Thursday, 19 December 2013

Post No. 498 - Reading and random thoughts

Last night (well, it was last night when I started this post :) ) my partner and I watched a DVD with a Dixie Chicks [2] concert on it, An Evening with the Dixie Chicks. We enjoyed the music - especially what the yanks would probably call the "sassiness" of their songs (the pro-strong and independent women stance, in other words), but it struck me that the audience - or perhaps the camera angles chosen for the DVD showed the audience as if it was - was exclusively white, and largely female and stereotypically 'pretty' ... There were a few men in the audience who were shown (and a lovely shot of a hetero couple dancing together to one of the songs ... along with at least one man looking a tiny little bit uneasy about his partner singing Goodbye Earl so enthusiastically :) ), but I was genuinely surprised at the whiteness of the audience given the general progressiveness of the band [3]. I'm also surprised and disappointed at the continuing whiteness of sailing clubs (saw a segment on NITV about some indigenous kids being given a sail, so maybe things will change.) Racism will be a bit of a theme in this post ...

Anyway, moving on.

Well, it is the Stupid Season again - already I've seen drunks walking against don't walk signs and staring down oncoming traffic (which is why I have 'upgraded' the term from Silly Season to Stupid Season). I wish I could go somewhere quiet, away from the bloody city - and take the dog over New Years, as the poor critter is terrified of fireworks, but such isn't to be. One thing you, Dear Reader, should keep in mind is that you do NOT have to be part of family events if your family is, for instance, abusive, discriminatory (I know and know of many more LGBTIQ children who have effectively been driven out by their family's bigotry), or just very different (you may want to stay quiet and sober, rather than become drunk or noisy - or vice versa). If you do go to such events, some suggestions are made at http://zenhabits.net/dojo/. Personally, I would flame-ground-shield CONTINUOUSLY, but even better, pre-clear links you have to people and places (see the 2nd and 3rd posts I ever did on this blog).

Now, my thought for this post (I only have one thought per readings post - didn't you know? :) ) is that the assumption of economists and politicians that we all have to be working flat out reflects the bias of someone who is young, maybe in the 30s or early 40s at most, and discriminates against those who simply aren't capable of working at that level of intensity - e.g., perhaps they're like me, getting on in years, suffering from increasing health problems, and thinking of retirement. On that, see http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/14/change-your-life-blame-lazy - in which I particularly like the basis for planning a fair society. On economics, I find it absurd and offensive that Pope Francis has had to defend himself against accusations of Marxism (see http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/15/pope-francis-defends-criticism-of-capitalism-not-marxist) because he criticised trickle down economic theory (and it IS just a theory - one not well matched by reality at all!), and that some moron criticised Mandela because he was socialist. That is totalitarian bull, the sort of stuff that is supposed to be associated with the old USSR ... although, mind you, the USA in the Cold War, especially during the heights of McCarthyism, was quite totalitarian and thus anti-freedom - not as bad as the USSR, but still nowhere near good enough to be trying to claim any sort of mantle of world leader, or exemplar for freedom or democracy. (This actually brings to mind a debate I had with a friend in high school, who didn't understand that Fascism was actually far more akin to capitalism than communism as practised in the USSR and China. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_fascism consider the following: "The fascists opposed both international socialism and liberal capitalism, arguing that their views represented a third way. They claimed to provide a realistic economic alternative that was neither laissez-faire capitalism nor communism. They favoured corporatism and class collaboration, believing that the existence of inequality and separate social classes was beneficial (contrary to the views of socialists). Fascists argued that the state had a role in mediating relations between these classes (contrary to the views of liberal capitalists)." Food for thought ... )

Now, on to the (other) links :)
"G'day, hello, howdy, hi, zdravstvujtye (some of my work colleagues are Russian, including an absolutely invaluable administrator who has recently taken maternity leave - may she and young one and family be blest), guten tag (where I have connection owing to a recent past life), sveiki, czesc (I have friends, not just colleagues, at work who are Polish), bonjour (colleagues at a former workplace were French, and we practised and tried to extend my woeful and limited range of this language), selamat pagi (one of the best junior engineers I ever worked with was Malaysian, and she taught me a few words), annyeonghaseyo, pryvit, bitaem, como vai (a friend of mine a few years ago, although not Brazilian, had Portuguese ancestry), ¡Hola (a former work colleague and friend, a VERY talented artist - with a Mexican sensibility to her artwork, particularly around the Day of the Dead - used to teach me Mexican Spanish), Selamat pagi, ni hao (ah, my work trips to Asia, and the many wonderful, wonderful people I have met there - and some excellent work colleagues and friends here, as well), bongiorno (my current home city of Melbourne has lots of Greeks and Italians, who have made our culture far richer - and made us coffee snobs :) ), hoschakal, hejsan, ciao, no japolt kivanu, chào bà, chào ông, yiasou (from the city which has, I understand, the largest collection of Greek people outside of Greece), ceau."

