Exodus is a mass departure of people the most widely known of which is the Book in the Bible. It is also a great social change with or without moving away.
In Hong Kong, there is an exodus of protest into the street, designed to annoy and highlight deeper issues. Many prefer to kill the whole thing. Like facing your child who has come into adulthood without your consent, it is easy to condescend, criticize and just write them off because you'd rather be their authority figure forever.
Like a child growing up, an exodus from an outdated system is happening. The implications seem frightening because the protests are like a mirror to the world around them. Hong Kong society was always a shelter for the historic exodus of China for the last 100 years. It still does but some want to stop it.
Even before the fall of the Qing dynasty, Hong Kong was a center of commerce, an experiment of East and Western culture and a society with its distinct entrepreneurial free markets. It absorbed traditional Chinese families, religions from outside of which the many shades of Christianity dominate, developed it's own kind of "Chinglish" etc. It has its charms, its weaknesses and direction like all cultures. The greatest distinction compared to inward looking China over the years is it's international nature. Even the British empire encouraged this by its trade focus. One of the greatest exports of Hong Kong has always been people through emigration.
Hong Kong has always been at least a stop over for exodus. Exit from imperial China, China in turmoil, China at war, communism, poverty, revolution. It embraced freedom to learn, earn and move. Many admirable aspects of Chinese culture were upheld, like the language, family focus, respect and care for the elderly, social harmony...all the while forgoing outdated rituals towards social equality, rule of law and clean government. Exodus of mind, culture and ambition.
The youth in 2014 merely continued this social progress started 100 years ago. They were educated to reason, discuss, be creative and think in an environment of diversity in thought, culture and aspirations. As the exodus from the past continued, some people for the love of money, self-protection and power, are asking the youth to "stop".
Imagine what would have happened to Israel during their exodus from slavery, if Moses decided to stop and never reach the promise land.
Exodus cannot be interrupted especially when it is an escape from an industrial mindset, from self indulgent leadership to join an open creative economy that is making billions and promises to be the future engine of growth. China is itself committed to this.
Short term dangers and criticism aside, the exodus is continuing among the students and those who understand the currents of thought and passion that underlie the seeming immature, stubborn and inconvenient sit-in protests. Their group leadership, much of the discussion, most of the art and all of the passion is exactly what is needed in the post industrial world.
I hope the elite in Hong Kong will wake up and see that by stopping this exodus, they are short changing their own privileged children to an outdated way to increase their own wealth. Worse still they are dragging the intelligent middle class with them into a purgatory of outdated industrial models.
Since 2008, a PwC survey has revealed that small to medium family businesses in Asia (mostly based on traditional industrial models), have under performed the developed West by 50% in revenue growth. It implies falling productivity and wealth growth.
For me, this exodus from industrial hierarchical models to more flexible diversity is enlightened and unstoppable. If not the protest, I think 80% of youth under 30 want this change. Forward momentum is a natural part of Hong Kong's character. The world economy needs precisely this kind of exodus, including China.
Friday, 31 October 2014
Thursday, 30 October 2014
Blame
I try to be responsible so I am surprised at how so many blame others for problems of one's own making. The more power one has the more responsibility is required. Remember the line from Spider man?
But it often is not so. The biggest example was my few months in Berlin during the 80's where a wall and East Germany surrounded the city. Huge space ship like radars pointed towards the enemy. East Germans have been shot trying to enter the West. Subways that run under the East are inspected for stowaways constantly. Border guards in watch towers were all over the wall. Land mines aplenty created a dry moat in no-man's land. Each day I would climb towers next to the wall that mirrored Eastern ones manned by soldiers. As I peered into my telephoto lens, the soldier would peer back by binoculars each and every time.
So much wasted resources to safe guard power of a few at the expense of real lives. People became pawns as they escape to freedom but labeled as traitors, observed like lab rats, oppressed into submission.
