In the first, you always remember. In the second, you never forgive. In the third, you embrace it.
Kristin Hersh – Your Ghost
If I walk down this hallway, tonight,
It’s too quiet,
So I Pad through the dark
and call you on the phone
Push your old numbers
and let your house ring
til I wake you ghost.
Let him walk down your hallway
it’s not this quiet
slide down your receiver
sprint across the wire
follow my number
slide into my hand.
It’s the blaze across my nightgown
it’s the phone’s ring.
I think last night
you were driving circles around me.
I can’t drink this coffee
til I put you in my closet
let him shoot me down
let him call me off
I take it from his whisper
you’re not that tough.
Marianne Faithfull – There is a Ghost
There is a ghost
And it goes out
On the land
On the land
It’s lifted up
It feels and flows
On many hands
On many hands
Oh, my lover
Oh, my lover
Never was there another
Where has my loverman gone
There is a dream
You’ve had before
And forgot many times
So many times
When you remember who I am
Just call
When you remember who I am
Just call
When you remember who I am
Just call
When you remember who I am
There is a tree
But its leaves have gone
For what it seem
It stands alone
Oh, my lover
Oh, my lover
Gonna, gonna find another
Where has my loverman gone
Away, away
Across the land
Across the land
Across the land
Placebo – Sleeping with Ghosts
The sea’s evaporated
Though it comes as no surprise
These clouds we’re seeing
They’re explosions in the sky
It seems it’s written
But we can’t read between the line
Hush
It’s okay
Dry your eyes
Dry your eyes
Soulmate dry your eyes
Dry your eyes
Soulmate dry your eyes
Cause soulmates never die
This one world vision
Turns us in to compromise
What good’s religion
When it’s each other we despise
Damn the government
Damn their killing
Damn their lies
Hush
It’s okay
Dry your eyes
Dry your eyes
Soulmate dry your eyes
Dry your eyes
Soulmate dry your eyes
Cause soulmates never die
Soulmates never die
Never die
Soulmates never die
Never die…
Soulmates never die
Soulmates never die
Soulmates never die
Soulmates never die
Two people may come together and form a relationship. Then they may break up and sensitive souls may proceed to inane declarations such as “women/men are a bad investment”.
She broke my heart. She was a terrible investment!
If finance is unable to resolve real-life issues and its ineptitude has dragged whole nations to disasters such as the current fiscal crisis in Europe, how can it be applied to matters of the heart, a far less tangible and measurable issue?
If there is, however, a need to employ modern science to investigate such a topic, allow me to use an interdisciplinary approach to try to demonstrate why investing in love is actually a smart move.
When we are born, we have a very limited understanding of self. The world is a blur. Progressively, we bond with specific people who act as both carers to our basic needs and as intermediaries between us and the world. By relying on them, we improve our comprehension of reality and we become more self-assured and aware human beings.
Around the time we reach adolescence and especially once we successfully enter adulthood, we start developing erotic bonds with people of the same or the opposite sex. At the same time, our cognitive understanding of the world has grown significantly and alongside this, our fears and defences. We become cold and distant and try to maintain a sense of self in an ever-changing and unpredictable environment, away from the warmth and the protection of the family. However, a partner not only acts as a substitute for this loss, but also adds more to the equation. A person with similar experiences can relate to one’s problems and offer companionship and the satisfaction of both the physiological and the love/belonging needs (see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
Nevertheless, a relationship is an artificial human construction: it is the outcome of the conscious decision of two parties to share their life and experiences. In fact, only 7% of mammals are monogamous. It gets even harder if we consider humans’ desire to combine social, sexual, genetic and marital monogamy. Monogamy is also associated with strong negative feelings, such as possessiveness, insecurity and jealousy. If the relationship breaks down, the person is left filled with negative feelings, that vary from “hatred” towards the ex-partner to low self-esteem and depression. Such feelings may prevent the person from moving on and realising that the relationship – if it was healthy to a respectable degree – actually offered her significant life skills.
Firstly, having a relationship is a way to improve one’s social skills, due to the frequency of the interaction. It provides the person with a space to experiment with new ways of communicating with people outside the family, due to the stability that it offers and the requirement to take the other person’s desires into account. Secondly, it is a passage to adulthood and a initiation into the demands of adulthood. People working in the services sector in particular will spend their adulthood surrounded by professionals of different background and no family connection. A relationship allows the person to smoothly enter this world and share such fears and new experiences with someone without feeling shameful or incompetent.
