The man who was named as the most famous man of the 20th Century died overnight. Neil Armstrong the first human to walk on the moon died from complications of heart surgery and another part of world history and my personal history went with him.
A man who had travelled the heavens has now been called back.
In July 1969 I was a gawky, buck toothed, skinny, short (I was in my 4'4" stage that I would stay in for a couple of years awaitng a growth spurt) 12 year old at Wangaratta Tech. In March of that year I had unsuccessfully attempted a form of acrobatics in which I would narrowly avoid being struck by a slightly speeding Falcon as I rode in front of it as I crossed the Hume Highway. Death beckoned as I flew through the air. If it hadn't been for some defensive driving and skilful navigation of a culvert I would have rolled under the car and been driven over the top of and no doubt died. Only back at school for a few weeks I was one of many kids gathered around a black and white tv in our classroom waiting for the Eagle to land on the Sea of Tranquility. Eventually it did but wait for the dismount was interminable and we were eventually sent home. My memory is that it was still an hour or two before we saw Neil walk down those stairs and set foot on the soil.
My memory of the timings is as hazy as some of the shots of the moment but the memory of the momentousness is strong. It is simply one of the great images in my brain and for god's sake I saw it!!!!
By all accounts Mr Armstrong was a humble bloke and frankly he had every right to be otherwise, this was a magnificent achievement and he deserved to be proud of his part in it. Imagine the first attempt of this feat damnedwell worked. He will evr be a hero to me and many others, to be way 'out there', one of two men in a tiny module dependent on the skills of people thousands of miles away in Houston, Parkes and Honeysuckle Creek. Talk about alone and a breath away from eternity - literally...astonishing.
This year one of the gret writers of our time Gore Vidal died, the best stand up comic Phyllis Diller died and now the leader of all astronauts and the caretaker of many young people's dreams has died.
Entering the sixth decade of my life the loss of my childhood 'familiars' becomes a norm. I feel each loss as a part of me goes with them. I know the sadness of our times is that too many young people are coming to know tragedy and sadness when they ought be only fighting the good fight to get through each day and experiencing the adventure. I hope they still have their heroes and role models. I'd like to think they are not just 'celebrities' but classmates, family and friends. Wherever or whoever they are I pray they are always positive ones.
Neil Armstrong, you are my hero and you are simply amazing. Thank you for raising our eyes to the skies, our dreams to beyond where they were previoulsy and for having been most of all Neil Armstrong, the right man in the right job with the right stuff.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A Very Dark Night
I’m no expert in the US Constitution but the latest chatter about the second amendment has led me to do some thinking. Here is what the second amendment says: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”
The first bit of history is to note the amendment was ratified in 1791. At that time the States had no professional, trained army and so it fell to citizens to form the militia and of course they needed to be armed to carry out what would be an expectation of protection (‘...as necessary to the security of a free state’) . Today the United States has fully functioning armed forces which is armed and trained. This begs the question why the citizenry needs to be armed and why the second amendment in intent needs to exist. There is no obligation on any of the States to follow the amendment as it is not included in any other amendments which mandate a State follow it. It is questionable whether my right to own a gun has much to do with the security of a free state.
James Holmes in Colorado and his hideous, murderous assault could be seen as personifying what the NRA and its ilk support. He was exercising what they say is his unalienable right to bear arms. He was sure as hell bearing arms to the max. One might wonder why no one else in the cinema was bearing arms but one might in many ways be thankful they weren’t or at least chose to bear arms but not use them.
I am always at a loss to understand why Americans believe they need to bear arms, own guns, protect themselves with firearms etc while most other countries get by without it. I am further at a loss to understand why Americans see no correlation between their belief and the breathtaking number of gun related deaths/crimes/murders/assaults each year. 8775 murders in 2010 were caused by firearms – that’s 24 a day (Britain 600 for the same period or 1.6 a day, Australia 250 –one death every second day, 1% considered suicide).
NRA spokesman David Britt suggests “None of us in the free world would have what we have if it were not for guns. It’s about freedom, it's not about violence." He also suggests that gun control is a threat to liberty. Well when someone puts a bullet through my brains I’m just not sure where my freedom and liberty lies. When you feel your home is under threat and you need a gun to protect it when such a threat has not yet occurred I’m not convinced that is exercising freedom, aren’t you in some way entrapping yourself? If you are suspicious of your fellow humans to the extent that your country has more guns than citizens where is the liberty, isn’t liberty about thought and fairness and respect and acceptance as well? Being a slave to paranoia or prejudice or irrationality is not freedom, is not liberty, it is a form of incarceration of thought which is insidious and dangerous.
I am persuaded to the argument that government should serve the people rather than the people be subservient to government but I don’t believe that argument or philosophy is served well by a community of people who believes the first response, the best response is to shoot and kill. When the argument is reduced to ‘guns don’t kill, people do’ (ridiculous) or fascist sloganeering ‘out of my cold dead hand’ or even dick waving ‘The war is coming to the streets of America and if you are not keeping and bearing and practicing with your arms then you will be helpless and you will be the victim of evil.’ (Ted Nugent), it’s hard to take seriously but you still cringe.
By the way isn’t Mitt Romney a member of the NRA?
To Mr Holmes himself; he is being described as evil and I wonder if this is not an overused reflexive term. I can see what he did can validly be called an evil act but I’m not sure the person themselves can be called evil, what is the criteria? Repulsive because it repulses me, revolting because I am revolted by it, heinous because it is an atrocity and mystifying because we don’t know why. Evil has its own context and its own uniqueness. I suspect it makes us cope better if we use a darker term and assign a label more suggestive of something demonic or satanic than the act of a (possible, yet to be proved) disturbed young man. We have no doubt James Holmes committed this awful crime but we don’t know why. We can judge him and we can ponder as that seems appropriate. BUT unless and until we find that out the nature of the crime is very much up for debate.
