Observations From the Spectrum

The upper class is about power. Rape and assault is about power. Betsy DeVos identifies more with the assailants than the victims.

The Corrupt Win. Is it possible that we have it all wrong?  That the markers we think are for good are bad and the markers for bad are actually good in the real world.  I was a middle school teacher for ten years and from day 1 the kids helped me see the world as it should be and not how it is.  So I wonder what makes almost all children by the time they reach adulthood walk away from the world as they knew it be for the world we have today.

You have to look no further than the 1960s to see this happen in real time with adults.  Does it bother anyone else that the same people that told stories of Woodstock, sit-ins, protests and actions that ended a war and prevented World War III are the same people that ended a grassroots movement of 10 million strong started by those they told the stories?  The math doesn’t add up to me but it certainly happened.

So somewhere between the Beatles and Woodstock, right and wrong or good and bad got switched.  Whether it gets switched back I think is up to us.  

Power is a weird thing.  Rarely through history do those who wield it in large amounts use it to do good. In fact, the opposite is true.  Look no further than today.  America is one of the richest nations in the world.  That’s a fact.  It means that when they add up the money, we have the most.  Yet here we are in the middle of a global pandemic and it’s crickets from those with wealth.

Think of it like this.  We all buy in.  We shop through Amazon, connect through Facebook and WhatsApp, buy what the Kardashians sell, watch the latest Hollywood blockbuster and cheer our favorite teams.  The do no gooders are not just Trump and the government.  The list is longer. It’s athletes, musicians, actors and any celebrity who is making money on our attention and our hard work.

I accept the facts.  I pay top dollar for certain products that are industry cool and understand that when I go watch the latest Marvel film the actors are getting paid $20 million to my $20,000.  That’s how it is.  Not all get lucky and get to follow their dreams or succeed at them.  I did imagine that they would step up to the plate in real life in real time and not abandon their fans and financial base.  They did.

Which brings me back to the transition between middle school and real life.  Want to know why Greta Thunberg is hated is because she has yet to compromise human values and world ethics.  I didn’t say her values and her ethics, I said human values and world ethics.  There is a difference and almost all middle school students can easily explain the difference if asked to think about it for a bit.

Human values are what Bernie Sanders was selling.  It’s really simple.  No one should go to bed hungry or sick and all should be given a chance at achieving their dreams.   The fact that there are people who are hungry, who cannot afford food, steal to get food and go to jail is against humanity.  Not their actions but the actions of the leadership that accepts, allows and supports this type of cycle for profit.  It should be against the law.

The disparity between rich and poor will always be there.  That’s not worth fixing or trying to.  That’s not how humans work.  We are competitive by nature and some have skills or gifts that separate them from the majority of us.  That’s okay.  That’s what we buy into when we purchase a sport or movie ticket.  We are going to watch the greats.  The problem is that they are not doing their job now which is to return the favor in the form of money to those who need it. 

The other problem is World Ethics.  This one is more simple.  The Hawaiians have it correct.  Their word for land is Aina.  They understand at a people’s level that the land is important and to be taken care of.  Those that don’t take care of it meet a swift and painful fate.  They will literally beat up anyone seen doing harm to the land.  Try it.  Go to a local beach and drop a Starbucks lid or cigarette wrapper in front of a local and see what happens.  Please have a friend video from a far and share.  That’s how it should be.  We should call people out when they disrespect or harm our Mother Earth just as we would if someone did anything to our mothers.  

What went wrong?  It’s simple.  Those in power stopped looking for the best employees or workers and started looking and hiring the ones that would bring them the most profit at all costs.  In other words from an early age the system wants to isolate and discover the gifted and skilled students and test them.  Those that want to play the game fairly do not win.  They are looking for the student who wants to win at all costs and the system supports that student.

Think of Lance Armstrong.  He was not the most physically gifted athlete but when asked what he would do to succeed?  His answer was simple, whatever it takes.  Don’t buy it.  Follow the money.  Trek bikes wanted to make money. One way to increase revenue is to hire or sponsor athletes.  Did they look for the athlete with strong values and ethics?  No, they simply looked at the podium and who was winning.  The more podium spots, the more bikes sold.  It’s simple math. Trek just never asked the question how is Lance winning?  They did not care.

Now look at hedge funders.  Take two traders for a company.  One pulls in $100 million a year for the company and skims $10 million a year.  The trader sitting next to him only makes $30 million for the company but skims none.  Who does the owner prefer?  Trader A as long as he or she doesn’t get too greedy and that person will probably be the boss in the future looking for someone exactly like him.  

The cheaters win and those with humane values and World ethics don’t matter.  The system celebrates power and winning.  The only way to change the system is to change the game. Literally log off.  That’s the KEY to the shift of power.  Those in power can’t control 7.8 billion people especially if we are not listening.