Me, myself and I

There is an expression we use in Ireland to describe those who put themselves before everybody else. We call them 'mé féiners', putting an English ending to an Irish-language phrase, 'mé féin', meaning 'myself'.

Basically, you could say these are a type of fundamentalist individualist. 'The greater good for the greater number' only comes into play if it means a significant gain for them. Otherwise, it's not a runner.

No car day — well, not quite.

The selfish gene

Of course, in many ways, we are all a bit like this, we are quite selfish beings. Many often talk a good 'community game', but on a normal day-to-day basis, it tends to be the self and, maybe, close family that occupy our minds rather than that 'bigger picture'.

“Many wealthy people aren’t prepared to see their living standards drop.”

Take all those wealthy leaders and job creators, be they on the left or on the right, who live in a world far removed from the people they claim to help and represent. They are usually very reluctant to reduce their costly living standards, something that might help society as a whole.

Accidental goodness

On many occasions, that self-centred interest, more by accident than design, is favourable to more than just those closest to us. We, most of us I like to think anyway, work hard to have a better living, add more meaning to our existence, and others who we don't know, who we've never met, benefit from this.

This work ethic contributes to the greater good — this applies less so to some areas of employment than others. (Again, what are those politicians about?)

However, on other occasions, and more frequently it could be argued, this self-centredness doesn't add anything at all to the collective good.

Here in Bogotá, a city with considerable traffic congestion, you have those who insist on taking their private cars to work even when they don't really need to. What's more, the wealthier types have a number of vehicles at their disposal in order to circumvent some well-intentioned measures aimed at reducing traffic volume.

“No matter what we do, we’re doomed anyway.”

For sure, similar to many other places, public transport is far from ideal in the city. Yet, if more people started using it coupled with a resulting greater revenue generated to be pumped back into it, it would be better, more efficient and, keeping with the zeitgeist, greener. That's the theory anyway. The practice in these parts is usually a long way off the mark.

Lap it up

There is the whole who-cares mentality in all of this as well. Referring back to my Saving ourselves post from a while back, the argument can be made that no matter what we do, we're doomed anyway.

Our way of life is going to drastically change soon, whether that's in our lifetime or not, so let's just enjoy the ride and lap things up as best we can. 'Why inconvenience myself for future generations when the chance of the very existence of these future generations is in grave doubt?'

Fair enough. But there are greater-good measures we could take now that would result in an almost immediate benefit. How we commute on a daily basis is just one of those.

If we'd fewer vehicles clogging up our highways and byways, practically everyone would benefit from that, even, nay especially, those who use vehicles regularly.

Some people are just a bit too "mé féiner" to realise this.
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The Colombia caste

"You can take the man out of the barrio, but you can't take the barrio out of the man." OK, that old saying doesn't really apply to me in its entirety.

For Bogotá's 'barrios populares', the working-class neighbourhoods are still where it's at for me, in a living and socialising sense. So, for better or for worse, I haven't removed myself from them.

At home in barrio tienda ...

Moving on up?

The most significant change in the last few months, outside of the new trial podcast, has been the addition of a full-time, relatively well-paid job, the first time I've had a proper 8-6 gig in Colombia (Dolly Parton would have to change the lyrics of her 9-5 hit to suit these parts).

"Most aren't from very rich backgrounds."

With that new employment have come, unsurprisingly enough, new colleagues.

Now, I think it's safe to assume that none of these, or at least very few of them, is from uber-rich Colombian backgrounds. No, the majority would appear to be associated with that growing — so the government here likes to tell us it's growing anyway, being as it is a sign of a country on the up and all that — middle class.

So, in this regard, I'm paddling the same canoe as my new workmates. Earning more than the majority but still a good bit off the strata five and six living.

The thing is, when it comes to socialising, while I'm happier to do that in these aforementioned barrios populares, a lot of my colleagues prefer the swankier and — as far as I'm concerned anyway — unjustifiably expensive parts of town.

Penny-pinching?

