I don’t know how to best address all this. Tom mentioned the water in Atlanta is both privatized and cruddy. Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me. Also, it doesn’t surprise me the water in the third world is “owned” by large corporations, one of which is the same that owns Universal Film, and which is—in its larger sense—a French sewage company. And that company is cooking its books in Enron fashion.
Unfortunately, it is harder to educate people than it is to control them. So, for what it’s worth, I try to do some educating about the “Third World” to those NG users who might not be hip.
The Brandt Line, or north-south split, is a global separation between large regions on the basis of their overall human development.
That line, which lies roughly at the thirtieth northern parallel (excepting the Middle East and Asia, both of which it rises above), shows a clear demarcation between highly developed areas (Japan, Eastern Europe, Anglo-America and Western Europe) and considerably less developed territories on the south side (the Middle East and Asia—with Australia and New Zealand as exceptions to this rule).
You can also call it the “Brandt Circle”, since it pretty-much runs all around the globe. What I’m saying is, things northwards, places like the U.S. and most of Europe, generally have it better than things southwards. Not always, but generally. Southwards, there’s less access to education. More work-for-someone-else rather than work-for-yourself. People tend to have kids around their age of 14 or 15, and they don’t really have any books in their school—might be lucky and have one math book for 50 kids, no paper, maybe one pen. Obviously no hospitals, and considerably less food.
Now, I realize, if you’re in an American high school, things are expected. You can’t show up having not bathed for a month and wearing nothing but a sock. Furthermore, I know there are other expectations—do well in sports, smile, watch the TV shows everyone else does, dress like everyone, and maybe even go to one of your town’s mainstream churches. And I know American high schools—too many—are nothing but day care centers for assholes. So I know it’s impossible to think about a bunch of Asian kids with cholera when you, in the U.S., can’t find a date, or when you’re ridiculed without mercy, or when you go home and your mom has her own little war. At times, you probably wish you were the guy dying of cholera.
Still, I’m going to ask you to try to care. Newgrounds, believe it or not, is not a site for popular kids. If you could do 80 sit-ups in under three minutes, or if you look like Spencer Tracey when you’re only 16, or if you’ve ever gotten a passing grade on the basis of your smile, then you’re probably the only one—this, out of 5,000 reviewers and 200,000 Flash artists who never had such luck. And one of the stupidest things in the world is, when you make friends with someone who’s unpopular, then you suddenly abandon that loser once you GET popular: that’s bullshit.
I wish there was some movie I could use an example that teaches you to “not use people as a means to an ends”. The only thing coming to mind is the Shawhank Redemption. If anyone can think of something better, I welcome them to post it.
![Viva Vivendi!]()
