WTO Protesters

d00d, don't sugar coat it -

tell me how you *really* feel.

PS - shoot me your email addy, the one i have isn't working. Did you ever make that turducken?

There really isn't such a thing as "Free Trade" or a level playing field. Every nation plays by its own rules. A case in point is the current mass-migration of IT jobs to "value added labor markets" like India. The workers in these countries have their college educations subsidized by their government (a concept the US needs to embrace to stay competitive).

Given the choice of hiring a programmer with BS for $30 - $40 an hour or someone with multiple Phd's for $10 an hour (or less), companies are going to opt for the cheaper labor -- especially when it is more qualified. That's hardly a level playing field for US workers who's costs for attending college are higher than the wages of their competitors.

Then we get into the more nefarious issues. Forced (slave) labor and child labor are much cheaper than paying people a decent wage. Treating and storing industrial waste is much cheaper than just dumping it. Clean air standards cost more than polluting the sky. The Bush administration's response to all of this is to try to give companies in the US a free hand to freely pollute and treate workers badly.

Then there's the issue of who makes the economic decisions about what's considered "fair play." The big nations are the ones who make these decisions at WTO meetings -- this effectively allows them to create an environment that gives them more economic power than the smaller nations they wish to exploit.

In the end, it's not that complicated. It's just the old fuedal system being employed with a face lift to trick people into thinking they are somehow getting a fair shake. The best way to become rich is still being born rich.

Yes, we should support radicalism because:

a) it involves an educated, sensible understanding of its pet issues from multiple dimensions

b) it inspires people to respect non-orthodox (among radicals) opinions

c) it results in even tempered political organizations and leaders

Radicalism is generally shit inspired by college professors, ideologues, or religious leaders to exploit the youth, among whom so many eat it up as truth, doing their dirty work.

I have less of a problem with the general peaceful WTO protesters than I do with the assholes among them who tear shit up.

Do you have an actual argument to make, or are you just going to stick to name-calling and insults?

I, for one, think that the name-calling and insults are more interesting to read than 90% of what passes for "arguments" on this board.

Somehow, that doesn't surprise me.

Well, speaking for myself, I'm always amused by how closely correlated are the degrees of intellectual confusion and righteous indignation in a typical post on this board.

Much like the surviving Jedi Knights of the first Star Wars trilogy, we, the growing population of discontented global consumers are taking up arms against greedy international corporations, in the same fashion as Luke Skywalker and his posse heroically underdogging the imperial forces of the expansive and powerful Darkside. The WTO and World Bank and IMF are in and of themselves very similar to the Death Star project undertaken by the Emperor and Darth Vader in the original Star Wars, a cloaked headquarters for the forces of evil to congregate in clandestine fashion and plot the take over of the universe. In fact on deeper levels the parralels between Globalization and the Darkside are quite unnerving, what with the Trade Federation in the classic George Lucas movies working to open up Free Trade Routes between planets in the Universe. The Jedis ultimately ended up whooping the evil assess of the space imperialists, driven by passion and hope, and in some cases borderline incestuousness between Luke and Princess Leah. So it comes down to this, are you a Jedi or are you joining the Darkside?
The imminent dangers presented by the globalization of our planet are becoming more and more obvious as the years go by, and more and more people are coming out to take firm stands of opposition to the corporate exploitation of the world. Unfortunately for us, the corporations are unfathomably powerful, more powerful than governments and militaries around the globe. And they will stop at nothing to fulfil their quest to convert every human on earth into a slave laboring mindless consumer. To do this they must find ways to get the citizens of parched Somali villages to buy Colgate toothpaste and drink Gingerbread Holiday Lattes from Starbucks. This is where the ever powerful WTO comes to play, serving as hired muscle for the major corporations of world and bullying third world and developing countries to privatize their industries so that Pfizer and Texaco can cock smack these small countries into economic submission. Slowly but surely the reach of these corporations is spreading like some unmentionalbe fungus caught on a weekend visit to Tijuana. The Darkside of Evil is winning and we are so far helpless to stop it.
I personally can't think of anything else to do except read Adbusters and complain to my friends about my fears that the New World Order is upon us. To quote the great philosopher Woody Allen, "More than anytime in history, mankind faces a corssroads. One path leads to despair and utter hoplessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly."

Happy ninth post, Shape. I guess your name is Kevin Smith in real life, huh?

Bizarre.

Does this mean that George W. is actually Zack de la Rocha's father?

"Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me ...Dad!!"

Now I understand.

For more movie connections in current events, anyone familiar with David Lynch's film adaption of Frank Herbert's Dune, may remember that the movie deals with a conspiracy within a interplanetary government system, where the conservative branch of the government is plotting to take over the the remaining branches by gaining full control over 'Spice.' Spice is a natrual resource found only on the desert planet of Dune. The government sets up occupying forces on this planet who come into conflict with the native bedouin type residents, who in their own words are waging 'Jihad' on the foreign invaders.
Occupation of Desert Planet to control their natural resource which is the only way to fuel their space travel? Discontented locals? An evil Imperialist empire?
Was Frank Herbert having some kind of psychic preconception of the War in Iraq when he wrote Dune? Do I just have too much time on my hands? Discuss amongst yourselves...This has been Coffee Talk with Shape.

I can see we're going to have fun with you around.