Useless, Meaningless and Unnecessary

It is hard to find a decent word for something that is looming on the horizon, and to which we – directly or indirectly, by voting or not voting – have in a way, served as godparents. Many are inclined to call it politics and thus, to anyone who asks a sensible question, shut them up: you know nothing about politics! Others, again, are more inclined to some more descriptive and adequate expressions such as prostitution, but I am not sure how much the practitioners of that, one of – they say – the two oldest professions in the world, want to have anything in common, that is, how ready they are to accept that the name of their profession is being tarnished by the current set of decision-makers in the name of the people (in every sense of the latter cliché).

In the end, it will be as it was envisioned at the beginning: these ours (SDA) will remain in power at most levels, these other ours (SBB & Co.) will get everything – perhaps even more – than they hoped for, the third ours or anamoni (the six, the five... we'll see how many will remain in the end) will be thrown out of all streams (of decision-making and money) and will remain at the municipal level from which they started and for which they alone have the strength... These theirs (HDZ and SNSD) have never been nor will they ever be questioned as long as all these ours exist... and again Bosnia will be peaceful until the next elections. Therefore, perhaps it is best to give up searching for a name and turn attention to something incomparably more concrete, more precise, and one could say more useful, that is, science.

Namely, I read somewhere that researchers from Oxford University claim that „more than 90 percent of human DNA does nothing useful, and large sequences made of the amino acids adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine represent unnecessary biological baggage accumulated over years of evolution.“ Dr. Gerton Lunter, one of the senior scientists on the team, stated that based on these comparisons, only 8.2 percent of human DNA has functional meaning and plays some important role, important enough to be preserved by evolution. „Scientifically speaking, we have no evidence that 92 percent of our genome contributes anything to our biology,“ Lunter stated. They arrived at this figure after comparing the human genome with that of other mammals – from dogs and cats all the way to rhinoceroses and horses – searching for parts of DNA that humans shared with other animals, which branched off from our lineage at different points in history. 

It is claimed that scientists have known for some time that only one percent of human DNA is located within genes used to create key proteins that keep the body's cells healthy and alive, and this research has revealed that an additional 7 percent of human DNA has some role. However, if so much DNA is worthless, why do we still carry it? „We are not designed, we evolved, and it is a rather messy process. The rest of the DNA probably just fills space. It is not biological garbage because it could one day be useful,“ Lunter stated. „Some of our DNA remains from ancient viruses that inserted their genetic material into our DNA, or that of our ancestors, and some of them still have the ability to move around our genomes.“

Although these are researchers from Oxford (neither from Travnik, nor Vitez, nor Široki Brijeg), I am not sure how accurate this research is, nor how it occurred to them to compare human and hyena DNA... Now, either Oxford is not what it used to be, or it is a case of „idle hands are the devil's workshop“, or perhaps none of this is without some... In any case, I am only interested in how it could happen, at what stage of evolutionary development or by what error of nature(?!) that all that inactive, meaningless, unnecessary and useless evolutionary waste ended up in Bosnia and Herzegovina and engages in politics by not engaging in it, elects government by not going to the polls, and determines the fate of an entire country and all its inhabitants by not being interested in it! Otherwise, except through these essential disorders, it is difficult to describe such a concentration and such combinations of ignorance, incompetence, dilettantism, unscrupulousness and selfishness on one side, and rampant crime, malignant capillary corruption, galloping party-family clientelism, privatization scams and meaningless judiciary on the other.

Not one of our sports teams has ever played a match where the referees were on our side. And not a single criminal proceeding has been initiated for tax evasion, embezzlement, abuse... against our political representation without the referees being on the side of the accused. Optimists would say that justice is blind, and that its impartiality is reflected in that resultant balance, while experienced optimists – better known as realists – would ask: „Can't a blind woman find any other job than dispensing justice!?“

We all think the system cannot be changed. That is because we do not understand that we are the system. Or we understand... but we do not want to change. If, for example, you stop anyone on the street and ask if they are for change, I am sure that close to 100% of respondents would answer yes. But, if you ask the same respondents if they want to be participants, actors, or God forbid, drivers of change, you can expect the same percentage of hurried head-shakers who just remembered they are late somewhere...

Democracy is only in principle a good way for those who actually have no say to get the impression that they are choosing someone who will take care of them. All the shortcomings of this impression became apparent the moment it was first practically applied, that is, after two idiots outvoted one genius, and shortly thereafter all three were on the brink of starvation. Or, more concretely, after a million people decided that they could not decide anything. But, that is not important either, because the government in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not interested in anything that constitutes an existential and vital part of the lives of their voters. This would, in particular, represent the blackest form of contempt for voters if it were not for voter abstainers.

Many believe that only a great change brought about by great people can bring great good. I have a different opinion... only small things persistently repeated, small good deeds of ordinary people, the way they perform daily tasks, communicate with other people... can bring many small changes that, united, will mark the beginning of a great change... In other words, those small changes in the way of performing daily duties and tasks, changes in the culture of living will mark a cultural turning point of civilizational proportions... In other words, it is not up to them... it is up to us.

Incidentally, in the aforementioned sense – of waste disposal – something occurred to me regarding our EU future, but since that is not and will not be relevant for a long time, there is neither sense nor need to waste space and time on it.