The Noise That Makes You Leave

And there I am. Sitting in Student Central, again, like almost every day. I have my table, I have my working ritual. Student Central is a nice place to sit. It has much space, windows on the roof, much light and the coffee shop five feet away. It is a very nice place, nice to study, nice to meet friends, nice to just have a coffee. It seems peaceful, with all its couches, comfortable chairs, tables, it seems like it is just inviting students to sit there and enjoy, with work or without.

But not it is not all as it seems. Those who spend only little time inside Student Central will not recognize. But if you stay in Student Central for too long, you recognize one or two things that start getting on your nerves. One thing is the rubbish that everyone leaves on their place as they leave. But, certainly, this is bothering, but regarding the thousands of people going in and out of student central during the day, this is probably a problem that is rather impossible to solve.

The other problem – one that, as it turns out, is at least as unsolvable as the one with the rubbish – is the noise. I am not talking about people talking here. Obviously Student Central is not the library. It has been made so that people can meet here and talk. Equally obviously would it be pointless to complain about people talking in student central. Whoever is bothered by that, might as well go in the library (given this is as quiet as the signs at the entrance promise). The noise actually being disturbing only turns up close to the end of the day, not every day, but often enough to have itself noticed. As some people might have guessed, I am talking about the student radio. I have been sitting in Student Central for an entire year now, since September, up to now, when I handed in my last assignments. Since the middle of November, when I was sitting in Student Central and couldn’t hear my own words in a conversation, it has become a custom to turn up the music at least once or twice a week.

And so you are sitting in Student Central, minding your own business, studying, listening to music, working with your groups, playing solitaire, enjoying the good atmosphere, until about 7 or 8 in the evening you suddenly hear a noise growing. At first you keep wondering what is it that disturbs you, until you realise that you hear people talking. But you are far from hearing voices in your head. You are not going crazy and all the books you read for the university, are not talking to you yet. And yet, the voices are getting louder, start singing now, start talking then until you feel weird for hearing voices and you take off your headphones. And then you realise that you are not going crazy, that you are not hearing voices in your head. The voices are simply the noise RamAir produces through their broadcasts. And they go right through your headphones, however good they might be, however good the music is, go right through and into your ear, until you hear the music louder than your own, never mind how loud it is.

You will wonder why I am writing an article here, instead of complaining to the people themselves. Well, if you wonder that, I may tell you that I have certainly done that. Throughout the year I have been writing emails to the officials of the Student Union of the University of Bradford, to the officials of the student radio, I even went to the UBU information and to the Just Shop and asked them to turn down their music. The only success I had was the very nice suggestion to go to the library if I want a silent place to work. The Student Central is meant to be a place for entertainment and relaxation of the students. Though this sets me wondering, what is so relaxing about shouting your lungs out, because your friend cannot possibly hear what you are saying?

Here I want to say that I do understand RamAir, that they want to broadcast. I want to become a journalist myself and do understand that people need practice and training in order to fulfil their jobs after they leave university. But what is currently happening is, that a small group of people is taking over control over Student Central, making everyone who does not want to listen to their broadcasting leave, or turn up the music on to maximum. Either option is not favourable, as Student Central is supposed to be a place where all students can relax, chat, work and follow their own business. Having a small group of people dominate the whole building should therefore not be accepted. After a whole (academic) year of getting very annoyed about this and after a whole (academic) year of sending emails to various officials, talking to them and achieving nothing – measurable at the fact that the music is still staying loud – I am making this public now. However the dear reader should keep in mind, that I am not asking RamAir to stop their broadcasting. But what I want is them to keep their music at a volume that allows people to follow their own business if they want to, and not to leave, because they are disturbed by the university’s radio, and forced to leave the building, because their complaints to the officials remain ignored. (Also reminding that due to the amount of money we pay to the university, asking for some degree of consideration is definitely justified.)

the Market's Whims and the world's obedience

Has anyone realized? Just today, France and Austria got downgraded. Greece is at the bottom already, Italy and Spain are on their way.

Rating agencies, like now Standart & Poor’s are controlling the world. They only flick their fingers – or in their case rather their keyboards – and with the influence they have, they send everyone running; companies, people, states, governments.

We are the people of the world. We are electing the governments of the world (at least ideally). They are the representatives of the free states of the world. They have been charged with the task of finding a solution to how the world goes. They have been charged with the task of making the world a good place for everyone.

But over the last two or so years we are facing a new system. Since ever it has been politics deciding over the fate of the world, never mind if through wars or treaties. They are charged with this task, because they represent the peoples of the world.

But this system has changed over the last few years. All we can hear on the news, from politicians, journalists, people in charge and people at the base is about the market regaining faith in us, about us regaining faith in the market. Never mind which new idea the governments of Europe come up with, the overall reason is to restore the “faith in the market” or the “faith of the market”. They have made up an umbrella, called EFSF that is supposed to support states like Greece, Spain, Italy, who are not able to repay their debts to the banks. Greece is forced to make huge cuts in their country, cut incomes, increase taxes, privatize everything, in order to regain the money, in order to get money from the EFSF.

And for what?

They get the money, use the money to repay the debt they have with the banks. People in Greece have to suffer from all that, just so the banks get their money back in time. Governments in Europe and institutions all over the world force cuts over the Greeks, they force them to suffer, to sell their whole country to private actors – and for what? So that banks get their money back in time?

