What's on your mind?

[Dead1]

Oh and in case you are wondering where I fit on incompetent to lazy government worker scale:

1. I have always heen incompetent.i was even told when Igot my job I only got it because no one else applied.

 

2  These days I am lazy as fuck.  Why push yourself when no one else cares and everyone else is lazy or picks and chooses what work they do.

 

My job is basically  $110,000 a year social welfare.

 

Lots of others in same boat but they are delusional in thinking what they do somehow matters.

 

Sometimes I get a burst of delusional enthusiasm which is crushed pretty much as soon as I interact with equally incompetent and/or lazy upper level management.

 

Running gag between me and colleagues is we are all here just for paycheck.

[RelentlessOblivion]

It seems, Adelong last, I found my true calling in life. Quite literally the only person in my class on Thursday who cooked his steak to a perfect medium rare after resting, now to do it again Wednesday when we have Alex second mock service assessment.

[Dead1]

Always nice to have some else share your opinion.

 

An Australian commentator finally states what I have believed for years - Australians are apolitical, averse to change (even when things are going badly) and shun politics.

What's also fascinating is the comment that media is still less nonpartisan than US and largely non-polarised.  Well of course that would be the case when both major political parties have exactly the same socio-economic ideological perspective and people don't care about politics.

One of my political science lecturers commented that Australia is actually an autocracy - highly over governed (you need government approval to do anything) and no real choice in politics.  It's either centre-right neoliberalism or centre-right neoliberalism.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/24/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-referendum-yes-campaign-struggles

[Dead1]

Another example of how our current neoliberal government is out to destroy living standards.

 

Australia's current immigration rate (which is double government target) coupled with current building industry woes means there was an 80,000 dwelling shortfall.  With current trends this is going to be a 160,000 shortfall this year.

However government is promising to make it even easier to immigrate to Australia.  

Literally they've turned ramping up homelessness into an unofficial government objective.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2023/09/21/alan-kohler-immigration-council-developers-government/

 

But current Prime Minister and most of parliament have investment properties so jacking up demand and thus increasing property prices and rental incomes is good business for them.

 

-----

 

And then their attitude to environment which is both inadequate and impractical.

But main political donors to our major political parties are fossil fuel miners and extractors.

 

https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2023/09/25/renewables-climate-change/

 

1917's looking better and better.

[RelentlessOblivion]

yes, we are in desperate need of Young blood into Australian politics, and it sure would be great if politicians were held accountable for the election promises, but the only way we can force change onto a broken political system is at the polling booth and with most Australians being very politically and informed, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

 being very politically uninformed I don’t see that happening any time soon.

 

On a happier note, pretty much halfway through my course now. Still going well

[AlSymerz]

One man's "politically uninformed" is another man's "informed voting"

It's no different to suggesting everyone who votes No in a few weeks is uniformed about the debate because Yes is the right answer. Or vice versa for those voting Yes. Just because someone doesn't vote the same as me does not make them incorrect or uninformed.

 

[RelentlessOblivion]

12 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

One man's "politically uninformed" is another man's "informed voting"

It's no different to suggesting everyone who votes No in a few weeks is uniformed about the debate because Yes is the right answer. Or vice versa for those voting Yes. Just because someone doesn't vote the same as me does not make them incorrect or uninformed.

 

I agree with the sentiment here, however, if surveys are showing that more than half the country are in fact apolitical then, by extension, half the country are a politically uninformed. The important question to ask isn’t why don’t more Australians care about politics though,rather it’s what reasons do people have to care? These days, our major political parties are so similar that half the time it feels like you’re voting based on whether you like the colour, red or blue more.

[Dead1]

28 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

yes, we are in desperate need of Young blood into Australian politics, and it sure would be great if politicians were held accountable for the election promises, but the only way we can force change onto a broken political system is at the polling booth and with most Australians being very politically and informed, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

 being very politically uninformed I don’t see that happening any time soon.

Basically we have to not vote for the two major political parties.  Vote in the Greens.

And even that might not change things - it took 50 years to get where we are now (election o Gough Whitlam started all of this).

 

So many things are now intrinsically broken and need to be rebuilt.  There's also so many entrenched power groups that you can't just sweep away in a democratic system.  

 

Quote

On a happier note, pretty much halfway through my course now. Still going well

 

Good to hear!

[RelentlessOblivion]

Also, for the record, I would say I am uninformed on the referendum, that it could just be because I haven’t had time to look into the details just yet

[Dead1]

22 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

One man's "politically uninformed" is another man's "informed voting"

It's no different to suggesting everyone who votes No in a few weeks is uniformed about the debate because Yes is the right answer. Or vice versa for those voting Yes. Just because someone doesn't vote the same as me does not make them incorrect or uninformed.

