“You will often find that knowing little makes it easier to fit everything you know into a coherent pattern.”
by Daniel Kahneman in “Thinking, Fast and Slow“
European Foie Gras
By French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by force-feeding corn. I could go in more detail about the law, the duck or the feeding, but that’s not the subject I want to discuss in this article. Instead, I’m writing to address Brexit, because, like in Fois Gras, Europe keeps force-feeding the idea of remaining in the Union down British throats.
We can agree or disagree with the decision 33.5 million Brits made in 2016, We can argue how misinformed the voters were or how Brexit was mainly supported by an older generation that doesn’t represent the future of the UK, but We can’t deny its validity. We can’t take the decisions We agree as final and those We disagree has a brief obstacle to the “right choice”. Democracy lives by the power of the majority, and every time We neglect a result voted by a majority We drain credibility from democracy, We create doubts and ignite feelings of mistrust, fear, and suspicion in those who have their opinion and vote ignored by democracy.
This is a recurrent problem with Europe Union, whenever a referendum doesn’t go its way a second one is done to “amend democracy”. It happened in 92/93 when Denmark had to do a second vote to ratify the Maastricht Treaty, and again in 08/09 in Ireland with the Treaty of Lisbon.
Today, after the European court of justice (ECJ) decision, news of a second Brexit referendum gained traction. No one truly knows what will happen but We might be moving towards a second chance for EU in the UK. I don’t agree with Brexit but I also don’t see any positive aspects in redoing this decision. Force-feeding EU’s way won’t add stability to Europe, won’t change Brits’ opinion about the Union, and more importantly, won’t make democracy stronger.
The United Kingdom made a decision and should live with it. Instead of rewriting history We should concentrate on the future, building a path for a more robust and inclusive Union.
December Playlist
I assembled a small playlist to keep you warm during this cold month of December. Hope you enjoy it!
Immigrant Money > Immigrant Person
In the past couple of days, I’ve been blasted with the following advert from the Department for International Trade of UK Government.
I take no issue on the content or creative aspect of this add, but let’s think about who did it for a second. great Britain is the same country who voted to leave the European Union just 2 years ago, mainly because of Immigration. Every study I read says that the Immigration of PEOPLE to the UK was the focal issue for those who voted “Leave”.
So, how amazing is it to find that 2 years later and 6 months before the final date to leave EU, Britain is now interested in other sorts of Immigration, Money Immigration. People from Portugal, Poland, and so many other countries are clearly not welcomed in the land of the Queen, but their money can immigrate anytime.
The lack of coherence is not really a surprise, but I couldn’t let this go without discussing this commercial. Money over People has been a staple many countries and regimes, and clearly great Britain trust more in Euro signs than Europeans.
Consistency is the playground of dull minds
“Just as medieval culture did not manage to square chivalry with Christianity, so the modern world fails to square liberty with equality. But this is no defect. Such contradictions are an inseparable part of every human culture. In fact, they are culture’s engines, responsible for the creativity and dynamism of our species. Just as when two clashing musical notes played together force a piece of music forward, so discord in our thoughts, ideas and values compel us to think, re-evaluate and criticize. Consistency is the playground of dull minds.”
From “Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind”
The pursuit of an easier life
“The pursuit of an easier life resulted in much hardship, and not for the last time. It happens to us today. How many young college graduates have taken demanding jobs in high-powered firms, vowing that they will work hard to earn money that will enable them to retire and pursue their real interests when they are thirty-five? But by the time they reach that age, they have large mortgages, children to school, houses in the suburbs that necessitate at least two cars per family, and a sense that life is not worth living without really good wine and expensive holidays abroad. What are they supposed to do, go back to digging up roots? No, they double their efforts and keep slaving away.”
From “Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind”
Failure builds
Today, I was having a conversation with a friend that is about my age, and the topic of being afraid of failing came across and immediately this youtube video I saw a couple days ago popped in my head. I share the opinion of these two people on the video, I believe this is a major problem in today’s society and apparently, no one really cares about it.
Failure is not a character flaw, everyone fails. I fail in a lot of things: in my relationships, in my professional life, etc. Failure does not characterize me, instead builds me, builds my character, builds my resilience, builds my perseverance. And the most important thing, those who were raised without failure in their developing years, when they eventually later in their life fail will have a harder time to move forward from that.
Just take 10 min and watch this video (start watching on 26m40s).
PS: I have two notes about this topic: read “The Man in the Arena” speech by Theodore Roosevelt, especially the last sentence; this “fake environment” idea that they talk about in the video is interesting and I see it around me a lot.
Under Review 