The powerful try to escape responsibility by vilifying dissent. There is always a good excuse. Order, Dignity, Wealth, Power seem to justify blaming the weak masses.
What puzzles me is how people refuse to see that the only competition in the world is of our own making. To "win" we can either destroy the enemy or actually find compromise. Both require a lot of pain and complexity. But compromise is the more responsible way. Something that is rare in history.
For all it's slow, painful, imperfect weakness, democracy which was first systematized by the Greeks 2 and a half Centuries ago, around the time China went through splits and unification under an emperor, the opposite of a democratic system that seeks compromise between opposing powers and opinions. One major difference besides the different ways of dealing with dissent, is literacy. China was mainly illiterate ruled by language experts while the Greeks had a more proportionate literate elite trained to reason, argue and meet.
This divergence in how power is used underlies Hong Kong's protests of 2014. Only the information, knowledge and rhetoric no longer require a court, a formal meeting or centralized plan. Discussion, sharing or ideas, arguments, compromise happens online where it is mostly visible.
The powerful still depend on the formal institutions to prop them up and their power is secure for now. However like the knowledge and communication that has always fueled governance and progress is now available to the masses. For the first time, the masses seem to have the upper hand in the generation of common goals, cooperation and direction that the elite cannot control.
So the powerful resort to blaming the undercurrent (though perfectly visible on the Internet) as conspiracy and an enemy. All the while the overt planning and oppression that make up conspiring enemies reside with the powerful themselves. They evade responsibility that is desirable with great power, and choose to blame the weak, attack them, vilify them and attempt to starve them to submission.
I submit that the powerful have only themselves to blame for not being able to use the vast resources available to them. By drawing invisible lines in the sand that prevent intelligent people from crossing, and using so much wasted resource is not only irresponsible but a sure way to use up all that fuels their power and control.
In the past, illiterate masses contributed by their labour. Power came from communication, language and planning. These tools are now free of charge, instantaneous and therefore even more powerful than before. The intelligence, resourcefulness, efficiency and will of those who use them cannot be stopped by blaming them for using technology so well.
The old guard of formality, connections and vast wealth will continue to blame the technologically nimble for disruption and dissent, but the truth is that the only responsible option is engagement, thoughtful policies and embracing the knowledge economy they want to invest in.
But it often is not so. The biggest example was my few months in Berlin during the 80's where a wall and East Germany surrounded the city. Huge space ship like radars pointed towards the enemy. East Germans have been shot trying to enter the West. Subways that run under the East are inspected for stowaways constantly. Border guards in watch towers were all over the wall. Land mines aplenty created a dry moat in no-man's land. Each day I would climb towers next to the wall that mirrored Eastern ones manned by soldiers. As I peered into my telephoto lens, the soldier would peer back by binoculars each and every time.
So much wasted resources to safe guard power of a few at the expense of real lives. People became pawns as they escape to freedom but labeled as traitors, observed like lab rats, oppressed into submission.
The powerful try to escape responsibility by vilifying dissent. There is always a good excuse. Order, Dignity, Wealth, Power seem to justify blaming the weak masses.
What puzzles me is how people refuse to see that the only competition in the world is of our own making. To "win" we can either destroy the enemy or actually find compromise. Both require a lot of pain and complexity. But compromise is the more responsible way. Something that is rare in history.
For all it's slow, painful, imperfect weakness, democracy which was first systematized by the Greeks 2 and a half Centuries ago, around the time China went through splits and unification under an emperor, the opposite of a democratic system that seeks compromise between opposing powers and opinions. One major difference besides the different ways of dealing with dissent, is literacy. China was mainly illiterate ruled by language experts while the Greeks had a more proportionate literate elite trained to reason, argue and meet.
This divergence in how power is used underlies Hong Kong's protests of 2014. Only the information, knowledge and rhetoric no longer require a court, a formal meeting or centralized plan. Discussion, sharing or ideas, arguments, compromise happens online where it is mostly visible.
