Wednesday, November 26, 2014
On the red eye flight to Tahiti, I saw parts of a movie entitled The Wolf of Wall Street. I suppose it was a cautionary tale about the perils of being a corrupt Wall Street broker, but as portrayed in the movie the lifestyle afforded to a bad behaving broker seemed pretty appealing.
On my last night in New Zealand, one of the few available television stations played a documentary late at night. It was the 2010 Academy Award winning movie Inside Job which details the financial shenanigans that led to the 2008 financial meltdown. Depressingly, as the movie showed, it seems that the bad behavior depicted in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street was not fiction but rather all too common in our financial services industry. And the most tragic part of it all, is that, unlike what happened in the Wolf of Wall Street, no one has really been held accountable for their bad behavior -- bad behavior that almost destroyed this country and did destroy many common folks lives.
Contributing to this notion of not being held accountable for bad behavior, this morning, while driving into work, the local public radio profiled the prevalence of rape in college fraternities. One of the speakers, Caitlin Flanagan spoke about the power of fraternities and how that power has enabled countless young men to begin their adult years by getting away with the crime of rape.
Later, I see that Ms. Flanagan recently weighed in on the Bill Cosby matter, noting the similarity of the patterns that have been seen historically when discussing the issue of rape.
On top of all this, while in New Zealand, in conjunction with reporting on the G-20 summit, the latest big news from America appeared to be the latest display of Kim Kardashian's "assets".
And on my first day back in the States, I caught the "tail-end" of the American Music Awards show with Jennifer Lopez beginning her dance routine with a pose that left little to the imagination.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/events/amas-2014/6327569/jennifer-lopez-iggy-azalea-booty-amas-2014-video-live
Sorry, but after experiencing the beauty of French Polynesia and New Zealand, and marveling at all the blessings that God has bestowed upon this planet and its inhabitants, I have found it disconcerting to be once again thrust into the muck and the mire that exists. But hey, I just got back. Give me a week or two to become re-acclimated to the way we do things here, and I will be fine.
Sorry, but after experiencing the beauty of French Polynesia and New Zealand, and marveling at all the blessings that God has bestowed upon this planet and its inhabitants, I have found it disconcerting to be once again thrust into the muck and the mire that exists. But hey, I just got back. Give me a week or two to become re-acclimated to the way we do things here, and I will be fine.
Peace.
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