Posts by Emma Hart

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  • Hard News: User-generated Speechification,

    No! They are the elite ninja commandos that go stealthily ashore into unexplored territory.

    I was working on this idea, but it goes like this.

    It's quite possible paid content IS king. Sits around at home doing the same thing every day, with very rigidly-defined limits to what it's allowed to do.

    Where the metaphor falls down is the foot soldier end. Foot soldiers march in formation. They go where you tell them to go and do what you tell them to do.

    Consumer generated media are like 200 over-sugared kids at a birthday party. Most of the kids are doing whatever the cool kids are doing. There are so many of them, though, shooting off in all directions, that there'll be kids who find every interesting/disgusting thing in the yard. Some of them are coming up with brand new games. Some of them are running into walls and comparing each other to Hitler.

    Taken as a whole, though, the kids will do things the King could never get away with doing (there was a tasteless joke about Wallace Simpson in here), and a few of them will be doing things the King didn't even know were possible.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    well yes, redemption etc etc. but after a conviction. we wouldn't accept less from any other crime so why this one? the redemption etc can be taken into account during sentencing, as is usually the case.

    anjum, you appear to be saying that reformation is contingent on being caught. To which the response is as Deborah has said, 'he's just sorry he got caught'.

    I've seen people reform without criminal convictions, and people serve sentences and come out exactly the same as before they were charged.

    But I do see the contradiction between being genuinely sorry for something, and actively working to cover it up.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    I'm conflicted about this. I agree that his behaviour was appalling, and it should be condemned. But if we say that it's unforgivable, then we give people no chance of rehabilitation, no chance of trying to make amends, examine their behaviour, resolve to learn to do better.

    Yeah, me too. And wasn't one of the great things about the 'it's not okay' campaign seeing real people talking about how they did stupid bad things and managed to reform and get their lives back together?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Southerly: A Trip to Canberra with Alan Bollard,

    All day I've been waiting to get home from work to see exactly why a story about Allan Bollard got 16 points on the company naughty word index.

    It was worth the wait

    I wanna see the company naughty word index.

    I wonder sometimes about those email filters that bounce your email back with a message saying 'your message has not been delivered because it contains the word 'fuck''. What if I've got filtering on too and it declines to deliver your notification because it contains the word 'fuck'? Are there a whole bunch of orphaned profanities out there listlessly bouncing from filter to filter, lost in limbo for all eternity?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Readers' Tips,

    Cleaning the bathroom and kitchen: use bleach instead of commercial brands.

    I feel like such a fifties housewife saying this, but white vinegar. I was already using it to clean hard water residue off, well, everything in the bathroom. Then I was told it works as fabric softener. I've done one load with fabric softener and another with white vinegar (about a quarter of a cup in the fabric softener dispenser and another quarter in the wash water), mixed the two loads together and been unable to tell by touch which was which. Smell is another matter.

    If you don't have hard water you probably don't have to use so much. I buy those big bulk bottles of vinegar, and it works out a bit cheaper than fabric softener. The vinegar doesn't seem to set off my daughter's eczema the way fabric softener can.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    Until I started reading this thread, I thought that Tony Veitch was the slapper weather-lady from TV3

    Hey! Leave 'Mummy can't talk now Toni's on the screen' Toni alone.

    I was thinking about this last night, and this occured to me. You don't have to look far for TVNZ continuing to run a show featuring a guy mostly famous for beating the living shit out of his partner.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    Often yes. Maybe sometimes no - I say that because personal experiences are, well, personal, and not necessarily good bases for generalising

    Oh yeah, I don't mean 'instead of', I mean 'as well as'. In that it's the voice that's often missing. Not the one that wants vengeance, but the one that's tired and will take the quickest route to make it all be over - which is not the judicial system.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Southerly: A Trip to Canberra with Alan Bollard,

    Bless you. Exactly what I needed.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    what we thought was a discussion about the general...

    I don't want to reopen a horrible can of worms, but as someone who's been at Ground Zero for this kind of thing...

    I find the threads on rape and domestic violence incredibly difficult, just to read, let alone contribute to. I don't want to dictate what other people can say, but I know I would find it easier if when people commented they would remember that there WILL be people reading here for whom this is NOT an intellectual exercise, not a theory, not an abstract. It's personal, it's painful, and it doesn't ever go away. Yet aren't those the people whose contributions would be the most useful?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    I went ahead with the campaign, and I feel nothing but good about doing so. It has been a privilege to be involved with it.

    And so you should. It gets its point across without upsetting me so badly I have to leave the room, which makes it the first domestic violence campaign to do so.

    The guy who works with violent men (can't recall his name) pointed out that one of the big issues in domestic violence is men attempting to conceal it, and thereby minimise his responsibility.

    Conceal it, excuse it, and apologise for it. It's not all 'suck it up', it's 'I'm sorry honey, you know I was stressed out, it won't happen again I absolutely promise, let's put it behind us'.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

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