The powerful still depend on the formal institutions to prop them up and their power is secure for now. However like the knowledge and communication that has always fueled governance and progress is now available to the masses. For the first time, the masses seem to have the upper hand in the generation of common goals, cooperation and direction that the elite cannot control.
So the powerful resort to blaming the undercurrent (though perfectly visible on the Internet) as conspiracy and an enemy. All the while the overt planning and oppression that make up conspiring enemies reside with the powerful themselves. They evade responsibility that is desirable with great power, and choose to blame the weak, attack them, vilify them and attempt to starve them to submission.
I submit that the powerful have only themselves to blame for not being able to use the vast resources available to them. By drawing invisible lines in the sand that prevent intelligent people from crossing, and using so much wasted resource is not only irresponsible but a sure way to use up all that fuels their power and control.
In the past, illiterate masses contributed by their labour. Power came from communication, language and planning. These tools are now free of charge, instantaneous and therefore even more powerful than before. The intelligence, resourcefulness, efficiency and will of those who use them cannot be stopped by blaming them for using technology so well.
The old guard of formality, connections and vast wealth will continue to blame the technologically nimble for disruption and dissent, but the truth is that the only responsible option is engagement, thoughtful policies and embracing the knowledge economy they want to invest in.
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Clarity
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." This statement cannot be made into some methodology for sight is either there or not. "But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear."
There is a lot of conjecture about what is true. Authority is often confused for it. It begins with children believing parents, guardians, teachers and then grows up to believing our boss, governments, experts, leaders...
Anyone who challenges our accepted authority becomes an enemy of truth or a liar. There is a whole discipline for discovering truth: philosophy. And how many philosophers do you know?
Personal truth though is where seeing and hearing begins. Like the child that hangs on to every word of their guardian but then sees discrepancies in what they are told, self discovery is all part of growing into an adult. I submit to you that the discovery does not end when you turn 18 (or even when your children turn 18).
The hardest person to see is oneself. People tell us what they see. We want to impress some of them to get the responses we want. Society is made of such interactions. "“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”. If you try to please someone without regard to what you really want for yourself, life does become as confusing as the convoluted quote.
Confusion is the opposite of clarity. So to see with our eyes and hear with our ears, we must start with oneself. This involves being alone, some pain, some hurt and a lot of accepting. Unless you go through this, the "glass" we use to view life will be dark, unclear and confusing. It also needs at least one person who accepts you completely. Clarity starts with the person in the mirror.
The quote actually works better as follows: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time” But the most foolish is to deceive oneself.
The quote actually works better as follows: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time” But the most foolish is to deceive oneself.
Happening
This blog is so named to highlight the social, economic and personal change from large hierarchical organisations that are based on products (be they factories, banks, governments, conglomerates) are having to compete with groups of smaller more organic structures more focused on agile services and customized products. It is like the difference between a giant dinosaur and a small flying bird.
In Hong Kong where thousands have been protesting mainly by sit-in's that morphed from Occupy to the Umbrella because the over-reaction of using tear gas, batons and threat of bullets (rubber or otherwise) encouraged even stoic populace to come out. No clear leader exists although the opposing side has labeled the original planners as the evil instigators who deserve to be prosecuted.
It is clear that the government, elite and those with vested interest to uphold a closed political circle, feels threatened by the Umbrella movement. When a beast roars while being bitten by tiny ants, it is because it feels threatened even though it is possible to brush aside the annoying mass by force. Only the use of force encouraged even more annoying bites.
The use of Informatics on the Internet, on screens big and small, to conduct social discussion, open opinions, share needs and news... A consensus that changes and reacts was formed. No clear leader is needed as concepts, ideas, feelings and goals have become the adaptive message that started, fueled and transforms the group. Anyone can join or leave but the strength of combined ambition seems to have sustained a persistent intent to force change.
The birds are scaring the giant because the giant is surprised by their resolute persistence. Change is happening.