However, the most important life skill is the capacity to love unconditionally another human being. If a heart is a balloon, then unconditional loving and erotic passion act as a pump filling it with air. The heart becomes bigger and takes unexpected, beautiful shapes. Once the relationship is over, it comes back to its original position. However, it has endured stretching. Due to this, a tiny bit of space has been created that will allow the heart in the future to love more and gaining greater pleasure from this experience. If, of course, the person concerned stops building walls to protect her emotions, embraces the wonderful person that she has become thanks to her ex-partner and allows herself to feel once more.
Loving a fellow soul is hard and complicated and painful. The revenue that it brings, though, is significant, regardless of the happy or unhappy ending.
How many times can a lion’s death cause tears to be shed?
The number is apparently quite high, if one takes a look at all the Lion King segments, tributes and fandubs videos that can be found on YouTube. Finnish, Chinese, Swahili and French Canadian editions receive thousands or even millions of hits and hundreds of comments. People in their teens, twenties and thirties remember when they first saw the movie, lament the death of Mufasa and call Scar every nasty name in the dictionary.
You’ve forgotten who you are so you forgot me
Call it a nostalgia fest. A mindless dwelling on childhood memories. A copyright infringement. I agree. It is all that and more. More specifically, it is an excellent marketing tool for the Disney Classics.
Disney is a media conglomerate that licences from theme parks to stuffed animals. The capacity of these products to reproduce the “magical” feeling that was felt during the first consumption of a specific media product adds value to them. This media product can be a television series/feature film like Hannah Montana or an animated movie, like Tangled. Such products may have a short or long life-spam and they serve the needs of a specific audience. However, from an economics point of view, investing on a product that has the capacity to continue generating revenues after many decades is more profitable decision than a short-lived blockbuster.
I just saw the real world
Another question that should be posed is if the audience that seems – by the videos’ comments sections – to be highly engaged with these movies is a dynamic audience that has the necessary resources and is actually willing to send them on a Disney product.
The answer is no… and yes. No, because it is less likely that they will go and spend money on a stuffed animal for themselves. Furthermore, if their average age is around 25 – that’s to say, the people who were children when the movies from the Disney second golden era (1980s-1990s) come out – they are too young for Western standards to have children (as it is obvious, this article discusses in broad terms the Western viewers). However, they can function as the agent who will introduce the movies to a younger audience, consisting of future children, younger relatives or friends’ children. They will take them to Disneyland and they will buy them the toys. They will consider consuming a Disney product as sharing a beloved childhood experience with younger generations.
Therefore, the people who produce the Disney YouTube videos invest time, work, passion and creativity without asking for a financial reward. They execute the laborious task of selecting the segments of the movies, adding subtitles, answering the viewers’ questions and creating marketing tools that remind users why these movies are so beloved.
I’d rather die tomorrow than live without having known you
A tangible recent example of how longitudinally successful a movie can be is the Lion King that was re-released in 3D last September. The movie went to gross so far in the US alone $93,883,136. 3D may assist the maximization of profit, but compelling storytelling and pre-established word of mouth has certainly played a far more important role in the success.The company is also re-releasing in 3D other four Disney/Pixar movies within the next two years: Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and the Little Mermaid.
Therefore, it can assumed that quality is a safe investment for a multi-national media conglomerate and the reproduction of short clips in many languages that demonstrate this essential asset of the company’s products is an unexpected marketing tool that can have a positive effect on its revenues in the long run. In combination with the company’s struggle to re-capture its past glory, the reproduction of best-off moments can also have a positive effect on Disney in general as a brand.
However, this may not be the case with films or series produced by smaller companies that are not associated with other products or the revenue of these other products is smaller. The reproduction of favorite moments or whole episodes online may provide them with popularity in unexpected geographical territories, but this does not necessarily brings profit to the company. Such a case is anime series Naruto, which has never been broadcasted by a Greek channel, however it has a very strong fanbase in the country. With the dissolution of geographical boundaries due to the internet and the increasing number of people learning foreign languages, the viewers who are interested in gaining access to a foreign cultural product will simply bypass the local broadcasters. This only results to the loss of revenue for the industry which primarily hurts the production of independent and alternative content.
Tale as old as time, Beauty and the Beast
In conclusion, websites like YouTube can be a double-edged sword, especially for small companies and projects of smaller scale. Quality, on the other hand, and high production values is by far a safer bet in the animation industry. It will bring revenues in the short or long run and lasting glory to the studio. It will also motivate people to become loyal costumers and try over and over again the company’s products, even after a decade of disappointments and a series of terrible straight-to-DVD sequels to the Classics.
