JULIO MARX PANOFF

Wise V Stupid In our social system, silence signifies awkwardness, stupidity, lack of depth: in order for us to fight this haunting ghost we watch films, read books, travel. The more of those things we do the more confidence we have in our capability not to be boring, and because we all expect not to be bored the person next to us feels compelled to do the exact same thing. We all end up homogenised: reading and watching the same things and going to the exact same places. For instance, if you fantasize romantically about someone, you will shape your appearance in the form of someone that is agreeable, and you think the only way to achieve this is by understanding, by giving your opinion, ultimately, by talking. Finally after you have worked hard to prove that you are a capable intellectual being, you stop, and give room to what has been following you: silence, and silence most of the time turns into action. Now, after you have secured that someone’s attention and you are complet...

Japan's stringent road regulations, strong environmental laws and quick depreciation of cars is closely related to the public transport in Bolivia. If you would like to make a picture of the Bolivian public transport all you need to do is imagine those Japanese imports that could not enter New Zealand because they were unable to meet the low standards set by the government; those cars end up in Bolivia, where the importing regulation standards are even lower. Anyway; environmental issues concerning cars are on the bottom of the government's agenda. My greatest concern is not how cars got into the country but what goes inside the Bolivian roads. We all know that in a privatised market business owners' main goal is to maximise profits and minimise costs; but in a sensitive area such as public transport, citizens must rely on their government to create laws that will protect their safety. But most of the time laws are designed to fix the surface of the problem generating a qu...

For Winston, Orwell’s 1984 protagonist, freedom was anonymity, being able to read, think or express his opinion without fear; but everything he did was closely watched by a “telescreen”. In the imaginary world of Orwell, like in “Machiavellic” philosophy, the hegemonic parties live in constant fear of loosing their power; and the only way to maintain their control is by making us ‘believe’ that most of what we do is illegal. Orwell’s world is becoming true to us through cyberspace, everything we do or say inside the Internet is recorded; our boundaries are strictly framed by computer “code” and recently by fear (Hetcher, 1925). We are “techonopoles,” who need, depend and are slaved by technology (Vaidhyanathan, 177). Because of the potential freedom that Internet has allowed to people, the hegemony is afraid of loosing their power; that is why they are constantly threatening us with law suits and imprisonment. They tell us to empty our pockets before we read a book, listen to a song o...

Not so long ago I was reading a magazine in a cafe in which featured interviews with three "average New Zealand men" and they were all asked the same questions, and one of the questions was: what is on your iPod at the moment? (Only one of the four confessed not to owe an iPod) I asked myself is everyone supposed to have an iPod or is it becoming a synonymous to a portable music device? iPod became so successful that now has an iconic image; for instance, all I need to see is their headphones to know if an individual is listening to one or not. In my case the only source of portable music I have is a $12.95 worth Dick Smith Electronics portable radio, and I am absolutely sure that if I attach a white looking headphone to it, people will ask me what's on your iPod? My answer will certainly be to Radio Jockey Stables from ZM. 91.0 fm is where I heard a Samsung advertisement for their Z5 MP3 player which serves well to illustrate a quote by Christian Metz that says: "hu...

In order for something that happened in a country such as Bolivia to make the news here in NZ or Australia it needs to be bad news, such as a natural disaster, a massacre or something along those lines. However; since Bolivia's new government, the country is much more often in the news and they don't necessarily need to be bad or good, nowadays even the funny ones are making a headline. I don't mean to say that the fact that Coca-Cola Co. imports 100 tons of coca leaf annually from Bolivia through a company called Stepan is funny; or that the US government is trying to make the exports of the coca leaf illegal to everyone else apart from Coca-Cola Co is good news. The funny thing that has recently made it into the international scope is what has been sent to the assembly writing Bolivia's new constitution; requesting Coca-Cola Co to drop the Coca from the brand name, because coca " belongs to the cultural heritage of this Andean nation" . This doesn't mea...