This page was once full of bullet-pointed "abridged" notes. I typed it all in one jumble, and, suffice it to say, it confused even the typist.

I don't like war. The only thing which is possibly good that we get from war is technology, which is more often than not dangerous and prone (or even predisposed) to misuse. It seems that once we are saturated with this war technology there's always another conflict of some sort which provides us with more machines which kill more people - so much for "progress". Before modern technology there were wars, it is true, but behind all technology is power, and in the past this has been the anteceding motivation for conflict. Power over people, places, and politics in a never-ending loop. War scares everybody, and I can only imagine living through the horrors of it; one that tears apart families, vital social structures, and above all, human spirit. War sickens me and I would argue it must be avoided at all costs if we are to even manage to hope to survive on this little planet for that much longer. We already cannot do this, of course: we live off the resources of multiple worlds via the use of minerals and natural deposits. There probably is some justification for war. But mostly, war is an excuse because we are too weak to try anything else. That is a sad indictment on "enlightened" humanity.

So is the way we treat animals, I'm afraid to say. I'm a vegetarian. I simply can't tolerate the ridiculous notion often propounded by ignorants who assert that we must kill to live. I'm living proof that this idea is nonsensical. Additionally, I have plenty of evidence at my disposal to argue my case, including convincing biological analysis of the human anatomy, e.g. teeth and bone structure and digestive system-related evidence, should you mistakenly believe otherwise.

I don't find much to praise in modern globalisation, either. Historically both the 'East' and the 'West', or 'North' and 'South', have benefited from globalisation for centuries, and it would be a schoolboy error* to condemn the very idea of global integration which is in part responsible for the vitality of our global society today. Whatever progress we may have made as humans has been a joint enterprise; in fact, this understatement only scratches at the surface and there are far better ways of explaining what I want to say involving such exciting terms as global citizenship and human collaboration in all forms of work and play. Yet, I will say that there are now too many 'imperialisms' which harness world resources in the most inequitable fashion, and create their own damaging cultures of hate, ignorance, poverty, and so on. Is it too much even to ask for fair trade? That idea(l) is ages old; like many others I hope its culmination is closer. How about we theorise a bit more on the value of labour, without the product of which we have nothing at all?

That's about it for now. Obviously there are many more things I would like to shout about, but my soap-box is cracking under the strain of my jumping up and down and getting very angry, yet remaining hopeful at the same time. Oh well, maybe another time.

* It was a 'stonewall certainty' that I would use this phrase at some point. Cliches are so fun.

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