Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Hi, my name is Frida, and I’m an alcoholic a procrastinater.
For the past month I’ve had a dark cloud over my head. Somedays I’ve forgotten its existence, other days I’ve simply ignored it, but I can’t ignore it any longer, simply because it’s due in 3 days.
What is “due”, you might ask? Well, I’m glad that you did. (And if you didn’t; Shame on you!)
My assignment for the course in Public Politics and Administration. It counts for 30% of my final grade, and I have chosen to write about the theory of power having 3 different sides to it. This theory is made by the author of the curriculum-book; A norwegian professor in the studies of International Conflicts, a subfield in the glorious world of political science, which I happen to study. His name is Øyvind Østerud Oeyvind Oesterud Oyvind Osterud a typical norwegian name.
We got the assignment more than 3 weeks ago. I read the different alternatives of subjects to write about, chose one, read the alternatives over again and chose another one. All three alternatives looked easy enough, which is good. One of them was about the medias varying functions in a norwegian-type democracy. I really wanted to choose this one, as I went to a guest-lecture about it last year, with the norwegian genius politican of guess-which-party Sigurd Allern. Only problem being looking up all the details, which is a lot of work, and i decided to do the easier assignment instead.
One tiny problem though: I know nothing about Østerud’s theories on power. And the book is written in a confusing and irritating way. Or I’m just way too bored with school to find it interesting.
I have spent the past 3 weeks doing nothing. I have worked, sure. And I’ve been to meetings. I had a public letter in some local papers on the war in Afghanistan. I was also in an article on the new rules of absence in norwegian high-school. I turned 20 years old and celebrated for three days running. I hung out with friends. I went to a farewell-party for a friend and his wife going to Africa. I read a really good book. I started reading a kind of boring american-classic (The Catcher in the Rye, it gets better after page 50). I had a friend from Tromsø visiting for some days. I did everything I could to not work on the assignment. I procrastinated like crazy, and I became the queen of procrastination.
And now it all comes back to bite me in the ass!
This is what I can tell you about power and force:
It is the means to achieve goals. (The words of Østerud, and therefor the main-definition in my paper.)
It is when a subject (A) in some way affects the choices of an object (B).
It is an acting party’s ability to overcome opposition to achieve a wanted goal or result.
It is used in relations between human-beings.
There are different kinds of power and force:
There is physical or psychological force, often enforced by governments. Examples being fines for breaking the law, jail-time, etc. This is seen as morally and ethically o.k. (As long as the enforcer has jurisdiction.)
There is manipulation, in which the receiving part of the force is unaware of it. This is concidered bad and immoral.
There is persuasion, based on argumentation and this requires a competence in the field of discussion. Also on the good side, ethically. (Even when lying through your nose, which seems weird to me…)
Then there is the use of authority, which is a legitimate use of force. (Unless you’re an anarchist, according to text-book. I’m not much for anarchy, but I hate it when the authorities use force, so I guess I kind of am one anyways…)
This is what I can tell you about the three different sides of power and force, based on Østerud’s theory:
There is the actual process of election, the participation in the process: The people who vote, the people who run and the people who get elected.
There is the non-determined: The cases that don’t get attention, because of lack of interest, or because of being a too touchy subject, or perhaps because someone with power will gain on it not surfacing. (Corrupt politicians? Noooo way! What a cliché!)
And there is the creating of opinions in others. From an authority, the educational system, parents, government, etc.
Now I have to write this down, use examples to demonstrate force being used by the norwegian government, the state or the sovjets municipalities, and place them accordingly to the three different sides of power and force.
Not too hard, you might say?
Well, no. Writing a two page-essay on this wouldn’t be hard. But I have to fill 5-FIVE-V-||||| pages of this shit. And I have to find primary sources, secondary sources and learn how to use them in an essay. And I have to do this in three days.
And in these three days I also have 2 concerts I want to attend, 3 parties people expect me to come to (and that I really want to go to!), a meeting and a sleep-deprived state that needs to be mended. See my problem now?
Funny side-note to this submission: While writing it in an attempt to continue my procrastination I learnt more about the subject than I did in the two hours prior to it, when I actually tried working on it. Irony, in a good way, and I think I have the first page layed out in my mind.
Song to fit this blogpost: Magpie Eggs-Moddi (A norwegian, young artist worth checking out!)
Untill next time:
Live long, and procrastinate!
Frida
The Queen of all ye procrastinaters
Heyo dear reader!
I am speedposting. In 50-ish minutes I have an exam, and I am way early at the exam locale. So I blog.
What’s going on? Well, 9 years ago, Bush got his big boy underwear on and decided to invade Afghanistan (without consent from the UN, mind you). To find some dirty terrorist or sumtan’. 9 years later, we are left with this:
The situation in Afghanistan have never been worse. The new, “friendly” government has passed a law allowing men to rape their wifes if they don’t get sex regularly. Also, women can’t leave their homes without consent from their husbands. Wtf?
