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Saw this article on News24 today (25 May 2015). A series of drone photographs by photographer Johnny Miller focusing on suburbs, viewing rich suburbs next to poor suburbs, or even squatter camps.
Personally I think these are lovely photos and very interesting indeed, and by all means, don't only focus on Cape Town, visit every town, and every city in SA, and photograph them all. What is interesting is that this gives the impression that all living in the good side of the photographs, got their houses for free, or by unscrupulous means. Heck, is it possible that they may be put in hard work and dedication to be able to live in a nice house like that ?
I think the most important statement in that article is this one : "I’m not giving any opinions on how to fix the problem – read my original posts. I’m just saying, "Here it is", totally unbiased."
It is good that you put in that statement, Johnny Miller, because there is no solution to fix the problem. I know millions and billions of people all over the world, not just in SA, dream that governments, or other people/businesses/institutions, can step in, and uplift them all. Give them free food, free houses, free money as a start, and after that is satisfied, free water and free electricity, and after that free education, free health care, good high paying jobs. The list goes on and on, there is no end. In a humans world, as soon as one need is realized it is forgotten about, and the need for the next want is focused upon. It is not in human nature to ever be satisfied.
As to the houses, say everyone did live in exactly the same house, then next the complaint would be, why does the neighbor drives a better car then me, that is unfair, we should all drive the same car. Then you can send up your drones to photograph the cars. If all drove the same cars, the complaint can be why does some people have better cell phones or TV’s than others, that’s unfair. Inequality is something that will always be there. There can never be no inequality, no matter what who does, simply because humans differ, and each human wants different things. And, never forget, for someone to get anything for free, how big or small, someone else had to work and pay for it first.
Bottom line, Johnny Miller, you have no solution, because there is no solution. It is not possible for any government in the world, to uplift all its citizens to the same level, it cannot be done, has never been done, and WILL never be done, even though it is a wonderful idea.
Postings like yours gives the perception that all that have something, should feel guilty and should give it away. Everyone that has anything must feel guilty, no matter how hard they worked or sacrificed for it. They should feel guilty because there are people out there that are in need. But Peter Miller, do you give away everything you have ? Why don't you try it, and show us, your cameras and drones as well. Do it today, and see if it makes any difference at all. Or are you saying the rest of SA should do it, just not you :-) Other people must solve this problem, not you, you are just going to observe with your drones if they do it ok :-)
The sad fact is, if you take all property, all land, all money, in SA, and divide it equally through the 50 million people in SA, guess what, it will make no difference at all. In a few months or years’ time you will again have some people that have more than others. You can never create a society where all are equal, and all have equal. Communism and socialism attempted this, but failed miserably. Why did they fail, because once you take away a humans desire to better himself, you take away his incentive to work and achieve things. That is why it failed, why would any human work or try himself, if he does not get something back for his work, if he gets handed everything to him without efforts.
By no means do I say that there should be no attempt to uplift the poor, those with no houses, no food, no jobs. But I see that as governments work. Government for some reason feel it is not their responsibility. They take 14% tax of every human that purchases something in this country, even from the poorest of the poor. On top of that, all employees pay tax, from 0% right up to 41%. Add to that a ton of extra nitty gritty taxes on almost anything you can think or dream off, and you will find the very rich, in the 41% income bracket, pay another 10% to 20% tax on top of that, so, they get to keep 50% or maybe even only 40% of what they earn, yet still they are seen as the enemy. Seems we all should feel guilty if we have a job.
Where does, and did, all that money go, there was enough since 1994, to buy every citizen in this country, his/hers own house with toilet, water and electricity. They could have built schools, and hospitals, and old age homes. At least that would have had sustainable long time value. Instead, our government decides to pump billions into entities that have no value, like the Post Office and SAA to name a few. Add the hundreds of billions lost due to corruption and wasteful unnecessary expenditure. They spend billions employing millions people in government, saying that as they are creating employment. They cannot create employment by taking tax to pay government employees, they simply shift money around. The government generates no income, they only take from others, that generate it. They create the problem by not focusing all that precious money onto the poor, and now they want to shift the blame to those that have the audacity to have a job, and actually work hard to buy themselves a nice house and car and whatever.
Governments main focus should be that everyone that wants to work, should have a job, then the problem would solve itself. With a job each person can then uplift himself, and those that do not want to work, even if there is work, should then not be expected to be uplifted.
Where does this mentality come from that someone who worked hard must feel guilty for what he has, and those that don't have must be rewarded by being given everything for free, and, government tax employees and businesses to death, yet after taking all that tax, that is not enough, now they want to take it all. After all has been taken, what is going to be taken next ? Government is already feeling the pressure of trying to make this work, but they fail, it cannot work, it has never worked in any country and will never work. Instead of creating jobs, they are losing jobs. They are their, and our, worst enemy.
It is a difficult topic, but there is only one solution to every human being and here it is : No-one can uplift you, but you. No-one cares about you, except a few family and friends. The cavalry is not coming to save you. There is no government, or people out there, that cares about your situation. Only you can break yourself out of your misery. It is brutal, but it is so. If you sit back and wait for governments and people to uplift you, the outcome is predictable, utter disappointment, frustration and anger.