However, Disney was, is and will remain the company that relies on the strongest branding concept in the world: the promise of a fantasy land where there is no pain and the ending is always happy.
Beginning and end. Passion and resignation. Words and silence. Emptiness and completeness. Never together. Always remembered. A cage of emotions. An effort to be free.
قلة خيالي شردت حالي
وقنة منا لي سعيد
وطالت من برجع العالي
وقالت كلمة غريب
ارجع يا حب
مالي في دنيا نصيب
انت حبي لكن مش ممكن تكوني هلالي
آه ليل
يا عيني يا
خلاص
Gafsa – Natacha Atlas
The winds of love suddenly began blowing in my head
Showing me the peace of my beloved
You say “return my precious, rise above the separation while you are a stranger.”
The impatience of my imagination wandered
And my highest aspiration is to be happy
You emerged from the highest tower
And said a strange word
Return my love
I don’t have any destiny for me in this world
You are my love but you cannot be suitable for me
During nights of loneliness and regret, I remember these words and allow myself to feel overwhelmed by the beauty of pain.
Poema XX – Pablo Neruda
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Escribir, por ejemplo: “La noche esta estrellada,
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos”.
El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.
En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos.
La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.
Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería.
Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.
Oír la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella.
Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.
Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla.
La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.
Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos.
Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.
Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca.
Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.
La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.
Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise.
Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.
De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos.
Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.
Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.
Porque en noches como esta la tuve entre mis brazos,
mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.
Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa,
y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.
English translation
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, “The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.”
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.
This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.
Vaggelis lives in London. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Macedonia in Greece and has obtained an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.
1. How do you personally experience the financial crisis? Cuts, we have to pay more taxes and when I am on the phone with my family, who lives back in Greece, I can feel the disappointment over the current issues.
2. What is the psychological impact on Greeks? Over the last twenty months everybody talks about the crisis in any social activity. During this period the fear of what is about to happen tomorrow is what has psychologically exhausted the Greeks in my view.
3. How much are people to blame and how much the politicians for the situation?
It is a split responsibility for sure, but I believe that the politicians could have taken actions to prevent the current situation over the last 10 years and they didn’t go for the best set of actions as this would have affected their short-term benefit.
4. What is your opinion on the relation between politics and economy? High degree of interconnections but when it comes to the applied side of economic issues I feel that qualified and experienced professionals can guarantee more reasonably projected results than politicians.
5. What is your opinion on corruption? Corruption can exist in both capitalism and communism. So it’s not about bankers and politicians. It is about people.
6. What is the role of the country in the European Union and the Eurozone? Greece is a European country, as the European history starts in Greece. When it comes to Eurozone, it is in favour of Greece to belong in the EEA.
7. Do foreigners have a clear image of the situation in Greece? No. International media overemphasize and mainly broadcast images of minorities to show an extent to the issues greater than what really is, making it even more difficult to balance the situation.
8. Will the change of Prime Minister improve the country’s position? Yes, since this will at least ensure political stability to a certain extent for the next four months.
9. In which ways should the Greek system change? Less bureaucracy for sure. And please upgrade education by making it competitive. Yes, I mean give rights to private Universities in Greece that are not currently officially recognized as equal by the state. It is not a big secret that MIT is not state owned.
10. Will this ordeal have any positive outcomes for the political, social or economic situation in Greece? People already have a good exposure to the current reality. Five years back people had a very bad relation with their finances.
11. Are you afraid of what the future holds? I am positive about the future and I would suggest the same approach to all the parties that influence the future of my country.
Athanasios A. is a recent LSE graduate. He holds an MSc in the History of International Relations.
1. How do you personally experience the financial crisis?
The economic collapse of Greece led me to seek job opportunities abroad. In Greece my professional future seems gloomy
2. What is the psychological impact of the situation on Greeks?
The uncertainty for the future that accompanies the Greek crisis has influenced crucially the Greek people. As new measures are being imposed every now and while, consisted mainly by new taxes and salary cuts, as well as the possibility to become redundant every day has raise the anxiety and the pressure for the tomorrow.
3. How much are the people to be blamed and how much the politicians for the economic crisis?
There is no easy answer on that question. The proper answer, in my opinion, is that both should bear the blame for the economic situation. On the one hand, Greek people got used to living beyond their abilities by spending a lot on consumption goods, which ended up in being overwhelmingly covered under loans. At the same time, there is the widespread conviction in a large part of the Greek society that paying taxes is a waste of money. At the same time politicians used the public revenues to stay in power by developing clergy relations.