 

 

IME most Australians are uninformed, don't understand the system and don't give a fuck.

A lot vote on politicians based on either rusted on allegiances ("my Dad voted ALP so I vote ALP) or based on personality or even looks.

A few vote on misguided concepts that have no basis in reality: ( "ALP are party of workers" or "Liberals are better economic managers.")

 

If we got rid of compulsory voting, we'd probably have been outcomes!

 

[AlSymerz]

The problem with surveys is they are conducted by humans and humans give answers. Obviously data has to come from somewhere but with most of the data we hear about these days generated by the media the accuracy of such data can easily be questioned. Even the AEC polling contradicts AEC polling at times.

There has always been people vote for colour, vote for the cutest person, vote against a specific person and in a system where voting is mandatory there will always be votes done for a variety of reasons. But uniformed voting is still a construct that is largely hard to prove and more often used as a way of suggesting that someone didn't vote the way I think they should have.

[Dead1]

6 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

I agree with the sentiment here, however, if surveys are showing that more than half the country are in fact apolitical then, by extension, half the country are a politically uninformed. The important question to ask isn’t why don’t more Australians care about politics though,rather it’s what reasons do people have to care? These days, our major political parties are so similar that half the time it feels like you’re voting based on whether you like the colour, red or blue more.

 

It's cultural.  

Australian political engagement has often been weak.  People here don't care.  It probably wasn't viewed as polite back when the society was more British than British.  Before that convicts weren't really the voting types and the fact it was essentially a glorified prison nullified any kind of intellectual development.

Since 1970s Australia has been turned into a consumer state.  Consumption is king and nothing ever matters.  In the 1980s the ALP (nominally centre left party) destroyed the political power of the one mob who opposed neoliberalism - the unions.  

Compulsory voting has also dumbed politics right down as voting messages are made to appeal to the apolitical who don't care who runs the place.

 

Australians also shun any kind of philosophy and often pride themselves on being stupid and uneducated especially among workings classes.  Education was often viewed with suspicion in the past.

And now that education has developed some sort of meaning (ie needed for employment), it has become a means to a practical end - a ticket that allows you to do a job.  There's no intellectual culture here.

 

Interestingly enough at the Maths Relay my daughter attended yesterday, one of the top 3 teams was primarily immigrant (all others were mainly white).  The principal from my school acknowledged how immigrants do better at education because Australians don't care for it.

 

But an educated public is necessary to be a politically active public. 

 

----

 

As far as referendum, I am voting no for a whole plethora of reasons.  Being informed I was opposed to the idea of the Voice to Parliament when it was announced as a goal in the Uluru Statement from the Heart back in 2017.  Back then some radical Aboriginals even wanted it to be a third chamber of Parliament (toned down since). 

And with what details were announced, it made me more opposed to it.

 

[Dead1]

A great example of how we reward failure and incompetence:

 

1. We have a junior doctor who has requested additional salary and threatening to leave.

2. She has several complaints against her from other staff including a formal one from a senior doctor who has stated she is incompetent.  

3 She has previously refused to work as requested and has done everything possible to get out of work.  

4. Despite all this they are literally offering her more money to retain her!

[MacabreEternal]

Two days after surgery and I am finally hitting the sweet mix of codeine and paracetamol tablets that mean I can eat albeit in a semi-lucid state from the drowsiness off the back of the meds.  Gonna take the down time to catch up on some music and spin some vinyl most of the weekend.  Not going out, not answering my phone - just gonna sit in my armchair and drift in and out of consciousness until Sunday evening.

Pairing back on the listening habits and trying to focus on the music I have in physical copy where possible.  Still feel that the less music I have at my fingertips, the happier I am - just like when I was a broke ass teen in my bedroom at home (or "The Metal & Masturbation Years" as I would title any biography on that period).

[FatherAlabaster]

Somebody call this man a taxi!

Glad to see ya back safe bud.

[Dead1]

Awesome to hear you are recovering well!  

[Dead1]

Holy crap, for the first time in 30 years the Australian government is finally relinquishing the notion that having hundreds of thousands of people unemployed is a necessity for the economy (aka NAIRU)!  Now I wonder if they will do something about it or if it is all talk!

