Who Can You Blame?

I spend a lot of time sitting on planes, contemplating life, events, news and the perspectives of other people. There is so much going on in the world that simply isn’t ideal. Some of it is frustrating and depressing.

We just need to look around at things like climate change, pollution, war, terrorism, poverty, starvation, disease, ongoing financial crises, crime, online fraud, human rights violations, refugees, cyber attacks, mass killings and religious fanaticism, we realize there is enough there to completely overwhelm the very best minds.

How do we stop it? How do we change it? How can we set our collective sails toward better times where peace reigns on the planet and everyone's needs are met? (It is amazing how easily that statements rolls off my tongue).

Back in 2010, I was at a conference and there was a young woman there who I chatted to, wearing a T-shirt that was highly derogatory toward BP. The shirt was referring the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico when the Deep Water Horizon drilling platform malfunctioned disastrously and spilled millions of litres of crude oil into the natural environment.

This event was the culmination of cost cutting measures and a drive for higher profits, something that most shareholders hope for;' demand in fact.

I looked at her shirt and said something like, "Amazing hey. You know, every time I drive into a Petrol Station to fill my car, I complain quietly to myself about the price of Petrol." She looked at me and said, "I think I will go take this shirt off now".

I was not seeking to put her down or make her wrong, but her T-shirt made me reflect a moment and I was just speaking my thought process. I realised in that moment that I was as responsible as anyone for that disaster because my attitudes have an impact on BP’s price setting and profitability.

I used to get really angry about Drug Companies and how I believed they had hijacked the health care system and turned it into their guaranteed high profit market place, and moved society away from genuine efforts to heal. I still believe that, but I am no longer angry about it.

Further, I used to get super angry about the food production systems used in western societies. I hate what we do to farm animals and our use of pesticides over natural farming techniques has left a destructive legacy that will take decades to heal, if and when we decide to cease using those chemicals.

But I am not angry about it anymore. In Australia, we live in a Market Economy and a Democracy. We all have choice. Blaming Politicians or Business Leaders no longer works for me. And I will explain why.

Sure, Politicians have the power to create new laws and change things. They could completely ban all forms of animal cruelty in the food production industry. Many of us would be happy about that. But I can guarantee to you that the cost of meat and dairy products would go through the roof for years. Opposition parties would use that for fuel and at the next election we would all send the Government packing.

Conscientious leaders of large corporations could make the same decisions. But again, you could bet that sales would drop off, profits would crash, shareholder value would plummet and the leaders would be out of a job.

This raises a question. Who really is running the show?

A few months back I attended an evening where former Hawk and Keating government Science Minister, Barry Jones was being interviewed by the late and wonderful John Clark about his new book, “Knowledge, Courage, Leadership” (a great read by the way).

Mr Jones was lamenting that we needed courageous government. I agree with him, but will we get it. He talked about how the two major political parties in Australia barely had more than 100 members per electorate. He told how they had become more like corporations than political parties.

Our Politicians gain financial support from political donations. This leads to parties governing more for their benefactors than for the citizens. It is a sad tale. New Ministers barely warm their seat and lobbyists land on their doorstep, cajoling and convincing them to vote this way or that, or to create new legislation that will steer things a certain way.

As Mr Jones pointed out, these lobbyists are former Government Ministers who are being paid 5 times what the current Minister is receiving. The incumbent realises that he may need to keep this person close as the job opportunities could be grand, post political life.

As you read this, you might get a bit agitated. But I assume you are also not prepared to throw your hat in the ring, work your way into politics and do things differently. I have no problem with any of that.

If you are in business, you will take the steps available to you to optimize your profits. That is what happens in a market economy. Hence, if the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation constantly send lobbyists into Ministerial offices to sure up their position, I say good luck to them.

But that does not mean the Politician should listen or comply.

If I do not like the fact that the Politician is rolling over and complying, I can register and stand against him at the next election. Nobody is stopping me from doing that. I have that right. But I don't want to do that.

But I can muster my friends and colleagues, talk to them about the situation and start to rally ourselves to do what the lobbyists are doing. We can unite and push our viewpoint forward. If we are motivated enough, we can really get a huge group of like-minded people together to really push our argument.

We can! But will we? Probably not. We are too busy, too lazy or too disinterested to make that move. So how can we blame the Politicians. In fact, a lot of us see a group of people doing just that, and we criticize them for it. Just consider the amount of negative speak toward Environmentalist and Animal Liberationists and a myriad of others.

Let's look at industry for a moment. There is substantial evidence to assume that there is pricing collusion happening in the Petroleum industry. A few years back, someone had a great idea. They suggested that if everyone completely boycotted a single retailer, then to stay alive that retailer would eventually have to break ranks with the other companies and drop their prices, thus smashing the cartel. Consumers would regain control of the market place.

Everyone thought it was a great idea, but did anyone follow through? Not really. It didn't happen. Why? Because nobody really cared enough.

Then we look at obesity and disease. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know that smoking, excess consumption of alcohol and refined sugars and starches, and over consumption of processed foods, coupled with inadequate exercise, leads to disease.

But, we still do not change our ways. We keep going and then blame it on genetics when we get sick. It is so predictable. A person gets cancer and they most often don't sit there and say, "You know, I have created this. My lifestyle has been horrendous. I had fair warning". More likely they will say, "I have a strong family history of cancer".

Not my fault is the catch cry we love to use, as we point our finger in blame at some faceless person.

The we ask, "Why are the media not doing something about this?"

The media are profit driven businesses. Their formula is simple. Sell advertising to advertisers. The most willing are those advertisers who sell things that either make us feel more comfortable, more successful or more powerful.

Then they present news that makes us feel discouraged, fearful, depressed or helpless and we go right out and buy from those advertisers to make ourselves feel better. The business model is pure genius. I doubt the media are willing to shine a light too brightly on anything that will awaken the sleeping consumer.

Where to from here? I guess that if things are going to change, we as voters, consumers and citizens need to genuinely want that change and then we must start in our own lives. As we change our choices, politicians and business leaders will have no choice but to follow suit. Media outlets will also be forced to start responding to a mature and responsible reader and viewer.

Change begins with me. And I can make all my best efforts to encourage those around me to take greater responsibility too. And it they don't, I cannot blame them either. I need to ask myself where I am failing in delivering my message.

Blame keeps the world turning as it is. But it is a downward spiral. Taking personal responsibility for everything will slow the spiral and gradually change the downward trend into hope. With hope comes courage and from there we can heal the planet.

And we cannot wait until tomorrow. And if you do not feel comfortable with me dumping this level of responsibility on you, don't blame me. It's your world as much as it is mine.

A simple quote I read a few weeks back said it all. It is taken from the song "Do Something" by Lawrence Vincent and Isaac Holman. “You are not stuck in traffic. You are the traffic!”