yawboakye

“pour encourager les autres.”

cont: compare the speeches and comments of other leaders at the just ended wef summit to the comments of the irish prime minister at the same summit. it’s as if ireland is insulated from the threats facing europe. we’re not, but that’s how oblivious and non-chalant our first citizen is. it’s heartbreaking to watch.

i’ve observed with trepidation how terribly ireland has been run in the last 5 years or so. that’s when i’ve been on the ground. with that experience it’s easy to understand why the country is the way it is and will remain so for the foreseeable future. in private conversations, i’ve lamented with rigorous arguments based on both the history of the island, their hatred for the english, the number one priority of their struggle for independence (ie for the expulsion of the english and not a maturity into statehood), etc.

ireland, like all independent african states, doesn’t know what statehood is, its people (aka elite) not practiced in statecraft. but its the configuration of the world that they also get a god-given right to atrociously run and mismanage some god-given resources. it’s a terrible thing to experience from within. a nightmare!

battle of my life. several times i’ve had to update my agent instructions to prefer modern and usually better syntax to the old way of doing things. largely it’s worked well for me. i find that making the agents read release notes, and some official blog posts, helps them maintain a healthy and reasonably up-to-date instructions on writing go.

> paying a few people to not work

not in this case though. as explained elsewhere, the artist is a dying career choice in ireland owing to economic reasons. no artist == drub society therefore the incompetent government intervenes the only way incompetence approves: free money. making the state function is much harder, and that’s not what these politicians signed up for. reducing electricity bill by 50% is a herculean task so how about jacking up taxes in one place and giving it back as free money in another? this is the modus operandi of the irish government.

<rant>

the irish government is adept at misplaced priorities, (very) short-term thinking, pursuers of feel-good vibes, basically everything besides running a state. incompetence here has bred the need for more and varied welfare programs just so we can have a variety of careers that cater to the needs of life. of course, necessity of the arts is undisputed. but can the artist make a career here when the money you make from a show, including tips, can’t pay your utility bills? when your income can’t afford you decent accommodation?

</rant>

worked well for a bit. but then the program became popular and that’s when it hit the curb. terrible loss, imo. it was a brilliant idea to encourage open source work with a token reward. it relied heavily on good intentions, which quickly disappeared with the popularity.

spain isn’t a great example here. it has some of the most racist fans football has ever seen and yet there’s no action. only italy probably compares. if there was a government agency going after black and brown people (ie non-white) i wouldn’t bet on the spanish population to come to their rescue. lamine yamal, a young footballer of moroccan descent hasn’t been spared the vitriol of the spanish hooligans even though he was top 3 best player at the recent euro (where he helped spain to victory).

point being, given that ice is going after non-whites and is getting by, a spanish ice will get by too, with probably more ease.