Global Theatre and a Thousand Words
Henrik Ibsen is one of the founders of modernism in the theatre, e.g. Peer Gynt. He is regarded as the “father of realism”, and if you have read many of my columns, you can understand why I am such a fan. Another playwright I have a soft spot for is William Shakespeare, who noted that “all world is a stage” on which we all perform our parts. But we can hardly do so effectively if we have an incorrect or unrealistic understanding of the world.
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henrik-Ibsen
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_Gynt
- https://www.rsc.org.uk/as-you-like-it/about-the-play/famous-quotes
We need to be aware of facts and thereby be able to construct an accurate schema of the world and how to live. In this way we don’t end up like those crazy Americans in my prior article Lying for Effect Part 1, who don’t perceive the world as it is, e.g. believing 41% of the USA population is Black when the real figure is closer to 12%.
Accurate comprehension is difficult in a world where the MSM are constantly distorting the truth, in a world where politicians want to control both the truth and the narrative. I have touched on these topics in Lying for Effect Part 2 and my last column about ‘Big Brother Justin Trudeau’.
The solution to bad speech is more free speech, but we need to have good information. I feel that providing good information is one of my responsibilities because this equips and fortifies us all to see through the fog, have a clearer vision of how the world really is and therefore play out our roles more authentically.
Henrick Ibsen not only was an accomplished playwright and director; he had a turn of phrase, the following being credited to him:
“A thousand words leave not the same deep impression as does a single deed.”
This phrase was widely plagiarised and went through various iterations to eventually come out the other side as “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_picture_is_worth_a_thousand_words
My last column was quite long, so this time fewer words and more pictures to illustrate data. Hopefully, this will equip readers to push back against the ‘BS’ constantly being promoted.
“White Supremacy is the single most dangerous threat to our democracy”. How many times have we heard this phrase uttered?
Here is the “Global Terrorism Index” (GTI). The GTI is a composite measure made up of four indicators: incidents, fatalities, injuries, and property damage. To measure the impact of terrorism a five-year weighted average is applied, which means that the Christchurch killer (an Australian) was included in the analysis, which unfortunately lifts NZ up the list but still not enough to put us in the ‘Top 20’ or even the ‘Top 40’ of the 163 countries surveyed.
Here is the link for interested parties:
https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/global-terrorism-index/#/
Here are the top 40.
There seems to be a common theme to this data, but I can’t quite put my finger on it… Maybe we can eliminate “White Supremacy” as a leading danger to democracy?
Not so quickly! It may still be an issue, a deeper, more systemic, institutional cancer that needs to be dealt with – after all:
“White Supremacy still plagues New Zealand”
Jacinda Ardern (Dec 2020).
https://www.dw.com/en/white-supremacy-still-plagues-new-zealand-pm-jacinda-ardern-says/a-52752314
Let’s have a look at what is called the “Positive Peace Index” (PPI). Positive Peace is defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful and progressive societies; i.e., it measures the level of societal resilience of a nation or region.
Here are the ‘Top 20’ greatest hits of ‘Peace Time’:
Is it just me or once again is there a common theme running through all these nations – if it were not for Japan, South Korea, and Singapore… “Wh…” … Westernised, yes, that’s what I am saying. Westernised societies are generally more peaceful.
Of course, we all know that the world is “going to hell in a handbasket” and Taika Waititi (otherwise known as Taika Cohen, from his mother’s side, by whom he was raised (maybe “Waititi” brands better?) tells us so, because New Zealand is “Racist as fuck”.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2018/04/new-zealand-is-racist-as-f-taika-waititi.html
Of course, if that was the case then how did Taika receive funding from the New Zealand Film Commission for his breakthrough movie “Boy”? (Or indeed so much other funding.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_(2010_film)
His success is obviously due to his unbridled genius against all odds. If (in my opinion) our “Ungrateful New Zealander of the Year, 2017” is correct then there must be a lot of disgruntlement and conflict in New Zealand. Let’s have a look.
The “Global Peace Index” (GPI) is a composite index measuring the peacefulness of countries made up of 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators each weighted on a scale of 1-5. The lower the score the more peaceful the country.
These indicators include: perceived criminality in society, security officers and police, homicides, jailed population, access to weapons, organised conflict (internal), violent demonstrations, violent crime, demonstrations, political demonstrations, political terror (aside from Trevor Mallard), weapons imports, terrorist activity, deaths from conflict, military expenditure, nuclear weapons and heavy weapons, UN Peacekeeping functions, weapons exports and displaced people, neighbouring country relations and deaths from conflict. It is a comprehensive indicator, and you can parse the data on-site for individual elements, as you choose.
Once again here is the “Top 20”.
At No. 2, with all this peace going around it must be difficult for the MSM to source stories – they may have to go further than Waititi, TikTok and Twitter to find content. Thank God biker drive-by shootings have come to the rescue! (White Supremacy pulling the strings?)
One last picture.
The global “Ecological Threat Report” (ETR) is a composite index measuring the impact of ecological threats to countries made up of 5 qualitative indicators, each weighed on a scale of 1-5. The higher the score, the more at risk the country. Such threats include rapid population growth, water risk, temperature anomalies, food risks and disaster. The report is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) and covers over 2,500 sub-national administrative units or 99.9% of the world’s population.
As we can see, New Zealand is in the ‘Top 20’ and by all accounts is a very responsible country. We are slowly but steadily becoming organised; the systems and motivation are obviously in place. And, as mentioned in a prior article, about “Conservatism and Conservation”, we are all aware of the stakes at play. So what is the current relevance of the “Green Party”?
A picture can tell a thousand words, so thank you for sticking with this article, all one thousand words and the pictures too.
