How come so-called celebrities get to be considered experts on subjects they know little about, yet are taken seriously? Neil Young, Miley Cyrus, George Clooney, Don Cherry and so on. When they get away from their known professions and branch out into other sectors, they generally just make themselves look foolish, but their loyal followers shake their heads up and down with acknowledgement of their wisdom.
In fact, some of these people became celebrities only because they keep talking about things they didn’t know anything about. Example, Al Sharpton. I’ve often wondered … who is he and why do people listen to him?
Of course, I wonder that same thing about Stevie Wonder, that Harper boy and Justin Trudeau, the wonder child, and Thomas, I’m mad about everything, Mulcair and Pauline, I’m right behind you, Marois or Danielle, I think I’m a Conservative, kind of, Smith.
At least these folks have to get elected before we are instructed to listen to them.
A couple more questions.
Are those who hack into computers actually paid to do what they do? Is it now considered to be a legitimate profession? If they call it gathering or harvesting information, does it get the legal green light? If they do it under the guise of surveying consumer/voter/political results, do they get recognized as being on the right side of the law?
Speaking of hackers and 15 minutes of fame, where is Julian Assange now? Is he still living the good life in Russia?
One more question for you, dear diary, and then you can run off and do something important.
Are you not getting tired of political leaders who keep blaming the previous administration for the faults in the systems they use to operate their governments?
“We’re in this current economic mess because the previous administration let us down,” they all say. And 10 years after the fact, they’re still saying it and they’re all guilty.
In Saskatchewan, Blakeney and friends had to clean up after Thatcher, Devine cleaned up after Blakeney and Romanow cleaned up after Devine and Wall is cleaning up after Romanow/Calvert and the wheels go round and round. None of them are willing to take complete ownership of their decisions. Instead, they claim they are being forced into their particular actions because the previous team screwed up.
And when they finalley profess to take ownership, what do we inevitably hear?
“Oh, we’ll turn things around in the second half.”
Business CEO’s, the guys who take millions in salaries from investors, find themselves uttering those words, just like the politicians. They need to protect their gold and the only way they can do that is to make sure the fickle investors don’t leave them. As a result, the dividends and stock options keep flowing, even if the company isn’t.
In the political world, the investors are the voting public. They need to be told what they want to hear. Therefore, you can count on things “turning around in the second half,” even if they aren’t.
The only time I believe things can be turned around in the second half is when I’m listening to Corey Chamblin talk about the Roughriders on game day. He, I can believe because his job is on the line. For all the others, it’s only gamemanship and you and I, dear diary, are the suckers.
And that’s my cynically positive message for today. Now get to work.
