A bit of ranting...

[Filox]

I was reading my local newspapers and I ran across an article that I really liked, so I decided to translate it. It is about the economical situation in Croatia, but it can be interpreted for most of the countries.

Quote:25 years ago I was a news reporter on Radio Rijeka. The dockers in the Port of Rijeka (a city in Croatia) heard that their wage might be late for a day, or it might be late even 2 days.

I was suppose to interview the director of Port of Rijeka and have a discussion about that subject. He waited for me at the entrance. As we were walking toward the administration building I heard an unknown sound.

The director has explained that the workers are using steel bars to hit the metal containers and thus sending a message to him how they will use those bars to break his head, if their wage doesn't arrive in time.

He told me he is not afraid because he can't go against force. If he makes a miracle, he will survive, if not, the bangers hidden behind the containers will turn him into bloody mash. I was disgusted by the savagery of the workers who could not wait for their money 3 more days.

Today? Today I wonder where did all these boys from the 80's go? No boys, no steel bars, no banging, no bloody mashes in the houses of our lords?

Why are we all so afraid? They shut down the "Forum", best Croatian weekly newspapers. The journalists are silent. The teachers are getting lower wages, they are silent. Hundreds of thousands of unemployed, hungry, desperate just sitting home and ... stays silent. Only the bravest shoot in their own head.

Who killed the need to be humans in us? Is it normal to make peace with dying on rates? Psychiatrists explain nothing, mental hospitals are overcrowded, too much work.

The doctors are in the hospitals from early morning to the next day because every summer they have to work through their annual vacation. What does that mean "work through their annual vacation"? Didn't they already worked and earned their vacation during the rest of the year? Are the doctors just stupid or scared?

A few days ago I was in oncology department in Rijeka. Patients are getting chemotherapy and ... are silent. The building is ruined, the floors are rotten, the walls are peeling off wetter than in some subway station, on one oncologist there are god only knows how many patients.

The relatives are horrified while looking at their loved ones, going through their worst days in their lives surrounded with horror equal to that in their own bodies. The chair for receiving the chemotherapy looks scary, all pink as a Barbie.

Somebodies donation? Who picked the colour? Laugh? Cry? Shoot? No, we need to be silent. There are blueprints, the oncology of Rijeka will soon become something else. When is that "soon", nobody knows.

The country is not doing well. After they pay up all the olympic pensions, the trips of our sports officials and their wives to London, buy 50 new Audi's with leather interior, forgive the debts to tycoons...

If something remains then the people of Rijeka and Istria, who are dying of cancer in thousands, real numbers are a secret, will one by one sit in the pink chair, that will together with 10 other pink chairs be standing in a pink painted dry room. Maybe in 2050 already.

My God, how scared, little and puny we are... Where does the fear come from? Why are we happy when we get minimum wage for working on Sundays and holidays? I have no answer. Luckily, I have a few years already, so my agony will probably not last for too long.

But the young? What are they hoping for? Going to Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Iran? Our children, under the American flag, will feed on the corpses of "terrorists" that are unlucky to live on the oil land?

Maybe nobody is thinking like me, because people don't have the time. I live off selling what my parents left me, that is why I dream some new world.

Most of my contemporaries are not that lucky, picking up tin cans and plastic bottles is their only happiness. Middle aged people are illegal truck drivers in Italy, or they are watching over old grannies, 24 hours a day, 30 days a month, one thousand Euros.

Nobody ever thinks to take the steel bar and dip it into bloody mash anymore. A pity. We can't go on without that and we never will.

What could we loose if we start? You know, really go for it. No introduction. No permits. Not on the streets that they have granted us. What could we loose? Life? Is this life?

Although, somebody will say that people have started in USA, France, Spain, Greece, Italy... What changed? They got beaten on the head, handcuffed, or showered with water cannons.

Modern capitalism really beat the shit in proletarians all over the world, who can not unite at all. Kill me. I will never believe that 99% of the people can not stomp over those 1%.


Vedrana Rudan

I like this style of writing, it reminds me of me.

Anyone care to comment, feel free. I hope I translated everything properly.

[Filox]

So, roughly 30 people have seen this, no comments... Why? Are you people scared to speak out openly? It appears that the original author of this article really made a point ...

[Dom]

Well, when you see that 30 have read that, we don't know how many are actually people. A good percentage is bots, Google, Bing, all the search engines come, read and index this, and leave a footprint.

As for the article, are things really that desperate? Is the flowing of blood really going to make them better?

[earmuffs]

Not really.
He praises bashing business owners over the head with steel bars if wages might be a little late.
He's obviously very anti-capitalist (which is obviously why you like it you yourself being rather anti-capitalist).

Capitalism didn't screw over Proletarians. If anything Capitalism has greatly improved proletarians living conditions.