Whenever I see this, I keep asking myself why there is so much money spent, simply to repay banks. There certainly is an important point in repaying the banks on time. There certainly is an important point in being trustworthy towards the people or institutions who you borrow money from. But it always has to be put in relation to the costs. For Greece, in the long run, probably the costs will be higher than the benefits. We are going to look at a country that has been forced to use every Cent on repaying depts. We are going to look at a country that is having everything privatized, and from all the experience we could collect over the last years we know that privatizing is not solving anything, and in the end often costs the state more than it benefits from it – one only has to look at the railway system in the UK or at a housing company in Dresden/Germany, where privatizing was seen as the wonderdrug, and in the long run ended up with the state buying back a totally clapped-out system that it had to renew. I see no reason why this is not going to happen again. Then we can watch Greece that we forced to sacrifice everything, struggle with its burden. 

And then, on the day that all the debts are repaid, all the banks are satisfied, we can look at ourselves – are we going to be content? Are we going to be happy when the market has faith in us again? Are we going to be happy with the rating agencies getting us back on AAA?

Once it is achieved – if we can achieve it –, I do not think we should be happy with that. We have to change the system, and we have to change it now. We have to stop believing that the market needs to recover its faith in us. We need to stop trying. The market has only discovered the immense power it has over the world, over countries and how it can set governments running with only a snap. And after it has licked blood, it will not give this power up easily. Even if we find means to make the market recover its faith in us, our states, our governments, there will be more holes. The market will find ways to make sure governments will not forget the times that it had the power to make them run in circles with their hair on fire. It will be able to do so, until we stand up and refuse to be kicked around and frightened by the “market”.

Over the past years, the market has set the rules in the game that is called world politics – or global governance. Rating agencies have had the liberty to decide over the faith of states, banks have had the power to get states into incredible debts. And yet, after the market has shown its horrible and cruel face to the world, even though it kept dictating the politics actions for the past years, politicians still keep talking about recovering the “faith” of and in the market, feeding their banks with money, on the costs of their own people, and on the costs of the power of the world’s political system. Over all this time that they have been debating about how to satisfy the next dictate that came from the market, they have never thought of an alternative. They have never even tried to recover their power over the world. One might even wonder if they even want to recover their power, or if it is easier to be kicked around like an old football, and to always only react to whatever it brought on, instead of creating something new, that allows more power to act, that allows to be creative oneself, to make the billions we stuff in to Greece be used properly and sustainably, in order to have a world that maybe does not have faith in the market, and doesn’t gain the faith of the market, but instead is a world that is not dependent on the market, that can choose its own path without having to peer towards creditworthiness anymore, a world that has creative peoples as well as politicians who are brave enough to dare changing the world into a world where we have a market that does not overshadow everything, into a world where the most important thing is no longer growth and money, but making a country a place that people can be proud of, and happy to live in. This is the world I am imagining, and this is the world that, right now, is covered by the dictatorship that the market, and with it the rating agencies, exercise.


Here is a link regarding the financial problems in Italy and how Europe is managing the crisis:
http://tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/ratingitalien106.html

Ein sehr akademischer Aufsatz über ein Wort.

Schreib ein Word. Ein Wort, das so kompliziert ist, wie du es dir nur irgendwie vorstellen kannst. Und dann noch ein Wort. Und dann noch ein Wort.

Und dann ein Wort.

Und dann ein Wort.

Und dann ein Wort.

Und dann ein Wort.

Und dann ein Wort.

Und dann ein Wort.

Und dann ein Wort.

Und dann ein Wort.

Und natürlich muss jedes dieser Wörter so kompliziert sein, wie du es dir nur irgendwie denken kannst, sonst schreibst du natürlich keinen ordentlichen akademischen Aufsatz.

Und wenn du dann genug Wörter zusammengeführt hast, liest du deine Arbeit noch einmal. Und du liest dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und dein Wort.

Und wenn du mit dem Lesen fertig bist, und dich selbst dafür bewunderst, dass du dir so viele schöne komplizierte Wörter ausgedacht hast, dann liest du es nochmal. Dieses Mal aus der Perspektive desjenigen, der diese Wörter, die du erfunden hast irgendwann einmal lesen muss.

Du liest ein Wort. Und ein Wort. Und dann ein Wort. Und dann ein Wort.

Wenn du herausfindest, dass all diese Wörter, die du erfunden hast, so komplex und nichtssagend sind, dass du sie selber nicht mehr verstehst, hast du gute Arbeit geleistet. Am besten schickst du sie sofort an einen Verleger. Und dann schaust du dich am besten nach einem richtigen Beruf um, denn von dem halben Duzend Bücher, die du verkaufst, wirst du nicht leben können.

A Very Academic Essay About A Word.

You write a word. A word as complicated as you can possibly imagine it. And then a word. And then another word. 

And then a word.

And then a word.

And then a word.

And then a word.

And then a word.

And then a word.

And then a word.

And then a word.

Of course each of those words have to be as complicated as you can possibly imagine them, otherwise you’re not writing a decent academic essay.

And when you have assembled many words, you reread your work. You read your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

And then your word.

When you’re done reading your words, and admiring yourself for making up so many complicated words, you read it again. This time from the view of the person who has to read the words you invented.

You read a word. And then a word. And then a word. And then a word. And then a word.

If you find out that the words you invented are so complex and vacuous that even you don’t understand what you wrote anymore, you have done a great job. Best you send it to an editor right away. And then get a real job, because you won’t be able to live from the five copies you are going to sell.