Yes, I've been banging on this drum for some time now. The situation isn't going to change in the near future, if ever.

Nonetheless, to restate the point, some people see my reluctance, nay refusal, to socialise in said swankier parts of Bogotá as being tight, 'tacaño' as they say here.

"It's like paying over 20 euros for a pint in Europe."

I have no problem paying more for something that I feel is worth it. However, when it comes to socialising or more specifically nights out, what is anathema to me is paying multiples, perhaps over five times more compared to what I'd pay in my barrio, for practically the same thing, "la misma miér...coles" as the locals might say. In all honesty, it makes me uncomfortable. And a little bit angry.

Barrio is best

To put that difference in 'First World'/European terms, when you compare the price in a barrio bar/tienda to Bogotá's 'plush' places, it's like paying over 20 euros for a pint of beer in the latter. How many of you would be willing to do that?

This isn't a case of 'knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing' in relation to the fancier establishments, especially so when it's pretty much the same bloody product, often delivered with poorer service. Fair enough, the price of this service, i.e., the extra staff, has to be taken into account.

What's more, there are generally higher utility charges and the like (this is where government action is needed to provide a reasonable middle ground).

That being said, handing over what I deem to be excessive amounts of cash is not my idea of a good time.

This is why I'll be largely sticking to socialising in 'my' barrios for the time being.
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All for one, none for all

There is a general belief that true journalism — the old, honest, non-fake news kind that is — and marketing don't go together. Or, by definition at least, the former should always be very suspicious of the latter.

A science versus religion kind of battle. Yes, for business reasons they are often side by side, but there are clear boundaries.

There's money in that marketing ... (Image from web.)

Sowing the seeds of dislike

Indeed, in my first ever full-time radio job back in Ireland, those boundaries were made very clear. The ground floor was home to the advertising and marketing staff, the first floor housed the journalists and presenters.

Of course, as a commercial radio station, advertising and marketing are vital components of the operation. We journalists/presenters wouldn't have been in a position to get our wages without them.

"A desire not to deal in horse manure."

At the same time, without our, um, top-quality on-air work, no company would want to advertise with the radio station. Thus, journalistic integrity had to be preserved. There, as happens across all commercial media groups, the battle lines were drawn (not that, in my own experiences anyway, open conflict regularly followed).

With that background, coupled with a strong desire not to deal in horse manure (what I see as such anyway), I've tended to look somewhat unfavourably at much of the whole marketing world.

For sure, with the likes of IQuiz I've had to dabble in it, but that's just innocent (and honest!) self-promotion. 

However, putting my energies into helping promote large companies, ones that I have no real connection with, especially so when it's via a third party, that's another story.

Work, sleep, eat, repeat

Nonetheless, when opportunity knocks during tight times, you've got to act. Do what's asked of you, nod and agree with your superiors (within reason), get your pay and repeat, for as long as you need to or can. Keep the head down.

This is where I kind of find myself right now. It's a mercenary gig in a sense.

"Experience tells us that this 'care' comes with caveats."

Now, this isn't to say that all the publicity being churned out for the respective clients is complete hyperbole. No, from my perspective, the most disconcerting part is putting together all this positive speak for a company in which I have no direct role.

You know, like if you get the standard phrase of 'We care about our customers' when, through personal experience, you know that said 'care' appears to come with a number of caveats.

If I could deal directly with the client/company, relay my negative experiences as the paying customer they 'care' so much about, explain to them there's plenty of room for improvement and get a commitment from them that they'll 'try harder', it might make me feel more relaxed.

'Me speak English good'

Experience lets me know that it's unlikely much would change, though. What's more, when they think their non-native English works better than mine, it shows you what we're up against.

It must be pointed out here that it's not a case of having sleepless nights or the like over this. Things aren't that sinister.

Marketing, be it in-house or by a third party and no matter how slick it may be, can only do so much for a company.

If the product or service doesn't match the message, in whatever language it's written, patrons won't be long fooled.
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A new state of play?