Allow me to demonstrate using my fantastic ms paint skills.



Ok, so what have I drawn?
Red dot equals rich, blue dot equals working class.
The dots on the left represent before capitalism, the dots on the right represent after.

Capitalism, free trade, globalization etc... allow for efficiency (I swear I feel like a broken record at times, repeating myself over and over) of resources. This is good for everyone. I'm not gonna go into why because I've posted why two or three times now.
There are several effects of capitalism. Yes one of those effects is that the gap between rich and poor increases, but another is that the overall life quality for everyone increases. Capitalism allows for better cheaper things which benefits everyone.

Now the problem people have is that all they see is the green line. You, and this reporter, and everyone else against capitalism all they see is that green line. What they fail to recognize or see is that blue line. If I was to draw a communist graph over top, yes the green line would be shorter BUT that blue line's gradient would not be as steep. Basically saying that the "rich are less rich but the poor are poorer".

If people stopped concentrating on that green line and looked at the only line that actually effects them (the blue one) then there would be far less bitching.


As for Croatia, well the consequences of WW2 and Cold War etc.. are still felt today (ie: Eastern Block) and there's not much you can do about that.
History has played a major role in where countries are where they are today (much more then 'capitalism').

[Filox]

Tell me ears, what would you do if you work for 8-10 hours everyday and your employers does not pay you for 6 months? Would you then draw graphs and explain how the theoretical economical model works? Because in reality, people cheat, steal and lie to other people. They even use fear and blackmail to keep everyone quiet. And so you work for another few months and still, nobody is paying you.

But you are smart and you know that if you quit, the factory will close and then you will have even less chance to get your money back. Also, you (at 50 years of age) will have exactly 0% chance of finding a new job today.

So tell, my 50 year old unemployed friend, who didn't get payed for the last 9 months of your very hard work, what would you do if you see your boss in a nice new Audi? And of course you have a wife (half time job) and lets say one kid and a small credit, so the bank is blocking your account and threatening to take your house.

You see, this is not a rhetorical question, this is my everyday real life.

Dom, yeah, didn't think about the bots. As for desperation, I am sure that things are not as nearly as tragic in NZ or USA, but in Croatia...

[earmuffs]

I would take them to court.

Next question.

[Red Celt]

(07-08-2012 07:04 AM)earmuffs Wrote:  Capitalism, free trade, globalization etc... allow for efficiency (I swear I feel like a broken record at times, repeating myself over and over) of resources.

Earmuffs, have you considered the possibility that you're wrong? Just... y'know, throwing that idea out there for consideration. What is your view of people that disagree with you? That they just don't understand your graph? That, perhaps, if they stare at it long enough (and you do the broken record routine a few more times) they'll eventually stop being stupid?

I've been interested in politics since Thatcher stole my milk. I've been politically-aware for a longer period than you've been alive. I have a brain the size of a planet and I keep myself well-informed. I've studied political philosophy at both college and at university.

My opinion won't be swayed by an MS Paint graph and the rantings of an under-informed youth who seems oh-so-very-annoyed that his political views aren't shared by everyone else.

Widen your sources and look at the reasons why "lefties" hold the views that they do. When you're pointing at your graph and telling everyone to ignore the wealth-gap, keep in mind that the happiest societies on the planet are the ones where the wealth-gap is the smallest. There's a good reason for that... and it doesn't involve jealousy, in case you're tempted to return to your fall-back explanation about the left.

HTH

[earmuffs]

What you have to understand Filox is that there is a difference between a corrupt government (and hence system such as the courts) and capitalism.
Just because you see capitalism from your perspective does not mean capitalism as a whole is inherently bad.
Sure, there are fucktards out there, that is not limited by class or social position or wealth or whatever, that is just human nature but again don't confuse that with capitalism being such a horrific system that you constantly make it out to be.

[Filox]

(07-08-2012 07:33 AM)earmuffs Wrote:  I would take them to court.

Next question.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

So, after 10 years of "courting" and you starving to death, then what? Not every courthouse is normal.

Care to answer again. NO, taking anyone to court takes too fucking long, will solve little to nothing, as all the big players can afford big layers, you don't have money to feed your child, specially not for a good lawyer.

P.S.

I'm sorry, but did I ever say that capitalism is bad? I am saying that the people running it today SHOULD BE KILLED, ALL, NO EXCEPTIONS. You see, that there is a huge difference. It is just like when communism is discussed, how everyone keeps point how it is a great system IN THEORY, but it has failed so many times because PEOPLE are BAD and they STEAL and LIE. That is why they need to DIE, so that we may live on.

Right?

[morondog]

I think... extremely well written article. (Btw, it was a good translation too.)

The violence... I don't like. I have friends who would endorse every word of that though.