Posts by Danielle
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Speaker: Rugby, Racing and Emotions, in reply to tussock,
Be nice if people woke up, eh.
But I reckon the "waking up" should be related to critical thought about how our media and capitalism collude to create narratives that don't truly reflect the variety of the lived experiences of sports fans. It always ends up being this "you dummies, I rejected sport long ago for its opiate-like qualities, sucks to be you" thing, which is both non-persuasive and and analytical dead end. It's like when someone talks about a TV show they're into and there's always this one dude who leaps in to say "you proles! I got rid of my television 17 years ago and took up whittling! I haven't missed it a jot!", as if that's relevant to the conversation about the text.
(Actually this thread doesn't contain ALL those things, it's just something I've been thinking about during this Time of Frustrating Sports Discussion we have every four years, give or take.)
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Why do these rugby conversations *reflexively* go to the "wake up sheeple" place? So many people like watching this sport. Are they ALL idiots? Every single one? Is the ENTIRE sporting culture an expression of toxic masculinity? Is ALL the money wasted? Every last dollar? I mean, fuck's sake. It's tiresome.
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If we have to have wars, could they be more like test cricket matches? Everyone stops for appropriate meal breaks, and for a decent percentage of battles neither side wins or loses.
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If you'll pardon what someone upthread called the "mawkish sentimentality" (because whoda thunk, people love their families and aren't cynical robots when they talk about them, which I'm afraid I consider a good thing):
This sense of finiteness and whatever conditions conspire to foment it are one of the saddest features of our people and culture.
I can't quite agree with this, because my grandfather was one of the finite praisers, always trying to avoid becoming a "skite", and sure, that could be limiting in some ways, but that sort of low-key kindness is comforting, because it also means that reactions to "failures" are low-key. (This may sound weird in the rugby thread, but once I had a miscarriage, and I was really sad about it but trying to put on a brave face, and my blokey, uncomfortable-with-ladyparts grandfather put his hand on my shoulder and said "I'm sorry to hear about what happened, Danielle", and that was all. It was enough.)
Aaaaaanyway, my grandfather died between the last Rugby World Cup and this one, and I always used to watch the big matches with him even though my knowledge is incredibly spotty, so I suppose I'll watch a few and have a gin in tribute to him.
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I... "shallow recycled entertainment news" has been a huge feature of mass media since it began! There were movie star gossip magazines during the silent film period; there were society gossip columns even further back than that. The reach and detail of this news has increased with the internet, but the reach and detail of EVERYTHING has increased with the internet. I'm mildly wary of "everything is different and bad" narratives about this stuff.
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I just finished the book the other day and even an interim ban is utterly, utterly mad. I honestly wonder if I'm part of the same species as someone who'd want it made unavailable to the public. The one thing Ted Dawe's work *should* be rapped over the knuckles for is depicting such a joyless night on ecstasy. :)
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You guys know that "mildly objecting to a rhetorical approach that may be unthinkingly gendered" is not actually "outrage", right?
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Now we have to run a mile to have our arguments taken seriously by communications students? Things have changed a lot since I was at university.
(I am also not a dude, ftr. I do get mildly annoyed when people are mind-numbingly crap at constructing arguments, but I wouldn't say it fills me with rage or anything.)
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Polity: Refugees and aid - we’re laggards, in reply to Daman Saini,
Are they going to go on a benefit? There are too many people already abusing it.
I can see you're the compassionate type.
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Jesus fucking Christ, Steve, do you ever give it a rest?