WARNING!! This may offend some Hipsters and Try-Hards...

Another year bites the dust.....but New Year Resolutions come on New Years Day.
I will give my usual Resolution; "I will try to be a better person". Failed miserably every year so far, but I keep on trying.....
No, these are not Resolutions, they are a list of things that I would like to see society address in 2015.
They are not on the scale of World Poverty, or Kim Kardashians' backside.... but they are pretty big in MY world, and it's my Blog, and I'll blog if I want to...

Cars:
Any person requesting a personalised number-plate that says the NAME or MODEL of their car, should immediately be fined, then refused. If it is later found that they have secretly snuck it onto their car, they should be fined again. The plates should NOT be confiscated, they should just be fined every time they drive the car on public roads.
If you are wealthy enough to buy plates that say "BMW M5" (for example), after you have already paid a squillion bucks for a car that has SEVERAL badges saying "BMW M5", then you can not only afford to be fined, you are also too stupid to be allowed on the road without being fined.
If, for instance, you are the proud owner of a Ferrari F50, (still the meanest looking Ferrari, in my uneducated opinion), then you want to be admired by people who appreciate your taste, i.e. other Ferrari aficionados. Point is, they already KNOW you drive an F50, so why tell them again?
As for the rest of the public, they don't know and don't care about your number plate, all they see is an old man in a flash car.....sorry, did I say that out loud??
On the other hand, if you own a 1926 Oldsmobile, I can see no harm in having a plate that reads "26 OLDS", because they didn't put that information on cars back then.
One more thing, it's a bit embarrassing to spend a lot of money on your "RNGE RVR" number plates, only to have your investments go flat and having to put them on your 10 year old Honda Civic after you are bankrupt...

Also, any car sound system sold, must be independently valued to ensure that it does not cost more than the car it goes into. Too many 1992 Toyota Corollas are driving around with sub-woofers that are worth more than the car itself. Frankly I am sick of seeing some crappy bloody shit-box bouncing along under the motive power of a bass system that requires a coal-fired power station to run it, while the cars' engine is flat out running the headlights.

Tattoos;
All tattoos should pass a validity test....lost someone to cancer? survived it? Had a life-changing experience? Been to war? or Bali? Fair enough.
Putting double entwined rattlesnakes facing each other around your bicep, just because you think it looks cool....that's ok too, ....if you're The Rock. ...If you are a 19 year old scrawny pierced-in-too-many-places, unemployed, school drop-out....well....it just looks stupid.

By the way...."Such is Life" doesn't mean anything unless you've lived a life....

Politicians;
I know people from all six sides of politics, I even like some of them. Many of them vote (or pretend to), and some can even talk about politics in a rational manner....occasionally.
The common factor among them all is they all vote for people that they KNOW are lying to them.
So: all politicians promises must be binding. If a politician makes a promise during an election campaign, but can't deliver on it once elected, he should lose his job. If I told my employer that I could do a particular aspect of a job, but couldn't deliver, how long would I last?? If a politician can't deliver, sack him and give the bloke who came second a go.....reckon we'd see a reduction in ridiculous promises? Even the political parties would make sure the candidates didn't step out of line....after all, it could mean losing power if some idiot said he was going to do something that they knew was impossible.

T-Shirts;
No T-Shirt should be sold to any individual unless they can identify the image depicted on it and explain its significance. Example: Che Guevara was a Communist. He would have confiscated your iPad for the good of the Revolution. He would have been appalled to see his face used to sell merchandise that made a lot of money for a lot of capitalists. He would have hated your materialistic lifestyle and shallow values. He would also have probably hit on your girlfriend. Even if you are a lesbian, he probably would have still hit on your girlfriend. You probably wouldn't have liked him.

"Deus Ex Machina" makes a great T-shirt. It is the brand name of a custom motorbike company, which is pretty cool. It is also a Latin phrase meaning "God from the Machine", and it originates from theatrical productions where an impossible plot device is used to get the story out of a dead end. The wardrobe in C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" is an example of this. It does something impossible in order to get you from one world to another. So unless you actually OWN a Deus Ex Machina Bike,  you are probably just telling the world you believe in impossibly smart furniture.

Also, There should be a ban on people wearing T-Shirts from concerts that happened before they were born. I can understand someone wearing a Rolling Stones T-Shirt, although they should be required to prove they know who they are, but I object to a 19 year old college kid sporting a Rolling Stones "California Concert  June 1975" shirt. You weren't there!! You couldn't have even been conceived there!! You don't even know if the Stones actually played a show in California in 1975!! Your entire knowledge of the Stones probably ends with the fact that Jagger is in that cool song by Maroon 5, God Help Us.

Telephones;
Yes, that's right, telephones. Not phones, not devices, Telephones.
I'll make this quick. Telephones used to be stationary. They even had their own invention to sit on, called the telephone table. Every house had one. That's all it was used for, to hold the telephone and a Telephone Directory. They were simple, innocent things that only had one purpose...to make and receive telephone calls. Here is my problem. You could sit and wait for ages for some government department or big business to tell you that your request has been denied, and then you could pound the crap out of that hand-piece in frustration, (probably on the telephone table), and cause it no harm at all. Today, one slip of your wonderful, multi-purpose, EXPENSIVE, "Device".....instant death.......


