That attitude will not get us out of the crisis.

I just saw this on Greek national television and I really have to make some comments on it.

Hey,

I'm neither a public service worker, nor a thief.

And, I don't drink ouzo, break plates or say Opa in my daily life. Oh and I don't know Yorgo, Yanni, or Niko from Greece, although I am certain that they're really really nice...

Correct.

My country is a democracy, actually it invented the concept...

Actually ancient Athens invented democracy, not Greece. If you consider that to be the same then your country also threw retarded or disabled children over a cliff (what we (and Nazis) call eugenics). Also modern Greeks OBVIOUSLY have no idea about how a democracy is supposed to work and this is obvious if you look at the way they vote: purely for personal short-term benefit.

I speak Greek and five other languages, and most of the people from my country speak at many foreign languages...

True, most people here speak Greek, English and one more language.

I could probably sew my country's flag in my backpack, but Greece's heritage goes far beyond the geographical borders. It invented the West...

What? It invented the west? What is that even supposed to mean?

I believe in Hellenism... The entire world aspires to its ideals... 

And if I owe anybody any money today -and by the way I am not the only one- it's because I invented the idea of a free market!

What the fuck is this girl talking about? There were people trading over the seas way before "Greeks" inhabited Greece. Also when did YOU (specifically) invent the free market? You, Katerina, did nothing about the "invention" of a free market and I doubt that a free market needs to be invented. It's just natural to trade things and if you do it outside state control, a free market emerges, it is not an invention.

And if you critique me today, it's because I invented the idea of critique.

 Again, when did YOU, Katerina, invent critique? Somebody else in the past did, and the world owes nothing to modern Greeks for that. On the other hand modern Greeks owe, as much as the rest of the western world, to those guys that ACTUALLY invented democracy and critique. Don't think that you are somehow less obliged to those who invented democracy then the rest of the world. We all owe them a lot. The fact that you were born in the same geographical area, speaking a similar, closely related, language with those that invented democracy doesn't entitle you to any special treatment or honor by the rest of the world, you were just "lucky".

I believe in Freedom , so if I need to, I protest...

In this country most people don't even know how to vote. Some of them even protest for the shit they themselves caused. Of course the rest of the people both know how to vote and protest but unfortunately practically nothing changes as long as those people remain a minority.

I believe in the joy of life. I have the right to. There's nothing wrong with that!
I can swim in the waters of over 6000 islands! My country is of exceptional beauty, and tradition.

Good for you and I agree to everything but the last thing. I consider tradition useless (and in some cases dangerous) cause it rallies people around trivial things instead of actual opinions and wants.

And my family is a sacred institution!

 In most civilizations the family is "sacred" in some way. Nothing to see here people, move along.

You call me Greek, but it's Hellene, NOT Greek, HELLENE!

"Greek" is also acceptable as well as many other names: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks#Names . I turns out that it stems from Graikos, a son of Zeus. Also we are not the first country in the world that uses another name for itself than the rest of the world.

My name is Katerina...

My name is Kostas...

And I am Hellene...

And I was accidentally born in Greece, surrounded by arrogant and irrational people as well as a few bright exceptions.

War and War games

I've been told a few times that one cannot be against war (or the army) when he plays war games. That's not true. War games only simulate the funny and good parts of war. Yes there are some good things in war and conflict in general.

First of all they give you controlled violence. Most people (especially males) are inherently violent. Society makes you inhibit these instincts and empathy makes you realize and in some cases feel the pain you cause if you become uncontrollably violent. But because no instincts can be truly suppressed, without a cost, society provided, throughout history, ways to let the steam off: controlled wrestling, soccer (Laaaame! you call that violence?), and lately: war games.

Secondly, war is about cooperation. You obviously can't accomplish anything if people don't cooperate. Until now, it looks like the most efficient way to cooperate under stress, is centralized control via a pyramid scheme. People like cooperation whether in war or not, and war games provide that. But the best part about cooperation in war games compared to cooperation in real war is that in the game YOU get to choose your leaders, IF you want any at all, while in war they are forced upon you. I would hate having to follow orders from some drunk useless guy just because he happened to be over me in the hierarchy. On the contrary, I loved following, almost blindly, the orders of some amazingly organized squad leader in BF2142. If you get to choose the people that I will cooperate with, cooperation will always be fun, while in the army you just have no choice.

Accusing someone that liking war games is the same as liking war itself is no different from accusing someone of liking death because he laughs with black jokes, or being racist because he laughs with racist jokes. Or accusing an actor of being Nazi because he really wanted to play Adolph Hitler. A joke is joke, an act is an act, and a game is game. I (and most people) would OBVIOUSLY stop liking war games the minute death in them was made permanent or killings in them resulted in children left without a parent. Sane and educated gamers realize that death in real life is permanent and not fun. If some don't, well... as I said: "sane and educated gamers". You'd better start looking for some other problem in your society that's causing those minds to fail to realize why real war is bad. Let's say patriotism (especially if it's taught to children) or anything that makes people value someone else's life less than their own based on imposed differences like ethnicity or race.

iDirt

One more natural Apple advertisement. In Patras as well...

iBroke

Apple is known for its innovative advertisements:

Isn't it ironic?

People cry for 21 students that died in an accident.
People cry for the 80 that died from the fires in Greece.
People cry for the 2948 people that died in the WTC.

But people don't cry for her...

What's more tragic? Her and the other 9.7 millions kids per year (1 death per 3.25 seconds)? Or the 21 students? Don't tell me that tragedy cannot be measured. Because it can! Dying from starvation is not the same thing with dying in an accident... And 1 million kids are more than 100 kids.

People don't cry for the thousands of impending deaths because of the huge natural disaster that the fires caused. 2.600.000 acres burned leaving nothing but our future diseases... We will die of cancer, floods or even wars for water, but we mostly care about the 80 that died.

Every single death is a tragedy. I don't expect from someone who lost a friend or a relative not to mourn him because some kids in Africa die. But I expect from everyone else to stop being a hypocrite or illogical (whatever is the case).

If you feel like crying after seeing about the death of 21 kids on the TV and you don't cry about the hundreds that die at the same time, just because the TV didn't report it then you are really illogical. If you don't fell like crying but you still do then you are a hypocrite.

Next time don't cry when hearing about a tragedy on the TV, instead try to understand it logically. Because if you only confront it emotionally it will last very shortly and you will gain nothing from it.

Goats and Cars

Before some years I've been on holidays at Samothraki. While trying to find a parking place outside a tavern we saw a sign saying: "ΜΗΝ ΠΑΡΚΑΡΕΤΕ ΚΑΤΩ ΑΠΟ ΤΑ ΔΕΝΤΡΑ ΑΝΕΒΑΙΝΟΥΝ ΚΑΤΣΙΚΙΑ" which in English means: "DON'T PARK UNDER THE TREES GOATS ARE CLIMBING" Well this is a very poor translation but the point is that this sign could either mean that we shouldn't park under the tree because the goats must have free space in order to climb on the trees........


...........OR.......

IT COULD ALSO MEAN THIS:




DON'T PARK UNDER THE TREES, GOATS WILL CLIMB ON YOUR CAR...