Sunday, August 26, 2007

Greece: Fire Sale, everything must burn!

Greece is in a state of mourning and shock. For the past two days now fires have raged all across Greece, murdering over 50 people and destroying numerous homes and villages. All of the Peloponnese is on fire, threatening ancient Olympia, mystical Arcadia and brave Laconia. Gone are the beautiful beaches of Euboea. Amidst all this death and destruction, the media is trying to put their own rules on place and the government, a positive spin.

That self righteous journalist Terence Kuik on Alter demanded that no politician speak, and shame on any member of the opposition party who uses this tragedy to blame the government, how dare anybody profit from this tragedy, then without skipping a beat, he added We will tell you now which villages are threatened by the fires, but first a commercial, stay tuned. Obviously benefiting on the pain and suffering of others is a monopoly only for journalists like himself.

Another Idiot journalist stated 'A tragedy of this magnitude could not have been foreseen so lets not blame the government' Why did he LIE so blatantly? The media and government are desperately trying not to blame the government.
I am SICK AND TIRED of incompetent journalists refusing to tell the truth for fear of being critical of the government. They are so incompetent, they believe that being balanced means blaming the previous government as well. So you hear on TV the inevitable response to the charge that the response to the fires were uncoordinated 'And the previous government was just as bad'. That is NO answer! That is NO justification for what happened. We need to be mature, not kindergarten children, and Deal with the here and NOW.
FACT: We had a CHANGE of government because the people wanted a CHANGE, if they wanted the same, they would have kept the same.
FACT: A response to just such a tragedy had been planned for in the run up to the 2004 Olympics. Therefore the government and response teams knew EXACTLY what they should be doing!
FACT: The government removed professional emergency response leaders who were familiar with this plan,
Their replacements are OBVIOUSLY INCOMPETENT. (Are they also just political appointees?)
FACT: Professional emergency response leaders who were waiting to be called were ignored by the government, exacerbating the tragedy.
FACT: THIS is EXACTLY what the people were protesting against months ago. They knew that if the government did not charge anybody with arson and banned all building on burnt ground that this would continue.
FACT: The Government ENCOURAGED the continued arson attacks by bringing illegal building into the city planning.
FACT: The Government is removing the protection on forests, further encouraging the arsonists
FACT: PEOPLE HAVE DIED because of somebody's incompetence.
FACT: The minister of the Interior was more concerned with hiring 'Agrofilakes' a do nothing job (see previous postings) than hire fire-fighters.

It should be noted that it took the personal appearance of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Works to the devastated areas, and personally kick start an organised response, before them everyone was running around like headless chickens. But it was a response too late.

While journalists are warning opposition parties away from commenting on the death and destruction around us, they are allowing the government to say how well they are dealing with the crisis, apparently the Foreign Minister appeared on BBC to say how everything is under control.
yeah right... great Tourism slogan, oh hang on, what was this years big tourism push, come and purchase land in Greece, what a coincidence...

3 comments:

Bubble said...

Tragic to see the loss of life, destruction of property and the loss of so much of our natural habitat.

Shocking to see the pathetic response from the state who had numerous warnings all summer.

My opinions on the media are not suitabe for the public domain but for the most part they should be ashamed of themselves.

I hope another demonstration is planned and would appreciate it if you could post details if you hear of one.

Thanks and keep up the good work

Vassili - Mike said...

Man, this whole weekend has been depressing, another protest is planned by the communists this monday...

graffic said...

Time ago I stopped watching TV. After all, TV channels are companies that want to obtain profit. I Spain they do what ever, I guess here is the same.

I believe that no country could have stopped this. Neither mine, or other more technologically advanced. Perhaps make the tragedy smaller, but not stop all the fires in one minute.

What I don't know is if they will allow to build in those burned areas. It's a task of the greek citizen to do that (they know the places). Those people dressed in black must publish/report/announce when they see others using burned terrain. We will see how many people sit in the sofa.

And it's a labour of all people, to help to recover it. Just tell me where to go and organize me an other people, and at least I will spend one weekend per month helping there. I'll pay my trip and my food.

That makes me think one thing... why don't we create a list of burned areas, with pictures and all the information the people can give. Just to track what will happen there.

About the last thing, last elections in Spain, people collected the promises the politicians made. Just to check them in the future.