Lately I have been highlighting the feeble nature of our public service. These people are utterly useless and you are paying a great deal of money for their 'services'. They are paid not to perform any valued service, but to be 'perceived' as doing so. i.e. Any value they offer is incidental to the perception left in your minds...that they do some good, therefore government....in all its majesty...is worthwhile. The reality...its not. You are getting about 30c in the dollar, and if you consider the opportunity costs, then you are faring far worse. You are throwing good money in after bad. Here is evidence based merely on three articles I have fished out over the last week - with two in this mornings news...One does not need to stray far. I have written before about politician's perks, media incompetence, but here are a few more:
2. Academic research or see this for academic standards on climate change
Let me add to these examples with another example.
The media loves drug busts. So do the police and the government. It gives you hope right! It gives you the hope that one day the police are finally going to develop a secret technology which will detect all drug traffickers. Or maybe a drug 'appetite' suppressant? You might even be hoping it comes from one of our public 'prestigious' universities. Think again. You would be under the false delusion that governments want to solve these issues. Really they don't. Do you think your stockbroker wants you to have direct access to the market? After all, why can't the ASX develop trading software to directly sell shares to you? Because it needs a middleman to 'siphon the funds from you'. i.e. To tell you a cocking bull story to buy the stock.
Anyway, back to the real story. The media loves big 'drug busts' because you are curious, so you buy the newspapers. The police love these stories because they feel they are actually making a difference, and because it boosts their collectivist pride. Yes, I agree, its paradoxical that I use the world 'collectivist' in relation to fascism and the police....but then I'm met students from the Australian Police Academy, and I can tell you some of the people coming out of that place are 'freaking' scary as cops. There is the same 'sub-culture' in the military of course. It must be the organisational values don't you think...so you'd have to wonder who gets promoted. Which makes you wonder....is the police organisation clean, or are perceptions being managed better than they were in the 1980s. Police all around the world are corrupt. You might wonder why. They are all part of the same organisation. Do you expect any accountability?
Back to the story. We have a huge $210 million drug bust! This is big news. The problem is ...this is just part of the trade. This is not going to make a 'big' difference because its a big shipment, but a small part of the trade. It will not be missed in the market. The reason is because they are infrequent. The market does not depend on these trades.
More concerning is that these big seizures give you hope in government and the police. The reality is that the problem goes far more fundamental than this seizure, the performance of the police, or government, but the structure of our government. This whole edifice is about justifying your hope in government. Don't. They are a false hope. Don't look at these one off seizures, look at the streets of your cities...at the alcoholism, the poverty, the indifference, the values of the people. These issues are effects....the cause alludes government who are fighting symptoms. They are not dealing with the cause. They cannot deal with the cause because their conduct, their organisational structure is part of the problem. You are part of the problem - generally speaking. If you don't have mental clarity over these issues you are part of the problem because you are supporting a regime that does not serve you...but you think in some practical way it does because it leaves you materially wealthier. You focus on the fact that you have an expensive home and a growing bank account... you repress the memory or the significance of a government which 'seizes' its share, your neighbour who cheats on his wife, your bosses advances, your son's lack of respect for you....but you imagine everything to be ok, because on some concrete level, things are better than yesterday because I have more things. Sounds like a drug addiction to me. Yes, perceptions can be hallucinogenic can't they....and they are free courtesy of your newspapers, friends, teachers, parents, etc. There are not many places where you can hear the truth. Most people just want to believe...this is the basis of their hope. Its called positive thinking....and the more desperate they become for hope...the more they chant their mantra of positive thinking. This is the era of cognitive repression....and your government has a play in it.
Read this story about this police seizure and tell me that its going to make a difference to the drug trade. It ignores all the smaller trades which are just too small. This big shipper was tipped off because the organisers belonged to a large organisation. Most are family businesses with cargoes floating behind vessels with GPS-tracking devices. They will never get those shipments. If discovered they will be left floating in the Pacific Ocean.
The only way to end the drug trade is to restore people's respect for facts. Its far more fundamental than the government's thinking. And they will never reflect on the fundamental cause because if we did, they would have to oversee a very different form of government, which would of course steal their 'illegitimate' thunder.
I am reminded of public servants who acknowledge that they don't have the resources to fight crime. This has been the case with the financial regulator ASIC, the police, I hear it all the time. These people end up leaving the police in frustration. They go into these organisations seemingly with such noble ideals...but they never challenge their ideal.
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Author
Andrew Sheldon
