Dear Me,
Some Great Arab Leaders were forced to flee their countries. What losers! To be ousted by youngsters with a desire for change but no real sense of purpose. Chaos will come from this. Not that it matters. New leaders will emerge and once they have established themselves, things will revert back to normal. Personally I am a bit concerned, though, as I would hate to have to give up my job.
Many of the elements that ignited the mass movement in the Arab Nations are present in my Kingdom today. The TKP just celebrated 50 years in power and while the TKP brought stability, people remain poor and repressed. And like in the Arab Nations, the Kingdom’s population is young, unemployed and unhappy about its lack of prospects.
But I have two things going for me:
- The youth are badly educated
- The youth are not connected to the internet all phone numbers have been registered: no anonymity in my Kingdom!
This will buy me some time. But sooner or later internet will become accessible to all. It might be wise to explore possibilities for censoring while I can. I learned that effective web filtering technology exists. Let’s test it out on porn and other filth on the internet under the guise of stopping moral decay. If it works satisfactorily, we can expand its reach to other areas.
Finally, my dangerous friend just expanded his power base by becoming the chair of the military oversight committee in parliament. If he really gets the support of the military he is well placed to become my successor. I better keep a close eye on him: he is great when loyal and a formidable adversary when not.
February 17, 2011
Elsie, read Paul Mason for a 'description' of the youth the president doesn't seem to understand. Mason uses the term 'the graduate with no future' - but coins lots of other trends: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/paulmason/2011/02/twenty_reasons_why_its_kicking.html
ReplyDeleteAnd last night I listened to the news on TV, while writing, and heard that the US Intelligence Service had concluded that they had engaged too little in how this youth operate online...
Thanks Pernilla, excellent link. That last comment about the US Intel service is very worrying...
ReplyDeleteThe comment about the US Intelligene Service fills me with joy. It shows that some demographies and the cyberspace 'ghettos' they occupy are foreign territory for intelligence services. Brilliant! Long may that be the case, so that more revolutions, quiet and dramatic may emerge. My hope in the young people of the planet has just been ratcheted up a good notch!
ReplyDelete