I have decided that my company should join the Twitter crowd. Frankly, I was resisting this until David, our technology advisor, told me that it was an opportunity for me to broadcast my frequent and freely expressed personal opinions. How could I refuse?
Before I outline my stance on the subjects on which I will be tweeting, I should tell you that I have two big grumbles in life. One of these concerns the general lack of interest about the many large issues that have a direct impact on our daily lives: the ongoing economic crisis in the USA, Greece, the UK (where all public servants are expected to strike this summer -- including those in Customs, to inconvenience summer travels), and elsewhere; the increasing economic and political power of China; our exponentially growing healthcare costs; the increasing impact of Islam on our daily lives; the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict; etc.
My second beef: I feel strongly that the manner in which we, the Western affluent societies, deal with the developing world has been, and is, in pretty well all cases, disrespectful and even dishonest. For example, we complain that some African countries rely too heavily on our aid, while at the same time, we subsidize the wheat, milk, etc., which we send to these countries, which undercuts the price of locally produced products. In this way, we are directly responsible for discouraging local production, and ensure that the people can't fend for themselves.
To anyone who will listen, I argue that stories about the bigger world are easier to comprehend and are much more intriguing if seen as being, fundamentally, stories about the rational or irrational behavior of ordinary people. The poor will always resent the unjust wealth of the rich; people who hold fanatical religious views will always believe they have the Truth; the person next to you on the plane will always believe that the "turn off your electronics" announcement doesn't pertain to him/her, etc.
Although I subscribe to three daily newspapers, The New York Times, The Globe & Mail, and The Financial Times (which I read on the subway to and from work, and in our office), and I look at the online versions of The Arab News, The Saudi Gazette, the healthcare section of Arabian Business, Reuters, and more, my perspective is highly influenced by conversations with people on the front line, so to speak. Over the past 30 years, I have talked to thousands (yes, thousands) of American and Canadian healthcare professionals, to people throughout the Arab and Asian worlds, and to new immigrants to Western countries. Additionally, I have travelled throughout the developed and developing world, and have personally worked in three distinctly separate professions.
This is where my tweets will come from. My tweets will be on healthcare, the Middle East, political issues that concern the West’s relationship with the Muslim world, general employment issues, and anything new or particularly interesting that happens with our clients or our business. And I reserve the right to expand this list.
Thanks for listening.
