Online Petitions, the UN and Big Government: Three Scams and You're Out!

I'm going to lose my fans with today's blog post (both of them) but some things need to be said. So, I'm going to say one right now.

"Scam three! You're out!"

People today have been so totally indoctrinated by public schooling into believing that government is here to help them that they seem to completely forget recent history that shows that this is definitely not the case. I've written before that for every crisis or disaster - that happens while on the watch of the government, by the way -  the knee-jerk reaction from that government is to expand upon itself and increase our taxes.

It doesn't matter if we are talking about a so-called democracy or socialist or fascist or communist government; the purpose of all government is expansion of itself. It was a famous US politician who said, "The government can never let a good crisis go to waste."


People who think that they can depend on the government for real help are dreaming.

EVERLY BROTHERS - ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM

If expansion of the government; expansion of government duties along with the costs of paying for those duties were the answer to our problems, then the Soviet Union would have been a very successful country. 


But, it wasn't. It was a disaster.

I got an email the other day from a nice lady who wishes for me to promote an online petition for a group called, "Appeal for Fukushima". It is an online campaign to petition the UN to take over the Fukushima nuclear reactors. I will write about it, but I have nothing flattering to say about these people nor the UN.


To be exact, I have nothing good to say about what these people want in their online appeal. I just think it is confused. It ignores history and is, frankly speaking, a huge waste of time. I also think is is self-serving and dishonest that these people claim to want to "protect the Japanese people". The fact of the matter is that I suspect that that is a ruse and they selfishly want to protect themselves and make it look like they are being magnanimous. Why? Well, if they were really sincere in wanting to protect people, and take care of humanity, how about orphaned and starving kids in Rwanda or Darfur?... Or, hell, orphaned kids in Northern Japan?


Oh, no. That would require a sincere and conscientious effort. They don't want to do that. Sitting on their fat a*ses and acting like they are doing something important is a lot less work, but it feels better than doing nothing. Though, for all practical purposes, they might as well do nothing.


If these people were really sincere, they'd get off their lazy a*ses and donate money or make some sort of real effort instead of sitting in their sofa at home making online "petitions" to a useless organization like the United Nations in some bizarre attempt to make themselves feel like they are actually doing something useful.

Online petition? Pfffft! What a waste of time. Like George Carlin once said, "At least when I sit at home and masturbate, I have something to show for it when it's over."


Like the Atlantic Wire wrote about useless online petitions. They are basically a scam to collect people's email addresses:


Back away from the keyboard. That online petition you're about to sign is "pretty much a sham."... 

It's the great lie of online organizing: that your voice to Congress or your voice to whomever can make a difference. It can, it should, but not through them. Nearly every organization in Washington is focused on one thing--inventing new and interesting ways to get your email address. And they want your email address so that they can ask you for money. The truth is: my.barackobama.com was and still is, the most sophisticated suite of tools designed primarily to capture your email address and ask you for money.
Online organizers for political groups are trained to recognize "strategic moments"--to find events in the media and in the national narrative that they can use to their advantage. ... The most basic and common method for political organizations to get your email address is via a petition.

  
The "Appeal for Fukushima" is another of many in a long line of online petitions to the United Nations launched by some people for the expressed purposes of having the UN take over the nuclear reactors "under UN mandate" in order to "protect the people of Japan." But they just want your email address.


Hate to break it to you well-meaning folks, but, besides wasting your time and effort, the UN doesn't really have any mandates. It never has and never will. This is just another scam.


But, let's say it is real and honest, so what? If anyone has been paying attention to the history of the UN over these years since its inception the idea of the UN taking over anything "in order to protect people" should be a massive red flag. When has the UN successfully taken over anything or protected anyone?

The UN is a huge organization that includes a host of smaller organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO). Generally speaking, even though the UN was set up to prevent war and conflicts, it has done nothing of the sort. To its credit, though, it has helped to eradicate disease and has been somewhat useful on that front. For example, in a world wide campaign, mostly financed by the USA, the WHO has successfully eliminated Small Pox. 

But when it comes to "protecting people" the UN has been an even more miserable failure than the League of Nations before it. The UN was created to stop conflicts. It hasn't stopped even one. Everyone knows the reason the UN was created in the first place was to act as a global body that would stop all conflicts. And since the inception of the UN in 1945, we've had countless wars, civil wars and genocides. 

The UN is not a state. It hasn't the power to order any country to do anything. One need only look at 50 years of ignoring at least 66 UN resolutions by the Israeli government to see proof of that. The UN is not a state, it is an international organization. It cannot control the actions of any state, member or not, it can only try to convince the state to change it's actions. If a state commits aggression, the UN can only take actions against it if the other members of the UN decide to - which is nearly impossible as the UN is used as a political tool to advance the interests - both politically and economically - of the major player imperialist nations. 

De facto the UN has been a tool of mostly US imperialism since its inception. It was used to cover US military actions in North Korea, and as a cover for numerable US actions and crimes concerning Southeast Asia, South America and, most recently, the Middle East. Remember how the UN was fooled into supporting US actions when Iraq invaded Kuwait? There's been many other hot spots that the UN miserably failed to intervene and save lives. The Bosnian war and genocide in Rwanda to name a few. 

And, once again, let's not forget the total failures of the UN to do anything about US and NATO led wars in the Middle East over these last 20 + years.

Oh, and did I forget Palestine? No? OK, I'll say that again too. Let's hear what the Palestine Telegraph has to say about the warm support those people have received from the UN all these years:

Since its inception the United Nations has failed the people of Palestine, especially those living in the Gaza Strip. It predecessor, the League of Nations, also had many failings which eventually led to its demise and collapse. It is obvious that the UN of today is clearly not working and in many cases has no strength or accountability. We frequently see a majority vote take place but then when it gets into the hands of the Security Council (the elite few) it fizzles out, either by someone abstaining or using their trump card, the dreaded veto.

But enough about my total disregard for the United Nations. When I asked for an explanation of this petition for the completely illegal and impossible task of the UN taking over a private company, this is the document I was sent. 

The text of the petition is online in English and in Japanese (and it can be signed) at http://www.appealforfukushima.com:

“APPEAL FOR FUKUSHIMA"

Considering the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:

Article 1 : All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 3 : Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Considering the current situation of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which endangers the Japanese population and the rest of the world, and considering the inability of the utility TEPCO and the Japanese government to manage the situation,

We, the peoples of the Earth, appeal to the UN, WHO and all international organizations and governments. We ask:

1. The establishment of an international, interdisciplinary team with authority to take over management of the plant in Fukushima Daiichi and its consequences, under a UN mandate

2. The establishment of a crisis team within the UN responsible for implementing all measures necessary to protect the Japanese people at any price whatsoever.

We are human beings born free and equal. With reason and conscience, we act in a spirit of brotherhood. We are concerned for the life, liberty and security of our Japanese brothers and our children.

This sounds wonderful. The idea that the UN could or should take over in a situation like this is completely illegal and a wild pipe-dream. I hope these people can become more realistic and use their efforts and energy for more practical and useful endeavors in the future. This is nothing short of socialist day-dreaming.


I think petitions and fax campaigns, especially to an organization like the UN, are a total and complete waste of time. Why don't these folks do something for real like making an effort or donating time or money.


Clicking a mouse is BS.


But, hey! Don't listen to me. Good luck with the campaign.