WACKY IDEAS
(Publication Date: February 9, 2007)
We will prevent drought with plastic bottles.
We will promote the TRNC
with posters.
We will suffer
in the areas governed by mayors accused of ‘populism’.
***
Under a circular to be issued
by the Prime Minister, a one-liter plastic bottle will be placed inside toilet cisterns in government offices, public offices, and semi-public institutions and organizations, so that less water is used.
How nice!
How come we haven’t thought
of this until now?
How could we overlook such
an important detail that will put an end to our drought problem?
Saving is important, of course.
But there’s a problem here!
Just as with the kerosene- burning stoves brought into the country…
The reason these stoves
were brought into our country was to save energy.
It was announced that these
stoves would be distributed to people receiving social assistance.
So the austerity measures
being implemented in our country apply only and exclusively to those receiving social assistance.
In other words, low-income
families will save energy, while everyone else will use the electricity saved, and so on, however they please.
Now some institutions and
organizations will introduce water-saving measures, while everyone else will use water however they please.
Of course, I hope these
measures aren’t being taken for the purpose I’ve described.
But there’s also this side
of the issue, and it’s being overlooked!
Why is it being overlooked?
I’ll explain in a moment why
it’s being overlooked.
*
The press has reported and
written that a campaign has been launched to promote our country with posters…
But why are we promoting our
country only in London?
Is this how a country is
promoted?
Is this the ‘campaign’?
Also, why are we using posters
telling people about our natural beauty?
Since when have our tourism
policies been based on our country’s natural beauty?
Are the hotels and so on
operating in our country doing business based on natural beauty, or are casinos the main attraction?
Haven’t we promoted the country
this way in London before?
What did we get out of it?
I don’t want to discourage
those who have undertaken this initiative, but don’t you think this is an inflated news story and/or activity?
Why are these inflated
initiatives being undertaken?
I’ll explain in a moment why
they’re being undertaken.
*
Recently, ‘a group of mayors’,
under the banner of the Union of Municipalities, shared their problems with the press and representatives of political parties.
They presented an action plan.
There was no one from the party
in government among this group of mayors!
As far as we’ve seen and
experienced, the problems this group of mayors spoke of actually also affected mayors belonging to that party.
So why didn’t the mayors
belonging to that party act together with the other mayors?
Why didn’t they jointly bring
forward the problems they were experiencing together?
Why?
I’ll explain in a moment why
they didn’t act together.
*
First, I’d like to draw your
attention to a saying I like very much:
“People’s words reflect their
thoughts.”
With that reminder, let’s move
on to the observations I referred to as coming ‘in a moment,’ and let’s start with the issue of saving…
As far as we can see, the
measures being taken to save (as I’ve also noted in the headline) must be the fruit of some pretty wacky ideas.
And the savings made through
measures taken this way will benefit no one.
Let me try to explain with
an example: When a company adopts austerity measures, everyone who works for that company has to comply with them.
When such measures apply to
a country, measures must be taken that cover everyone living in that country. They must also be supported by scientific studies.
Otherwise, one starts to wonder
about other things: Do people in government offices go to the toilet that often, and so on?
Yet under the name of austerity
measures, our government is asking only certain groups to make savings.
The measures being attempted
with stoves, light bulbs, and plastic bottles, by targeting only certain groups, present a ridiculous situation and also raise the issue of thoughts and words.
Now for the campaign to
promote the country with posters!
Actually, I was going to write
about this issue alone today.
Because I, too, have a ‘wacky’
idea about it.
In my view, instead of using
photographs showcasing our country’s natural beauty, we could put the TRNC flag, map, system of government, population, and information about the TRNC alongside Greek Cypriot statements denying the existence of the TRNC, and add ‘hahahaha’ underneath, creating a more effective promotion with a friendly and attention-grabbing approach.
At least it would have been
something that hadn’t been done before.
Anyway, the reason I describe
this poster campaign as an inflated initiative is that I think it was done to project the image that ‘the Ministry of Tourism is working’.
Otherwise, this action described
as a campaign wouldn’t have been limited to London…
In short, here too, the issue
of thoughts and words comes up again.
And now, the municipalities…
I can’t know the purpose of
the ‘group of mayors’ I mentioned a moment ago in connection with the municipalities.
I don’t know whether they came
together for political reasons, what they did, or how they went about things.
What I do know is the pitiful
state of the municipalities in our country.
I wrote about it the other
day; we have serious—very serious—problems, and I think these problems are due to financial difficulties.
And as far as I understand,
this isn’t a problem affecting only a handful of municipalities…
The pitiful state of our
neighborhoods, streets, and cities is plain to see; it would be naive to claim otherwise.
But it seems that even when
people try to do something about this, the ground is always political.
Then the accusations start
flying.
And when the issue becomes
political, partisanship takes precedence over the facts, and everyone’s problem becomes a problem for only some people.
In the end, the problems we
all experience together are crushed beneath the political hierarchy.
In this system, it’s always
the public who are crushed…
And it’s precisely here that
the issue of thoughts and words comes up.
Amid these accusations, some
people level charges against others using certain words.
And a word that is very popular
in political vocabulary emerges:
Populism…
Yet all the words and actions
involved in these accusations reveal one truth: “People’s words reflect their thoughts.”
Just as with saving,
the posters put up in London, and so on.
We see populism everywhere.
See you on Monday… Be
considerate in traffic!
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