'When Russian, German and French argued once' – that’s how some jokes begin. Anecdotes really do not teach us anything. However, people memorize them easier than scientific texts that clearly give us much more useful information.
National pride - that is what is the keynote of jokes with the above principle. With some exceptions, individuals identify themselves with a particular nationality, or nation. One nation considers itself talented in music, second ones are temperate, and third ones are hard workers. The same applies to the language, appearance, ability to identify oneself through arts and sciences.
The most unmistakable self-identifiers are probably the street vendors in the resort towns. They have the unique ability to accurately determine the ones’ nationality selecting them from the total, almost identically dressed crowd, in order to advert something in their own language.
Nowadays, the greatest opportunity to show your own affiliation to a particular group of individuals appears at major international sporting events, and of course, the Olympic Games. That is where representatives of different nationalities and nations have the opportunity to publicly express competitively their own nature-given qualities. Indeed, it is interesting to see how compete one-hundred-percent native German, Russian, French or English sportswomen. The athletes` faces should reflect the whole range of feelings and emotions in certain ways how we would expect to see their national characters.
The audiences delightedly seek to see national pride (or frustration) that could demonstrate to their younger family members the beauty and power of the national character. They like to tell them - 'You see, what really we are', thus permanently fixing in their minds the specific stereotype of own identity.
But the world is not standing still. There are many factors that bring certain changes to the familiar phenomena and herein I deal with some of them. The 'old-fashioned' mono-ethnic countries such as France, Germany and England passed through a lot of changes. For example, the present-day French team of athletes can be identified only by flag on their shirts. The very 'anecdotic' rivalry reaches back.
The situation at the club level is much more specific. Long ago, the sport clubs initially formed by British railway workers and cannon gunners, the Russian Black Sea sailors, just urban youth, Soviet trade union members and policemen and others stood up for sporting honor, guided by competitiveness and pride in their wide communities. Memories of these days remain still in theirs names, such as Shakhter (Miner), Arsenal, Motorist, Locomotive, Manchester and so on.
The power of the incoming global business communities ruins the old world order. At the moment, the club player’s status is defined only by the contract. It often happens that the clubs do not favor any of their foster-players. It's just business. Win one or another tournament with great prize funds. Buy one or another player. Any claims on the part of the 'pure' sport fans? The stands are overcrowded; the club merchandises and refreshments go off well; the sales of advertisers, whose brands decorate the player’s shirts, grow - so for, so good! Truly, there is some feeling that something is wrong and unfair.
Why is it so? Above all, drawn above picture is need here to see vivid cracks of the contemporary global order system. They strike, distort and 'spoil' any positive processes in so pure and initially non-profit phenomena such as sport and the Olympic movement.
Not just a sport. Admiration of child prettiness turns into a children's beauty contest, affected by its underhanded cruelty, the educative literature loses its meaning after compulsory segmentation into marketed literary garbage, the similar happens with cinema and theater. It is fashionable to be mean-spirited and cruel. It is a synonym for success. Ugly habits become even uglier and turn into commodities. Clothing for transvestites, lady services, female mud wrestling, European Gay Pride hysteria, whatever else …
In my opinion, the era of global business domination over all other governance institutions began in the early twentieth century after ending the era of colonialism. However, its predominance began to emerge in the late thirties. At some stage, the global business pioneers simply decided to make depended (on them) the society governance institutions, whose activities ultimately prevents the recovery of profits.
There is no point to argue about unproven facts how the global business domination expresses. Is there any shadow world government of mega-tycoons, Secret Order, or only the game rules twist around the matrix creating the distinct impression that all processes are manageable? Year by year it gets harder and harder to find excuses for that in the laws of market economics and political competition. People around the world try to stand against the violence, money power, doping and fixed matches and nature destruction. You get the impression that all these things happen only within the permissible volumes. It is an illusion of freedom.
Facing these facts, humankind does not live in harmony with oneself, and is not governed by the laws of kindness, honor, peace of mind, nature conservation, but becomes the cluster of business-driven units who expectedly reacts to uniform standards such as 'Pavlov's dogs'. No feelings at all, only instincts. Businesses operate without considering ethnic and national peculiarities as well as any of individual and independent thinking. It is easier and less expensive than advertising and promotion.
The solution for this problem is famous invention - melting pot. It continually melts people into uniform consumers, civilized successful customers who consume well-known brands, since there are signs of success, happiness and self-actualized life.
Imagine that you are the owner of a huge company, so huge to demolish the powerful state's economy, and made your products and services usable for the civilized majority. You need vital resources that are located in uncivilized independent state, as well as new consumers for your production.
In this case, you need a competent Administration Deputy Assistant. That could be the President or Prime Minister of powerful state. Using the taxpayers' money he can buy weapons from you to deal with that uncivilized independent state and solve your problem with resources. Then, he will seed your custom-designed subculture into the minds of those barbarians, which will make them dream buying merchandises (your products), if they have any cash available, or at least strive for it. As seeds germinate, new human-based ores (raw material for the melting pot) are ready. Well done job. Imagine how you can be angry upon rival’s appearance. Again, there is work for the Administration Deputy Assistant. Damned communists! Well, if there are not communists, then it could be someone else.
