The Downhill Slide

"Almost all education is about ourselves."                    Stirling Sill. I had a friend ring this morning.  Like me, he is disillusioned with New Zealand society.  As far as he's concerned, NZ is facing the same problems Germany faced when Adolf Hitler was democratically elected dictator for life.  All the promises under the sun but when the smoke clears, Kiwis are expected to do what they're told, when they're told and how they're told.  No explanations are offered and the political justifications are regarded as superfluous.  The law must be obeyed and that's all that counts.  Enforcement is by increasing numbers of bureaucrats with a collective IQ of 27.  In fact, it's almost impossible for the rational person to obtain employment with a government department or local council.  All they alleged 'experts' want and let's face it, they have a piece of paper qualifying themselves as halfwits, are none too bright people who can be manipulated into following instructions without considering the social consequences.  Anybody regarded as intelligent is deemed as a threat to their own career position and no employment is forthcoming. My friend is a highly qualified computer engineer, sixty-years-old and thus unemployable. The businesses that desperately need his services offer a pathetic $9 an hour and expect him to teach their young employees earning $30 an hour, how to fix computers.  Naturally he refuses, mainly because he took the time to learn the essential skills, while the young have merely taken a course on how to flick the ON switch.  If the machine doesn't do what it's supposed to do, they're completely lost.  My friend has been sworn at and accused of being an idiot because he tells them that if the HD is overrun with viruses and other operator problems, wipe the lot and start again.  The problem is of course, they don't know what to do.  The only computers they've seen come with software already installed.  They've never heard of DOS or how to reboot with a floppy disk.  My friend is far ahead of me but I manage to service my computers and keep them running perfectly.  But I'm the same age and the have same employment problems.  I spent a number of years in Europe learning the hospitality trade and successfully managed 39 hotels around NZ.  Yet the young person who opens a bar and ignores the advice offered by the professionals, wonders why he goes broke.  Are my friend and I missing something? Values that have stood us in good stead since NZ was colonised, have deteriorated to such an extent, commonsense is no longer a desirable quality.  Educational standards are pathetic and schools are turning out barely literate graduates.  The government has decided that social engineering is the 'in' thing.  Thus, we have endless laws that history show have never be accepted by thinking people.  Our politicians are also considering dumping the British Queen in favour of a republic.  Lamentably, NZ has never produced a politician with the intelligence to be a competent president.  If the USA's George Bush is an example of competency, staying with the British Queen is vital for our survival.  If the system ain't broke, why fix it? The sheer mindlessness of NZ society is well demonstrated by the increasing use of the phrase 'Jackass Mentality' to describe the bulk of the population.  Political disapproval of normal intelligence means they've never been taught how to think logically and don't understand that social engineering and its failure, have been written about for centuries.  The old adage that there is nothing new under the sun, is most appropriate. Current political thinking in NZ is going to fail miserably.  Perhaps a little intelligence exhibited by those who believe they know everything, might be in order.  There has never been a society anywhere in the world that has not resorted to extreme violence to change aggressive political behaviour.  Or are we to have Hitler or Stalin style concentration camps for those that exhibit commonsense and decency?  But a simple glance at history will show they also have a limited lifespan.                                          How does one explain reality to brain dead politicians?