Just sayin...
The first bit of history is to note the amendment was ratified in 1791. At that time the States had no professional, trained army and so it fell to citizens to form the militia and of course they needed to be armed to carry out what would be an expectation of protection (‘...as necessary to the security of a free state’) . Today the United States has fully functioning armed forces which is armed and trained. This begs the question why the citizenry needs to be armed and why the second amendment in intent needs to exist. There is no obligation on any of the States to follow the amendment as it is not included in any other amendments which mandate a State follow it. It is questionable whether my right to own a gun has much to do with the security of a free state.
James Holmes in Colorado and his hideous, murderous assault could be seen as personifying what the NRA and its ilk support. He was exercising what they say is his unalienable right to bear arms. He was sure as hell bearing arms to the max. One might wonder why no one else in the cinema was bearing arms but one might in many ways be thankful they weren’t or at least chose to bear arms but not use them.
I am always at a loss to understand why Americans believe they need to bear arms, own guns, protect themselves with firearms etc while most other countries get by without it. I am further at a loss to understand why Americans see no correlation between their belief and the breathtaking number of gun related deaths/crimes/murders/assaults each year. 8775 murders in 2010 were caused by firearms – that’s 24 a day (Britain 600 for the same period or 1.6 a day, Australia 250 –one death every second day, 1% considered suicide).
NRA spokesman David Britt suggests “None of us in the free world would have what we have if it were not for guns. It’s about freedom, it's not about violence." He also suggests that gun control is a threat to liberty. Well when someone puts a bullet through my brains I’m just not sure where my freedom and liberty lies. When you feel your home is under threat and you need a gun to protect it when such a threat has not yet occurred I’m not convinced that is exercising freedom, aren’t you in some way entrapping yourself? If you are suspicious of your fellow humans to the extent that your country has more guns than citizens where is the liberty, isn’t liberty about thought and fairness and respect and acceptance as well? Being a slave to paranoia or prejudice or irrationality is not freedom, is not liberty, it is a form of incarceration of thought which is insidious and dangerous.
I am persuaded to the argument that government should serve the people rather than the people be subservient to government but I don’t believe that argument or philosophy is served well by a community of people who believes the first response, the best response is to shoot and kill. When the argument is reduced to ‘guns don’t kill, people do’ (ridiculous) or fascist sloganeering ‘out of my cold dead hand’ or even dick waving ‘The war is coming to the streets of America and if you are not keeping and bearing and practicing with your arms then you will be helpless and you will be the victim of evil.’ (Ted Nugent), it’s hard to take seriously but you still cringe.
By the way isn’t Mitt Romney a member of the NRA?
To Mr Holmes himself; he is being described as evil and I wonder if this is not an overused reflexive term. I can see what he did can validly be called an evil act but I’m not sure the person themselves can be called evil, what is the criteria? Repulsive because it repulses me, revolting because I am revolted by it, heinous because it is an atrocity and mystifying because we don’t know why. Evil has its own context and its own uniqueness. I suspect it makes us cope better if we use a darker term and assign a label more suggestive of something demonic or satanic than the act of a (possible, yet to be proved) disturbed young man. We have no doubt James Holmes committed this awful crime but we don’t know why. We can judge him and we can ponder as that seems appropriate. BUT unless and until we find that out the nature of the crime is very much up for debate.
Just sayin...
Friday, July 20, 2012
Sorry Fakebook, We Can't Be Friends Anymore
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” -Anais Nin
Friendship is a funny thing isn’t it? I value it strongly and sometimes find it hard to imagine my life without my true friends. Sadly, at the same time as I ponder on that thought someone comes along and surprises me in the worst possible way, let’s me down, causes me to feel hurt or just drops me cold and I am left to wonder ‘why’.
Why Facebook chose to use the word ‘friend’ instead of ‘follower’ or ‘hanger on’ ‘circle ‘or ‘another number to my list’ is not a great mystery. It’s a touchy feely term that is very human and generates an emotional response – therefore more likely to be attractive. Also it was used in College face-books so carried over to the online concept originally. My added theory is Mark Zuckerberg had very few friends at College so why not create an ‘ideal world’ and call them friends – a bit like our make believe friend as kids. However is a friend in this case just an audience? Is a Facebook friend just an extra notch on the board? Do we check our friendships on Facebook in the same way we do in ‘real life’ – would I want to be my friend? It’s even now considered a verb ‘to friend someone’ or ‘friend me’.
I despair at the diminution in value of this precious word and it is why I refer to this social medium as Fakebook.
Before you jump on me and say I’m out of the age group Fakebook is designed for anyway did you know a THIRD of Fakebook users are over 50? In the latest Census only 1% of gays said they were in a committed long term relationship and yet we are agitating for them to be ‘heard’ on the subject of marriage so...whatever! I was actually an early adopter of Facebook. I originally had a page in early 2005 after hearing a discussion about it on radio. It started to really take off globally around the same time. I’d get a friend request and I felt good (warning right there surely...I felt valued when I got a friend request? Was it a throwback to feeling part of the gang when I was chosen for a team at school?)
Back then Facebook was a conversational tool, an online forum where people could hang out together. It was cool and it had life but it was just a little, well ‘fake’. I even had a stalker!!!
It didn’t take long before our ‘friendship’ had run its course and I took my leave. The only thing I actually missed was the TV Trivia game which I was sensational at.
Fast forward to autumn 2012 and an idea about how Facebook could be applied to the workplace and to customers was brewing. I decided to renew my acquaintance with the community of 900 million users and do some personal and professional ‘research’.