In Hong Kong where thousands have been protesting mainly by sit-in's that morphed from Occupy to the Umbrella because the over-reaction of using tear gas, batons and threat of bullets (rubber or otherwise) encouraged even stoic populace to come out. No clear leader exists although the opposing side has labeled the original planners as the evil instigators who deserve to be prosecuted.
It is clear that the government, elite and those with vested interest to uphold a closed political circle, feels threatened by the Umbrella movement. When a beast roars while being bitten by tiny ants, it is because it feels threatened even though it is possible to brush aside the annoying mass by force. Only the use of force encouraged even more annoying bites.
The use of Informatics on the Internet, on screens big and small, to conduct social discussion, open opinions, share needs and news... A consensus that changes and reacts was formed. No clear leader is needed as concepts, ideas, feelings and goals have become the adaptive message that started, fueled and transforms the group. Anyone can join or leave but the strength of combined ambition seems to have sustained a persistent intent to force change.
The birds are scaring the giant because the giant is surprised by their resolute persistence. Change is happening.
Monday, 27 October 2014
Journey
Process, paths, ways, roads, flights, change are all part of a journey. Most just want the destination. But most things in life do not really end. Though we do die as the earth will one day, life in the mean time is a journey. Yet most act and talk as if we have arrived somewhere and are contented to resist change and just hang on to what we've got.
Look at what I've achieved? We are great. We are safe. Let's just enjoy and protect what we have for what if change makes things worse?
I've met some very talented expressive people in my life. But few venture into the dangers and hardship of our personal fears to have something to write about including myself. The most valuable moments in my past have been travels where I met locals, immersed myself in their lives for a time and learned.
But everyone around me told me to settle down. A perfect job, home, church, club, leisure so as to strive to end change, get steady income and live orderly lives. I thought the ideal was for the journey to end and live a life of leisure preferably with as much money as possible.
It was not until I felt completely helpless, lost, useless, homeless, friendless and worthless, that I saw my journey again. No matter you are dirt poor or filthy rich, the personal journey continues whether in the street or in your palace.
I never understood the significance of the phrase, "I'll make straight your paths". That was because my life has pretty much been smooth sailing. I enjoyed all of it until I felt like I came to a dead-end. Kind of like platform 9 and 3/4's in Harry Potter, there is a choice of finding something that will make do or face the wall. Even if you can't run into it like the story, maybe break it down, dig a tunnel...
I tried all the ways I knew to find a way forward. People, recruiters, web posting, knocking on doors, searching around the world, more connections, universities, companies, experts, mentors, everything I knew. But all doors were closed after interviews, potential leads, conversations with CEOs and powerful people...
In the end, the wall turned into a door. The path was made straight. Some will say the journey is starting again. But it never stopped even when I thought I was stagnating, even when the doors are locked. And I am a changed man. Saved.
Look at what I've achieved? We are great. We are safe. Let's just enjoy and protect what we have for what if change makes things worse?
I've met some very talented expressive people in my life. But few venture into the dangers and hardship of our personal fears to have something to write about including myself. The most valuable moments in my past have been travels where I met locals, immersed myself in their lives for a time and learned.
But everyone around me told me to settle down. A perfect job, home, church, club, leisure so as to strive to end change, get steady income and live orderly lives. I thought the ideal was for the journey to end and live a life of leisure preferably with as much money as possible.
It was not until I felt completely helpless, lost, useless, homeless, friendless and worthless, that I saw my journey again. No matter you are dirt poor or filthy rich, the personal journey continues whether in the street or in your palace.
I never understood the significance of the phrase, "I'll make straight your paths". That was because my life has pretty much been smooth sailing. I enjoyed all of it until I felt like I came to a dead-end. Kind of like platform 9 and 3/4's in Harry Potter, there is a choice of finding something that will make do or face the wall. Even if you can't run into it like the story, maybe break it down, dig a tunnel...
