humor needed

Here is something I made that might bring a smile to your face.

yeah, right

"Which is worse, ignorance or apathy?"

As the nations of the world trade systems participate in continually evolving forms of economic globalization, the level of ignorance and apathy among the general populace may rise relative to the degree of personal socioeconomic success.

In short, it is predicted that the capitalistic exchange model may promote economic stability among nations while further socializing global populations into the mindset of commercial manipulability.

Other sociopolitical effects of global capitalistic exchange may include the empowerment of women, changing family and social structures, profitable exploitation of the working classes by the capitalist classes, cultural domination, the development of English as an universal business language, as well as new alliances and stratification among the nations.

The concept of an integrated one-nation world system of government may function if there exists full and equal representation wherein class, ethnic, and religious identities should not be used for political mobilization and stratification. This may require a possible blend of the elements of democracy, republicanism, communism, and socialism. It would also likely require several informed citizens' committees to address issues of corruption and repression.

If peaceful and cooperative technological development projects were to take place under such a system, concerns such as health, poverty, education, and environmental degradation may be greatly reduced.

If something of the sort ever happens in this lifetime, I would be content living life as a traveling writer, artist, policy consultant, and educator.

nocturne

It is late at night
And the North Star is shining.
The mist covers the rice-fields
And the bamboos
Are whispering full of crickets.
The watch beats on the iron-wood gong,
And priests are ringing the pagoda bells.
We hear the far-away games of peasants
And distant singing in the cottages.

It is late at night.
As we talk gently,
Sitting by one another,
Life is as beautiful as night.
The red moon is rising
On the mountain side
Like a fire started among the trees.

There is the North Star
Shining like a paper lantern.
The light air brings dew to our faces
And the sound of tamtams beaten far away.
Let us sit like this all night.

(Song of Annam, "Nocturne," p. 34-35)

they proudly brew

Sitting in a coffee shop in the 'historic downtown' of Bryan, Texas, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the UN broadcast live on CNN. Other than that, I have scattered selected course materials for my political science courses on the table top next to my cup of mocha coffee of the Starbucks variety, "we proudly brew," it says. My goal for today is simple--to study for an examination in an ethnic conflict course--wherein the professor always seems to hint that democracy is the way to go, and summarize two articles concerning international institutions for another course.

Words of interest for today: authoritarianism, constructivism, horizontal, vertical, consociationalism, integrative democracy, hegemonic exchange, corporatism, primordialism, instrumentalism.

Here's a re-cap of last night:
- Damn, ants. I think I'll observe them for a bit. Can't burn them with a lighter, there's carpet. I need some Raid.
- Huh? They're carrying off my fingernail clippings. Better get the vacuum cleaner.
- Sweet, there's a 75% off selected items section at this 24 hour CVS. Wait, what was it I needed?
- Drats, why is the Raid so expensive? I guess I'll go for the anti-bacterial variety--that's a good way to kill the insect germs.
- Where's the cashier? Oh there he is. Hmm, he speaks in a monotone voice.
- Great, no more ants. I think I'll draw some pictures for fun.

idolizing ho chi minh, educating into capitalism

The title of this writing itself is an oxymoron—in that a government which propagates to its people the personality cult of its last great leader is training its citizens to function in a global society operating under the system of capitalism. This is not only ironic, but laughable as state-sanctioned booklets on the doctrine of Marxism-Leninism are still being published—which were intended to support the party in its use of powers of government to educate the proletariat to remove the notion of false consciousness which leads to economic exploitation of the worker (funny thing, the party is still suppressing the bourgeoisie institution of religion in regards to political attachments, while actively promoting nationalism—two other components of the notion of false consciousness).

Thus, the partial liberalization of Viet Nam’s economy may have some unintended (or intended, depending on whose perspective it is) consequences. Perhaps there is a reason behind the party’s decision to allow overseas Vietnamese who choose to contribute to the country’s economic development to have fifty year leases on land (temporary private ownership of land by the new bourgeoisie as opposed to Communism’s mandated collective ownership of land by the proletariat), and five year multiple entry visas. If the doctrine of Leninism holds true, another revolution is probably soon on its way to overthrow capitalism (once again) as reforming capitalism from within is stated as being doomed to fail—that is, unless the party is comfortable with having a flag with three stripes and a star in the foreseeable future. Perhaps this will aid the party in its doctrinal goal of achieving a stateless society (wherein it should probably go ahead and quickly convert the other members of the world economy to its ideology—Communism); imagine that, a world without borders.