Thunderbirds are...



Went to 'Thunderbirds Modern' Exhibition on Jan 4 and thought of another thing (Please click Read More)

I recently enjoy the classic 'Thunderbirds' TV series now broadcasted in Japan every Sunday evening. There was an exhibition about the TV show in Osaka, and Masayo and I went to see it last week.

The original models were not shown, but we enjoyed looking at re-issued models/figures and some articles. They also showed some clothes Lady Penelope's clothes which seemed quite fashionable in 21st century. Off course the story happens in the late 21 century though!

Virgil and TB2:


I then realized one thing:
Thunderbirds (International Rescue) are an NPO, which is very potential.

They save people in danger free of charge and are not controlled by any government or political entity. There are some implications that NPOs today would demand (or envy?).

Thunderbirds are superior to any other NPOs as below:
1. They can transport to anywhere all over the world on their own, without passport control.
(Think how fast TB1 or 2 reaches to an accident site.)
2. They can collect information from the first source.
(TB5 is always spying from the space)
3. They consist of very potential staff.
(Even the stupid looking Gordon is illustrated as one of the best swimmers of the world...ah no information about his intelligence is available though. Oh, he plays a guitar by the way!)
4. They never fail.
(And they are not required to be accountable about their operations very much.)
But what the other NPOs would envy most is:
5. They are extremely RICH.

I saw some news about Japanese NPOs returned from Iran and many of them looked unhappy as they lack some of the above classifications. Some of them were too late to reach to the site, some could not do anything as they had no idea who to save etc etc.

There is also a Japanese NPO who sent many bags of rice to Mali, western Africa. They apparently lack the above 2 and 3: why did none of them point out that rice (sticky Japanese kind) is not the staple food there?

Yes, I am quite doubtful about the ability and accountability of Japanese NPOs. I see many of them collecting money in front of stations or in city centres, but none of explain how they use the donated money and to what extent they are capable of doing what they claim to do. They think they look good people by doing this, but I see hypocrisy.

Well well, the new film Thunderbirds is coming soon, and I think I will criticize Japanese (maybe other) NPOs more in detail.

Posted: (日) - 1 11, 2004 at 04:44 PM          

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