There has been pressure applied from certain quarters (ahem) to produce a second post that measures up to the first one in this blog. I was (and am) pleasantly surprised that my previous post attracted the attention and kind comments of other members of the blog world, and for that I am grateful. I do not anticipate being able to offer much of particular interest in my posts from now on; they will often be boring and mundane, but I’ll try my best.
Starting out as I am in the real world (as opposed to the academic one) I cannot help but recognize and realize that I am, through circumstance and effort, afforded the ability to live a pretty comfortable life. I feel no sense of guilt per se over this, as I’m just starting out, and my parents and I have had to make my share of sacrifices ‘to the system’ to arrive at this point. And now more than ever, people the world over are on average able to live more comfortable, less unstable lives (I’m deliberately being fast and loose with a proper definition for this to get to the main point of this post). Generally speaking more people are now able to live comfortably and without worry of hunger and instability than in decades and centuries past. I’m referring here to the notion of Human Security and the remarkable Human Security Report which argues forcefully that in the past decade, there has been a striking and unprecedented decrease in the number of conflicts, wars and genocides and loss of life due to such forms of political instability and violence. (more…)
