Now That's a Grudge

Listening to: Foolish Games – Jewel
Mood: On

As I mentioned, I’ve renewed my relationship with BBC news. Ah BBC, but I missed you. I’ll never leave you again.

Greece is in a spot of economic troubles right now, as you probably know. Again, this blog is based on the presumption that you don’t like ostrich holes. If you do, just go, this won’t make any sense to you. Ahem. So yes. Economic woes. This isn’t what caught my attention, as Greece was one of the first European places to start throwing around SOS signals.

Apparently, many Greeks blame Germany for their economic woes. Wait… what? That, intrepid reader is exactly what I thought. According to the news story, there are still plenty of people out there who are angry with Germany for its rampant invasion and destruction and subsequently, lack of any economic reparations being paid.

In fact, if you check out what Wikipedia has to say, it really does look like Greece got shafted from a few different directions in WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Greece_during_World_War_II

While I do sympathize with Greece about how the end of WWII went down, I’m still failing to see how this relates to the current management of their economy and how this turns out to be Germany’s fault. Is any of this actual feeling, or is it more like, “Hey, remember how Germany sucked a while back? Let’s blame them!” type thing. Is anyone from WWII still alive still? Apparently there are still lots of folks around, but I have a hard time imaging that all those elderly veterans being the driving force behind this sentiment.

Can we call it as it is? I’m sure that the end of WWII was a devastating time for Greece. However, this was damn close to 100 years ago. 100 years of government, policies, and decisions being made since that time. Yes, it is convenient to blame Germany for encouraging austerity measures, but I really don’t think this is a rational thought pattern for finding out what went wrong and what should be done to fix it. The entire world has had a paradigm shift in thinking. That, Greece, is why so many countries in the world are struggling, not because of the outcome of a war. Almost the entire world has been at war at some time or other. Empires and wealth come and go. I think it’s time to man up a bit. To be fair, I think the shift in thinking has to happen for any country that is over extended and facing economic difficulties. I’m just picking on Greece for being whiney about it and blaming someone else for their problems. The fact is, Germany is not responsible for your economic choices. You chose to be a part of the European Union, meaning you get the responsibilities as well as the benefits. If everyone is tightening their belts, you can’t whine that Germany was unfair and that you should get an exception. Hopefully Greece won’t ever get into another war with Germany, so that doesn’t need to be an economic concern for them. They do however need to do some serious thinking as to how they’re going to help themselves work on the economic problems they do have. Looking back at the past and blaming someone else for your current problems never solved a damn thing.

Destroying Bin Laden’s Compound

Hmm. Seems Pakistan is going for some positive PR by making a big deal out of destroying Bin Laden’s compound.

I’m kind of at a loss as to why this is important enough to rate a spot on the top news wires. The man has been dead for a while now. It’s almost like putting Bin Laden’s name on paper they would be hoping for some higher ratings or something. Ridiculous, I know.

Seriously folks. He’s dead. What does it matter what happens to his compound?  I’m pretty sure that destroying it won’t demoralize anyone who chooses to carry on in his legacy. I’m also pretty sure his family isn’t going to claim to care, even if they do. So…why? Buildings are just buildings. They don’t carry on the legacy of people who have spent time in them. Otherwise  serial killers' houses – never used again.

I really hate PR stunts and this just reeks of being one. I’m pretty sure no one in Pakistan is all that interested in hearing about his house being torn down (in fact, it may piss off some people quite a bit). Spitting on Bin Laden’s grave by being happy his house was torn down just seems a bit juvenile.

Really, Bin Laden was just a man. He was a particularly hateful and evil man, but only a man none the less. Can we move on already?

Becky

Watching the Nonsense From Afar

My family and I have moved to India. This is really old hat news for me, but since I don’t think I ever mentioned it in this blog, I thought I would explain my absence from complaining about all the nonsense. 

In fact, I haven’t paid much attention to what’s happening in the US since we left in September. I took a look at my blog today and it made me wonder exactly what was going on in the US.  I think some BBC viewing time is definitely in order. Alas, while India has stepped out of the comedy stone age and now gets Comedy Central (even though the programming is distinctly un-Comedy Central-ish), I still haven’t been able to catch a current John Stewart, which makes me weep on a regular basis. I do love that man.

Anyhow. Being out of the US with little access to all the nuanced news and talking heads in the US has made me wonder how much all of that nonsense really means anyhow.  It just doesn’t seem to have the same importance to my family now that we aren’t living there.

I’m going to have to catch up with what’s going on, just so I can stay informed.

Becky