FINALLY;
Facebook;
Facebook needs a "Dislike" button. Actually, I personally believe that Facebook needs a "Oh For Gods Sake, You Have Got To Be Bloody Joking" Button, but I think I have a better chance of getting a "Dislike" button.
You see, Facebook is conning us for the sake of the advertisers. If we don't like something, we can't say so unless we actually write a comment. So our criticisms are lost in the various sycophantic praises and religious solicitations that make up most comments. When the good folks at Facebook sell little ads on your home page, they can say "Look how many "LIKES" this post got" or "Look how many comments this guy gets", without having to let on how many people think you're a weasel with warped and twisted views. We need a "Dislike" button to ensure accuracy in statistics, if nothing else.


Well, these are a few things I would like to see cleared up next year. Won't happen, I know, and nobody really cares, but if I have made you think a bit, or smile a little, then I'm glad.

Love to you all, and may the next twelve months be kind.....

"Like" and "Share", if you care.....coz I don't...

Ahhh Facebook....
Instant gratification for those who don't need to work for it!
Anyone that wants to be "liked" (whether genuinely, or by reflex), or who wants to "share" the coolness of being part of the "in-crowd", can simply go to Facebook.
It is the instant panacea for our time...or at least till the next wave of social media overwhelms it.

Do not mistake me, I understand Facebook very well, and can see its' attraction. In a world of instant gratification and tiny attention spans, where it is essential to not only be a part of the game, but also AHEAD of the game, if not actually MAKING the game, (whatever the Hell "the game" is...), then Facebook can be an essential tool, especially when it comes to playing the social ladder game among your peer group. So, Yes, Facebook is the new essential in the world of our youth.

I do have a problem with some of the messages that it is disseminating amongst our gullible, and (let's face it), worldly naive youth. Oh, they may tell you they know more about the drug/sex/music/underground/gangsta/fashion/social scenes than we could ever know, because they are plugged in to a world- encompassing digital network that feeds a constant stream of information to their hand-held device/platform that is constantly updated and linked to more distasteful and possibly illegal sites than you as a parent could possibly understand, let alone control, but I question whether they could REALLY tell good guys from bad guys. The reasons I question are these;

Young people these days truly are smarter about many things than we could ever be. They know more about pirate web-sites, under-age drinking, parties and drugs than we did at their age. They are savvy when it comes to technology, how to hook-up, break-up, set-up and be smart. This generation sees technology as a part of themselves...those born prior to 1970 always regarded it as a tool. In much the same way, I regarded my car as an essential, a necessary part of life. To my parents it was a tool, an extension of their lives, and was treated accordingly.We lived to drive and explore, they drove because they had to, nothing more.

Embracing this new technology (Facebook/ Instagram/ Snapchat etc) , should therefore be a natural, if somewhat uncomfortable, and rapid progression along the road of generational change, but something concerns me about this wonderful means of spreading ideas. It's about caring. How much do we care? We say we care for the hungry, the homeless, the lost, the abused, yet when push comes to shove, how much do we care? How much do our youth, cushioned behind a keyboard, a screen, a wall of data, and a feeling of self-gratification, really care about each other?? Why do we need to bolster our youth's self-confidence, by telling them how good they are?

Which brings me to the reason I am writing this....

I have noticed that one of the recurring themes posted by various supposedly "genuine" sites on Facebook, is that of the "It doesn't matter what society thinks of you, as long as you are true to yourself, that's all that matters", or to put it another way "I don't care what you think of me, if I am happy with who I am, your opinion means nothing"

Now I realise that these are intended to build self-esteem and help people feel confident about who they are, because many among our youth are unsure and need help in this area. Rightly so, we should always help our children believe in themselves. Unfortunately, there is a downside.

Recently I employed a young man who was in need of work, and who had basically painted himself into a corner to the point where he had to get a job, or else. I needed someone to help me urgently because of my health, and I saw it as a great opportunity to give someone a break, a chance to give someone the opportunity to make a fresh start, just as one individual had given me the chance I needed many years ago. Here was my chance to "pay it forward", if you like.

He worked out pretty well, despite a few hiccups, and I thought it was going well, until about two and a half weeks in, when he said he was leaving. I was disappointed, but philosophical, you can't win every time, but on the last day, he dropped everything and left me half way through the day...basically, he bailed on me.

The next day, he rang looking for his pay, and I, feeling miffed, told him to wait till pay day.
The end result was harassing phone calls, abusive text messages and finally him confronting me at my home, kicking in my front gate, entering my yard, bashing on my front door, repeatedly head-butting my glass sliding doors, coming into my lounge room, threatening me, and leaving with threats to return for his money.

When the police arrested and interviewed him, he was quite insistent that his actions were completely justified, because he felt that he should be able to do whatever was necessary to get the money he was owed, despite the fact that the NEXT DAY was pay day. He wanted his money TODAY.
He was sure that if he felt like behaving in that way, then he was entirely justified, and it did not matter what I thought, or felt.

If we continue to foster a mind-set where instant gratification is the paramount goal of our society, and where violent and anti-social behaviour can be justified by the mantra of "This is who I am, and it doesn't matter what you think", then we can expect a generational trend toward not only shorter attention spans and greater need for self-fulfillment, but also a shorter fuse on the temper of those who do not want to wait for rewards, and a greater propensity for violence on the part of those who do not care about the well-being of those around them.

As with all things, a balance is required, but unfortunately the easy option is not self- control, nor patience.....