Abundance or shortage? Keynes or Milton Friedman? The quants rule? Human beings are selfish or empathic? what is the optimal point for happiness?
Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the Union, yet ranked the Happiest. New York City crime rates are at the lowest in decades.
South Korea, always at war, yet always connected.
And forget what you think you know about China i.e. traditional, passive-aggressive (all these may still be true with interior China). At least, their nouveaux riche haven’t behaved as counterparts in the US (Vegas limo and strip club): they bought Lenovo and Hummers.
Since the New Year, we heard that celebrities have been arrested almost every other week (Denver, West Virginia).
Fear of success.
And then, the real 17+% unemployed in the US, fear of failure? Sedated and in need of Shock treatments.
The age of adjusted expectations. Self-correcting amidst progress and plenty.
Fast toaster (Subway). Bullet train. Slow bureaucracy.
One advertising slogan “I hate to wait” came to mind.
Cultures and companies proceed at different speeds.
Search and rescue teams are now leaving Haiti. Their time and mission has come to an end.
Mid-term relief organizations now take ober. Then long-term sustained development NGOs will stay the course
piling on top of the 10,000 counterparts who had already been there before the quake.
News organizations such as CNN and CBS have stepped up to the plate, proving themselves worthy of our attention.
But then, where were they during the Iranian post-election showdown? Twitter ruled back then and there.
So we go back to our dichotomy of Command/control vs consumer/citizenry movement, Keynesian vs Milton, and
whether human nature are empathic or dog-eat-dog ? The Net is neutral. It blinks and waits for our clicks.
No wonder teens are into Vampires, a state of not living, yet not vanishing. Perfect commentary about our current state of ambivalence.
Poor surviving but wounded Haitians! I could not finish the evening news yesterday. Maybe we are empathic creatures after all.
Thang Nguyen 555 