Is it immoral to be a tourist?
A few weeks ago we returned from spending a week long vacation in Cuba. You may have even read my last post with suggestions for anyone else who might be interested in traveling there.
So, why, out of the blue, am I asking you about the morality of tourism?
Well, it’s probably because of Jamaica Kincaid and her book, A Small Place.
Posted in business, Economy, Europe, history, money, morality, politics, Travel
Tagged A Small Place, Antigua and Barbuda, beaches, check your privilege, colonialism, colonization, Corruption, economy, ethical tourism, ethical traveler, ethics, finances, gender, government, Jamaica Kincaid, money, morality, opportunity, race, relaxation, school, sexual orientation, slavery, social classes, social justice, social stratification, Tourism, travel, university
This is pretty short as posts can get, but its length has directly to do with the topic at hand. See, I’ve been unemployed since last year, and that’s not for lack of trying to change that status. Given certain things going well there’s a chance that, instead of sitting here on the couch that doubles as my bed, I’d actually be in sunny Las Vegas with your favourite communist Culture War Reporter Gordon. Some things just aren’t meant to be, however.
I’m well aware that this isn’t going to be anything new for many of my peers out there, but just allow me this platform to vent a little. I am a college graduate. I am the child of a generation who believed that attaining a post-secondary degree more or less equated to a good job. Honestly, I wish that the piece of paper I have in a storage bin somewhere had some significant effect on my job search. See, and again, you probably already know this, what employers are really looking for is experience.
Most places are asking for three to five years with a particular task, and here I am having graduated in 2012, worked in 2013, and presently job-hunting full-time in 2014. This poorly-designed diagram really says it all:
Really, I don’t know what more to add to that. Surely Gordon, who has a job directly related to employment and has more of a finger on the pulse of current events regarding the economy, would have more to say, but I really don’t; I’m not even quite sure who to blame. It’s tough out there, and today’s just one of those days where I’m letting it get me down.
Normally I try not to let things on this blog get too personal, but honestly I think it’s a facet of post-grad culture, holding a diploma and wondering how on earth we’re going to use it. It’s frustrating to say the very least, and I just have to throw my two cents into what’s ostensibly a very large and very heavy bucket of copper-plated steel.
Posted in business, education, money, Youth
Tagged business, College, diploma, Education, employment, frustrating, grad, graduate, it's a hard knock life, job, job hunt, money, qualifications, shame day, work
I’m writing this a few days ahead of time, so at this point I have no idea who’s even playing in the finals. Don’t tell me you don’t know which finals I’m talking about, either, because a) it’s one of the world’s largest international sporting events and b) it’s right there in the gosh darn title.
To stop you before you get to that particular stepping stone, I get it, Tim Howard jokes are hilarious. I agree that he is a very good keeper. Let’s not move in that direction and instead concentrate on the fact that FIFA is essentially an organization of lesser demons. There’s no way I’m going to be able to sum it up better than John Oliver, though, so here-
Posted in advertising, business, internet, money, morality, sports
Tagged 2022, boycotting, brazil, Coca Cola, Coca-Cola's Irrelevant Response to My Letter Protesting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA, football, human rights violations, John Oliver, Protest, Qatar, reddit, soccer, sponsors, Twitter, World Cup
Yours truly has not had many good things to say about organized religion, yet today we celebrate just that. Or more specifically, the Presbyterians, who voted on June 20th to divest its holdings in three companies (Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions) associated with supplying Israel.
In fact, the Presbyterian Church has gone so far as to
1. Call upon all nations to prohibit the import of products made by enterprises in Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
2. Call for the boycott of all Israeli products coming from the occupied Palestinian Territories, including AHAVA Dead Sea Laboratories Beauty Products, and all date products of Hadiklaim, The Israel Date Growers Co-Operative Ltd, often marked by the brand names: King Solomon Dates and Jordan River (not Israeli products from Israel).
3. Direct the Stated Clerk to communicate this action to all other PC (USA) councils and entities and invite and strongly encourage those groups and organizations to endorse this boycott until significant progress toward Palestinian rights and independence can be reported to the General Assembly or the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (note: formerly General Assembly Mission Council.)
4. Direct the Stated Clerk to inform our ecumenical partners of this action, both nationally and globally, and call upon them to join in the boycott of these companies.
Posted in America, business, Christianity, Fame Day, money, morality, news, politics, religion
Tagged Apocalypse, ban, BDS, Caterpillar, Christian ZIonism, church, Disinvestment, Dispensationalism, Divest, Fame Day, Gaza, Hewlett-Packard, israel, Israeli settlements, Mission, Motorola Solutions, palestine, Palestinian Territories, Presbyterian, Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, the Presbyterian Church, vote, West Bank, zionism
I don’t know a lot about video games nowadays, but I do know one thing: I love the Assassin’s Creed franchise. This may lie entirely in my simple love for stabbing and vaguely historically accurate settings, but I’m down with what they’ve got going on. In fact, I got thoroughly hyped for whatever game developer Ubisoft’s announcement was going to be at this year’s E3 without knowing almost anything about it.
Here’s the trailer they released:
The following tumblr post more or less sums up my reaction [after I finished gawking at the assassinations, of course]:
Posted in art, bizarreness, business, feminism, internet, money, video games
Tagged Alex Hutchison, animation, Anita Sarkeesian, Assassin's Creed: Unity, avatars, characters, creative director, Dan Lowe, design, excuse, Far Cry 4, female, four white men with stubble, James Therien, Jonathan Cooper, Manveer Heir, marketing, money, Montreal, reality of production, technical director, Ubisoft, video games
May 1st of this year marked not only the annual May Day parades celebrated by leftists across the globe but also one of the most major victories for Socialists in this nation as Seattle announced it would raise it’s minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour.
While the push for a higher minimum wage has existed for quite some time, the unprecedented victory in Seattle is largely thanks to the efforts of Socialist councilmember Kshama Sawant and the 15 Now campaign.
Posted in America, business, Economy, money, news, politics
Tagged $15/hour, 15 now, 8 hour work day, arguments against, arguments for, capitalism, defense, economy, fast food, fast food average age, hourly wage, howard schultz, inflation, Kshama Sawant, meme, minimum wage, response, Seattle, service industry, small businesses, socialist, starbucks ceo, wage, Washington, white collar, work, working class
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