 

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/work/2023/10/02/employment-treasury-rba-kohler/

[Dead1]

Bloody woke bastards ruined my favourite comic book character coz he is too popular with conservative white males and the military and police.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/woke-marvel-eliminates-punisher-due-problematic-conservative-fan-base

 

[Sheol]

On 10/4/2023 at 11:59 AM, Dead1 said:

Bloody woke bastards ruined my favourite comic book character coz he is too popular with conservative white males and the military and police.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/woke-marvel-eliminates-punisher-due-problematic-conservative-fan-base

 

An article written by someone calling themselves "Tyler Durden" commenting on wokeness immediately disquallifies him from any serious consideration.

That said, this is comics,  any character can be resusicitated at any time for any reason. I wouldn't think too hard about this. Besides, depending on who writes him Punisher can be a interesting counterpoint to other Marvel characters, or a fucking slog of a revenge porn chauvanist fantasy to read through (looking at you Ennis).

[Dead1]

15 hours ago, Sheol said:

That said, this is comics,  any character can be resusicitated at any time for any reason. I wouldn't think too hard about this. Besides, depending on who writes him Punisher can be a interesting counterpoint to other Marvel characters, or a fucking slog of a revenge porn chauvanist fantasy to read through (looking at you Ennis).

True that any character can be resurrected.  But in this instance they actively destroyed the concept of the whole character.  Even when Professor X get killed for all of 5 minutes, they didn't make him into a racist ultranationalist pedophile.  I am not aware of any other time Marvel has done this.

In fact what they did here was mainly character assassination ie destroyed the essence of the character because they don't like what he represents and they don't like his fanbase.

And before I get accused of being a white MAGA type, I am just having a heated debate with a teacher I know.  He thinks trans people are undermining democracy and part of a Chinese/Russian conspiracy to undermine traditional family values.  And him a teacher at that!

Oh and I am not white

[AlSymerz]

His profession doesn't dictate what his opinions should be.

[Dead1]

30 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

His profession doesn't dictate what his opinions should be.

True but you'd expect a bit more logical thinking.  

[AlSymerz]

In this day and age not really. There were doctors and nurses through covid who didn't believe it was real. There is politicians that don't hold the same beliefs as their party. There's teachers who hate kids but stay in the profession. People are weird, they do weird things and they believe what they want to believe.

[Dead1]

41 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

In this day and age not really. There were doctors and nurses through covid who didn't believe it was real. There is politicians that don't hold the same beliefs as their party. There's teachers who hate kids but stay in the profession. People are weird, they do weird things and they believe what they want to believe.

Very true.  Thanks to internet and social fragmentation, stupidity and ignorance are becoming espoused as legitimate view points by people who should know better.

[Nasty_Cabbage]

1 hour ago, Dead1 said:

True that any character can be resurrected.  But in this instance they actively destroyed the concept of the whole character.  Even when Professor X get killed for all of 5 minutes, they didn't make him into a racist ultranationalist pedophile.  I am not aware of any other time Marvel has done this.

In fact what they did here was mainly character assassination ie destroyed the essence of the character because they don't like what he represents and they don't like his fanbase.

And before I get accused of being a white MAGA type, I am just having a heated debate with a teacher I know.  He thinks trans people are undermining democracy and part of a Chinese/Russian conspiracy to undermine traditional family values.  And him a teacher at that!

Oh and I am not white

I try to shy away from this sort of dialogue with most people in the real world. The timbre and volume that the discourse begins at is simply too pitched and too loud to expect that it might end in anything but a hostile impasse. For the most part in my current corner of the world the complaint I hear most often is one of fatigue. When vast swaths of the entertainment industry are so dismissive due to being completely insulated from half of their audience and what they actually think, it probably does sound like radical zealotry to set a  character like the Punisher as sympathetic, anti-hero or otherwise. I don't really think changing the comic book cannon for one character would really be a problem for most, but over the past five years or so, it's become harder and harder for me to deny that the homogeneousness of the industry's political leanings is present in almost anything they put out. It's reflected everywhere.

I still hesitate to call it 'indoctrination' or 'propaganda'. Those words are so charged at this point it feeds into the view that the dissenters are nothing but a bunch of unhinged lunatics, but it's ubiquitous nature really becomes grating when you can't even participate in the escapism that a creative work is meant to nurture because you can see the cogs in the creator's brain trying to construct his or her take on a formerly beloved property around his or her idealistic viewpoint rather than worrying about the quality of the work. When this happens it results in damage to the property in question, damage to the reputation of the business that puts it out, and a complete deafness toward the large amount of their target audience's desires that, if left unchecked, quickly turns into the death knell of any art form: contempt for your audience.