Some of you may have noticed (hopefully you did anyway!) that there hasn't been a new post up here for some time. 

In fact, November was the first ever 'dry month' in terms of new blog stories since this page went live back in December 2011.

There have been a number of reasons for this. Now, while I enjoy having this little outlet to put my 'musings' about various things out there, the focus has been elsewhere of late.

The Colombia Cast: Off the ground, for now anyway ...

Newborn: The Colombia Cast

Since my return to Colombia in late October after a refreshing break back in Ireland followed by an interesting week in New York, and having kicked English teaching to touch, more energy has been put into IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz". My little baby let's say, one of almost four years of age albeit!

"It's best not to assign a sex to it in the current climate."

Now that baby has a sibling (I won't say what sex either one is lest I offend anyone). This latest creation was a long time in the womb — gestation for new projects, especially in these parts, is substantial. Nonetheless, it's alive and kicking, for now at least.

The Colombia Cast, in conjunction with Semana magazine, is the latest addition to that growing world of podcasts. In a similar vein to IQuiz, it's purely a labour of love, for the moment at least.

'Show me the visa (and the money!)'

Alongside this, though not quite in the labour-of-love category, is a new full-time gig at a global marketing company — work visa pending, but I've already started (not sure of the legalities of that one, guys).

So after over seven years as an independent worker in Colombia, being my own boss to a large extent, I've now entered the full-time workforce. Or so it appears: La Cancillería has to give it the official approval yet.

My mantra for most of the last seven years had been that I wouldn't work full-time for a Colombian company.

"The 'quantity of hours over quality of work' culture permeates."

Not only did I — and still do — value my independence, but the ridiculously long hours that many Colombians seem obliged to spend at work, whether they're actually doing work or not, is something I said I wouldn't sign up to.

The thing is, it's not actually a Colombian company I'm working for. Nonetheless, the quantity-of-hours-over-quality-of-work culture that permeates through many organisations here seems at play. It is early days, so I might be a bit off on that one. I hope I am in any case.

So in a year where it looked odds-on that my stay in Colombia was coming to an imminent end, it now appears I'm about to commit for a bit longer (visa pending of course!).

I might just be here for the opening of the new Irish Embassy in Bogotá after all.
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Saving ourselves (planet Earth is fine)

These seem to be especially frightening times we're living in. One could be forgiven for thinking things have an end-of-days feel to them.

The end of the world as we know it?

The global political picture seems as divided as ever. Well, you could argue it's similar to Europe in the 1930s, so we've been here before, with people finding comfort in the darker corners of the Left and Right, depending on how the Facebook algorithms roll for you.

Therein, of course, lies one major difference: Europe in the 1930s didn't have the internet and its "social" media to contend with (it did have a good dollop of censorship all the same).

Whatever the case, there's nothing really novel about the political — and economic — situation of any period troubling the masses. It would nearly freak us out more if this wasn't so.

Doomed

What appears to be setting these worrying times apart from previous eras are the natural disasters looming that look set to seriously alter the way we currently live — and where we live, too. (At 2,600 metres above sea level, Bogotá's inhabitants should be safe enough from rising sea levels a fair bit longer than most other major population centres around the world.)

'The optimistic view is that we can still turn things around.'

As the almost weekly scientific reports from respected quarters tell us, if we don't change our ways now, that is to say use green energy sources as opposed to those that contribute to global warming, catastrophe awaits.

That's the optimistic view: Time is still on our side, it remains in our hands, just about, to avert the worst-case scenario.

A lot of the language used in this battle for survival is about 'saving the planet'.

Solid Earth

Yet, as the late, great (most of the time, anyway) US comedian George Carlin pointed out years back, the planet doesn't need much saving. 

Barring some unprecedented meteorite attack, a calamity with our sun, things of that magnitude, the future of Earth looks pretty solid for the next few million years.

OK, we can only go on past form, but as advanced as we humans like to think we are, it's unlikely that it will be our dirty work that spells the end for the planet.