I was welcomed back warmly and was surprised I was only bereft one ‘friend’ (and sadly one I would also call a ‘real’ friend). There were some snazzy new improvements (relative term) and some baffling changes. It all seemed a bit busy and cluttered but the timeline look was much ‘cleaner’. Were there that many ads before and do I really have to get all those ‘suggested friends’ every bloody time I log in? I don’t have a relationship status so why do I get singles ads? I don’t live in Canberra so why do I get ads for ‘Clicos Cafe and Bar' in Barton? Clearly a marketplace had grown around Fakebook in an alarming way. And if I want to switch those two components off? I’m sure I can but I’m just as sure it’s not simple to find out how.
Noam Chomsky, Naomi Wolf and Alvin Toffler have all talked (and many years ago) about the dangers of us all being commoditized and the essential spirit that makes us human being seen as secondary to what the marketplace can do ‘with’ us. If you want to know how much of a product you have become you only need to sign up to Facebook. You’ll ‘like’ a page and before you know it suddenly you are getting all sorts of ‘cute’ messages which really just cover the fact that they are advertising their latest sale, product of the month, event or platform and you are the spot that ‘houses’ that ad, you are the delivery mechanism for those who visit your page (and every time they do that the Facebook tracker identifies them as a potential mark), you are a DNA rich, oxygen breathing billboard. Well done you and of course you benefit from doing that for those corporations by how again? Talk about freeloading for profit.
In the five years that I have been absent I hoped the level of debate, conversation or contribution would have been raised above the banal, the pointless or the tedious. In fact it seemed worse than it had before (when arguably it could have been put down to users getting acquainted with the medium). And the language; is there no ‘filth filter’? I know one might expect adults to be able to show their language skills without the need to use the foulest of foul language but apparently all bets are off. Obviously I have no right to be offended or bored. Frankly when you drop the F bomb (or worse) all the time you lose the ability to add nuance when you are angry or outraged and it just becomes tiresome. Why does it have to be so ugly and nasty and freaking annoying?
I had made an assumption that Twitter had taken the place of the short ‘announcements’ such as ‘Catching up for coffee with the lovely Mary’ but apparently not because the majority of status updates are of that type. Frankly why would I care? Frankly why would you post that, is it to show how groovy and sociable you are? Is it to show how interesting you are? Wouldn’t the people you are with be the ones who are the most likely to care about what you are doing? Call me and tell me about it, why post it for the world to see (and privacy settings or not dear reader the world CAN see it). Is it a need to be included, to feel valued (oh that again), to be on show, to ‘announce’ everything? Surely not, that would be relevance deprivation syndrome wouldn’t it? It just smacks of neediness and ‘look at me’.
I’ve talked before about the security issues before but I have concluded most really don’t care and have a kind of ignorant bliss that ‘no one can see what I put on there apart from those I have given access to’...this despite evidence and anecdotes to refute that assumption (not to mention the mind boggling rise in internet based crime). It absolutely astounds me the sort of ‘free kicks’ given to hackers, internet trawlers and ‘phish-mongers’ who make a very healthy (albeit dishonest) living monitoring Facebook and the Internet to pounce on another sucker. Why not just throw your driver’s licence and credit card into the middle of the main street and let it happen? And don’t forget to include the message that you’re off to some occasion NOW so your home is available for plundering too. And the Smart phone interface now even tells the baddies how far from home you are which is handy if they're in a bit of a hurry - nice one.
There have been the good times; I have got to know some lovely people (many of whom I never knew but read about by drilling down through all the levels from a friend’s page – the furthest I got was 35 levels down from just one friend’s link), seen some beautiful sights (maybe even copied a few photos), had my spirits lifted (thanks to Celia’s New York and my gorgeous great nephew) and shared in celebrations.
The big problem Fakebook was I always wanted more and you always gave me less.
So it’s time for Fakebook and I to part our ways and move on. There is nothing for me to see there. I can’t keep up, I don’t want to be one of the ‘noticed’ and ‘on show’ (let alone strive to be ‘best in show’), I don’t want to feel ‘better’ because I thought of something to post and I don’t want to feel uncomfortable when I read something that’s just that little bit too personal (or inappropriate) about someone I actually don’t know all that well. I started to worry when I felt a little ‘less’ because I hadn’t updated my status for a day or two – a bit of an 'uh-oh' moment. Even worse was that sinking feeling when I posted something and I didn't get a 'like' (or a visit to my Blog - how could they)...I was almost beoming co-dependent with myself.
I just want to have conversations with people who matter in my life, people who sustain me, nourish me with their ideas and their love, sooth me with their voice, not to ‘act as a friend’ but be one. I’ll dine with them, I’ll talk to them (hopefully in person but a phone will do), I’ll be invited to their weddings, I’ll watch their children grow, we’ll swap books or jokes or (shock) opinions, I will be able to speak frankly and honestly and while they’ll not always agree they won’t judge and they’ll be there when I need them...
Not on line but on hand.
Friendship is a funny thing isn’t it? I value it strongly and sometimes find it hard to imagine my life without my true friends. Sadly, at the same time as I ponder on that thought someone comes along and surprises me in the worst possible way, let’s me down, causes me to feel hurt or just drops me cold and I am left to wonder ‘why’.
Why Facebook chose to use the word ‘friend’ instead of ‘follower’ or ‘hanger on’ ‘circle ‘or ‘another number to my list’ is not a great mystery. It’s a touchy feely term that is very human and generates an emotional response – therefore more likely to be attractive. Also it was used in College face-books so carried over to the online concept originally. My added theory is Mark Zuckerberg had very few friends at College so why not create an ‘ideal world’ and call them friends – a bit like our make believe friend as kids. However is a friend in this case just an audience? Is a Facebook friend just an extra notch on the board? Do we check our friendships on Facebook in the same way we do in ‘real life’ – would I want to be my friend? It’s even now considered a verb ‘to friend someone’ or ‘friend me’.