I tried all the ways I knew to find a way forward. People, recruiters, web posting, knocking on doors, searching around the world, more connections, universities, companies, experts, mentors, everything I knew. But all doors were closed after interviews, potential leads, conversations with CEOs and powerful people...
In the end, the wall turned into a door. The path was made straight. Some will say the journey is starting again. But it never stopped even when I thought I was stagnating, even when the doors are locked. And I am a changed man. Saved.
Saturday, 18 October 2014
Opaque
Cultures are the gems of humanity. It's a pity most dare not venture outside the one into which they were born. There are infinite shades of creativity, resourcefulness and expressiveness.
For each of these wonderful traits that are essential for success in this technological age, require transparency, honesty and an even playing field. At least the always connected media makes hiding secrets difficult. A leak becomes a flood in an instant.
The past is the greatest burden for anyone to move forward. It was always true personally. In less open times, authority could survive by planning in secret and then present an orchestrated facade. The uneducated or illiterate and those who lack curiosity, could easily be controlled. What is broadcast or printed most be real right?
The millennial generation is not like that. To use smart devices, the most skillful are curious and literate. This is carrying over to how they perceive reality. The older generation who don't use the devices in the same way will have a hard time relating to the world view that has never existed in such common and continuous form.
Even those who have been using computers since they were created were used to turning them of. They saw them as technology and tools which have become essential enablers of quality living.
Millennials take openess for granted. They will demand transparency.
The opacity of governments which were used to controlling the media is facing a tide of demand for people to face history and the future.
A few places are still highly controlled. Maybe new technology will surface that will allow some to centralize media control again. For time being the tide has turned to a mass expectation for open, transparent and honest society. Even opacity is not clear enough.
Master
"The Help" is a bitter sweet movie. Great acting, well written, beautiful production but so many heart wrenching scenes where the words "master" might as well have been used. But it was not publicly said even in the 1960's. Yet in 2014, I read an editorial that called the protests in Hong Kong angering their "masters".
I wonder how many people believe a government is their people's master. Today I saw a discussion about North Korea, a more oppressive regime than just about anywhere. It was mentioned that even being oppressed can feel normal.
In "Shawshank Redemption" Morgan Freeman's character almost killed himself because incarceration seemed more normal to him than not knowing what to do each day.
I hope the older generation in power who has the option to master us, will learn to love our youth by setting them free. This way they will take up their own future, with honesty, faith and confidence finding real social peace and stability that is built from within our lives, and not imposed from without.
Even though Sting sang about love between 2 people this verse in "If you love somebody, set them free" seems to talk about the current Chinese obsession with money over freedom.
I wonder how many people believe a government is their people's master. Today I saw a discussion about North Korea, a more oppressive regime than just about anywhere. It was mentioned that even being oppressed can feel normal.
In "Shawshank Redemption" Morgan Freeman's character almost killed himself because incarceration seemed more normal to him than not knowing what to do each day.
I hope the older generation in power who has the option to master us, will learn to love our youth by setting them free. This way they will take up their own future, with honesty, faith and confidence finding real social peace and stability that is built from within our lives, and not imposed from without.
Even though Sting sang about love between 2 people this verse in "If you love somebody, set them free" seems to talk about the current Chinese obsession with money over freedom.
"You can't control an independent heart
Can't tear the one you love apart
Forever conditioned to believe that we can't live
We can't live here and be happy with less
So many riches
So many souls
With everything we see that we want to possess"
Thursday, 16 October 2014
Currents
If you're a big dinosaur, the flow of wind and water is not so important because your size demands a lot of effort to propel you. Birds survive by how the wind blows because they are small enough to be carried far and wide by it.
Life is often a choice between size and mobility. Big establishments and those whose position rests on them like to protect their status. In society and nature, currents are the instruments of change that even the most solid structure yield to over time. The grand canyon was carved out by the flow of water. Social change comes by currents in thought and behavior.