The most likely scenario, think dinosaurs here, is that the planet will continue on well after the last human on it breathes his/her (or whatever other gender is out there now) last.

'If we're going down, we're taking a host of others with us.'

What we sophisticated humans are indisputably doing, and here I differ from Carlin, is making sure that as we go down, we're taking a host of other species with us. And we're doing a pretty good job at that.

As Carlin put it, for the planet we're probably like fleas. An irritant, no more, no less. Now if the planet had its own way, it would most likely just get rid of us and keep the majority of other living things (yes, even those dastardly mosquitoes).

But can we change our ways?

However, as the host doesn't directly interfere in how its parasites go about their business, bar the occasional earthquake, volcanic eruption and the like, our actions ensure — and have ensured — other, more low-maintenance users of the globe cease to exist.

So, rather than thinking of 'saving the planet', we should be thinking of 'saving ourselves', collectively that is.

Yet, it's the self-centred nature of many of us that will put paid to that. Forget the utilitarian 'greater good for the greater number' school of thought. We seem happier with 'the greater destruction for the greater number.' 'Heck, if we're doomed anyway we might as well live to the max rather than inconveniencing ourselves fighting a lost cause.'

Oh well, it's one, whisper it "final solution" to our money and political woes.
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Leaving behind the Bogotá standard

After almost seven years of having Bogotá as the base, the greatest, um, achievement — let's not get caught up in the semantics here — has been my assimilation into the working-class Bogotá barrio life.

While many locals with aspirations to improve their lot try to get away from it, I found myself actively seeking it out.

Sure where else would you want to be than in the local tienda?!

Indeed, in the last couple of years, with the departure of some good foreign friends who would regularly force me to change scene, I have become even more entrenched in this environment.

Mixing it with the masses

Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with this. I'm a rural, working-class man at heart, so it could be said that I was just finding my level in terms of mixing it with Colombia's normal masses rather than a minority elite, or those wishing they were part of it at least.

"Ireland's working class isn't quite the same as Colombia's."

Yet, at the risk of sounding arrogant, most of Ireland's landed working class (it exists) aren't quite in the same sphere as the majority of Bogotá's working class. Having much easier, more affordable access to quality second- and third-level education plays a big part in that.

Now, while it wasn't by design, from a personal perspective this gap has closed in recent years, monetary speaking that is if nothing else. Alas, this has had more to do with my decreasing earning power rather than the locals getting richer (and, dare I add, better educated).

A passport to riches?

So if you're a peso-pinching, non-dancing Westerner who's not a big fan of dating, any appeal that this previously imagined rich foreigner had with the local women quickly wanes. "Best to stick with our own kind if this 'gringo' isn't a passport to riches" appears to be the general thinking.

"I might yet regret this conservative approach."

Whether that's fully true or not, I've come to accept it anyway, and in a rather indifferent manner in the barrios I frequent. An old conservative head on relatively young shoulders, you might say, happy out in what are practically gentlemen-only drinking dens.

Paradoxically, I might come to regret this old-school attitude, this 'missing out on the action' when I am older. You know, as the saying goes, 'You can't put an old head on young shoulders.'

Nonetheless, the likes of Santandercito and La Perseverancia have remained the focal points. Good friends have been made, some of those friends for life I'd like to think.

My Bogotá experience would have been much different without them. Some people might believe it would have been different for the better, but that can't be said with any certainty (if I ever get this book sorted, there are plenty more tales to tell on this front!).

Barrio blues

Back in 2008, when I took my first solo steps in South America, one of my biggest worries was leaving behind Gaelic football in Ireland. I saw it as a fundamental part of my life. It didn't, however, take long for me not to miss it. I found other attractions along the way.

Ten years on, I'm now wondering how life will be without the barrios, and by extension the regular mini-escapes to Colombia's small country towns that I also enjoy exploring so much.

They will be missed if I do have to leave them behind indefinitely. Yet, there'll be other things to embrace, wherever the road may take me.