I despair at the diminution in value of this precious word and it is why I refer to this social medium as Fakebook.
Before you jump on me and say I’m out of the age group Fakebook is designed for anyway did you know a THIRD of Fakebook users are over 50? In the latest Census only 1% of gays said they were in a committed long term relationship and yet we are agitating for them to be ‘heard’ on the subject of marriage so...whatever! I was actually an early adopter of Facebook. I originally had a page in early 2005 after hearing a discussion about it on radio. It started to really take off globally around the same time. I’d get a friend request and I felt good (warning right there surely...I felt valued when I got a friend request? Was it a throwback to feeling part of the gang when I was chosen for a team at school?)
Back then Facebook was a conversational tool, an online forum where people could hang out together. It was cool and it had life but it was just a little, well ‘fake’. I even had a stalker!!!
It didn’t take long before our ‘friendship’ had run its course and I took my leave. The only thing I actually missed was the TV Trivia game which I was sensational at.
Fast forward to autumn 2012 and an idea about how Facebook could be applied to the workplace and to customers was brewing. I decided to renew my acquaintance with the community of 900 million users and do some personal and professional ‘research’.
I was welcomed back warmly and was surprised I was only bereft one ‘friend’ (and sadly one I would also call a ‘real’ friend). There were some snazzy new improvements (relative term) and some baffling changes. It all seemed a bit busy and cluttered but the timeline look was much ‘cleaner’. Were there that many ads before and do I really have to get all those ‘suggested friends’ every bloody time I log in? I don’t have a relationship status so why do I get singles ads? I don’t live in Canberra so why do I get ads for ‘Clicos Cafe and Bar' in Barton? Clearly a marketplace had grown around Fakebook in an alarming way. And if I want to switch those two components off? I’m sure I can but I’m just as sure it’s not simple to find out how.
Noam Chomsky, Naomi Wolf and Alvin Toffler have all talked (and many years ago) about the dangers of us all being commoditized and the essential spirit that makes us human being seen as secondary to what the marketplace can do ‘with’ us. If you want to know how much of a product you have become you only need to sign up to Facebook. You’ll ‘like’ a page and before you know it suddenly you are getting all sorts of ‘cute’ messages which really just cover the fact that they are advertising their latest sale, product of the month, event or platform and you are the spot that ‘houses’ that ad, you are the delivery mechanism for those who visit your page (and every time they do that the Facebook tracker identifies them as a potential mark), you are a DNA rich, oxygen breathing billboard. Well done you and of course you benefit from doing that for those corporations by how again? Talk about freeloading for profit.
In the five years that I have been absent I hoped the level of debate, conversation or contribution would have been raised above the banal, the pointless or the tedious. In fact it seemed worse than it had before (when arguably it could have been put down to users getting acquainted with the medium). And the language; is there no ‘filth filter’? I know one might expect adults to be able to show their language skills without the need to use the foulest of foul language but apparently all bets are off. Obviously I have no right to be offended or bored. Frankly when you drop the F bomb (or worse) all the time you lose the ability to add nuance when you are angry or outraged and it just becomes tiresome. Why does it have to be so ugly and nasty and freaking annoying?
I had made an assumption that Twitter had taken the place of the short ‘announcements’ such as ‘Catching up for coffee with the lovely Mary’ but apparently not because the majority of status updates are of that type. Frankly why would I care? Frankly why would you post that, is it to show how groovy and sociable you are? Is it to show how interesting you are? Wouldn’t the people you are with be the ones who are the most likely to care about what you are doing? Call me and tell me about it, why post it for the world to see (and privacy settings or not dear reader the world CAN see it). Is it a need to be included, to feel valued (oh that again), to be on show, to ‘announce’ everything? Surely not, that would be relevance deprivation syndrome wouldn’t it? It just smacks of neediness and ‘look at me’.
I’ve talked before about the security issues before but I have concluded most really don’t care and have a kind of ignorant bliss that ‘no one can see what I put on there apart from those I have given access to’...this despite evidence and anecdotes to refute that assumption (not to mention the mind boggling rise in internet based crime). It absolutely astounds me the sort of ‘free kicks’ given to hackers, internet trawlers and ‘phish-mongers’ who make a very healthy (albeit dishonest) living monitoring Facebook and the Internet to pounce on another sucker. Why not just throw your driver’s licence and credit card into the middle of the main street and let it happen? And don’t forget to include the message that you’re off to some occasion NOW so your home is available for plundering too. And the Smart phone interface now even tells the baddies how far from home you are which is handy if they're in a bit of a hurry - nice one.
There have been the good times; I have got to know some lovely people (many of whom I never knew but read about by drilling down through all the levels from a friend’s page – the furthest I got was 35 levels down from just one friend’s link), seen some beautiful sights (maybe even copied a few photos), had my spirits lifted (thanks to Celia’s New York and my gorgeous great nephew) and shared in celebrations.
The big problem Fakebook was I always wanted more and you always gave me less.
So it’s time for Fakebook and I to part our ways and move on. There is nothing for me to see there. I can’t keep up, I don’t want to be one of the ‘noticed’ and ‘on show’ (let alone strive to be ‘best in show’), I don’t want to feel ‘better’ because I thought of something to post and I don’t want to feel uncomfortable when I read something that’s just that little bit too personal (or inappropriate) about someone I actually don’t know all that well. I started to worry when I felt a little ‘less’ because I hadn’t updated my status for a day or two – a bit of an 'uh-oh' moment. Even worse was that sinking feeling when I posted something and I didn't get a 'like' (or a visit to my Blog - how could they)...I was almost beoming co-dependent with myself.