Watching what is happening in Hong Kong's protests is a lesson in the contrasts of the establishment and currents, as the big strong institutions that exist are challenged by new currents. Those who live on the stability of the size and tradition feel threatened by the opinion and action that is flowing. It is easy for might to trump thought.
Before the internet and devices, movements centered on obvious display of showmanship and broadcast media. They still help, but the current itself that is flowing underneath the actions are also more visible now on social media.
Conviction and organisation shared online has reduced the need for expensive shows and elaborate productions. Spontaneity and resourcefulness using connection tools is proving elusive for the authorities and those who hide behind them.
I think the display of strength, shouting, attacks and divisions are all distractions. Analysts and opinions often focus just on such noise thinking they are reflect what is going on in hearts and minds.
Since the world is shaped by currents, I prefer to fly with them rather than rest on the structures they make. This connected world makes the currents much more transparent. There is little excuse to ignore them even if you don't agree. The wise will make use of obvious flow of thought and feelings that is right there on our screens.
Life is often a choice between size and mobility. Big establishments and those whose position rests on them like to protect their status. In society and nature, currents are the instruments of change that even the most solid structure yield to over time. The grand canyon was carved out by the flow of water. Social change comes by currents in thought and behavior.
Watching what is happening in Hong Kong's protests is a lesson in the contrasts of the establishment and currents, as the big strong institutions that exist are challenged by new currents. Those who live on the stability of the size and tradition feel threatened by the opinion and action that is flowing. It is easy for might to trump thought.
Before the internet and devices, movements centered on obvious display of showmanship and broadcast media. They still help, but the current itself that is flowing underneath the actions are also more visible now on social media.
Conviction and organisation shared online has reduced the need for expensive shows and elaborate productions. Spontaneity and resourcefulness using connection tools is proving elusive for the authorities and those who hide behind them.
I think the display of strength, shouting, attacks and divisions are all distractions. Analysts and opinions often focus just on such noise thinking they are reflect what is going on in hearts and minds.
Since the world is shaped by currents, I prefer to fly with them rather than rest on the structures they make. This connected world makes the currents much more transparent. There is little excuse to ignore them even if you don't agree. The wise will make use of obvious flow of thought and feelings that is right there on our screens.
Tuesday, 7 October 2014
Ridiculum
Although the stakes and emotion are high, the many events that led to the current occupy movement in Hong Kong are best described as ridiculum. Even the state of blocked roads, exaggerated responses, lack of dialog, no overt support for the leader who is effectively locked up in his government mansion, the divide between those who think any protest is chaos and the view that it's a method of change, using triads, misuse of data, avoiding the issues, blaming the US, blaming China....
It's a series of ridiculous events that blew up due to the often mistaken strategy of using force to tame the heart. Many forget that institution is never sacred. The human spirit and our aspirations made them.
It is ridiculous that manmade systems such as countries, schools, religious institutions, companies are effectively revered and even worshiped by using them as immovable center of our lives. We depend on establishment to give us order and security, forgetting they are compromised in that just as they shield us, they also limit us.
That is why there is usually a generational divide. Older people are comfortable with establishment while youth want to remove some limits. It all comes down to who holds the power.
The more centralized and closed the power, the temptation is to avoid divulging it. Because there is no incentive to share power, control is more convenient than dialogue.
Democracy is now a misused word. It has come to mean too many different forms of establishment. So I'll avoid using it.
A competitive, vibrant group of educated connected people are common now. They can choose how to enjoy, learn, earn in ways never before possible. All this points to a need for decentralized power, better communication, faster responses.
Call it what you want. The silliest news is that a dialogue with the students was offered and took a week to set up.
What's so hard about having a chat?
Friday, 3 October 2014
Refresh
The weather report usually calls rain bad weather. In French "beau" (beautiful) is the word for sunny skies. But rain feel's beautiful this lunch time.