  • I'll begin with an article which illustrates the importance of maintaining an awareness of the economic, political and social forces that drive the economy and affect job security (note that almost all financial/economic comment is utterly useless, as it is addressed almost solely to power brokers and the rich with a view to directing their investments to enable getting richer, rather than considering the fate of the workers who make that getting richer possible [4] ): http://www.theage.com.au/national/auto-industry-layoffs-an-assembly-line-of-redundancy-hardship-20131214-2zeaq.html;
  • from The Wild Hunt: http://dizerega.com/my-books/, which may be OK, although it will have a USA focus by the sound of it;
  • notwithstanding the advice given in the post I am about to give you the link to, sometimes the 9 to 5 job IS how you serve humanity - e.g., perhaps as a wastewater treatment engineer ... or as the financial supporter of a bunch of kids and a partner or two ... AND keep in mind that one day you will age, and need some security and the chance to slow down: http://zenhabits.net/uncareer/;
  • someone has formalised a version of something I have been proposing for years: see here from "The Conversation";
Further to that and my recent post wherein I was - in part - mourning the state of democracy in Australia, here are a few links showing events of concern:
... and some general links on these topics:
Oh, and I have to point out that I think those who consider abusing asylum seekers to be necessary to protect borders to be akin to a householder who sets traps that kill a child who trespasses: no real threat, yet a disproportionate, extreme and maliciously harmful response has been enacted by the paranoid or fearful.
Now, with all of these links, keep in mind that they are both a test, and an opportunity: what are you going to do? Hmm?

Food for thought - and may your coming month, whether it is "the festive season" or not, be safe, enjoyable, prosperous and fulfilling.



[3] Apart from the band's criticism of Bush (which I support - and I have concerns about the knee jerk nature of some of the response to that - which I put to yet more politics of fear ... at least it led, it seems to me, to growth of the band and the women in it, especially when one looks at "Not Ready to Make Nice"), as examples of this attitude note the following comments from Wikipedia [2]:
"In addition, the text of the opening track and first single, "Long Time Gone", was a pointed criticism of contemporary country music radio, accusing it of ignoring the soul of the genre as exemplified by Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams." 
"Although Maguire and Robison often appear quiet and demure compared to their animated bandmate Natalie Maines, the trio have stood united on controversial subjects since they banded together to play in 1995, even when their opinions have had the potential to serve them more harm than good. In 2006, Maguire said, "I'd rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do". " 
"In an interview, Maines commented about Sony worrying about the reference to "mattress dancing" in "Sin Wagon", refusing to discuss it in interviews. She said, "Our manager jokes, 'You can't say mattress dancing, but they love the song about premeditated first degree murder'! She continues, " ... so it's funny to us that "mattress dancing" is out and murder is in!" " 
"A few months after Maines' comment about Bush, Dixie Chicks performed and donated $10,000 for Rock the Vote, a website designed to encourage young adults to register to vote. Maines said, "We always felt like we were searching for ways to make an impact outside of music ... I believe everything that's happened in the last few months happened for a reason. A lot of positive things have come from it, and this is just one of them. We're very dedicated and motivated about this now." " 
There are also criticisms of the band, which you can find on Wikipedia.

 [4] There are a number of assumptions in economic circles that should be challenged.

 The first is that someone who loses a job can find another job, possibly in another industry, relatively easily, or at such little pain that it is worth society's while to force that to happen. Bull. This view shows a complete lack of understanding of people, many of whom can not make such a change - in fact, if it is so easy, let's see an economist or two give up economic advisory work and spend the rest of their working career as, say, a carpenter, or a sewage worker ... or an agricultural worker. What utter, complete nonsense! Let's also see such a person given depression and then forced to move away from their support network - or perhaps move away from their family and fiends! No, changing jobs at someone else's will is stressful, and quite possibly does MORE damage to society (do these people ever add up to costs of suicides, family stress, health problems, etc from this enforced so-called 'greater efficiency"???) than the costs of a slight reduction in so-called "efficiency". This will likely continue until someone in politics starts taking responsibility for jobs and unemployment, which is AT LEAST as important as managing inflation.

 Oh, and re the assumption that supporting the profit making of companies lead to a better quality of life that capitalists promote, how about MEASURING that by DIRECTLY asking questions about people's emotional wellbeing, number of jobs actually created, etc. Don't just ASSUME that more money in the economy necessarily means ANYTHING.


[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). 

Love, light, hugs and blessings


Gnwmythr 
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux?)

My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.  

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...  See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag.
  • One size does NOT fit all. 
  • Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
  • May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
  • Ban the dream interpretation industry! 
  • A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
  • Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
  • Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
  • Expertise at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as spiritual growth.
  • "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
  • Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
  • The means shape the end.  
  • Sometimes you just can't argue with a biped that is armed with a sharp stick, a thick head and not too much in the way of grunts.
  • As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
  • My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
Jesus loves you.  Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)

Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech) 
Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968
Tags:attitudes, discrimination, economy, presumptuousness, racism, responsibility, sexism, society,

First published: Fryrsdagr, 19th December, 2013

Last edited: Friday, 19th December, 2013 

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