I just want to have conversations with people who matter in my life, people who sustain me, nourish me with their ideas and their love, sooth me with their voice, not to ‘act as a friend’ but be one. I’ll dine with them, I’ll talk to them (hopefully in person but a phone will do), I’ll be invited to their weddings, I’ll watch their children grow, we’ll swap books or jokes or (shock) opinions, I will be able to speak frankly and honestly and while they’ll not always agree they won’t judge and they’ll be there when I need them...
Not on line but on hand.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Rocky Road to Ruin
The scenario is familiar. The first night you get a hurried phone call just as you’ve popped the veggies on. The questions are preceded by the promise that ‘this is not a marketing call and I’m not trying to sell you anything. I give them my age, ‘rough’ salary range whether I have a mortgage and what industry I work in. All pretty innocuous and an efficient goodbye with the teaser that I ‘might’ be contacted to hear about the latest Government tax arrangements. Oh well.
Two nights later the fish is coming along nicely under the grill just as the phone rings. Remember two nights ago you answered a few questions about your salary and the industry you worked for? Of course, I may not remember to buy milk on the way home but I do remember that call. Well guess what? I am one of a handful of people who has been ‘selected’ to attend a personalised session to discuss how to reduce my income tax.
Gulp
Crickets chirp
What do I think about that?
Well frankly I’m appalled. Why would I be interested in reducing my income tax? Well no-one wants to pay income tax apparently so they are sure I’d want to know ways to reduce mine.
Actually I don’t mind paying income tax, I think it’s my responsibility as a wage earner and citizen to contribute.
They aren’t suggesting I pay NO tax just reduce my income tax.
You know what; I’m actually philosophically opposed to the idea that everyone ‘should’ find ways to reduce their income tax. If they are paying what the government has determined is the correct rate then that’s as it ought to be. Imagine if everyone took the stance of paying less than they were supposed to. Aren’t government programs worked out on what they expect to reap from income tax by the amount we’re expected to pay?
Apparently no one else they have spoken to has had an objection, in fact quite the opposite. Well that’s the problem isn’t it? Won’t they be the ones who’ll complain when they are on an even longer waiting list to have an operation or have to travel great distances in dodgy public transport on crappy roads to take their kids to school because the local ones are full or closed? I want to receive a full pension when I retire but I won’t if the funds aren’t there and I want my medications to continue to be subsidised and not just mine but the ones that cancer sufferers need but would not be able to afford if they were a couple of thousand of dollars per pack.
Pretty soon he ran out of steam, told me he appreciated my concern and approach. Just before we parted company though he wondered if I might then rather have a chat with someone about investing in property to maximise my savings (not sure if I buy something how that increases my saving, however...)?
I suggested it was difficult to imagine I would have any business relationship with a company whose basic operating model was formulated on a philosophy I found offensive.
Now you might be better able to understand why reducing income tax would be a good thing but it really got up my nose. I think there is a lot of mismanagement in government BUT that is different to why we ought to feel that paying our fair share of tax is a good thing. I would rather not have any of my tax pay for military offence (I am okay with defence of our borders), I am not convinced of the need for funding for the arts and I would rather our money was spent processing refugees in Indonesia and Malaysia then flying them here than encouraging people to get on rickety boats risking their lives to get where they will end up anyway. BUT still no reasons for paying less than my fair share.
I’m not sure if this was all a scam, an unwise ‘sell’ or an opportunist grab for business from the greedy and irresponsible.
I am sure it annoyed me.
Two nights later the fish is coming along nicely under the grill just as the phone rings. Remember two nights ago you answered a few questions about your salary and the industry you worked for? Of course, I may not remember to buy milk on the way home but I do remember that call. Well guess what? I am one of a handful of people who has been ‘selected’ to attend a personalised session to discuss how to reduce my income tax.
Gulp
Crickets chirp
What do I think about that?
Well frankly I’m appalled. Why would I be interested in reducing my income tax? Well no-one wants to pay income tax apparently so they are sure I’d want to know ways to reduce mine.
Actually I don’t mind paying income tax, I think it’s my responsibility as a wage earner and citizen to contribute.
They aren’t suggesting I pay NO tax just reduce my income tax.
You know what; I’m actually philosophically opposed to the idea that everyone ‘should’ find ways to reduce their income tax. If they are paying what the government has determined is the correct rate then that’s as it ought to be. Imagine if everyone took the stance of paying less than they were supposed to. Aren’t government programs worked out on what they expect to reap from income tax by the amount we’re expected to pay?
Apparently no one else they have spoken to has had an objection, in fact quite the opposite. Well that’s the problem isn’t it? Won’t they be the ones who’ll complain when they are on an even longer waiting list to have an operation or have to travel great distances in dodgy public transport on crappy roads to take their kids to school because the local ones are full or closed? I want to receive a full pension when I retire but I won’t if the funds aren’t there and I want my medications to continue to be subsidised and not just mine but the ones that cancer sufferers need but would not be able to afford if they were a couple of thousand of dollars per pack.
Pretty soon he ran out of steam, told me he appreciated my concern and approach. Just before we parted company though he wondered if I might then rather have a chat with someone about investing in property to maximise my savings (not sure if I buy something how that increases my saving, however...)?
I suggested it was difficult to imagine I would have any business relationship with a company whose basic operating model was formulated on a philosophy I found offensive.
Now you might be better able to understand why reducing income tax would be a good thing but it really got up my nose. I think there is a lot of mismanagement in government BUT that is different to why we ought to feel that paying our fair share of tax is a good thing. I would rather not have any of my tax pay for military offence (I am okay with defence of our borders), I am not convinced of the need for funding for the arts and I would rather our money was spent processing refugees in Indonesia and Malaysia then flying them here than encouraging people to get on rickety boats risking their lives to get where they will end up anyway. BUT still no reasons for paying less than my fair share.
