The Blue Pill.

[BIAD]

Every news item these days is layered with a drama that -to those who take the Blue Pill, might seem full of despair
because in reality, it's not happening to them in this physical world, only in their heads.
As in the last posting, I indicated how the gentry-media determine what is atrocious and what is a 'man-bites-dog'
story for their customers, sugar after that dosage of spirit-destroying information.

It seems that most global news outlets perceive these readers and viewers as fairly wealthy folk who enjoy miserable,
emotive reports that demands such action as relating their heart-felt concerns via social media. Something that means
nothing and has no effect on the actual occurrence, but another indicator of how an audio device has become a tool to
visually display one's self-absorbed, faux-maturation.

I also understand that the established media have the luxury of walking away from such a life-changing situation, but I'd
like to think that many of those readers/viewers would also expect the same media -in fact, anyone who wishes to be
believed, to maintain a narrative of what is supposed to be really going on in any setting they report on.

Venezuela, a country that some would suggest screwed-up its economics through the adherence to a style of socialism,
is now struggling to sustain some-sort of reasonable level of society. The many articles of how Venezuela's reliance
on crude oil being their only major export has brought them to the brink of revolution and mass-starvation, shows that at
least, the world's media are watching.

'Nearly 90% of Venezuelans live in poverty, a rate exacerbated by failed economic policies and a plunge in global oil prices'
The Guardian:

'Over 60 percent of Venezuelans surveyed said that during the previous three months they had woken up hungry
because they did not have enough money to buy food. About a quarter of the population was eating two or less
meals a day, the study showed.

Last year, the three universities found that Venezuelans said they had lost an average of 8 kilograms during 2016.
This time, the study’s dozen investigators surveyed 6,168 Venezuelans between the ages of 20 and 65 across
the country of 30 million people.'
Reuters:

'Police in crisis-hit Venezuela believe animals stolen from a zoo were taken to be eaten amid chronic food shortages
in the South American country.'
Sky News:

So, with this awful situation in mind, what would you do...? What would... let's say, a person of wealth do to help the starving people
that are a majority in Maduro's South American country? The President is halting food convoys at Venezuela's borders, his forces
have fired upon the hungry civilians that crave assistance from their fellow planet-dwellers, so what would be first on your mind to
make sure the poverty-stricken public of Venezuela had something to eat that wasn't once a display-animal?

Can music save Venezuela? Richard Branson hopes so.

'On the Colombian border with Venezuela, a sense of giddy hope filled the air.
The streets were thronging with people. Bands played drums, as street vendors loudly sold water. A sea of Venezuelan flags and
faces old and young beamed with optimism.



Hundreds of thousands of them descended on the bridge of hope - a place that conversely has seen very little of that realised.
This is where hundreds of tonnes of aid has sat in a warehouse -President Nicolas Maduro's government is unwilling to allow it across.
Now, the focus was on stage -a string of Latin American artists and the belief they could raise enough money and goodwill to change
the military's mind.

At the front of it all stood billionaire businessman Richard Branson, addressing a large group of journalists.
He had thrown together Venezuela Aid Live in just a few weeks -inspired, he told me, by a phone call with the opposite leader Juan
Guaido.

"We hope to draw attention to the situation in Venezuela... Babies are dying, old people are not being looked after and literally millions
have left the country to find jobs. We will see if the the soldiers do the right thing and let the aid in," Sir Richard said.


You can't eat a T-shirt.

But those soldiers show no sign of losing their loyalty -whether through fear, respect or financial favours -they seem locked in.
Everywhere in Cucuta, there are whispers and rumours about what might happen at the weekend.
It's meant to be the deadline for critical supplies -America has flown in extra in advance.

Mr Guaido managed to sneak in, defying a travel ban and promising to get more than a million people to help him transfer the food
and medicine people so desperately need. But Mr Maduro views this as a US invasion and shows no sign of capitulating.


Some more poverty-burdened people.

As night fell, we were told Mr Guaido would be part of the relief effort as dawn broke on Tienditas bridge, where trucks sit waiting to be
filled. It is a risk for him and I met plenty of others, willing to take their own. "I'll fight them to the death if I have to," one woman told me with
tears in her eyes.Another man defiantly exclaimed: "We'll show the world we're against this dictatorship."

But Mr Maduro could close the borders and his troops could easily take a firm hand on anyone willing to threaten the status quo.
This could be a crescendo, or just another chapter in false hope for those desperate for change.
But it's a moment so many are invested in and the world is watching...'

SOURCE:

Some say music is the food of love, but you can't eat it when you're starving.
Unless -of course, your level in the social order isn't defined as 'poverty', then you can kick back, do a selfie and listen to the tunes.

Oh well, turn another page.