Hard News: Miracles just rate better, okay?
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It wasn't so many centuries ago that women were burnt as witches because they challenged the status quo and the power hierarchies.
Hang on, this is very tendentious. Yes, women (and men) were burnt as witches. No, in general they hadn't actually done anything to be burnt as witches except possibly be slightly-well-off unprotected women through no particular effort on their own part; that's why `witch-hunt' is a pejorative. Assuming that there was any real sense in which witch hunts targeted people who challenged the status quo etc gives witch hunters far far too much credit. (I mean, above and beyond the way the violence inherent in the system did anyway.)
Especially when you try and link it to mediums and alternative medicine; witches were not anything but unlucky, in general and excepting, of course, bits of the Baltics and occasional weirdness elsewhere.
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This must be true
cos I said so.
;-)Its No Legs Bro
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It all sounds like yet another cynical attempt by the usual suspects to find a scapegoat.
I always found the "Asian lady" story a bit suss in this regard - I mean, mysterious member of disliked ethnic group, described only in the vaguest of terms, kidnaps sweet white toddler? Yeah, sure, *that* story has no precedent.
While it's entirely possible they may yet find the woman, and I believe that was alluded to in this morning's press conference, it always felt very urban-mythic.
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Hilary - re. the 'sceptical' Nigel Latta and Sensing Murder : try this
... took the script, didn't fill it, and she was better three days later.
I believe the Norwegians are on to this. In these cases, they hand out antibiotic prescriptions which can only be filled three days after the consult. Of course, by then the piece of paper has worked its magic. Similarly, when I was last admitted to hospital my miraculous recovery started the moment the GP put on his serious face and mentioned the ED as a real option. There's nothing like having your suffering validated. (A hug from a hippy isn't going to do it for me - those people will hug just about anyone).
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I suspect as much as pressure from patients, it's just something doctors do as part of their business. People come to you for treatment, they should walk out the door with some medicine.
I've never encountered that, thankfully. I've had one case of a particularly nasty throat infection (to the point that my throat was bleeding because it was so raw) where the doctor said "I'm pretty sure it's viral, but here's a back-pocket prescription for augmentin in case it hasn't started to improve in a couple of days." She was right, it was viral, it did improve of its own accord, and the prescription was never filled.
Other than that, I've never been prescribed antibiotics for something that wasn't clearly bacterial. Maybe I'm too good at knowing when my body's not going to fix itself without help, or maybe I just pick good doctors. Either way, my experience of being pushed antibiotics for non-bacterial infections is zero. If there are doctors out there who're doing otherwise they need to be reported to the HDC, since they're not actually performing in the best interests of the patient. Or wider society, as they're both encouraging spread of resistant bacterial strains and also wasting Pharmac funding on unnecessary medications. -
I always found the "Asian lady" story a bit suss in this regard - I mean, mysterious member of disliked ethnic group, described only in the vaguest of terms, kidnaps sweet white toddler? Yeah, sure, *that* story has no precedent
Perhaps I’m being naïve Lucy, but the way so many fell for that (yes, I did listen to some talkback last week) really surprised and annoyed me..
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Perhaps I’m being naïve Lucy, but the way so many fell for that (yes, I did listen to some talkback last week) really surprised and annoyed me..
It's a traditional missing-kid story for a reason; it ties up prejudice, irrational fear, and genuine tragedy into one neat bundle.
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What was the tone of the talkback, LegBreak? I was having similar thoughts to you and Lucy (see earlier comment about Jews stealing Christian children).
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Theme of the talkback was along the lines of “well we know that Triads are into kidnapping to order”
I changed channel before it reached its logical conclusion.
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Just checking, is this disbelief about "the Asian lady 'story'" about her entire existence, or about the abduction angle?
Remember that the Police were wanting to speak to the unknown Asian woman very early on, when it was still being treated as a "lost child" rather than an "abducted child" situation. To jump immediately to a dismissal of any possibility of her existing on the basis of what turns out to have been a mistaken assumption about the events would seem, to me, to be an expression of belief in significant bad faith on the part of the Police. -
What was the tone of the talkback, LegBreak? I was having similar thoughts to you and Lucy (see earlier comment about Jews stealing Christian children).
Classic formula for demagogy: When in doubt, blame the Jews and Gypsies. And for added effect, burn down the seat of government and blame it on adherents of a hated ideology.
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Theme of the talkback was along the lines of “well we know that Triads are into kidnapping to order”
I changed channel before it reached its logical conclusion.
No sign of Peter Low so far. Or does he only emerge when the culprit fails the brown paper bag test?
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Matthew: personally I disbelieved the abduction angle just on sheer likelihood.
I'm also perturbed that the reports about the Asian woman were very cagey about who saw her, and how the child was identified; how media coverage was hinting the woman might be the abductor, and whether there was a hint of racism there, but those are separate issues for me. I kind of feel the media were hyping the abduction angle because that's scarier, and scaring the pants off you is their job.