I’m not sure if this was all a scam, an unwise ‘sell’ or an opportunist grab for business from the greedy and irresponsible.
I am sure it annoyed me.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
A Winter Solstice Meditation
Do you ever feel that you might be enjoying life more and more liking the world less and less? That’s where I am right now.
The rate of change and what the changes are bringing at first feel exciting but then become disappointing, empty and eventually overwhelming. Many of them are based on saving money or streamlining a process, replacing a product or finding a new way of doing things. Very few, it seems to me, advance humanity, increase compassion or improve the way we communicate with each other at a personal level. Indeed many changes (I’m resisting calling them advances) are about distancing us from each other and isolating us more.
Every night there is news of more jobs lost as businesses close. I despair for those scores of people who have given many years to a company, shown loyalty through tough times who suddenly find they have no job to go to the next day, no pay packet to look forward to and debts up to the eyeballs because they have bought the latest ‘must have’ technology or mortgaged their McMansion, borrowed to pay the kids school fees let alone the mandatory second or third car.
Decisions are taken from us in benign ways. I suspect in a couple of years we may no longer have a daily newspaper in Melbourne; there will certainly be a news service from Fairfax or News Limited but only on line and users will pay for that by subscription or pay as you go. I have a weekend ritual with newspapers and now that is taken from me. I choose not to access news articles on line except for specialty newspapers or overseas publications. I like the battle with the broadsheet, doing the crossword or the nine letter puzzle and I like picking up the paper a day or so later when I remember there was ‘that article’ I meant to read – much more civilised than putting the name of the article (which I won’t remember)into the search box and retrieving it. By the time I do all that I could probably be half way through reading the paper copy.
Social network is just a mystery to me. How anyone can seriously believe they are having any sort of meaningful ‘conversation’ on Facebook, Twitter, Yammer or the various incarnations is beyond me. Yes you are exchanging words but there is no evident, obvious meaning or nuance to separate the rubbish from the quality. Everyone seems to be plugging something or showing their language shortfalls (the F Bomb is dropped with no regard for offence or context – very mature), exposing their emotional state or latest triumph. There’s a real sense of ‘look at me’ and yet there are cries of ‘I want to be alone’...have we all gone just a little bit mad? I just yearn for a good old chat, doesn’t even need to be deep and meaningful.
TV is full of dross, the quality stuff lasts a minute before it is dropped. We have to be judged or commented upon in some way to be a success – well it’s some kind of ‘reality’ I suppose. And for the love of heaven they’re bringing back Big Brother. How soon we forget why that show was cancelled just a few short years ago, perhaps the programmers know we will fall for it all over again and how sad does that make us?
Obama came to power in America on a promise of Hope and offering an open palm to ‘enemies’. In the four years he has continued to clench his fist...Israel and Palestine are no closer to co-existence, Iran is being lined up for the next ‘invasion’, Syria is a mess, Iraq is ready to fall apart, Afghanistan has progressed very little.
Meanwhile in Australia Parliament is a disgrace. All sides have demonstrated a lack of maturity or care for the parliamentary process and ignored the message from the last election – we want better. Labour is more intent on retaining power than improving the lot of the people, the opposition is hell bent on getting an election at any cost but offers no alternative policies. And they think we won’t deliver another hung parliament or minority government?
No-one seems to know what they are doing; it is hard to have confidence in our business leaders, our politicians, our educators, even other drivers. Young people seem lost and alone, being exposed to cruel and unjust things that my generation could not have coped with. They are undoubtedly smarter but I suspect softer and more sensitive and not in a good way. Is this because of the isolation and distance that our ‘advances’ have created?
So I’ll find a nice park to go to and have nature surround me, the bird song and the air to nourish me. I’ll take a book with me – a real paper and binding one – I’ll have a soothing beverage and maybe a sandwich I’ve made myself from fresh ingredients. I’ll sit quietly in my own thoughts for an hour or two. I’ll absorb the life around me and within me.
And I’ll take a moment...
To wish...
To hope...
And life will go on and the world will continue to turn.
The rate of change and what the changes are bringing at first feel exciting but then become disappointing, empty and eventually overwhelming. Many of them are based on saving money or streamlining a process, replacing a product or finding a new way of doing things. Very few, it seems to me, advance humanity, increase compassion or improve the way we communicate with each other at a personal level. Indeed many changes (I’m resisting calling them advances) are about distancing us from each other and isolating us more.
Every night there is news of more jobs lost as businesses close. I despair for those scores of people who have given many years to a company, shown loyalty through tough times who suddenly find they have no job to go to the next day, no pay packet to look forward to and debts up to the eyeballs because they have bought the latest ‘must have’ technology or mortgaged their McMansion, borrowed to pay the kids school fees let alone the mandatory second or third car.
Decisions are taken from us in benign ways. I suspect in a couple of years we may no longer have a daily newspaper in Melbourne; there will certainly be a news service from Fairfax or News Limited but only on line and users will pay for that by subscription or pay as you go. I have a weekend ritual with newspapers and now that is taken from me. I choose not to access news articles on line except for specialty newspapers or overseas publications. I like the battle with the broadsheet, doing the crossword or the nine letter puzzle and I like picking up the paper a day or so later when I remember there was ‘that article’ I meant to read – much more civilised than putting the name of the article (which I won’t remember)into the search box and retrieving it. By the time I do all that I could probably be half way through reading the paper copy.
Social network is just a mystery to me. How anyone can seriously believe they are having any sort of meaningful ‘conversation’ on Facebook, Twitter, Yammer or the various incarnations is beyond me. Yes you are exchanging words but there is no evident, obvious meaning or nuance to separate the rubbish from the quality. Everyone seems to be plugging something or showing their language shortfalls (the F Bomb is dropped with no regard for offence or context – very mature), exposing their emotional state or latest triumph. There’s a real sense of ‘look at me’ and yet there are cries of ‘I want to be alone’...have we all gone just a little bit mad? I just yearn for a good old chat, doesn’t even need to be deep and meaningful.
