The National Free Press - World Edition: Free Speech, Free Press and Human Rights

Surely we’ve reached the stage of Information Dyspepsia. Thanks to that old movie Midnight Cowboy, and Harry Nilsson’s haunting lyrics, ‘Everybody’s talking at me, I don’t hear a word they’re saying …’ are turning in my brain.

We’ve had information overload for a while – the term was popularised in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler in his landmark book Future Shock. More recent researchers agree: we all take in so much stuff these days that we don’t have time to think it through. We’re not digesting it!

Instead, pressured, busy, confused, we brush it all away with cynicism and anger. “Information out the door, can’t be dealing with you,” is our mental response. We have Information Dyspepsia.
 

Migration has been going on since our ancestors walked out of Africa some 100,000 years ago. Some of them probably took to the dirt track looking for food (economic need), some might have been fleeing danger or warfare (they were refugees).

They spread around the globe, creating civilisations, human history and the whole gamut of human achievement. Our world history is that of migration. So today’s population movements are no new things, they are human history in the making.

And with immigration in the headlines again, I think some people are becoming needlessly afraid. Yes, it’s a complex issue; and yes, it’s global. But it’s also very human and individual.

Yes, I’ll need earplugs, because I reckon the vuvuzela is here to stay. I don’t know this for sure, of course, and neither does anyone else. However, I think that, like toothpaste, we can’t put vuvuzelas “back in the tube”. My guess is that exuberant fans will want to buzz and blow those plastic horns to their hearts’ content, expressing their brimming enthusiasm, and that from now on our sports stadiums will sound like over-inflated bee hives. Even from a very long distance.

It’s great to see people in high spirits. And it’s wonderful to see African people expressing their joy at hosting the football world cup. There’s a refreshing exuberance and pride on display and we should all celebrate that.

However, the vuvzelas have their downsides. You can hardly hear a darned thing, for example. I’m not writing this from South Africa, but watching football matches on television here in Sydney, Australia. 

Migration is a polarising argument, creating more heat than light among people with extreme views, both liberal and conservative. But is there a golden middle road we can follow to reasoned debate? We can only hope so.

In Australia, this is an election year and political epithets about immigration are flying like verbal paintballs. Certain conservative politicians are inciting fear and encouraging misconceptions for quick political gain.

Down Mexico way, protesters about the US state of Arizona’s new immigration law wore Ku Klux Klan outfits when they protested in front of the US Embassy. On two sides, illegal immigration claims have become the theatre of fear and insult.

This is no way to solve problems. Fairness and well-reasoned argument have become early casualties in an often-heated debate.

For Thailand, and the many people who have been welcomed by Thais as generous hosts, these are troubled times. After years of sputtering protest and mass demonstrations by Red Shirt and Yellow Shirt opponents, a new, dangerous element has entered Thai politics. Violent extremism.

Red Shirt protesters in Bangkok are demanding the Prime Minister resign and doing all they can to provoke a government crackdown so that they can accuse the government of spilling innocent Thai blood. However, it’s Red Shirt extremist elements who are shedding the blood of innocent people.

On April 22, three explosions took place at Sala Daeng BTS Skytrain station in the city’s centre, and two devices exploded at Sala Daeng’s underground railway station. One commuter was killed and scores of city workers were wounded.

How disappointing to read that a week after the passing of the historic US health care bill its opponents are still fomenting a backlash against the President and his brave Democrat supporters.

Here in Australia, the passage of this bill was widely reported and applauded. One headline in The Sydney Morning Herald, a prominent newspaper read: 'Triumph for President who dared to dream'.

Extending health care to 32 million Americans by 2019 is manifestly good. Every American should be proud of that achievement. My only comment is :What took you so long?

Maybe it’s the scare tag about 'socialised medicine' that has worried Americans over so many years. Health care is not Communism. It’s not 'reds under the bed'. It’s a human right, like education, freedom of speech, freedom of religion.