Created draft in a pot keeps the high living standards up to the limited circle, the phantom of liberty, which draw more and more human-based ores into a melting pot. Those who can not be drawn directly into a pot will be covered by the waves of Hollywood movies and publicity materials. But those who are not washed away by these waves and who have not democratized, would be reached by clever international funds, like jugglers who juggle with consciousness deftly replacing the truth with lies, military assistance to their enemies, or simply air strikes.
A reasonable question arises - Which factor in the human history has played a special role in making of such reality and why, in author’s opinion, the era of business domination is limited to one age? The answer is hidden in the same factor or event that had a huge impact on the development and establishment of the present-day world. I did not dig deeply, but I'm sure that some of the researchers pointed to the presence and severity of this factor, so I apologize in advance.
This event is comparable in order of importance with the invention of the wheel, writing, domestication of animals, the invention of the motor and so on. The same event who initiate the era of business domination will also bring it to the end.
This is the human ability to collect, store and use the information. It is easy to see that the advances of ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, Indian, Cretan-Minoan civilizations and even more antique periods moved on humanity downwards up to the relatively recent centuries.
What would happen to humankind if the knowledge of the Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations had been obtained and used? What feats would accomplish Alexander the Great, if he could won his world famous ecumene not according to the Herodotus` map, but could used a much more ancient, but extensive and accurate ancient maps, kept by the Egyptian priests?
Whatever knowledge could have humankind if were descendants able to read the books and manuscripts carefully collected in Alexandria by Ptolemy? There are not answers to these questions. But we can imagine their significance for the human progress. Their missing gaps brought the darkness of Middle Ages. And only after tens of centuries the inquiring minds recreated once available knowledge, but they lost their spirit and forget warnings about misuses. As one might expect, the latter was the reason why the 'first' knowledge, jealously preserved by its custodians, disappeared.
However, they appeared and because of them we have a modern reality. The present knowledge multiplies faster than the previous one. Moreover, they are improving and begin to move away from its mechanistic component. Knowledge at a certain stage of development begins to bring forth wisdom and raise concerns about the possible consequences of its uncontrolled use.
In my opinion, this is one of the reasons why the total business domination could ends up to 2030`s. Clearly, this does not mean that the switch will flip exactly at a certain time and change everything at once. Likely, the process of changes must start. The spirituality, the concept of truth, the desire to preserve nature, awareness of owns individuality will begin to play the significant role. All this will inevitably lead to the initial restrictions of the undivided power of the business community, conducting reforms aimed eventually to release government from its tutelage.
The knowledge-based technology, particularly the Internet will play the significant role in this process initiation. It gives a unique opportunity for grouped self-organization of millions of individuals, such as new Logos, who freely communicate with each other through smart phones and other devices. It is impossible to be forbidden, and it is a huge force that can change the world.
You can notice that the existing world order is changing rapidly. Western world is not soldered with the 'cold war' confrontation, and the new geopolitical alliances are organized. Yes, there are new threats, but opposing them requires the new forms of states interaction. The economic tools of the era of business domination rise more problems and do not provide effective development of the system.
The state debt problems, the enormous amount of money derived, unemployment, mortgage, need to increase taxes, and many other things are issues that require new solutions. The real equivalent mean of payment does not exist, and the confidence or habit are not unlimited factors. In the absence of new tools for solving these problems, and of course the political will (not business, but governments), only the universal collapse fear keeps the world at status quo.
Such measures should be developed in the late 2030's, and by that time the new economic leaders would make their statements at full extent, including Russia, China and others. Moreover, these countries have their own eastern ideology. In Russia, business has never ruled in a sense given in this article and do not rules even today. It always had a subordinate position in relation to the state powers and has always followed their interests. Extending of its influence on Russia is unrealistic, because Russia has always been 'other'. Russia is held by the heavy steel hoop made of historical remembrance, great culture and Orthodoxy. As long as these 'three pillars' stand firm, Russia can not be broken.
The whole bag of tricks aimed at breaking the country in the twentieth century by the Alliance of mentioned Administration Deputy Assistants failed. But Russia has paid for its independence by the millions of lives of its citizens and that facts will never be forgotten.
Today, poles have changed. The collapse of the nineties, the real threat to the Russian state led to the overcentralization of all spheres of activities. Currently, spiral starts to untwist backwards by giving the independency to the regions, political system and business as much as they can effectively consume in its present conditions. Essentially, today we are doing the things what we needed to do in the nineties. But the Russian government will never give up everything and never become a 'night-watchman state'.
Despite the large number of unresolved issues many of which like a dam holding back, accumulated over the years of stagnation, the powerful progressive potential of society, the economic success of Russia become more apparent. Ironically, many intelligent and sincere people who love their country either by force of habit or own ambitions do not want to notice that facts.
Positive changes are the fruits of last decade stability. On the new ideological platform restoration of the national economy takes place, investments and domestic consumption grow, there is a downward trend in inflation, city and sports infrastructure develop. Economy begins to respond adequately to the managerial requests. The era of mindless admiration and blindly copying of Western standards passes away. There comes a time of maturity and awareness. The time of 'green directors' is up.
The decisive factor ending the era of business domination will be the awareness of the current situation by the largest possible number of people, the growth of collective self-organization in the battle for land and the life on it, for the priority of ethics over consumption, and desire to leave the beauty after them.
