Our parliamentary representatives are in the news again due to their demands for money rather than for the service they are doing for us the subjects of this kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Our Members of Parliament (MPs) as well as our MEPs, MSPs and various other so called leaders of our society actually get paid a great deal of money. Certainly a great deal more than they themselves have designated that we the common people need to live on. The minimum wage for someone in their mid 20s is £5-80 an hour, that is £208-80 on a 26 hour week or £10,857-60 in a 52 week year (and that is before tax). Remember, this is the amount of money per anum that the MPs at Westminster have decreed is what a normal person requires to live on in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the twenty first century. And yet these self same MPs are complaining that they cannot live on a salary that is at least eight times more than this plus all the allowances and perks that they get. They are telling us that if they got more pay they wouldn't have to indulge in corrupt practices which a lot, but not all, have been doing.
We are told (usually by MPs) that MPs should be paid a high wage in order to attract good people into the role of MPs and that many of them are taking a cut in wages when they enter parliament. This argument makes me spit blood. I was always taught that the primary function of MPs is to serve the needs of the people they represent, not to make money on the back of it. But this concept of service seems to have been forgotten in relation to the governance of our country. When the Queen elects our next Prim Minister (and remember please that she is the only person who can elect HER Prim Minister) she will not take the amount of cash involved into consideration (I hope). That doesn't mean he won't be paid a very large wedge of money for the privilege of serving the Crown in this manor.
What I believe is that all elected public servants should be paid minimum wage based on a 40 hour week (they can work longer if necessary). They would need to be allowances for secretaries, researchers and the like but these should be set scales administered by a personnel department at Westminster. I am sure that it is not beyond the wit of man to sort out a system that allows people that have a true calling to serve the subjects of the United Kingdom as their MPs to do so efficiently and honestly. We should aim to get those people who are in parliament for the money out as soon as possible replacing them with those who wish to serve. I also think it could be good to have a limit to the number of parliaments any individual can serve in but this will need a bit more consideration.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Monday, November 02, 2009
That Most Futile Prejudice.
There is, on this planet anyway, only one species of human, Homo sapien sapiens. This species of human can be found in every nook and cranny of the planet from its hottest and coldest deserts to its wettest forests. One species but many races of that species. Archaeology tells us that the human species evolved first on the continent of Africa some three million years ago, quite recently in evolutionary terms. For the first two thirds of that 3 million years humans lived exclusively on and arround the African continent and in that two million years numerous geneticly diverce types evolved. Even today the genetic mix in Africa is more diverse that the genetic mix in all the rest of the world put together. This human genetic inheritance was influenced by the environment in which these humans found themselves. This is called selection pressure. The genetic makeup that is best fitted to an environment will be selected for as the holder of those genes pass them on to more offspring who survive better. This is what caused racial diversity. It produced the small, stocky, jungle dwelling Baka and the tall, slender, plains dwelling Maasai. When humans finally left Africa about 30,000 years ago, and began to occupy other more extreme environments their adaptability allowed them to evolve new racial types. Those humans who moved into the ice covered northlands needed to absorb what little sun there was around up there so their offspring who had lower levels of melanin in their skin and hair began to be selected for as they had an advantage over their darker skinned relatives (this is only one traite that was affected by the new environment.). The lighter skin of the Caucasian and the Mongol races developed in their own directions, and as the ice retreated so the opportunities for expansion were taken by the various races. Eventually humans abandoned their nomadic way of life and began to stay in one place to grow food. Because they were no longer moving en-mass the racial types that had evolved began to stabilise in particular geographical areas and the mixing of racial types began to slow. Tradition meant that you only mated within a limited geographically imposed genetic pool which enhanced the racial difference. Demands for land may have exacerbated the suspicion of the racial group over the hill, but it must be recognised that although racial difference became pronounced we remained one single species of Homo sapien sapiens.
Eight thousand or so (or should that be 3 million) years later we live in very different times. We have become migratory once again. Many of us will not die in the same place we were born. The different races of humans are no longer bounded by the geography of the planet. Our mass transport systems have overcome the most imposing of geographical barriers. We either fly over them or dig holes under them. Because of this the racial differences that developed no longer have any relevance. Caucasians can be found in every continent as can Mongols and Africans. There is an increasing incidence of interbreeding between the human races and the mixing of the various gene pools is producing a whole new, better group of humans. Indeed, as we get to the end of the first decade of the twenty first century of the common era the most futile ism is racism. The idea that one race of humans were superior to any other race of humans has always been a political concept rather than anything based in fact. It gave the race that decided that it was superior, (often white Europeans, but Orientals, Asians and Africans have also held these views) the excuse to exploit the apparently lesser races "for its own benefit." Of course those who really benefit are the "superior race" while the "inferior race" had their culture, which showed just how inferior they were, systematically destroyed and placed into museums to demonstrate how the white folk evolved to their superior status.
