The Cry Baby is on sabbatical ....

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What if the United Nations was just a Facebook page?


united nations, geneva, switzerland
Image by :: Radar Communication :: via Flickr
The United Nations is an incredibly bureaucratic and expensive way for 193 member countries to sit down now and then and yap. In fact. let's face it: It's an insane asylum. When countries with the worst human rights records sit on the Human Rights Committee, you know that madness prevails. With its $5-billion yearly budget and 63,000 people on its payroll we've managed to create an international monolith so large that is almost impossible to respond effectively to any situation. In face, their feeble attempt at justifying their numbers is even incorrect. From the UN website:
"The number of people employed worldwide by the UN in all capacities - nearly 16,000 people by the UN Secretariat and some 63,450 by the entire UN system - is remarkably small for a system of organizations engaged on a global scale in virtually all areas of human welfare, from promoting peace to furthering development, to organizing humanitarian relief. By comparison: the United States Department of Education employs nearly 71,000 people; the city of Ontario, Canada, has over 80,000 public employees; and the Coca Cola Company has 74,000 employees."
The UN in action
The first problem with this justification is that Ontario is a province in Canada, not a city. Great research for an organization filled with researchers. And frankly, does the U.S  Department of Education even need to exist, given that education is a state controlled issue? Comparing itself to another inept bureaucracy, doesn't really give it any more credibility. Coca Cola!!!

Yes, the UN does lots of good work as well,  but what if the organization was simply a Facebook page? Think of all the fun with the friends and groups restrictions. And the apps. How about a Peace Keeping app? Want to send the troops somewhere? Just create a simple member's poll. And on and on.

Obviously, this isn't really possible, but what a great Facebook Timeline it would produce!

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