Where Have All The Adults Gone?
Photo from Times
The fun thing about leadership is that people will follow. If you propose stupid shit, people will actually do it. Invading Iraq to avenge 9/11 (Afghanistan) was pretty stupid, and yet many people supported it (including, er, me). Mihin Air and Mervyn Silva are pretty stupid, but the Sri Lankan people pay for both. I have always had some faith in the powers that be, but George Bush and Mahinda Rajapakse have given me serious doubts, mainly cause they simply cannot handle money in an adult way, and that has dire consequences for average people. Today there do not seem to be any adults in charge.
I have, in my extended youth, occassionally spent all of my money (and then some). My parents have bailed me out. What’s fun is that we’re now seeing similar behavior on the global scale. Wall Street has totally sucked at its job and now the government has to bail them out. If you thought adults were in charge there, you thought wrong. At a bailout meeting George W. Bush said. ‘”If money isn’t loosened, this sucker could go down” — and by sucker he meant economy’ (via HuffaPost). ‘By sucker he meant economy’. Fuck.
Oh, and locally, I dunno if it’s just me, but I’m broke. I had a lot more money in my pocket before Mahinda’s government took power. Like, I go out to eat and the menus have stickers on them cause they’re raising the prices too fast to reprint. The cost of everything has gone up faster than salaries (who gets a 30% increment every year?) so I suspect that I’m making less in real terms than before. I certainly have less money in my pocket, and I think everyone is doing about the same. The rampant inflation here is a direct tax on everyone, not to mention the new taxes on cell phones and more. What gets me is that a lot of the inflation is self-inflicted – the war, for one, maintaining the bloated government, for two, and direct corruption, for three. They could at least have the dignity to let Mihin Air die a natural death rather than asking for billions more.
I remember I was just 18 when George W. Bush ‘won’ the US election by some 500 votes in Florida. Which I thought was surreal. I was older when Mahinda won (though not unexpected) largely because people in the North and East were not able to vote, paradoxically. At that point I thought the systems in place were good enough that you couldn’t possibly take the wheels off the thing (especially the American economy). But apparently you can. Eight years was enough to totally spend all the moral, military and financial capital that America had. And Mahinda’s already done a lot in three. I mean, I’m broke, I can’t drive anywhere, and my friend just spent the day in jail for walking to work while being Tamil. I just pray that adult leadership emerges in the United States and that this corrupted discourse of ‘fight terrorism above all’ and ‘torture’ and ‘put it on the credit card’ and ‘did I mention terrorism?’ leaves our system. It feels like the world has gotten really messed up since I’ve became an adult and I’d like it not to be.
Great post. Keep in mind though, that while the average American got pretty fed up with Afghanistan/Iraq and wanted (still wants) to “bring the troops home”, most of the people in the South of Sri Lanka preferred that the North and East be militarily occupied. In simpler terms, there was never an anti-war movement in SL, or if there was one, it had little popular support.
Bush was an asshole, Rajapakse is an asshole, the difference is that Bush had only 8 years to do his dirty work, whereas Rajapakse it seems has a lifetime (not counting the generations of Rajapakse’s that will carry on the “legacy”). Moral of the story: that piece of paper called the “Constitution” is not so worthless after all, assuming the vast majority of folks actually abide it. I have a gut feeling that most Sri Lankans have never even read their Constitution, whereas Americans, when cornered, immediately demand a lawyer.
Heshan…the people who support Rajapaksa and his Family rule on this forum and elsewhere are also assholes…
ps. Most Silly Lunkets (pronounced Sinhala buddhists) haven’t read the constitution because they have only 3 brain cells in their heads. That is why they vote for people like Mervin Silva, Duminda Silva, Anarkali, Paba, Namal, Sajin Vaas etc who have maybe 4 brain cells in their heads…
Indi…since you mentioned Mihin Air…but went no further…here is something that you may or may not find humorous.
BEANheen Air – We Serve You Right When You Take Our Flight
“Good day, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to BEANheen Air. This is your captain speaking. I am happy to announce that this is the first supersonic flight undertaken by BEANheen Air from Idiot Island to Libby Yar. We will be flying at an altitude of 90,000 feet and a speed of 1800km per hour. Our flying time from Idiot Island to Libby Yar will be 2 hours and 45 minutes.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, I know you are wondering why we have been waiting to take off for over 2 hours. Unfortunately, His
Hex-A-Lunacy the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient Presi-Dunce Percy Jilmart Bean’s brother’s wife’s sister’s daughter has been held up in traffic. We will be taking off as soon as she gets on board. In the mean time you are kindly requested to watch the in-flight movie of our beloved Presi-Dunce and his Royal Family of 300+ on their recent visit to LunDumb, Parish and NooYuk.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, His Hex-A-Lunacy the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient Presi-Dunce Percy Jilmart Bean’s brother’s wife’s sister’s daughter has finally got on board. We have now been cleared for take off. I apologize for the 6 hour delay at the runway. The stewardesses will now serve you Kurakang bread and Kola Kenda.”
“Well ladies and gentlemen, we seem to have broken some sort of record. Our flying time to Libby Yar was 2 hours and 31 minutes. Unfortunately there are many planes circling the airport, and we have been asked to fly over the Sha-Ha-Raa desert and hold there at 65,000 feet.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, since I last spoke to you, 90 minutes ago, I regret the Libby Yar airport has asked us to maintain altitude and fly in a pattern over Tim-Buck-Too.”
“Friend’s, I know you are all very tired and hungry and thirsty, but trying to break down my door is not going to help anybody. We should be getting the green light from Libby Yar at anytime now…”
“We will be permitted to land within the next hour. Please fasten your safety belts, and may the blessings of His Hex-A-Lunacy the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient Presi-Dunce Percy Jilmart Bean be upon you all!”
“We are now on the ground at Libby Yar airport. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any room at the ramp, and we have been asked to wait out here until someone leaves. It should not take more than 40 or 50 minutes. Until then, please relax and watch the in-flight movie number 2 of our beloved Presi-Dunce’s recent visit to Eeeran, Meandmymaa and Shyna.”
“Well ladies and gentlemen, here we are at the terminal, and I hope you enjoyed the maiden supersonic flight of BEANheen Air. I’m happy to announce we beat the previous record set by ChristoBean ColomBus when he crossed the Hatlantik in 1492 in the NeenaBean, the PintaBean and the SantamariaBean by 4 hours and 12 minutes.”
“Have a wonderful day, and don’t forget to tell your friends and relatives about BEANheen Air. Our motto as always is: We Serve You Right When You Take Our Flight!
Jaya Hoo!