TV is full of dross, the quality stuff lasts a minute before it is dropped. We have to be judged or commented upon in some way to be a success – well it’s some kind of ‘reality’ I suppose. And for the love of heaven they’re bringing back Big Brother. How soon we forget why that show was cancelled just a few short years ago, perhaps the programmers know we will fall for it all over again and how sad does that make us?
Obama came to power in America on a promise of Hope and offering an open palm to ‘enemies’. In the four years he has continued to clench his fist...Israel and Palestine are no closer to co-existence, Iran is being lined up for the next ‘invasion’, Syria is a mess, Iraq is ready to fall apart, Afghanistan has progressed very little.
Meanwhile in Australia Parliament is a disgrace. All sides have demonstrated a lack of maturity or care for the parliamentary process and ignored the message from the last election – we want better. Labour is more intent on retaining power than improving the lot of the people, the opposition is hell bent on getting an election at any cost but offers no alternative policies. And they think we won’t deliver another hung parliament or minority government?
No-one seems to know what they are doing; it is hard to have confidence in our business leaders, our politicians, our educators, even other drivers. Young people seem lost and alone, being exposed to cruel and unjust things that my generation could not have coped with. They are undoubtedly smarter but I suspect softer and more sensitive and not in a good way. Is this because of the isolation and distance that our ‘advances’ have created?
So I’ll find a nice park to go to and have nature surround me, the bird song and the air to nourish me. I’ll take a book with me – a real paper and binding one – I’ll have a soothing beverage and maybe a sandwich I’ve made myself from fresh ingredients. I’ll sit quietly in my own thoughts for an hour or two. I’ll absorb the life around me and within me.
And I’ll take a moment...
To wish...
To hope...
And life will go on and the world will continue to turn.
Friday, June 15, 2012
It’s called taking a Risk – or that’s how life works!
As a consequence your Government has issued a number of legislative changes to take effect immediately with the affect thereof protecting our citizens. It is in the words of a certain school principal ‘A safety Issue’.
The changes are:
- All beaches to be fenced off immediately. This will lessen likelihood of sunburn, sand rashes and allergic reactions to sea salt.
- Mobile phones banned. For many legitimate reasons such as zoning out can cause collisions, dropping of a mobile can result in the shattering causing a shard to fly up and make a one in 65 billion chance of lodging in someone else’s eye
- Tattslotto to be ceased. Winning first division could lead to coronary arrest from the elevated excitement level leaving the Tattersalls corporation and its agents liable to prosecution or action related to health outcomes
- Removal of concrete or asphalt from all schools. A shock finding shows that it is actually the connection sudden or otherwise with such surfaces which causes sprains, strains or broken bones.
- Abolition of the health industry. It is well known that illness thrives in a doctor’s surgery, hospital casualty ward and chemists. They are a huge risk to the health of all citizens
- Dissolution of parliament. The creation of laws, introduction of ‘levys’, and the mindless theatrics of all members of parliament can lead to frequent head spinning and loss of reason by their constituents.
- Supermarkets and stores selling food or any consumable item can only be accessed with prescriptions. Foodstuffs and beverages are known to be carcinogenic no matter what they contain, cause obesity even when 97% fat free (especially when that still means the 3% fat in that product is equivalent to five buckets of lard), rot your teeth, clog your arteries, dissolve your kidneys (whilst cleaning your coins) or empty your wallet inexplicably. Self serve checkouts which do not recognise your bag will be removed because...well they are just plain annoying.
- The cotton wool industry will become a protected industry under the ‘Mt Martha Act 2012’ administered by Gina Reinhart, Twiggy Forrester and Clive Palmer (because they can). This will ensure our young folk particularly but most others in general never have to take another risk, think for themselves, accept responsibility for their actions, consider the consequence of their choices, show courtesy or form a sentence in writing with any semblance of correct grammar or traditional spelling.
- The Privacy Act will be rescinded. This is widely understood as the ‘Facebook Amendment’ because clearly no one minds sharing all their personal information with the world, including people they would never cross the street to say hello to but will willingly call a ‘friend’ if it means outdoing someone else in the number of followers they have on the FBook page.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The Affable Anachronism
Being in the same job for 60 years is an achievement in anyone’s books. The Queen justly deserves the praise and kudos she is receiving this weekend for being on the throne and doing what she would see as her duty for over half a century. No-one reading this in.2012 is likely to see another monarch repeat her feat in their lifetime. If she lives a few more years Prince Charles will be in his 70’s at least when he takes over and William is likely to be at least 50 when (if) he becomes King. It’s not beyond reason to imagine that in 30 years the UK will have moved away from needing a Monarchy as a part of its governing class and might use them merely as trade or diplomatic representatives if at all.
The Queen has always been in my life and memory. I remember mum had a scrapbook with pages from Women’s Weekly tracing those early years of the very beautiful Princess Elizabeth as she became Queen. I remember standing for the anthem and singing ‘God Save the Queen’, certainly at primary school at least, going to the ‘pictures’ we’d get a brief film of Her Majesty on a horse looking, well Regal as the anthem blasted through the tinny speakers – and EVERYONE stood up for it. I’d say I was a monarchist, because I had no reason to think otherwise.
Then one day…
I just stopped and thought ‘why this family’? A simple question, history on their side sure but that’s more luck than anything else in the last couple of centuries. Many other people and many other families could just as easily be chosen and I’m sure could do a great job. I don’t know why we need a monarchy or a Royal Family in the first place but they are conversations for another day.