Also, the Taliban (whom the international forces are trying to kill off), are growing steadily. Estimates by an american General had them at about 36 000 in early 2010, as to about 11 000 in 2008. Wow!
Also, more civilians die every year. According to the UN, 2100 died in 2008, 2400 died in 2009, and over 1200 died the first half of 2010. Some say this is heading towards the bloodiest year of the war.
Comeon guise, this war isn’t working. Like the star of some dirty off-broadway porn, we need to pull out!
So how am I celebrating this day? Well, my exam, which as of writing this is about 45 minutes away (see how time moves forward when blogging?), is for a course called “An introduction to the USA”. Oh, sweet irony.
Peace out, succas
On the day that Google turns 12, BRBcoffee gets its 150th blogpost, and its 7th author! I’m working on moving the site to a new, better host. I say better, because in terms of features they are, but it’s taking some time for them to activate my account… Anyway, as soon as that happens, I have lots of stuff planned! I think you’ll all like it 😉
Oh, and since I can’t blog without being political… Yo Netanyahu, what you’re doing here is generally known as a dick move! It’s usually not a good idea to resume building big fucking shit on other people’s land, especially if you’re currently engaged in peace-talks with said people, and especially if said people are are already super pissed with you because you built big fucking shit on their land!
Let’s get the song of the blog rolling again!
Song of the blog: Annihilation (APC)
Yours inconsistently,
Bjørn
… Please? And could you also stay away from Nestlé, McDonald’s, and L’oreal while you’re at it? It just so happens that these megacorporations fuel the Israeli settlement-machine, and hire only Israelis, plus they do some other nasty zionist stuffs. Anyway, that’s the dumbed down version of it, you can read a more eloquent one over at mpf.org.my.
Happy boycotting!
Now I know a lot of you don’t believe in personal boycotts, because you feel like it doesn’t affect such massive corporations at all, and I suppose you’re partially right, but the same argument is often used by anarchists for not using your vote during elections. Another argument that you get a lot is that there are so few doing the boycott, so it’s not like the election thing at all, but that’s just all the more reason to start! If your friends are doing a boycott, it’s a lot easier for you to follow, so someone just has to be the one to start.
And lastly, to those of you on the other (wrong) side in this issue, I’ll get back to you in a later blog post 🙂
Song of the blog: Long Live Palestine Part 1&2
Yours truly
Bjørn
I actually wrote this about a week ago, but this is the first time I’ve been able to upload it. So here it is, my take on classes and stuff. Enjoy.
In an article in the norwegian paper Dagbladet, it comes forward that 2 out of every 3 norwegian believes that there is a class divide in the norwegian society.
Now, that is much higher than I thought from my experience of the norwegian
It's true. We don't
society, where everyone seems to believe that inequalities are a thing of the past. However the article also shows another thing: pretty much everyone believes they are the “middleclass”. Not a worker, but not rich. Workers chose to definethemselves as middleclass to hide the fact that they are workers, dependant on their bosses and struggle to make ends meet. The rich define themselves as middleclass to hide the fact that they are rich. “It makes me cry that there is still poverty in Norway, but I would rather cry in my white jaguar”.
First of all, the entire idea of a middleclass is a fallacy. It comes from the idea that your class is defined purely by your standard of living. As in how you live, what you can afford etc. It is a trick and a lie, created by the ruling class to divide the rebellious worker class, and to make them at ease with society. Your class is not defined by what you earn, but your position in the hierarchy of the working place. A way of alienating the people from their position in society, so that they do not see the inequalities and suppression that they are being subjected to. Lenin defined classes as “a flock of people at the same place in the production process”. I disagree with a lot of Lenins work, but this is right on the money!
In truth, there are 2 classes. The capitalist class, and the working class. The capitalist class is the class which owns stuff. The people who own factories, and employ workers. Those who own peoples work, and can with the stroke of a pen ruin peoples lives by, for instance, outsourcing their factory to china, so that hundreds of people lose their only income.
This is you!
The vast majority of the people, are a part of the working class. The defining characteristic of the working class, is the lack of anything to sell. We do not own anything, and so we can not sell it. Thus we sell ourselves, we sell our workforce to a capitalist. It doesn’t matter if you earn a lot of money in your job, if you have 2 cars or a big house. If you have a boss, someone who oversees your work and in the end takes out profit on it, you are a part of the working class.
The problem, is the alienation I mentioned earlier. Todays consumer culture has left people willing to accept the state of the realm, to accept the bullshit that goes on in the world, because “after all, we’re doing alright”. Everyone, please accept this for truth: A heightened standard of living does not equal a heightened status in the class hierarchy, as long as you maintain the same place in the production!
Vegard