became warlords, who marked their territory with guns and bombs. This is the kind of violence that still goes on everyday in Kabul; the kind of violence that is killing our troops. And Afghanistan hasn't changed for the last two decades, as they were just discussing on BBC news.
And how do I know all this? My wonderful book told me! I recommend this book to anyone that wants to get more of an insight the the history of Afghanistan and their culture. It really helps you understand the current state of affairs...

Death

Death is all over the news everyday. People thrive on stories of disaster and tragedy, like its some kind of sick entertainment. In fact I think we are almost immune to feeling emotion in response to these terrible stories because bad news is all we hear.
Madelynne Butcher, 18, died after contracting the H1N1 virus last Thursday. Initally I was really worried about swine flu, but after friends and family got it and recovered from it I began to assume that all the massive fluster about it being deadly was just nonsense. I went to the same school as Madelynne, and she was a friend of a friend. To see a familiar face pop up on my TV screen and to simultaneously hear the words "died from swine flu" made me catch my breath. It made me realise that these horrible things we hear about everyday actually break peoples lives apart, where as to the moajority they might aswell be fairytales of a far away land.