Reaping the whirlwind

Here’s a prime example of the obscenity politicians are foisting on the public in an attempt to ‘instil’ a sense of fear, and in this way make them more compliant with their unbridled corruption. Nineteen Eighty-Four tactics in the Twenty-First century.

For the past three days and nights, 27 African migrants were forced to cling to life on a tuna net being towed across the Mediterranean by a Maltese tug. The tug skipper hadf refused to take them on board after their own boat sank.

Both Malta and Libya, where the refugees were aiming for had washed their hands of them. Eventually, they were rescued by the Italian navy.
Last Friday a Maltese aircraft had photographed a grossly overloaded boat carrying 53 Eritreans, several of whom telephoned desperate pleas for help to relatives in London, Italy and Malta. The boat disappeared with all hands before anything was done to save them. They died, not because help was unavailable, but because no-one wanted to do anything.

The Maltese captain of the tug, Budafel, refused to land the men, because he had $1m. worth of tuna in the pen. He said if he had taken them to Malta, the trip would have taken 12 days, and he would have found himself in the middle of a diplomatic wrangle. "I couldn't take the risk of losing this catch," he said.

The captain informed the Maltese authorities. The Maltese phoned the Libyans. Libya said it would send a helicopter to the spot and throw down a life raft. But Malta’s Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said that was unacceptable, and gave Malta's armed forces the task of persuading the Libyans to pick the men up.

The Libyan government eventually sent a fax saying they would pick the men up. But no help arrived.

By a stroke of luck an Italian navy vessel, Orione, was not far away. And Libya has since given Italy permission to search for the 53 Eritreans still missing in the area.

My question is: Have we really been so corrupted that we now ignore that basic rule of the sea - observed even among enemies during hostilities - if there is a soul to be saved.... you turn to, and save it, no matter what nationality, creed, political persuasion, or colour.

 

yes we got so corrupt
but let me ask this,
You are walking along a street, its snowing and cold, a man lies in the gutter, not cos he's drunk, but cos he is sick, How many step around him, how many pick him up and get him into a shelter?
i saw this many times, often my companions would try to get me to leave him be, they are no longer my companions Compassion, is sadly lacking in the human specie, we all give lip service to CARING, butih[j-]i=00m blah blah
I know what you would do Bergs

 

The medical stuff I'd leave to my wife...Me, as you'd expect...I'd go through his wallet....

But seriously Stu, I've been faced with this predicament. What seemed to be a drunk was in fact a man in the throes of a heart attack. Again, it was my wife who recognised the signs - to my discredit - not me. I was left to ring the ambulance whilst she applied the necessary CPR (or whatever). He lived - but no thanks to the crowd of onlookers (or to me).

 

In marketing there used to be "Market Research."

In market research you ask people how they feel about products, what they would buy etc.

The research in respect to what people actually purchased and what they said they would differed.

They set about experimenting, in one state they would ask people how they would react under certain circumstancesa and one of the questions was, would they torture anybody.

There was a resounding NO! in the research responce.

However in another state they would ask a person to be a police witness to questioning. During the questioning they would ask a person acting as a prisoner questions when he didn't answer an officer would press a button and the prisoner with electrodes on his chest would start screaming.

The witness said nothing. Then the button pusher got called away to a phone call.

The interogator then asked another question, he refused to answer and the witness was asked to press the button. In all but a very few cases the witness did.

This experiment was done several times with the same result.

Hence successful companies now do not do market research because it will always give a false result.

And now to cut a long story short (Too late) before you criticize any of these actions or lack of, you have no idea how you would react in the same situation, even though you think you do.

Poida

 

Poida I just answered that How could a HUMAN leave drowning people?
but I guess **** all are Human, and i GUESS i will lose more points for swearing and gain none for caring

 

You seem to forget Stu - bureacrats are the new 'ruling' class. Humanity has no place in their understanding. We are all commodities now, and expendable.

 

errr..... right... i might get nightmare from this thread... I'll buy u lunch if ya hungry boys....

 

Simply we don't care IF we think it may affect us! IF we think it won't affect us we kick up merry **** with a holier than thou attitiude!

It's the "Not in My Backyard" syndrom to a higher degree - the sad thing is we are all guilty, the more so if others are doing the same! great herders are 'umans! We mustn't be seen to 'buck the system' - and as Poida states YOU don't know your reaction to a given thing at a given time - it may well be completely different to the last time it happened if it has before as well!

If you can't stand the heat stay out of the Kitchen!!

 

Unless designed by Wilma....

 

Wow, I go away for a week and you guys decide to try to make the world a better place! The last time I dropped in all you were doing was taking turns throwing water balloons at Walrus and jack frost ... actually that's more fun, since they fire back and we know they're both decent human beings under the bluster ofWalrus and the oh so carefully crafted mustn't show any emotion darts of jack. Lamenting the hypocrisy and low moral standards of politicians is like lamenting the fact that water is wet or that boats must float to achieve their ends (this is a boat forum after all, eh, Jeff? ).

That being said, I'm afraid you've once again raised an important question, Max. (Literate Scots, always the troublemakers). While there are exceptions, I would hope that we would all respond the same way: those in peril on the sea are to be saved, whenever possible.

Poida, while I'm familiar with the studies you cited (and with the history of my own countrymen's treatment of blacks, and Germans' treatment of Jews and many other "undesirables" during the Nazi rule), I maintain my belief that there are still many of us who will do the right thing, at sea or on the street. No, we can't predict the future, but we can decide each day that living our beliefs is critical. Do it enough and it will become a habit, and the right response will manifest itself in a crisis.

Stu, my friend, you're right, of course. The issue is simple, and the right thing to do is obvious.

Norman Schwartzkopf, a warrior who refused to go into politics, says that leadership consists of 2 simple steps, with the first being easy and the second the one that distinguishes leaders from lemmings:

Step 1, figure out the right thing to do in a situation.

Step 2, do it.

Glad to be back.

 

Charlie ? Charlie ? Who's this Charlie then...and who's this Jeff bloke he's talking about ?


(Good to have you back safe and sound Charmc)

 

welcome back Charmc... did you bring us some present...

 

Westlawn, you might want to look at my picture of Sara Sota and her friends in the thread "Where am I". Ole timer Frosty thought it was a very nice present.

 

Yipes..... I thought every one in USA look like Britney... well I need to refocus my sight and sense... Now if I can it wrap up and post to me I will greatly be yur debt...