VOTING

The post from Julian the Explorer 'George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People' was a really good one and raised multiple issues in my mind about government and the media. A massive frightening image becomes clear to the world of the problems that exist within America at this point in history. The attentions of the Republican administration are so firmly aimed outside of the US, that a disaster such as this one takes four days to even begin to attend to.

Through the media we begin to percieve why New Orleans represents a major discrepancy between what George Bush preaches, and what his government practises. We all imagine that America and Americans are the wealthiest country and people on earth. The way in which the bush admin publicly addresses its citizens is super polished and much like what we see in movies, words which sound like they mean one thing, but scratch the surface and have a go at reading against the grain and it turns out they mean something entirely different.

Even though Micheal Moore has been hammered somewhat within this university (and around the world) for his hyped up take on the American situation, I think that it is this issue that he was trying to point out. That America has HUGE poverty, that there are hundreds of thousands of trailer parks and millions of people who lack the proper education to do anything but become what their mothers and fathers are or were. This lack of attention to home based issues is reflected in the huge lack of education which gives an idea to the way that new orleans has reacted in the face of this natural disaster.

The billions and and billions of dollars that this administration has spent on wars should have been spent on helping Americans, who in many ways are at a crisis point themselves. Its not that George Bush doesnt care about black people specifically, its that he doesnt have a humanitarian heart, and at the base of things does not really have the necessary equation of a big business mentality balanced out with the compassion needed to care for his people. This is SO relevant to New Zealanders. In this election we choose between a party which represents the big economic vote for New Zealand business, and a party which has truely tried to recognize the complexity within the diversity of New Zealand.

I believe that Americas current situation represents what you get when you choose the promise of money over the promise of a bigger long term goal to care for the people of a nation. Putting money into education, eployment and health breeds compassion in every level of society and in the long term creates a nation of people who have the understanding and therefore the ability to see outside the square, and who, hopefully, come the time when a disaster hits, do not start to murder and rape one another.

I do not mean to say that the whole of America would act this way in a disaster, or that the whole of America is under educated, by all means, i believe that the anti american campaign is out of hand and that people are ready to forget all the amazing things that the nation has stood for and created, but it is natural that a super power is rotten in parts and that it is analyzed heavily and pruned accordingly for health. There is a severe lack of introspection going on within the Republican admin and this is what this disaster has highlighted.

I think Im just kind of ranting away to myself more than anything, trying to work all these hard out issues in my own head !! also, Ive realised that this is a bit of a pro labour speech, which Im not ashamed of - but it has less to do with media and more to do with politics, which of course is all interwoven, but yeah. anyway. thats it. Oh yeah, does anyone else notice how in comparison to the polished dubya and his crew, or even in comparison to the Tony Blaire, how our politicians have this flinch worthy gawkiness on screen (and probably in person too) which makes them seem like wooden puppets?? I personally kind of like it, its like everyone is a farmer at heart or somthing.