4. What is your opinion on the relation between politics and economy?
Politics and economic were always related however after the current crisis the ties will be stronger. Politicians realised that they have to pay closely attention to the Markets, whose power has increased rapidly. Today there are cases where the Markets determine the whole national policies. An alternative will only be the imposition of strong control and rules over the Markets or a throughout systemic change.
5. What is your opinion on corruption?
Corruption is one of the main problems in Greece. However, everyone is part of it, from the tax invasion to bribery. The only way to fight corruption is the cooperation between the members of the public and the government against it.
6. What is the role of the country in the EU and the Eurozone?
Greece should be a stable member of the European Union. On Eurozone, the crisis had evidenced that Greece was not ready to adopt the Euro in 2002. However, the cost and the consequences from exit the Eurozone would be tremendous thus, the country should take all necessary measures to stay in the Eurozone.
7. Do foreigners have a clear image of the crisis in Greece?
The majority of the people from outside Greece, watching the crisis though the media, develop a distorted picture of Greeks based on stereotypes. People consider the Greeks as working fewer hours while receiving higher wages than the rest European employees. They do not realise that neither this picture is real nor the social welfare state is completely missing from Greece. The average Greek has to pay for health and education in addition to the taxes he pays.
8. Will the change of Prime Minister improve the situation?
A simple change, even in the highest level of political hierarchy is not enough. The necessity is the mixture of measures to change and everybody to fulfil their role and duties.
9. Will this ordeal have any positive outcomes for the political, social, and economic situation in Greece?
There are only two possibilities. According to the positive one, Greece forced by the threat of default and political isolation will pass and implement the necessary economic reforms, which in turn will lead to growth and development.( Additional, the funds from the international debtors will be used to change the country’s productivity model) Athe same time, the political personnel will become responsible and abandon the patron-client relation with their voters. Finally, Greeks will turn away from the consumption attitude that developed the last decade. The negative scenario is the Greeks will fail to implement the reforms and the country will simply be ousted from Eurozone and the European Union.
M.P. is a post-graduate student specializing in media and an employee in the private sector. She lives in Athens and is an Aquarius.
How do you personally experience the situation?Just like everyone else, even though I belong to the small portion of the Greek population that still got a job. The People are disappointed, tire and fed-up with those who rule the country and constantly demand to “tighten the bell” [to accept further austerity measures].
What is the psychological impact of the situation on Greeks?
I read in an article that according to the data so far, for 2011 it is estimated that in Greece there will be a 40% increase in suicides, as within the first three months of this year 150 people had committed suicide. That’s to say, within this year the number may reach the 700, with the root cause of the suicides being the financial problems and the debts. This I think is enough proof of the psychological situation of Greeks at the moment.
How much are people to blame and how much the politicians for the situation?
I always believed that the responsibility is shared by the two with the greatest portion of blame however lying on the politicians. It is them who govern the country and manage its finances. On the other hand, the citizens as well got used to a clientism and perpetuated a dependency to the politicians, which partially brought the things to the present situation.
What is your opinion on the relation between politics and economy?I will talk about Greece in particular. During the last years the majority of those who were elected to the Parliament with the order to govern us clearly saw this role as an opportunity to make money. This, in combination with the bad management of the country’s finances led to this dead end. Think only that every time that the government changed, the new ministers would spend excessive amounts of money for the renovation of their ministerial offices: change of furnitures, curtains, carpets etc. It is not necessary to have studied economics to understand that with such lavish expenses – this is just a small example of everything that has happened – we will eventually reach the brick of distraction.
What is your opinion on corruption?Corruption has been a thorn in the Greek system’s side for many years and it is so because there is no strict control so as to find those who are accepting brides, those who are evading etc.. Corruption has taken roots in Greece and it is the laxity and the impunity that brought it to such heights.
What is the role of the country in the European Union and the Eurozone?I cannot say for sure. What I can certainly say is that I do not think that a small country like Greece is able to shake at such a degree the European Union, as for the EU to be terrified with every little thing we do. I enjoyed Liana Kanelli’s response when a journalist asked her how we feel that the Eurozone considers Greece to be threatening the European economy. She replied: “In Greece we feel bold and beautiful”. At the end of the day, if we scare them so much they should kick us out…
Do foreigners have a clear image of the situation in Greece?I don’t know that. I hardly know if even Greeks are able, with everything that is being said, to have a clear image of the situation of their own country. What is truly sticking to me is that the whole world has turned to Greece like it is the only country that experiences so strongly the financial crisis at the moment.
