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This entry is actually a few weeks old, from my other blog. I just didn’t bother posting in on brbcoffee until now. Nevermind that, here it is.

Lets talk about democracy. The word comes from two latin words. First up is Demos,  which means people, and Kratos, which means power. So, democracy means power to the people! Which I’m all for. The problem is that the further along I get, the more obvious the flaw of todays “democracy” becomes. And this greatly saddens me. The kind of democracy thats most common today, pretty much the only one you find today, is that a representative democracy. This means that instead of public polls on issues, the public votes forth representatives to make decisions for them. This has flaws.

Obviously, most systems have some flaws. As it is today, the greatest flaw that i can detect is important cases not being represented at all by the representative politicians. In Norway there are two cases like this that im going to mention briefly here. The first one is about oil drilling in an area called Lofoten and Vesterålen. Basically, over 51% of the norwegian people feels that oil drilling shouldn’t be done here, because it is the birthing ground to one of the last big cod populations in the world. Also the area in question is 14 kilometres from land. Drilling here would cause major harm to lots of different businesses. Yet, in the norwegian parliament ca 10% is against it. Nice.

Also, the war in Afghanistan. I might blog about it at a later point, but for now ill suffice to say I’m strongly against it. So is over a third of the norwegian populous, yet there is not one single person in parliament against it. What the fuck!?! I am willing to apt for a complete democracy, where people make individual votes about cases! In Norway, to get a peoples vote it first needs to be suggested in parliament, then get approval from a major part of the representatives. Which never happens.

Representation through single cases is not the thing that worries me most tho. In Norway, a political party has to have over 4% to reach the treshhold for getting district-mandates. (there is no real english word for it. Basically, because people and power is centralized, communes away from the centre of power get additional mandates out above the population number, to make sure there is still people there that care about the districts.) Anyways, the problem with this is that this treshhold is so ridiculous. Norway just had its election, and one party ended up at 3.9%. They lost 2%, yet they lost 8 out of their 10 mandates because of it. They did not loose 80% of their votes!

Another problem with this system is the fact that it is almost impossible to get your first mandate. But from there it gets easier, then you hit the threshhold, and it gets even easier. And the bigger your party gets, the easier it gets to get an additional mandate. So a party that has 63 mandates needs far less actual votes to get an additional votes than you need for the first one.

Personally I think we should scrap the entire threshhold system and rather give mandates based on actual percentage of votes in relation to percentage of people. This has to be worked out, obviously, but it makes more sence than having some predetermined threshhold at which it suddenly gets easy-as-fuck to get in. Alternatively do as Germany did pre-hitler. Germany before hitler was the most democratic land the world has ever seen, in the sence that the threshold was 1%.

A high threshhold means 1 thing more than others: Tactical voting. People vote for the bigger parties, because parties below the threshhold has no real influence. Which is bullshit. Not the power part, but this phenomena. The bigger keep growing, and the small parties get squeezed out. As it is now, Norway is going towards a two-party system, something that is a mockery of the democratic idea. And if it ever comes to that I swear I can’t be held accountable for my actions.

Until next time friends,

Vegard

How entertaining. Thats actually the first time i compare mankind to an animal, without calling everyone sheep! Oh well. Ever seen ostridges on the tv? In cartoons and the like, where they get scared and stick their head in the ground? Thats what this is about, because that is what you do. Up here is reality, in the dirt there is nothing.

But for me to do this, we have to get to the question “what is reality?”. Well, I wont try to debate what reality actually is, because what i see as my reality is really just my brain interpreting electrical signals from my senses. And who is to say that the reality I personally am experiencing is real, maybe none of you actually exist. That leads to.. Alright. I’m stopping myself there, because i could go on like this infinitely. And now, thanks to myself, i probably will loose hours of sleep over this matter.. (Now you see what i am going through)

So. In truth, I am not talking about reality, I am talking about escaping from it. From this point on, lets for the next few minutes abolish our sense of existential debate, and go ahead and say that what your brain interprets as reality, is. This is, in essence, what people want to escape from. But can you really?