The destruction of the "inferior" cultures have had now come back to bite the "superior" cultures. Now that our western European model of culture has been accepted as the norm all across the planet and amongst every culture of humans (to a greater or lesser extent) the members of the so called inferior culture are doing exactly what the "superior" races said that they wanted the "inferior" races to do and taking on the superior culture. Indeed, not only taking it on but taking it over. People from the so called inferior races have taken on the challenge and have shown themselves to be equal, if not better at it than their so called superiors. Because of this some members of so called superior races have revived all the old tosh about superiority and inferiority along with the idea that these savages are going to rampage across our land rapping (white women of course, women of other races are fair game and get no better than they deserve!!!) and pillaging as they go.
The sooner we understand that racism is the most futile of emotions that bear no fruit in our modern society the sooner we can get on with evolving into a species that will cope with all the problems that face humans all across the globe. By mixing our gene pools we will be in a far better position to deal with the challenge of global warming and the like. Until we accept that we are one species under the sun and we need as many options in our gene pool as possible rather than limiting it to a narrow band of possibilities, our survival on this planet is questionable. We would not be the first species from this planet to go extinct. It has happened numerous time in the past and will continue to happen in the future. Our species has come a long way in the last two million years but if we limit our options just for vainglorious political reasons we won't have another two million years. We might not have another two thousand years!
Fascist political parties such as the BNP and NF build their policies on the concept of the separation of the races and superiority of white races. They wrap themselves in Union Flags and cymbals of Britishness most of which have names derived from "foreign" languages (Britain, for instance, comes from the Latin Britannica.) If we give these people the credence of voting them into positions of power you will be helping to destroy any hope that the human species has of surviving into the future. Their narrow minded attitude to racial mixing will not preserve but destroy our culture. Indeed, it will go a long way to the destruction of out species which will run out of vigour due to in breading and die out. Embrace the world.
Eight thousand or so (or should that be 3 million) years later we live in very different times. We have become migratory once again. Many of us will not die in the same place we were born. The different races of humans are no longer bounded by the geography of the planet. Our mass transport systems have overcome the most imposing of geographical barriers. We either fly over them or dig holes under them. Because of this the racial differences that developed no longer have any relevance. Caucasians can be found in every continent as can Mongols and Africans. There is an increasing incidence of interbreeding between the human races and the mixing of the various gene pools is producing a whole new, better group of humans. Indeed, as we get to the end of the first decade of the twenty first century of the common era the most futile ism is racism. The idea that one race of humans were superior to any other race of humans has always been a political concept rather than anything based in fact. It gave the race that decided that it was superior, (often white Europeans, but Orientals, Asians and Africans have also held these views) the excuse to exploit the apparently lesser races "for its own benefit." Of course those who really benefit are the "superior race" while the "inferior race" had their culture, which showed just how inferior they were, systematically destroyed and placed into museums to demonstrate how the white folk evolved to their superior status.
The destruction of the "inferior" cultures have had now come back to bite the "superior" cultures. Now that our western European model of culture has been accepted as the norm all across the planet and amongst every culture of humans (to a greater or lesser extent) the members of the so called inferior culture are doing exactly what the "superior" races said that they wanted the "inferior" races to do and taking on the superior culture. Indeed, not only taking it on but taking it over. People from the so called inferior races have taken on the challenge and have shown themselves to be equal, if not better at it than their so called superiors. Because of this some members of so called superior races have revived all the old tosh about superiority and inferiority along with the idea that these savages are going to rampage across our land rapping (white women of course, women of other races are fair game and get no better than they deserve!!!) and pillaging as they go.
The sooner we understand that racism is the most futile of emotions that bear no fruit in our modern society the sooner we can get on with evolving into a species that will cope with all the problems that face humans all across the globe. By mixing our gene pools we will be in a far better position to deal with the challenge of global warming and the like. Until we accept that we are one species under the sun and we need as many options in our gene pool as possible rather than limiting it to a narrow band of possibilities, our survival on this planet is questionable. We would not be the first species from this planet to go extinct. It has happened numerous time in the past and will continue to happen in the future. Our species has come a long way in the last two million years but if we limit our options just for vainglorious political reasons we won't have another two million years. We might not have another two thousand years!
Fascist political parties such as the BNP and NF build their policies on the concept of the separation of the races and superiority of white races. They wrap themselves in Union Flags and cymbals of Britishness most of which have names derived from "foreign" languages (Britain, for instance, comes from the Latin Britannica.) If we give these people the credence of voting them into positions of power you will be helping to destroy any hope that the human species has of surviving into the future. Their narrow minded attitude to racial mixing will not preserve but destroy our culture. Indeed, it will go a long way to the destruction of out species which will run out of vigour due to in breading and die out. Embrace the world.
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