Unintended consequences.

Added Feb23,2018:- I obviously have (partial) ability to foretell. Not boasting, mind!

The effects of the proposal to cut or reduce the printing of newspapers in Australia and the corollary of encouraging the use of electronic formats will have many consequences, mostly unintended.

For instance there will be a reduced requirement for wood pulp (to make newsprint). This will certainly help the conservationists cause. Alternatively it may encourage exports of newsprint, of pulp or woodchips, to make up the shortfall in revenue. But then there may be more employment opportunities for those who work in the electronic media industry! There is a possibility, of course, that the drive to increase readership of electronic media and cut costs will result in more “out sourcing” of jobs to lower cost countries such as India. This, if it occurs, will not help anyone in Australia.

Then what about the countless “news agencies” in Australia? They will either cease to exist or have to change and sell something else. What about the various sawmills and pulping plants in and around the country and the people employed by them? And then what about the vehicles delivering the wood chips to make the pulp from which newsprint is made? What about those who deliver the finished product – newspapers?

This is not just a “game” of hypotheticals, it affect real people. No one can foresee the future or the effects of any changes in plans or policies. This is why it is so important to ALWAYS consider people first (the ethical and moral considerations of the effects of any actions or activities) and not, first, the financial impact on the “bottom line”. To consider the “economy” or money before people puts the “cart before the horse” and will result in unnecessary anguish and hardship.

I know it sounds trite but happiness results – always - from helping people, not from making money. By all means use the money you have made to help people. To do so is good policy.

Remember that money is a useful medium of exchange invented by people. Individuals, people, you and I, normally work to earn it to exchange for goods or services they may need. Money does not create people or work or innovation or any goods. Only people can do this.

People “make” the economy, not the other way round. Without people there would be no commerce and industry and no “economy”. Commerce and industry are for the benefit of people; people are not items on some economic game board to be moved around for the benefit the commerce and industry. The Russian Soviet Republic tried this and failed spectacularly.

I know the old saying is that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” but it is essential to, always, have the welfare of people as pre-eminent - to act, always, with this consideration foremost in one’s mind. This is the ethical and moral way. Acting not for me but for all, will go some way to avoiding unintended, and possibly unpleasant, consequences.

In the case of newspaper publishing organisations, cutting staff to save costs will reduce the quality of the publications and the resulting bad publicity will reach a tipping point beyond which the organisations will spiral down towards total failure.

Our ego and us

We all know an Autocrat, the ‘controller’. We all know a person who is always right, who knows everything, who has an opinion on everything and who’s way of doing things is always the best and only way. But I wonder if such a person is ever at peace within him/her self? To be constantly aware of what others are doing – so that they may be corrected, because you are sure they will inevitably do something wrong – must be very tiring. It must wear the person down.

There will never be peace, anywhere, until people have ‘peaceful’ minds and ‘peaceful’ thoughts. How can it be otherwise? Peace will never eventuate from warlike and violent thoughts or actions. Look, I don’t just mean international peace. I include in this term peace from ALL violence – domestic, civil, social, sectarian and international and I would include in this our predilection to anger when crossed or thwarted. We are all of us guilty of this one at times.

I know that it would be naive to believe that there will ever be a time when everyone has ‘peaceful’ thoughts – it will never happen, the human condition being what it is. But why should we accept this deplorable state of affairs? Why SHOULD there be violence; why SHOULD there be so much anger? What is the purpose and what does it serve? So what if we are thwarted in our endeavours; so what if others don’t have the same goals in life as we do – why get angry or violent about it? I do not believe that there can ever be any ‘benefit’ from anger or from violence – that these two are a complete waste of time and energy, both of which would be better spent elsewhere.

Is it possible for most of us to have peaceful thoughts? I am sure it is.

It maybe that there is a ‘tipping point’ such that when the majority of people have ‘peaceful’ thoughts then there is more likely to be peace than otherwise (which is logical I suppose - and somewhat of a blinding glimpse of the obvious). So what does it say about the general thought content of the average person that there is so much violence and lack of ‘peace’ in the world? It would appear, that as a world, we are some distance away from that ‘tipping point’!!

Anger I believe arises from our egos. When our ego (our idea of who we are) tells us that it has been diminished in some way – that we have been shown up as a lesser person than our ego allows for – then anger may arise. A very typical example is road rage – say someone cuts in a queue of cars and immediately pushes us one vehicle further from the ‘feeder’ arrow at the intersection. Our immediate reaction is to think “Who does she think she is pushing in like that? I am just as important as she is – bloody female driver!” (Or whoever – I am NOT anti-female please believe me!). Anger arises and we activate the horn in no uncertain manner and also give the finger and generally show that we are extremely displeased.

Can you relate to this? But does it really matter? Maybe the woman is an unemployed single mother who has an urgent appointment to meet with a potential new employer – a reasonable enough excuse, don’t you think? But no! Our ego tells us that it has been diminished and slighted and that this slight must be redressed in some way. Less than charitable thoughts arise and anger and violence, that inevitably accompany such thoughts, always intervene and turn a tricky situation into a possibly violent one. All for what – just to please the ego?

In a perverse way lack of peace may be considered as a positive! Having an ‘unpeaceful’ mind may lead someone to re-appraise their perceptions and ideas which may lead to innovations in human relations or helping those less fortunate or in medicine or to innovations in any field of human endeavour.

There is always a positive to be found somewhere – even when the ego is involved!