Drought makes it so. No Hong Kong has had enough rainfall but not enough honesty and thirst for truth. For near-term gains and consolation, many chose to forget that truth is life.
Slaves may have enough to eat but only so they can work. Freedom is meaningful only if we find who we are and express ourselves fully with those we love. That is the truth we all seek.
Our governments are compromised by an imperfect system run like an outdated industrial factory. Change was hard for fabrication plants because capital equipment is expensive and hard to replace. So we were and still are trained to optimize our lives for fixed schedules, production lines, becoming cog-like because decisions are assumed to be centralize for the good of the mechanistic organisation.
To fit the mold many feel the need to forgo "unrealistic" dreams. Even if this is true in many places still, it is more because the powerful are also used to running life and work and society like industrial factories. Even in the digital age of Informatics (or IT), even the technology companies that are running things are still stuck in organisations that only know how to become big and mechanical (rather than deepen collaborative quality and grow more like organisms in Nature).
Informatics (which is a better word than Information Technology or IT because the focus is no longer the technology but what and how expression is realized) should be used to reorganize, revalue and re-prioritize our lives. Organisations that don't actually make physical products should no longer be run like they are manufacturers.
For people are not machines. What is needed is a Refresh. Reboot. Reprogram.
Any change is hard because the outcome is unpredictable and habits often become tradition which in turn become standards or even law. It is also much easier to think, "everyone is entitled to their own opinion as long as it agrees with mine."
To think this way and refuse to hear the opinion of others is precisely the habit of the mechanistic organisation.
In Hong Kong, I don't think much will change today due to the week long civil movement for demographic reform. Tomorrow I don't know.
Besides the clash of the state vs the individual, the change towards democratic discussion has begun. The civil organisation, political intelligence, communication en mass, are all skills displayed by the protesters.
Incidentally these are all skills needed in developing a more organic, Informatics based organisation and growth. The refresh, reboot and reprogram have already begun.
The rain and wind that inspired this post has passed. The Sun is out.
Drought makes it so. No Hong Kong has had enough rainfall but not enough honesty and thirst for truth. For near-term gains and consolation, many chose to forget that truth is life.
Slaves may have enough to eat but only so they can work. Freedom is meaningful only if we find who we are and express ourselves fully with those we love. That is the truth we all seek.
Our governments are compromised by an imperfect system run like an outdated industrial factory. Change was hard for fabrication plants because capital equipment is expensive and hard to replace. So we were and still are trained to optimize our lives for fixed schedules, production lines, becoming cog-like because decisions are assumed to be centralize for the good of the mechanistic organisation.
To fit the mold many feel the need to forgo "unrealistic" dreams. Even if this is true in many places still, it is more because the powerful are also used to running life and work and society like industrial factories. Even in the digital age of Informatics (or IT), even the technology companies that are running things are still stuck in organisations that only know how to become big and mechanical (rather than deepen collaborative quality and grow more like organisms in Nature).
Informatics (which is a better word than Information Technology or IT because the focus is no longer the technology but what and how expression is realized) should be used to reorganize, revalue and re-prioritize our lives. Organisations that don't actually make physical products should no longer be run like they are manufacturers.
For people are not machines. What is needed is a Refresh. Reboot. Reprogram.
Any change is hard because the outcome is unpredictable and habits often become tradition which in turn become standards or even law. It is also much easier to think, "everyone is entitled to their own opinion as long as it agrees with mine."
To think this way and refuse to hear the opinion of others is precisely the habit of the mechanistic organisation.
In Hong Kong, I don't think much will change today due to the week long civil movement for demographic reform. Tomorrow I don't know.
Besides the clash of the state vs the individual, the change towards democratic discussion has begun. The civil organisation, political intelligence, communication en mass, are all skills displayed by the protesters.
Incidentally these are all skills needed in developing a more organic, Informatics based organisation and growth. The refresh, reboot and reprogram have already begun.
The rain and wind that inspired this post has passed. The Sun is out.
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