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Just checking, is this disbelief about "the Asian lady 'story'" about her entire existence, or about the abduction angle?
Her existence as reported, let's say. That Aisling could have been abducted remained a real possibility until her body was found. That the only solid report of who might have done the abduction indicted, as I said, a vaguely-described member of a particularly disliked ethnic group...that rang bells.
It's not even that I don't think the reports were genuine; I just wonder whether they actually saw what they thought they saw. Of course the police had to follow it up and it would have been remiss of them not to, given that it was the only lead. But, at best, the way it was framed and reported - and the vagueness of the original reports - fitted a very old pattern.
I'm also perturbed that the reports about the Asian woman were very cagey about who saw her, and how the child was identified;
Exactly. It's like - why were they sure she was Asian? Why were they sure it was Aisling? How reliable were the witnesses? It was all so vague.
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And on an unrelated (but not entirely irrelevant) note, Clayton Weatherston will be appealing his conviction.
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I just wonder whether they actually saw what they thought they saw.
What's your basis for this? Your belief that everyone else is racist?
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What's your basis for this? Your belief that everyone else is racist?
My belief that at a distance (which the sighting presumably was) it can be quite hard to distinguish between, say, many East Asians and dark-haired Europeans. It seemed weird that the witnesses could be sure the woman was Asian but not even be able to rule out any of the *very different* ethnicities that come under that banner. And what if it wasn't Aisling they saw? Eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable and easily shaped by other information. When a description is that vague, and a case has that much publicity, you have to wonder how reliable it is.
But thanks for the classy assumption of prejudice, that contributed so much to the discussion.
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My belief that at a distance (which the sighting presumably was) it can be quite hard to distinguish between, say, many East Asians and dark-haired Europeans ... And what if it wasn't Aisling they saw?
Belief ... presumption ... what if. This is all guesswork.
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Belief ... presumption ... what if. This is all guesswork.
The fallibility of eyewitness reports is well-understood, and given the fact that it looks increasingly like the "Asian lady" may not exist - it's not unreasonable to speculate to what extent that aspect is related to traditional memes of missing-child cases. Of course it's speculation. Your point is?
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My point, Lucy, is that you don't know who saw the so-called Asian woman, or when, or where. You don't know whether she was with Aisling or another small child. You don't know if she was Asian or Pakeha or Middle Eastern or any other ethnicity. The police, who issued that information, know much more than you do -- or I do. You have no genuine reason to doubt that there was some kind of sighting of an Asian woman other than your belief that some -- even many -- Pakeha NZers harbour prejudice towards people of Asian descent. To you, this prejudice contaminates the sighting. But all you have is an opinion. You have no evidence. That's my point.
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Exactly. It's like - why were they sure she was Asian? Why were they sure it was Aisling? How reliable were the witnesses? It was all so vague.
I guess not that reliable in hindsight, but I don't buy into the idea that it was part of some racially motivated slur either. Someone saw an Asian woman with a child. Doesn''t seem all that unlikely to me. Of course, they turned out to have nothing to do with the missing girl.
Sometimes an "Asian lady" is just an Asian lady.
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you don't know who saw the so-called Asian woman, or when, or where
I believe it was a nine-year old who mentioned the Asian woman to the Police. A lack of ability to be more specific is zero evidence of anything when dealing with children. Keep that in mind, Lucy, before seeing bad faith and ill-will around every corner.
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A lack of ability to be more specific is zero evidence of anything when dealing with children. Keep that in mind, Lucy, before seeing bad faith and ill-will around every corner.
Jesus Christ. Let me be clear: *I do not think the people who reported it were lying*. I do not think that they were motivated by any sort of subconscious racism. I think that the reason the 'Asian lady' story has gained so much ground *generally* is because it fits into an old trope re: missing kids, probably because it's so vague.
Which, clearly, is going on; witness the talkback nonsense LegBreak heard. But far be it from me to question the general high-mindedness and non-racism of New Zealand society.
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One of the more bizarre figments of the Christchurch Civic Creche case was the supposed victims' accounts of ritual abuse sessions with 'asian tourists' during their outings with Peter Ellis. While the preposterous nature of the stories should have rung alarm bells, the nonsense was accepted with little challenge in the mood of legally channeled hysteria that characterised the trials.
I have no idea whether this is connected with whatever underlies the so-called "sighting" in Auckland, but Lucy has a point. Simply mentioning that there's a dark side to the national psyche which may be very much alive is hardly some form of collective slander against human decency.
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And here is another piece of hysterical publishing. Suicide linked to new ACC rule
I think that the headline is a problem there, but that the article isn't bad, actually. Counseling can be incredibly important for the continued mental survival of abuse and rape victims. Counseling can help you keep from sliding into a very dark place.
And the website you link to is sick. I suggest you reconsider, strongly.
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