For me the Queen has done an outstanding job. It can’t be easy, having to meet and have something to say to hundreds of people in a year, to be ever mindful of the eyes constantly on you, to be the ultimate in a decision making process – sure you follow advice but in the end the buck stops with you. That could be a bit lonely. You might be surrounded by wealth and glitter, pomp and circumstance but so what? You don’t get to spend the wealth, someone else moves in when you die and someone else slots in the occasions for you. You’re left to be the one to ‘end’ a conversation, to get to as many people in a crowd as you can, you have to listen to awful singers, fawning speeches and ghastly politicians or other members of other Royal Families. No Long Service Leave and for this ‘sovereign’ not much sick leave. I like the woman. I can forgive her not paying taxes until pressure was applied, I have a big problem knowing there were no blacks employed at Buckingham Palace until the 80s and I think she could give up some of her property but overall she is highly tolerable.
God Bless her and a big thank you for just being there Your Majesty. I have no time for the position you hold but you are deserving of respect for the way you do it. I think you have done such a wonderful job that maybe it should end with you…why risk the reputation by possibly letting someone make a hash of it?
Today also is the 20th Anniversary of the Mabo decision. Eddie Mabo was a wonderful human being and a great Australian. It is sad he did not live to see the decision handed down but he always had faith it would be. He showed us all how to be better.
So one person who presides over an outdated and irrelevant hegemony and another who found a way and demanded the recognition of a logical and reasonable fundamental right. Thankfully only one of the former but I’d take a lot more of the latter…they would actually make it a better world.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
A Great Film
We humans do dreadful things, Guantanamo, Rendition, Abu Ghraib, detention centres, 9/11, Syria, Rwanda, Sudan,the Biggest Loser...
What we adults do to kids is often particularly dreadful. We have seen it in this country with the transportation of kids from the UK in the post war years, child soldiers in the African continent and Sth America demonstrate this.
Marius Holst has made a terrific and disturbing movie based on real events in Norway called 'King of Devils Island'. Wayward boys are detained on a miserable island in a fjord off Oslo commanded over by 'the Governor', played chillingly by the marvelous Stellan Skarsgard and his gang of grotesques. We know he's on borrowed time the minute Erling (Benjamin Helstad) arrives on the island to do time for an unexplained murder. He sees the island is ripe for rebellion, it's only how and when. Soon enough (or maybe far too late for some) the fuse is lit and a set of events which divided Norway are set in train.
This is a fine film well told, beautifully shot (you will be reaching for your coat so chilling is the air, but you might also be fishing for your tissues in the same coat pocket) and oh so well acted. The baddies make your skin crawl and the characterizations by the 'boys' are so multi levelled they are a lesson to older, more experienced actors.
The story made my blood boil but the movie stunned me. Don't miss it!
What we adults do to kids is often particularly dreadful. We have seen it in this country with the transportation of kids from the UK in the post war years, child soldiers in the African continent and Sth America demonstrate this.
Marius Holst has made a terrific and disturbing movie based on real events in Norway called 'King of Devils Island'. Wayward boys are detained on a miserable island in a fjord off Oslo commanded over by 'the Governor', played chillingly by the marvelous Stellan Skarsgard and his gang of grotesques. We know he's on borrowed time the minute Erling (Benjamin Helstad) arrives on the island to do time for an unexplained murder. He sees the island is ripe for rebellion, it's only how and when. Soon enough (or maybe far too late for some) the fuse is lit and a set of events which divided Norway are set in train.
The story made my blood boil but the movie stunned me. Don't miss it!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Anzac Day - A Precious Day or a Day That's a Bit Precious?
Anzac Day has passed for another year. I heard a comment, without giving credit to the wrong person I think it was Victorian Governor Chernov, that said 'Anzac Day is a precious day', isn't that a wonderful statement?
It troubles me though that we spend a few hours in quiet dignity and contemplation observing this 'precious' day but then it's 'open the shops' or 'let's get to the movies' or whatever else we can find to do for 'fun'. We seem so incapable of simply taking one 24 hour period and stopping to contemplate, to honor to take in what it's all about.
As a pacifist I went through my years of being hostile and dismissive about Anzac Day.Then one day i heard the author Patsy Adam-Smith talking about why she wrote her book 'The Anzacs' and I realised how important it all was. It is a commemoration of the spirit of those people who did go and fight and kill and represent the rest of us but the doing of that reminds us of the futility of war and the need for peace. Heavens above Gallipoli was a failure, a loss if you will and we are great friends with the country we fought on those fields - what could be more of a testament to how ludicrous war is? Those wonderful words of Kamal Ataturk about the sons of Australian mothers being Turkey's sons also is further testament.
So let's honor those people, this day, honor all of us who remain and most of all honor peace by living peacefully for that one day of the year.
BE!
It troubles me though that we spend a few hours in quiet dignity and contemplation observing this 'precious' day but then it's 'open the shops' or 'let's get to the movies' or whatever else we can find to do for 'fun'. We seem so incapable of simply taking one 24 hour period and stopping to contemplate, to honor to take in what it's all about.
As a pacifist I went through my years of being hostile and dismissive about Anzac Day.Then one day i heard the author Patsy Adam-Smith talking about why she wrote her book 'The Anzacs' and I realised how important it all was. It is a commemoration of the spirit of those people who did go and fight and kill and represent the rest of us but the doing of that reminds us of the futility of war and the need for peace. Heavens above Gallipoli was a failure, a loss if you will and we are great friends with the country we fought on those fields - what could be more of a testament to how ludicrous war is? Those wonderful words of Kamal Ataturk about the sons of Australian mothers being Turkey's sons also is further testament.
So let's honor those people, this day, honor all of us who remain and most of all honor peace by living peacefully for that one day of the year.
BE!
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