Nader Alemi has been a psychiatrist in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, for many years. Most of his patients have been from the Taliban and I was fascinated by his comments to a BBC reporter. We are so used to seeing Continue reading “Just As Human”
Category: Poverty
ibelong
A few weeks ago, one of these pieces featured the issue of being stateless, a problem that tends to be neglected and ignored. Now a potential solution stands a chance to alleviate the suffering of so many and I feel duty bound to mention it. UNHCR, the UN agency for refugees is launching a campaign to help end statelessness. UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie along with some 30 other celebrities and world leaders wrote a letter launching the ibelong campaign which initiates the process whereby it is hoped that 10 million people will sign the online petition. The campaign is a joint effort between UNHCR and the United Colors of Benetton which is providing the creative ideas. Currently at least 10 million (hence the number of sought signatures) or more are stateless in various parts of the world and a baby is born stateless every 10 minutes. If signing the petition matters to you, and I hope it does, or to read the letter, go to http://ibelong.unhcr.org
Innovation or Exploitation?
Three Italian entrepreneurs think they have the answer to finding a parking place on a busy city street, something all of us know is hard to find. They developed an app that allows the person who occupies the space and is about to vacate it to signal that to other motorists who then bid on it. In essence the app allows the holder of a public parking space on a public street to sell it to whoever bids the highest. Not surprisingly some cities are fighting back. A few months ago San Francisco’s city attorney issued a cease and desist order to these apps. His basis was a police code that prohibits the buying, selling or leasing of public street parking spaces. The entrepreneurs’ next targets are Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, although their city councils have voted to ban the exchange of a public parking space for any form of compensation. And in Los Angeles, although the app is not yet available, the city council has preempted it by outlawing it. Obviously in any number of cities parking is a problem that requires solutions. What struck me about these apps was not they were attempting to solve a problem, but how. I find them opportunistic and exploitative. The idea of selling space that does not actually belong to the seller, that in fact belongs to the public, sounds nothing short of chutzpah. But there’s a larger issue here, of the use of technology. These apps remind us that just because something is possible, does not make it constructive, useful or desirable. As I understand their use, such apps do not serve the cause of innovation nor do they advance progress. But they do send us a signal: In a culture where freedom of thought is paramount, the onus falls on us to learn to reject such negative applications of technology.
Airlines and Profits
The headline of the small article in the L. A. Times business section caught my eye, “Airlines’ Profits Rise 64%.” The 64% profits referred to was from April through June of this year. They collected $900 million in bag fees and $753 in reservations change fees. Data on other fees charged passengers are apparently not being collected. While gas prices have held steady during that period, consolidation of air carriers by reducing competition is thought to have played a role in this spike. During the second quarter of 2014 airlines earned $3.6 billion in profits. For the same quarter in 2013 they earned $2.2 billion. Also in 2013 the nation’s largest airlines collected $3.3 billion in checked bag fees while in 2008 that figure was $1.1 billion.
It seems so obvious, the airlines’ profits are accrued at the expense of weary and burdened travelers. Most of us if we travel coach know that it is not fun to travel anymore. I wonder what it will take for travelers to say in the immortal words of Peter Finch’s character in the movie “Network”, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” because while profits can be said to be part of a healthy economy, excessive profits enter another category altogether—one we shouldn’t subsidize with our discomforts.