Pneumatised!

Saw this the other night – “We are the 1 percent: we stand with the 99 percent”.

Huh. Nice sentiment, but how many on there would give up what they have and live with less than they have? It’s not that all 99 ‘percenters’ want fancy cars and super-sized homes for two to four that really can accommodate 10 or even 20 people in hard times (I grew up in a medium-sized home that accommodated seven), it’s that some things aren’t necessary for a decent life. Frankly, a privileged lifestyle isn’t sustainable for everyone in the long term. Some people would have to ‘downsize’. So the question remains, are the 1% willing to give up what they have and live with less?

(I should also point out that I’m not sure everyone on that 1% blog even knows what would define them as 1%. It has to do with ‘wealth’ as opposed to ‘income’. Wealth aka ‘net worth’ being assets minus liabilities and income aka ‘net income’ being revenue minus expenses. Net income is added to assets – it does not represent your wealth.)

I started reading a Star Wars novel a few months back, then got sidetracked. I felt like returning to this novel, Downbelow Station, which I started a while ago. I’m still not sure what I think of it so far, except for it reminding me of the remade Battlestar Galactica, which can be a good or bad comparison depending on how much you liked the remade BG (note that this novel was written in 1981, around the time of the original BG series). I have no complaints about the author’s writing at least – always a good thing.

“Pell’s Station, orbiting the alien world simply called Downbelow, had always managed to remain neutral in the ever escalating conflict between “The Company,” whose fleets from Earth had colonized space, and its increasingly independent and rebellious colony worlds. But Pell’s location—on the outer edge of Earth’s defensive perimeter— makes her the focal point in the titanic battle of colony worlds fighting for independence…” (See GoodReads link above.)

Sidenote: I tried reading David Farland’s The Runelords: The Sum of All Men again (see my previous blog containing a review of this book), but read another passage that annoyed me. Perhaps you can argue that he was writing in character and that’s what his character was thinking, but I have a problem with a character who’s supposed to be ‘good’ being prejudiced. “When Raj Ahten entered, he took the Sultan, determined to make an example of him. What happened next, Iome could not say. Such things were never discussed in civilized countries.” (Page 169, Tor paperback copy) I stopped reading the book again after that last sentence – “civilized countries” indeed. Who is to judge what is “civilized” and what isn’t? *silent rant; moving on*

~~~C