Getting wasted or getting high, gaming world of warcraft or counter strike. Simply fantasizing yourself away, or pretending to be someone completely different because thats who you think society wants you to be! Everything is fine, in small amounts. But too much of anything isn’t good for you. (Alright, maybe not the pretending to be someone else-part)

Now, I’m not judging anyone. Who am i to sit here and pass out judgement? Quite hypocritical that would be, as I once escaped completely into the World of Warcraft universe. A time when my real life sucked ass, so i emerged myself completely, and ignored real life. I am not ashamed of this, because i got past it and i grew from it.

Well anyway, no matter why and no matter how, people try to get away from the hassle. Why do i blog about it? I’m not sure. It doesn’t really aggravate me, and I’m not sure if i would like it to change. But the fact of the matter is, there are things that are more important than getting high from that joint, or getting better stats at that game.

I wont say stop it. Honestly, Who am i to? I am simply saying that there are more important things. Dont loose yourself, don’t make an alternate reality your real one. The world is a bad place, and you can’t hope to escape the inescapable. When more than half the worlds population is suffering, the world needs you. When 18 000 children die every day of hunger, the world needs you. When something scares the living hell out of you, don’t stick your head in the dirt. Raise it high, and speak aloud.

Good evening, revered reader. Since this is my first entry in this blog, i shall use it to introduce myself. My name is Vegard. I’m from Norway, I am 18 years of age and I am a communist. Thus, I shall blog mostly about politics, although I wont put a pin on that, as I’m sure I will want to blog about other stuff from time to time. So, on to my entry.

Over my many years of being a sweaty internet persona, I have come to see something that I really should not be seeing. To quote Supa Sayed, man has no memory. World War 2. Or maybe the apartheid regime in Africa 50 years ago. Or slavery altogether. Nevertheless, inhumanity unprecedented! But people have stopped this. Right? We live in a tolerant society free of this shit. Right? So do i really have to keep going? Yes, because apparently you have all forgotten about it. I see a new trend emerging, not one of clothes or music, but of attitude.

“You fucking jew!”. This is a phrase thats no longer uncommon, as if being a jew inherently is a bad thing! I see the internet spitting out people who joke about persecution of jews, of gass-chambers and auswitch and “Arbeit Macht Frei”. I see people claiming to be Nazis simply because they know that I am a devoted communist. And it sickens me, it strikes me right to the core that people can be so through-and-through rotten, ignorant and fucking retarded (Pardon my french). Its not just fascism and nazism, its also general racism. One word: Nigger. Perpetuated greatly by the internet community whos name shall not be mentioned, its now everywhere, and on everyones lips.

Even people who arent intently racist now use it as a term for people of african descent (i have come to the conclusion that that is the only way to distinct people by something as irrelevant as skin-colour without making it sound racist in my head).

I suppose this trend could mean that fraces that weren’t always considered racist but in the past has been used as a degrading term of oppression and apartheid, is starting toloose its edge. Still, personally I don’t feel entirely comfortable with blatantly racist terms becoming part of everyday talk. Because despite what seems to be a general “truth”, that we live in a tolerant society with no room for racism, we actually do. Racism is everywhere, and it can’t be dismissed.

And normalization of harsh terms is not helping, if anything its making racism seem alright, and its mocking all the deaths, all the hardships and all the shit that mankind has exposed itself to. When you encounter racism daily through speech and reading, you get the idea that its okay. And not only do you feel acceptance for the racist feelings you may have (im not saying everyone harbors them), but those who don’t inherently give a damn about trivial man-made distinctions based upon generalization and discrimination might start doing so. Which is not a good thing.

What am i trying to say? Stop acting like racists. Its pathetic, outdated and childish. How are we supposed to evolve as a species, when we can’t move past several hundred year old ideas of apartheid, that never seem to be quite as gone and forgotten as we would like to think?