What Is the Real Solution?
The lobbyists are shifting into hyperdrive to force the people of Honolulu to accept their most costly solution as the only solution; it's become a single-minded obsession as the panacea that delivers The Promised Land -- without having to do anything about it but trust the politicians and their consultants.
Only on thoughtful reflection is it revealed that this most costly of solutions, solves nothing -- but creates many high-paying jobs they hope to sustain indefinitely. And that is the very cause of high inflation in Hawaii -- that one spends maximum dollars for nothing of value and usefulness. Beyond the money, it creates a culture that rewards waste, inefficiency and purposelessness -- that is manifested in many other ways, because people do not see the relationship of one thing to any other; everything is arbitrary, so because someone in authority says so, and demands that we believe them. Even that most people do, does not ensure victory and ultimate vindication.
That there is the one who doesn't, is the beginning of every revolution. In the mass media culture, what is given highest value is that which most people believes to be true -- regardless of what is actually true, which is the only thing that can stand the test of time. And that is why time is so critically important, to those who hope to exploit the madness and delusions of crowds. In time, the hysteria wears off. They do not want the elections to be held 365 days of the year.
Every time the Understanding Conditioning video plays, I always have one person I would not suspect or could predict, calling me to tell me how much sense I make -- that they haven't heard before, and where can they hear more. That is the consequence of popular culture -- that popularity determines what is true and valued -- and is the great problem of these times, the monolithic control of information by the old institutions of information and communications (education) suppressing all but the obviously absurd and pathetic as the alternative.
Every threat to any part of the status quo is considered a threat to every part of the status quo. It is a reflex and not a thoughtful action.
So the supporters of the Mayor's rail system, had nothing to say but their show of numbers hoping to intimidate the remaining few who were not convinced. Dissent was not to be tolerated anymore.
Rail projects have become the public works projects of these times -- ensuring the maximum flow of monies to an entrenched middle class while depriving real urgent needs to the most vulnerable -- which have been the major justification for government in addition to the common defense.
No wonder increasingly many do not want to get involved, to "participate" in government that has become such a sham run by a few, for themselves. Why should they legitimize such a government by showing up to "vote?"
posted by Mike Hu @ 10:22 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Obviously, the real solution would be that which costs the least and produces the greatest results (change) -- rather than the most expensive solution, creating the least difference. Ideally, the best solution costs one nothing while totally eliminating the problem for all time. That solution is always a better understanding of the situation -- rather than accepting the problem as the inevitable.
However, when the objective is simply to create more jobs -- and particularly, more high-paying jobs, then the problem MUST become worse, as in many government programs. They become vested in the problem -- and not the solution. Most professions have that unfortunate conflict of interest.
That has become the curse of government. Real solutions are innovative, personal and individual initiatives and choices.
Even in densely populated areas of the world where rail transit is an unquestioned success, a commuter rail has never been successful -- because it is too limited in its usefulness -- to serve a low density bedroom community for their trip to work and back. A far superior idea is establishing an information and communication infrastructure to administer car and van pooling, as well as the alternatives of bicycling , walking and the emerging personal transportation devices of the future -- that allow, enable and empower unprecedented mobility.
We don’t want limited, mass mobility fancier; we want true individual mobility (autonomy), which is the whole meaning and appeal of transportation -- to go where we want to go, and not only where government planners determine we can go.
Mass transportation, mass education, mass media, mass movements are a wave of the past -- giving way to individualized, customized, personalized lifestyles limited only by our ability to detect and determine the best. A few individuals are superior choosers in every area of interest and activity. They are often not within the professional circles of that industry but are talented and motivated “amateurs,: who actually create a field that never existed before. It’s a talent and ability just to be able to recognize such individuals -- as the authentic authorities of what they speak, beyond the certifications and credentials.
An earlier generation called it being a “b.s. detector.” Others called it being “discriminating” -- before that capacity became outlawed. The “liberals” were quite proud if not premature, in pronouncing that they had eliminated people’s capacity to “discriminate” -- and so were properly prepared, to follow the edicts of the “experts” -- which invariably, were themselves.
George Orwell was one of the most prominent writers on the tendency for even for most well-intentioned group of people to become corrupted by their own self-interest to place themselves at the top of every society, organization and agency -- as the permanent state of society. That is what has brought down every great civilization -- attempting to fix their form, with themselves at the top -- as testimony to having been there, constructing monuments to themselves.
The real solution is learning to use the resources we already have -- wisely and efficiently -- rather than creating more resources to waste as though there is no end to them.
If nothing else, Jeremy Harris proved in the last bus strike what an organized response to the crisis could do. We need to hire him as the transportation coordinator to organize the car and van pools, maximize ridership on the buses, pass sensible biking laws that allow them to ride anywhere but giving them no right of way over any other means of transportation, and ENCOURAGE and not discourage alternative forms of transportation and mobility.
Current thinking creates the transportation problem and can only think of creating a bigger, more massive, most expensive problem as their solution -- to create maximum jobs that don't need to be done -- just as the schools have to create ignorance and failure to justify MORE education.
The solution is obviously LESS of that kind of education -- so people can solve the real problems of living, like learning to share the resources rather than competing against everybody else for their own exclusive use. We don't have that kind of unlimited resources to waste -- no matter how much seniority the congressional delegation has. We have to learn to be smarter and not how to waste more money -- as the ultimate achievement of society and government.
The way they like to pose the question is that one is for the rail or one is for more car use -- rather than neither being the solution to this traffic problem.
The high density is not where they're proposing and justifying the rail solution. Rail is not a solution for single occupant vehicle commuter congestion. They argue against the bus because there are so many cars on the road so as to make bus travel slow -- without realizing that if many more rode the bus, they'd be fewer cars on the road.
So all their solutions and projections are for solutions that change nothing. So what's the point of their planning -- or their solutions?
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