Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Action day: In review

So Blog action day for the environment has been and passed, and was deemed a success in raising the issues facing the planet and the environment. I switched over to watch the special coverage on SKAI, for the most part it was good, but was tinged with traditional Greek sensitivities, namely a fear of self inspection.

I didn't watch it all i admit, but the few blogs it showed, of the local Greek blogs, they showed the state of the environment around the world. Which evoked the question from one of the hosts "Looking at these pictures, Athens isn't doing too badly isn't it?" Another question asked at the guest bloggers on the night was "Can and should everyone in India drive a car" given that the majority of the population there earns less than one US dollar a day, no matter how cheap cars get, its gonna be a hell of a long time before everyone drives a car.

But the problem with those questions is that Greece needs to be asking itself some serious and hard questions of itself! Such as, "can and should everyone in Athens own and drive a car" after all, that's the direction Athens is heading in, how is it going to cope? And instead of looking at the worst around the world, why don't Athenians try to compare themselves to the Best places around the world.

Are We scared? Are we still swept up in nationalism? Are politicians to blame? Our education system... I dont know, but it is about time that we grew up and asked ourselves these tough questions and faced the future. Sure its scary, but ignoring it wont make it go away.

6 comments:

deviousdiva said...

Thanks for this roundup. I was wondering which blogs were shown as my knowledge of Greek blogs is not huge?

I agree with your point..."it is about time that we grew up and asked ourselves these tough questions and faced the future. Sure its scary, but ignoring it wont make it go away"

I have said this many times but I'm a foreigner so it upsets people!

Vassili - Mike said...

Sure it upsets people, I myself am not innocent on this account. Many times i find myself going "and you guys are no better" not healthy i admit. Coming from abroad I too am not allowed to say anything negative either... otherwise I hear the same thing i say when i get defensive

deviousdiva said...

My point has always been...yes, so and so is no better BUT is that a good measure for yourself? What I would like to see is people looking at what works and what doesn't work, and choose the way we want to go.

By saying "England is no better" is simply defeatist and allows us to take no responsibility for our actions.

I appreciate your openness, Vassili. It is refreshing to meet people as honest as you are.

I have tried long and hard to be polite in my criticisms of Greece and I think I succeed most of the time but people tend to just stick their fingers in their ears and go "la la la" because I am a foreigner.

I am blogging for change not argument. As I believe you are. So I find it frustrating when people just dismiss you because you happen to not be Greek. I don't think I am the same when I hear Greeks criticizing England because it deserves criticism.

I don't think it helps that I am a black woman as well. Some other "foreign" bloggers are accepted and allowed to say negative things about Greece without threats to their life.

Mostly though (I have to say) I get the worst treatment from Greek Americans not from Greeks living here.

Sorry for the rant but this is an attitude I deal with almost daily and I am thrilled that you brought it up too...

By the way...on another issue. I don't want to use my Google account as ID and would love to be able to comment with my current blog ID etc. Please don't feel pressured to change your moderation options for me, I'm just saying...

Vassili - Mike said...

Thanks for the compliment, but i am just as schizo as everyone else here, one minute i am one way, another minute...
Re ID. I think i fixed it, it introduced me to the tech side of blogspot :)

Anonymous said...

Great! I can comment as myself now :-)

Vassili - Mike said...

tell me if it doesnt work...