Will the change of Prime Minister improve the country’s position?The premiership ever since the Metapolitefsi [regime change – here, a reference to the fall of the military junta in 1974], apart from a few exceptions, is a family affair in this country. On the other hand, in Greece we were and we are always divided. Whether it is about sports or politics, we act like there are no other choices apart from the two predetermined ones. History and experience show that no matter who became a Prime Minister, the only thing that he did was to waive liability and to accuse the predecessor for the state of the affairs when he was appointed to the office. If the change in premiership is not oriented towards capable individuals and leaders with strength, it will not lead to the improvement in any level of the present situation.
In which ways should the Greek system change?The mentality both of the politicians and the people. At this moment Greece is ostensibly a Democracy. When this becomes understood by both sides and when personalities capable to govern the country rise, then and only then will things change.
Will this ordeal have any positive outcomes for the political, social or economic situation in Greece?Maybe, if we believe that Greeks have woken up from the lethargy of their bliss that they were experiencing all these years and realised that the situation in which they were brought by their actions, as well as the actions of those they vote for to represent them.
Are you afraid of what the future holds?I want to be optimistic, but things are tough. May God put his hand [May God help us all]!
Noel is a recent UKC graduate living in London. He works as a freelance writer and a barista. He has a BA in Communication and an MA in Criminology.
1. How do you personally experience the financial crisis?
I read the news every day, and I observe from afar. The economic crisis in Greece doesn’t affect me financially since I reside in a different country, but it still manages to take its toll on you psychologically. Personally, I was ashamed of the way Greece went about things long before the crisis — now I just feel more ashamed because everybody in the world knows as well.
2. What is the psychological impact of the situation on Greeks?
I think it has, in many ways. Every time I return to Greece, I find people to be more depressed and worried than the last time. They still manage to maintain some sense of morale — which is extraordinary — but the lack of coordination or a light at the end of the tunnel is definitely getting to them. Desperation and defeatism are becoming more widespread, I believe.
3. How much are people to blame and how much the politicians for the situation?
This is a difficult question. The Greek administrative system has been malfunctioning from the moment it was established because its original purpose was to maintain clientelism — so everyone who has benefited from it is to blame. The difference between politicians and citizens is that the former fully understood the consequences of their actions — and consistently ignored them in favour of personal gains. The problem is that those who are facing the hardship of unemployment and cuts and a future of little success or career development are those who had nothing to do with this system — the young generations who are forced to pay for the mistakes of their parents.
4. What is your opinion on the relation between politics and economy?
No opinion on the matter.
5. What is your opinion on corruption?
No opinion on the matter.
6. What is the role of the country in the European Union and the Eurozone?
I honestly have no idea. Would it be better for Greece to exit the EU and the Eurozone? I highly doubt the former, I’m unsure about the latter. Our very entrance into the EU and the Eurozone was the result of cooked books and favours… but Greece is not the only one responsible for this. Other EU countries actively made sure this would happen.
7. Do foreigners have a clear image of the situation in Greece?
Have you seen “Go Greek for a Week”? There are so many silly myths about the country and its people that we could write an epic about them and name it the Modern Greek Mythology. The thing is that people don’t care to learn; it’s easier to condemn the lazy, money-grabbing people of Greece than to question their own leaders, and ours, and every politician and company and organisation involved in the crisis.
8. Will the change of Prime Minister improve the country’s position?
No. We don’t need a different government, we need radical changes. I was talking with a friend who’s doing a Ph.D. on EU politics, and he said something very true: it’s amazing that after all that has happened in Greece the past three years, no new political parties have emerged. Why is that? What would some of the same old offer Greece?
9. In which ways should the Greek system change?
What should change? That’s a heavy question I don’t feel comfortable answering. The whole administrative system should change. The Greek way of going about things should change. The public sector should be reformed. There’s too many things to name.
10. Will this ordeal have any positive outcomes for the political, social or economic situation in Greece?
Maybe. The best things happen after you hit rock bottom, because there’s no way to go but up. As long as we learn a lesson from the economic crisis and improve and reform the system, Greece might gain something. But it’s going to take time.
11. Are you afraid of what the future holds?
Strangely, no. I don’t live in Greece and have no plans to return. I am slightly worried about my friends and my family, but I think they’ll manage to pull through. The only thing that worries me is our membership to the EU — as long as nobody messes up with that, I’ll be fine.