New barrios await to be broken, so to put it. Though, to borrow from the film Casablanca, "We'll always have Bogotá." For better or for worse.
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Flying the flag for political incorrectness

Many people still don't seem to get it. Or they wish it wasn't so in any case.

Basically, a significant reason US President Donald Trump proved to be — and still proves — popular across Middle America, away from the east- and west-coast echo chambers that is, is that he speaks a straightforward language.

Trump: Middle America's president. (Photo from Twitter.)

He tells/tweets it as he sees it — for better or for worse. Unlike mainstream, establishment politicians, not everything, nay nothing in terms of tweets anyway, is precisely planned, framed in must-not-offend diplomatic speak.

In the politically correct West, where the leftist discourse has taken a strong hold in the universities, shaping in such a way many of our current and future key opinion leaders, somebody deviating from the accepted script is bound to find favour with those not in the club.

This is not to say that all Trump supporters are dumb hillbilly racists, the standard charge levelled at them.

Indeed, many Trumpists I know find his controversial, excessive tweeting irritating. Neither do they agree with all his utterances — in fairness it can be hard to keep up with them in any case.

Yet, it's the feeling that despite his many flaws, he is about as honest as they come. He doesn't hide behind political advisers. What you see is what you get.

In this day of carefully groomed, mannequin-esque politicians, this resonates. (That the US economy is performing well under Trump's watch is another important plus point.) 

It's a question of, 'Who do you really trust: Somebody who comes across as "holier than thou" or a guy seemingly showing us his warts and all?'

"Now name calling does hurt us."

Trump's presidency and other similar eschewing of the standard political system elsewhere have been the inevitable backlash against the over-the-top political correctness we've had to stomach for the last couple of decades.

Where did our childhood act of defiance towards hurtful words go? You know, the old schoolyard rhyme, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.'

We realised back then that acts of real violence could be lethal, but name-calling? Whatever. We could rise above it.

Now, however, many of our law-framers and influencers have become too cool for school. 'You can have your free speech but you can't say this and you sure as hell (OMG, did I just say "hell"?) can't use that word.'

We're in the process of creating an impotent, sterile bunch of human beings. Like the announcer at the bumping cars — do they still exist or have they become too unsafe, imparting evil habits in our young? — at a funfair used to say 'one way round only', now it's 'one discourse only', even if it goes against biology, to name but one area of contention. (How many genders do we have now? It's difficult to stay, um, abreast of the accepted pronouns these days.)

The British intellectual, amongst many other things, Stephen Fry has a refreshing approach to all this craziness. At a debate on political correctness earlier this year he said that if somebody wants to call him a 'fagot' — he is gay — then so be it. It's not the end of the world. There are far greater things we should be crusading against.

It's not the case where we want things to become overly verbally abusive — radicals or fundamentalists on all sides are adept at that already — but we don't want people having to consult a lawyer every time they want to speak lest they offend some unsuspecting bystander.

Fry's common sense view is nothing more than we'd expect from a man of his standing. Yet, worryingly, he doesn't seem to be in the majority in the intellectual world.

In Colombia, one of the refreshing things about life here is how it's normal to call somebody by their outward appearance. So you have people being affectionately called 'fatty', 'blacky', 'thinny' and so on.

Imagine how that would go down these days in most "First World" countries. The courts would be on the go 24-7.

With all that in mind, we're now just over two years away from the next US presidential election. The big question is, if he survives all the scandals and potential impeachment, can Trump get re-elected?

A lot, of course, will depend on who he's up against. 

The danger for the Democrats is that in their desperate bid to win back the White House they'll opt for an everything-for-everybody candidate. A product of our one-size-fits-all globalised world. 'Tell us what we want to hear, regardless of the reality.' Ah yeah, that makes it all better.

The Democrats would be doing us all a favour, everywhere, if they look more towards the centre-ground.

Alas, the radical left will do their bit to make sure that doesn't happen. Trump will happily toot to that.

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