But, Johnny Miller, keep on taking those photographs. Keep on giving all hope they are getting one of those nice houses for free.
Personally I think these are lovely photos and very interesting indeed, and by all means, don't only focus on Cape Town, visit every town, and every city in SA, and photograph them all. What is interesting is that this gives the impression that all living in the good side of the photographs, got their houses for free, or by unscrupulous means. Heck, is it possible that they may be put in hard work and dedication to be able to live in a nice house like that ?
I think the most important statement in that article is this one : "I’m not giving any opinions on how to fix the problem – read my original posts. I’m just saying, "Here it is", totally unbiased."
It is good that you put in that statement, Johnny Miller, because there is no solution to fix the problem. I know millions and billions of people all over the world, not just in SA, dream that governments, or other people/businesses/institutions, can step in, and uplift them all. Give them free food, free houses, free money as a start, and after that is satisfied, free water and free electricity, and after that free education, free health care, good high paying jobs. The list goes on and on, there is no end. In a humans world, as soon as one need is realized it is forgotten about, and the need for the next want is focused upon. It is not in human nature to ever be satisfied.
As to the houses, say everyone did live in exactly the same house, then next the complaint would be, why does the neighbor drives a better car then me, that is unfair, we should all drive the same car. Then you can send up your drones to photograph the cars. If all drove the same cars, the complaint can be why does some people have better cell phones or TV’s than others, that’s unfair. Inequality is something that will always be there. There can never be no inequality, no matter what who does, simply because humans differ, and each human wants different things. And, never forget, for someone to get anything for free, how big or small, someone else had to work and pay for it first.
Bottom line, Johnny Miller, you have no solution, because there is no solution. It is not possible for any government in the world, to uplift all its citizens to the same level, it cannot be done, has never been done, and WILL never be done, even though it is a wonderful idea.
Postings like yours gives the perception that all that have something, should feel guilty and should give it away. Everyone that has anything must feel guilty, no matter how hard they worked or sacrificed for it. They should feel guilty because there are people out there that are in need. But Peter Miller, do you give away everything you have ? Why don't you try it, and show us, your cameras and drones as well. Do it today, and see if it makes any difference at all. Or are you saying the rest of SA should do it, just not you :-) Other people must solve this problem, not you, you are just going to observe with your drones if they do it ok :-)
The sad fact is, if you take all property, all land, all money, in SA, and divide it equally through the 50 million people in SA, guess what, it will make no difference at all. In a few months or years’ time you will again have some people that have more than others. You can never create a society where all are equal, and all have equal. Communism and socialism attempted this, but failed miserably. Why did they fail, because once you take away a humans desire to better himself, you take away his incentive to work and achieve things. That is why it failed, why would any human work or try himself, if he does not get something back for his work, if he gets handed everything to him without efforts.
By no means do I say that there should be no attempt to uplift the poor, those with no houses, no food, no jobs. But I see that as governments work. Government for some reason feel it is not their responsibility. They take 14% tax of every human that purchases something in this country, even from the poorest of the poor. On top of that, all employees pay tax, from 0% right up to 41%. Add to that a ton of extra nitty gritty taxes on almost anything you can think or dream off, and you will find the very rich, in the 41% income bracket, pay another 10% to 20% tax on top of that, so, they get to keep 50% or maybe even only 40% of what they earn, yet still they are seen as the enemy. Seems we all should feel guilty if we have a job.
Where does, and did, all that money go, there was enough since 1994, to buy every citizen in this country, his/hers own house with toilet, water and electricity. They could have built schools, and hospitals, and old age homes. At least that would have had sustainable long time value. Instead, our government decides to pump billions into entities that have no value, like the Post Office and SAA to name a few. Add the hundreds of billions lost due to corruption and wasteful unnecessary expenditure. They spend billions employing millions people in government, saying that as they are creating employment. They cannot create employment by taking tax to pay government employees, they simply shift money around. The government generates no income, they only take from others, that generate it. They create the problem by not focusing all that precious money onto the poor, and now they want to shift the blame to those that have the audacity to have a job, and actually work hard to buy themselves a nice house and car and whatever.
Governments main focus should be that everyone that wants to work, should have a job, then the problem would solve itself. With a job each person can then uplift himself, and those that do not want to work, even if there is work, should then not be expected to be uplifted.
Where does this mentality come from that someone who worked hard must feel guilty for what he has, and those that don't have must be rewarded by being given everything for free, and, government tax employees and businesses to death, yet after taking all that tax, that is not enough, now they want to take it all. After all has been taken, what is going to be taken next ? Government is already feeling the pressure of trying to make this work, but they fail, it cannot work, it has never worked in any country and will never work. Instead of creating jobs, they are losing jobs. They are their, and our, worst enemy.
It is a difficult topic, but there is only one solution to every human being and here it is : No-one can uplift you, but you. No-one cares about you, except a few family and friends. The cavalry is not coming to save you. There is no government, or people out there, that cares about your situation. Only you can break yourself out of your misery. It is brutal, but it is so. If you sit back and wait for governments and people to uplift you, the outcome is predictable, utter disappointment, frustration and anger.
But, Johnny Miller, keep on taking those photographs. Keep on giving all hope they are getting one of those nice houses for free.
