How's That Again?

5 Mind Boggling Issues (At The Moment)

By Pandora Poikilos
You know the funny thing about watching the news is that while you may feel bles
sed at not having to go through something in particular, there will be moments w
hen you think, "Now, how is that even possible?" While I dislike armchair politi
cians (the kind who'll drone on about how things are supposed to be and how ever
ything and everyone is doing it wrong but will never even bother to get up from
the chair to do anything about their opinions) intensely, I do have a few issues
turning cartwheels in my head. Maybe it's because I'm not that knowledgeable or
maybe I'm just ignorant, nevertheless, I'm thinking how did these things get so
far?
Vote For Me
All around the world, you hear of people who are homeless, who are so very sick
and yet cannot afford the medical care they need. I say, forget about all around
the world. Look down the street we live on and there are probably at least two
people going through the same issues. So, this is one of the biggest issues doin
g cartwheels in my mind. How can a group of approximately 50 people (maybe even
less) spend USD4 billion on election campaigns (US Senate Elections November 201
0) when there are so many families probably trying to scrounge together USD400 f
or their households. I (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) have problems imagini
ng what USD4000 would look like sitting idle in my savings account so what does
USD4 billion look like? How can people vote for someone who says, "I need to spe
nd all this money to get your attention and then may not necessarily be able to
give you what you need"?
There Just Isn't Any Money
Now, when the Great Depression sneaked up on the world way back when, the world
got through it. Very slowly but surely enough that some people out there can aff
ord USD8,000 dresses and have enough spare change to buy accessories and handbag
s for an even higher price tag. So, when I keep seeing, reading and listening to
how countries are struggling to stabilise their economies, I'm thinking, with a
ll our technology, with all our expertise, what have we learnt? It's at the end
of a different war, in different times and still we have the same problem. It's
almost like being thrilled at making two steps forward and then very confusedly
realising we are actually four steps backwards. Did we assume that money has an
infinite value or did we become so full ourselves that we thought we'll always b
e the ones able to control money at our whims and fancy?
There's A "Mad Dog"
I remember hearing about rabies as a child and obviously it's been around for lo
nger. There was always this constant warning about not playing with stray animal
s or learning how to handle one instead of squeezing a hurt puppy with affection
and ending up with a bite. I understood that it predominantly came from dogs an
d as I read more on it, I learnt that you could die from it if the proper vaccin
es were not given to you within a certain time frame. On 5 October 2009, the Ove
rseas Security Advisory Council issued a warning that rabies had become an issue
in Bali, Indonesia. Fast forward to 15 October 2010, the 100th victim from rabi
es dies. In a span of one year, that's approximately 8 people a month and short
of removing the destination from your holiday plans, what's being done to stop t
he figure from growing? Or maybe it's just better to sit around wait and let it
grow into the pandemic that the H1N1 influenza grew into.
It's A Green World
Here's another one, I grew up watching Captain Planet and I loved it. I could te
ll my pen pal in Italy about it and she knew about it too, without the luxury of
You Tube by the way. This was easily more than a decade ago. We learnt about re
cycling, waste separation, pollution and the simple things that can be done towa
rds keeping it clean. So, while the kids were getting educated on Captain Planet
, what were the adults doing? Why is there this mad rush, only now, at conservat
ion and recycling? Have people only just realised that trees take shorter time t
o cut down than they do to grow. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad that at lea
st some efforts are being made towards keeping trees out of being viewed only in
a museum but again, with all our abilities of being able to tell the simple thi
ngs about weather to our great political debates about whether President Barack
Obama will run for another term to even the very expensive equipment at forecast
ing the likes and don't likes from people using social media, what's the push th
at needs to be given before this a primary concern for all?
Knock, Knock
Do you know Tyler Clementi? I don't, although I would have liked to. But he has
brought to us an issue that has been boiling on the stove for a long, long while
- privacy. Tyler Clementi (like it's been said so many times before) was a stud
ent who jumped off the George Washington bridge after his roommate publicly stre
amed a video of him being intimate with another man. What got to me about his de
ath, had nothing to do with what he did in his room but that he felt so ganged u
p on, that suicide became his only option. The other more glaring issue is, a lo
t of people using social media these days act as though their parents raised the
m in a house without doors. The first thing you're taught to do, when entering a
ny room is to, knock because everyone is entitled to having their own space. So,
how does putting someone else's personal information or degrading someone for t
he heck of it in a public space become correct? However, the best part is yet to
come, when my friends and I come across degrading pictures, comments about peop
le or even reading material that's not quite age appropriate for all, on social
media like Facebook, it so correctly says - "You can report this." When you do c
lick "Report" it says, the content may not necessarily be removed and when you g
o back to it, three months later, there it is, still there for the world to see.
Like wow, how 'smart' is that?