Things That Make You Go RRRRARRRRGGGH!!!!

Everyone has things that drive them nuts.  But I do think that TV advertisements have to be one of the most irritating things in the known universe.  Think about it - when was the last time you saw an ad that told you just what you needed to know about the product / service?  When have you actually gone out deliberately to buy something because you saw it on telly?  And yet, in comparison, how many ads have you seen THIS WEEK?

My grandfather was a proof reader with a printing company and raised my mother to be pernickety exacting about spelling, punctuation, grammar etc.  Not a week passed that she won't text or email the latest offence to the English language she's spotted...nine times out of ten it's an advertisement.  Half the time I still don't get it even when it's pointed out to me.

But the one that just got right up my nose today was a Save The Children campaign ad.  "No child born to die"...um, do I need to explain the concept of mortality here?  Everyone is born to die, everyone will die.  Sad but an essential fact of life.  "22,000 children die every day"...again, sad.  But that's all.  Accompanied by images of children living and dying in appalling conditions (apparently in Africa) I have several thoughts on this one...

1) What would happen if they DIDN'T???  Did anyone see Torchwood: Miracle Day?  Sci-fi series exploring the not-so-great concept of immortality.  22,000 children NOT dying each day for one year alone is over 8 million extra people to sustain.  If these dying children's countries / communities cannot sustain them today, how will they sustain them tomorrow, or in a year, or in another decade?

2) Why are they dying?  We're not talking about a famine as such or a natural disaster.  We're talking about an ongoing situation partly due to poverty but partly due to a massive over population of a region that is not overly hospitable to start with.

3) Why is the place so massively over populated if 22,000 children are dying daily?  The birth rate has got to be phenomenal!  Get the birth rate down and what would happen?  The land could sustain the population far better, the water supply would be less stretched and they'd probably be able to afford the basics of health care too!  So is this what Save The Children are trying to do - to educate people, provide birth control, help them to form a sustainable population?  No, of course not.  It's all "let's throw money at the situation cos money fixes everything" - hence the RRRRARRRRGGGH!!!!

Fix the cause, not the symptom.

Mid Term Update

So...I started studying with the Open University earlier this year.  The late start AA100 course (The Arts Past and Present) runs February to September making this pretty much the mid-way point.
It's certainly proving to be a challenge but I think I'm doing pretty well so far.  I've done four out of seven TMAs (Tutor Marked Assignments) with the scores - 67%, 80%, 83% and 82%.  In fact I'm well on my way to passing the course.  I've enrolled to take A297 (Latin) and A251 (Archaeology) in the next academic year.
The friend who got me studying with the OU has sadly dropped out after being diagnosed as severely dyslexic.  It was a blow to her but thanks to the OU she now has a diagnosis.  Although it is perfectly possible for someone with Dyslexia to study at University level, she felt she couldn't continue at this time - who knows, maybe once she's learned to manage the condition she can try again?  Mind you, she wants to be a children's author and six years of study with little opportunity to write wasn't perhaps what she really wanted after all.
For a while there I felt really guilty.  She'd inspired me to study, I'd been a copycat and got my paperwork within 24 hours of her!  And, just for a while, I felt as if I'd stolen her dream.
But I didn't take this on to be a copycat, to try to keep up or go one better.  I'd never really imagined going to Uni, mostly because I never believed it could happen, but I desperately wanted to improve my life.  Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have a job and it's not that bad - but I have to get something full time in a couple of years or so...right now my options are really limited.  I really hope studying will help.  If nothing else it's making me feel better about myself and my situation.