Someone has to tell “the most interesting man in the world”--I’m not referring to Italy’s Sylvio Berlusconi of course--but the bearded guy who advertises the Mexican beer XX (it’s pronounced Dos Equis), that he’s not helpful at all when he says “I don’t often drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis”! Why would we take his suggestion seriously? Actually the fact that he doesn’t drink beer much could explain why he prefers Dos Equis! He knows shit about beer and in this case we’d better go with his next recommendation “Stay thirsty my friends” (instead of drinking that …piss)!
Now, if that faux expertise example was restricted to the Do Equis dork, then there would have been no problem; moreover it would have been amusing as it should (especially if we take into consideration the kind of money Dos Equis spent for that ad!). However, the last two years we have experienced an avalanche of experts spouting left and right and offering their shit on the Greek crisis: the favorite topic even for those who have no idea where the country is in the first place! A black--I’m sorry, African American I meant to say--woman from Brooklyn, was insisting passionately that Greece is …in Africa and that she is a victim of the same exploitative policies by the European colonial powers that drained the black continent’s resources (hm, interesting). Another pundit of our public educational system this time, was saying to kids, in class, that cretins originated from the island of Crete (a Colombian woman whom I met in a bar once, had said the same thing, but she really meant it – not all people have fond memories of Greeks and Greece--ask the …Albanians)!
Anyway, it’s a mess out there and no matter how hard we try, the dust isn’t going to settle soon, people always look for others to make fun of or to criticize because human nature is wise enough as to not know better…
Allow me to digress and offer food for thought this info that I came across the other day: In response to questions about the safety of its biotech food, Monsanto's spokeperson once said bluntly: "Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of the biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job." So much for the bullshit that the free market effectively regulates itself that we hear these days galore from crooked politicians and their imbecile followers. To say the truth, Monsanto got away with the crippled FDA controls and the US is the only "western democracy" where BST drugs are injected into the blood of dairy cows. Without competent and aggressive state regulation, and not just in the food, the shit we have been fed so far in real and metaphorical terms will pale in comparison to what it’s coming!
Finally, I don't get all this buzz about Greece and Cyprus having huge deposits of natural gas yet undetected and unexploited! While the unexploited part might be true, all of us who grew up there or visited the country often have experienced firsthand the abundance of natural gas! It's a well established fact made even more acute by the massive use of air conditioning systems during the summer that require of windows to be shut... If you happen to be in a situation like that, even if you are the most extreme anti-smoker, you would beg for some secondhand smoke!
DEMETRIOS RHOMPOTIS
