Posts by Craig Ranapia
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
No 7th form history at least gave me nothing useful at all for university, not the least that they taught the Tudors and Stuarts option, as do most NZ 7th form history classes. Not Mr Bailey's fault though, he, I understand would prefer to switch to NZ history.
To be honest, I didn't find the half-baked gobbets of Belich and Orange of much utilitarian value either - unless being able to make vaguely right on noises at cocktail parties is one of the aims of a liberal education. :)
Anyway, in the world we live in I don't know if beginning to think about the nature of religious sectarianism, and how toxic the results can be when it becomes indistinguishable from politics, is a bad thing. And you get that in spades if you're taught the basics of Tudor and Early Stuart England.
-
It's not the length ... it's the lack of paragraphing :-)
Just be thankful that I quietly modernised some of Burke's 18th century spelling, punctuation and use of intitial capitals. I still have an essay with the terse annotation, "You've got a way to go before you're competent to start editing Burke." Ough...
-
Too true Keith, the reason democracy works is because whenever a democratic power is allocated, a check or balance is created to restrict it (we all know the rhetoric of Lord Acton and the fate of Socrates).
Personally, I rather like the rhetoric of Edmund Burke's __Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, on the Affairs of America__, where he made this observation:
Civil freedom, Gentlemen, is not, as many have endeavored to persuade you, a thing that lies hid in the depth of abstruse science. It is a blessing and a benefit, not an abstract speculation; and all the just reasoning that can be upon it is of so coarse a texture as perfectly to suit the ordinary capacities of those who are to enjoy, and of those who are to defend it. Far from any resemblance to those propositions in geometry and metaphysics which admit no medium, but must be true or false in all their latitude, social and civil freedom, like all other things in common life, are variously mixed and modified, enjoyed in very different degrees, and shaped into an infinite diversity of forms, according to the temper and circumstances of every community. The extreme of liberty (which is its abstract perfection, but its real fault) obtains nowhere, nor ought to obtain anywhere; because extremes, as we all know, in every point which relates either to our duties or satisfactions in life, are destructive both to virtue and enjoyment. Liberty, too, must be limited in order to be possessed. The degree of restraint it is impossible in any case to settle precisely. But it ought to be the constant aim of every wise public counsel to find out by cautious experiments, and rational, cool endeavors, with how little, not how much, of this restraint the community can subsist: for liberty is a good to be improved, and not an evil to be lessened. It is not only a private blessing of the first order, but the vital spring and energy of the state itself, which has just so much life and vigor as there is liberty in it. But whether liberty be advantageous or not, (for I know it is a fashion to decry the very principle,) none will dispute that peace is a blessing; and peace must, in the course of human affairs, be frequently bought by some indulgence and toleration at least to liberty: for, as the Sabbath (though of divine institution) was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, government, which can claim no higher origin or authority, in its exercise at least, ought to conform to the exigencies of the time, and the temper and character of the people with whom it is concerned, and not always to attempt violently to bend the people to their theories of subjection. The bulk of mankind, on their part, are not excessively curious concerning any theories whilst they are really happy; and one sure symptom of an ill-conducted state is the propensity of the people to resort to them.
Sorry, I know it's a very long quote - but Burke wasn't a terse man, and lived in an age where people were assumed to have an attention span that wasn't measured in milliseconds, and the minds to handle extended discourse on complex ideas.
-
Um, dude, aren't they still New Zealand's largest ISP? And I've been away for a while, but do they still hold the title of New Zealand's Worst ISP? I would wager that they have the biggest advertising budget of all the ISPs in NZ.
I sooo set myself up for the preemptive migraine I get when trying to make sense of Telecom or the telecommunications/internet sector period. AFAIK, the answer is yes (but wonder how much of that is consumer intertia - like people who bitch about how bad One News is but they've always watched it so...), yes, and I wouldn't bet the house on saying you're wrong.
Anyone care to totally humiliate me, but quoting chapter and verse on just how wrong one really is? :)
-
Wow. I watched it and I think I'm gay now ...
Yay! Every straight man I recruit into the homosexualist lifestyle before Christmas scores double Fly Buys points. That toaster oven I keep hearing about is finally within my perfumed, three-fingered grasp!
-
Speaking of which... what's more suitable for a way gay Friday than Shirley giving Pink a right royal Goldfinger-ing? (Link SFW, gentle reader.)
-
Craig, you sound so Welsh when you say that...
You better have been thinking of Shirley Bassey when you typed that!
-
Craig, it is spin to talk about "buying votes". The issue is, can money influence outcomes? The advertising industry would argue in favour and I think if you look at the number of folks that turned up for the EB demo's before and after various costly campaigns you would see it does have an effect.
If not pure spin, its at least a highly debatable assertion. And here's a dirty little secret the advertising industry isn't going to tell anyone, in this day and age if you've got a shit product (be it a bad movie or alleged broadband that is about as much use as a naked man at a lesbian orgy) you're going to have a hard time convincing people it's chocolate mousse. Bad word of mouth sinks movies no matter how wide the promos are; and I don't think Telecom has enough money to make people forget what a disaster it is as an ISP.
Look, as I said, it's open to debate but an assertion isn't an argument, and a soundbite doesn't become the truth when it's repeated enough times. In the end, I guess I just don't really buy the Frankfurt School of thought that we're all just passive drones in front of the telescreen - happy to swallow whatever we're fed by the hegemonic corporate/political forces. Seems to me the reality is a lot more complex.
-
Piss off, Haywood - I'm the only gay in this village! Bitch off! Outside! NOW! :)
-
Raising army. Buying guns. Reinstalling Linux. Will address your concerns shortly. (In January/February, probably.)
Heh... A little more seriously, Keith, I remember giving you mad props when you got your numbers seriously wrong in a tax cut analysis blog. Rather than going into deep denial or trying to defend the indefensible (like a certain North and South scribe Who Must Not Be Named...) you just owned your fuck up and put it right - even without being ordered to do so by the Press Council or a threatening nastygram from Sue, Grabbitt and Runne.
Last ←Newer Page 1 … 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112 … 1235 Older→ First