Friday, May 28, 2010

Self Interested So and So's

One of the tests that I like to apply when evaluating potential new friends, colleagues, jobs, projects and associated workplaces - is my personal little national interest test.

Call me dumb, naive and old fashioned but I want to make sure that the people with whom I am going to be associating have a similar perspective. I want them to be concerned enough about the future of the nation that they will always put the national interest before their own little and unimportant self interest.

Now I won't get deeply into why this is important - except to say that looking after the national interest is vital if we are concerned for the future of our children and grandchildren and their offspring. If we want a better future for our people then the best way - no the only way is to make sure that the nation is strong, fair and in the top quartile of equivalent nations - by any reasonable multi-faceted measure. And that it stays there for a long time.

Clearly there are many people who live here who have a different view and they are keen to look after and maximise their own little self interest. Mainly these people are the ones who value personal wealth and power above all else. Some aren't smart enough to know what to value and so they just follow their noses and Rupert's confected BS. It's not that I don't like oodles of personal wealth - it's just that I don't think it is an appropriate pathway to contentment ;-)

Now the only reason that I mention this is because as you will know Virginia - I am a small student of our media. And I am very disappointed to see the various campaigns that are underway by the self interested - all designed to influence the people of our nation - in the hope that they will support a small, greedy and rich subset of our population - over the majority.

These are designed to obfuscate, confuse, mislead and lie. From what I have seen and read in the current campaigns there is plenty to support their self interest but actually nothing by the miners or the opposition or their cheer squad in the right wing media to serve the national interest. And nothing even remotely fair and balanced about them. Period.

It's sad really but indicative of how these people are playing the game - and why the world is only going to become more dangerous and unfair if we let them have their way.

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