| Subject: | Re: [socialcredit] A New Look -- Wally comments | | Date: | Friday, June 3, 2005 00:10:46 (+1200) | | From: | W. McGunnigle <wmcgunn @.........nz>
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| In reply to: | Message 1628 (written by Timothy Carpenter) |
Hi Tim
I can see where you are coming from now, and basically I agree
with what you are saying. I was facinated to see the word 'Pauline' among
you reply. That epitomises what you mean in a nutshell. My only excuse for
believing that Puritanisms is alive and well in NZ is the reemergence of
Prohibition as an electoral item from the Progressives. I find this attitude
Hypocritical in the extreme. I can never reconcile any government action
that requires 18year olds to vote, accept full adult responsibility for
their actions and be liable to be drafted into the armed forces to be killed
in warfare, but then says "Oh but your not responsible enough to purchase
alcoholic beverages". It is pathetic, because drinking restrictions don't
apply to the armed forces theuy come under military law.
The Chinese do have that clan/family support mentality, I didn't emphasise
that point because it is an alien concept to many western thinkers today.
The Chinese do indeed find much western thinking not only alien, but
downright heretical to their way of life. They work hard and play hard. The
modern western "nuclear family" tends to be an insular unit consisting of
Parents and immediate children. Those beyond the normal working retirement
age are quitely shelved off into nursing homes etc. Chinese and Asian
societies in general tend to value their older members and keep them within
the family unit. However this is a sweeping generalisation. There are many
elderly within Asian countries in great need.
Their attitude towards life itself is different. My brother who works
in Singapore and has travelled extensively in the Far east as a building
consultant has made the statement to me that " Life is Cheap" in the region.
I appreciate your comment about the Blair administration in the UK,
but that is an ongoing process it started under the Thatcher regime who
singlehandedly did more to destroy Britain's industrial manufacturing
capabilities than any outside enemy. It was done by maintaining the pound at
a too high a parity on the world currency market. She was able to do this
because of the immense export revenues from the North Sea's Oil and Gas
fields. British products were simply priced off the international market
undercut by weaker currencies. I believe that the same process is taking
place in New Zealand. When I first arrived here in 1971 there was little
difference in outlook between the so called Wealthy and the lowest paid
worker. There was also <1% of the workforce "Unemployed" i.e. receiving
money from the state tpo keep them alive. That is not the case today.
A last point about Chinese and orientals, they set great store on
what is termed "face". There does not seem to be an exact equivalence to
this in western socities, but it is important when you are making business
deals with them that they are not humiliated or made to "lose face" in front
of their fellows. My brother finds that once you can appreciate this then
you can make very profitable business deals with the Chinese. He found that
they are willing to go to exceptional lengths to ensure all is fair and
equitable just as long as you work within their system.
Your observation about them operating to divide the spoils among the
family after they had increased their production by 400% in quite correct.
They will exploit one another quite shamelessly to achieve desired ends. I
don't pretend to grasp the philosophy behind their different approach to
life, but have made the observation that the Chinese appear, to a large
extent, to be able to seperate their politics from ecomonic developement.
This again is a contrast to our western societies where the two now appear
to be always intimately bound together despite the attempts by certain
political parties to privatise industry.
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