Posts by BenWilson
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Hard News: Cannabis: The Experiment is Real, in reply to Craig Young,
the pot lobby here in NZ tend to be a pack of tiresome opportunists.
Yeah, to make it the only issue you want changed, you're really a pot obsessor. It's interesting that there are so many people in this category. I guess if you really, really like it, you'll be having it a lot, and it probably does feel oppressive that you're constantly illegal.
I think that ironically if our laws change it will be because the USA went first. That's why it was banned in the first place.
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Hard News: Cannabis: The Experiment is Real, in reply to Craig Young,
I do suspect that there is a genetic subset of those who respond adversely to pot and they probably shouldn’t ingest it- but then, I have similar adverse responses to the SSRI fluoxetine.
It would be great if there was a way of knowing who in advance would be in that subset. But there aren't many drugs for which it's that easy - usually it's "try it and see". In the case of dope, the consequences could be severe, since they're mostly around mental health. But it doesn't sound like it's a "one hit and they went mad" kind of thing, much more of a "heavy use followed by issues". Which is, as you say, pretty much like any psychoactive substance. That includes alcohol, which is not only mentally, but also physically dangerous.
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Hard News: Narcissists and bullies, in reply to Danielle,
Yes, the relief that the police are probably not corrupt, but instead just have no ability or will to deal with this kind of crime, is quite slight. Corruption's at least a good honest motive with a clearly identifiable villain. But to find that the real problem is that the processes and culture that the police have just really isn't up to stopping the Roast Busters from harming a large number of children, even after quite a few complaints, is actually worse. Considering how quick they are to take action outside of their powers over lesser offenses.
That's one of the most galling things. I know that they often take action that is very frightening to people who they suspect of crimes. The action often amounts to persecution, and shouldn't be condoned, really. But FFS if it's happening anyway, couldn't it be directed to the most serious crimes, particularly the raping of children? People suspected of supplying drugs get this kind of thing all the time.
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On the subject of rape culture influences, is there an unwritten rule in NZ about JT: "never mention his brother"?
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Cover recorded yesterday. Apologies for the incomplete clip.
ETA: Also apologies for not being able to understand why movie maker decided to play the clip 3 times. It's only 1:29 long.
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I chose "violence or harmful behaviour" with "credible threat of violence", because I consider raping and rape incitement to fall into those categories. It might help the cause that 95% of the comments on the page are people giving death threats and gloating about what's going to happen to them in prison. I hope the people making the threats realize that the police are likely to be monitoring the page.
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Hard News: Narcissists and bullies, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Perhaps they’re trying to maintain some shred of trust in the Police?
I am too. They're still who I'd go to if my daughter (if I had a daughter) came to me and told me that this had happened, and after talking about it we decided to try to get justice. I can well imagine not deciding to do this either, mostly it would depend on what she wanted, although I'm sure my reaction would be a strong influence. I really don't know for sure what I'd do - the parents would also be in the isolation bubble, not knowing if their daughter was the only one this happened to, wanting to keep her reputation intact, minimize any further hurt to her. The idea of then giving her a lecture about being a slut would not cross my mind, and not just because I'm a liberal. It would also be because of the enormous harm that would do to her.
Trigger warning.
I've been in this situation only once, as a teenager myself, told by a 14 year old friend she had been raped in similar circumstances. She said she felt better immediately, having told someone. I don't really remember clearly what I said, I was shocked but sympathetic, and not blaming. The point was clear - she was unconscious and came to with a guy on top of her. I didn't need any more information to know that was rape. She had all the self blame going already, shouldn't have drunk so much, shouldn't have been dressed like that, shouldn't have been flirting, can't remember if she was flirting with him (but thinks not because she didn't like him at all) and I could only keep making the point that she wasn't to blame, and that the guy was sick if he thought that was OK. She wasn't going to go to the police, had already had an STD test, definitely didn't want anyone to know, most especially not her family. She was a strong girl, I think she had worked out pretty much everything she was going to do, and telling me was a part of the healing process. She was determined not to let it dominate her life, and continued mostly unchanged in her social behavior. I still feel honored, that she thought I was a good person to share something like that with. What had happened didn't change my opinion about her in the slightest, except perhaps to have increased my respect a little.
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Hard News: Narcissists and bullies, in reply to Henry Barnard,
That’s what I’d be inclined to think.
Not me. I read it immediately as saying that it didn't make the girls look good. Considering that was the very first group they chose to mention as "not emerging well", "most importantly of all" I thought they mucked up the tone of the article completely. The most charitable thing I can think of is that they might have lured some readers for whom victim blaming is natural to read on a bit further, and consider the unlikeliness that the police have really done everything they could.
They still fail to see that harm could have been prevented, and direct action over underage sex and supplying minors with alcohol could have been taken, searches could have been done to ascertain the truth of at least some of the aspects of the story. I can't understand the ongoing pussyfooting around that point by people condemning of the rape itself. Perhaps they're trying to be liberal about minors drinking and having consenting sex, but if so, you can't start asking questions about whether the girls were being slutty, and you most certainly can't ignore the fact that numerous girls made complaints directly to the police about the same bunch of guys. Then when we finally get to the point that the police knew about the online bragging about being rapists years ago then we're no longer anywhere near the police being forced to consider the slight possibility that this is just girls getting back at some popular guys who shagged them, then slagged them.
There's far, far too many warning signs. There's a pattern of criminal behaviour devolving rapidly. I even think from the first girl's complaint that it's possible one of the boys was considerably less nasty at the beginning, but as it became clear that nothing would be done he got worse. If Amy who spoke on Radio Live has her numbers anywhere near right, there's a lot more victims than just those 4 who complained.
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Hard News: Cannabis: The Experiment is Real, in reply to Rich Lock,
I almost always pay a premium for something I actually enjoy sloshing across my tongue rather than the cheapest rotgut I can find that’ll get me legless (ah Mad Dog 20/20, I’ll never forget the good times). I’d do the same (strictly in theory, you understand) for a decent, premium-quality smoke
I remember being pretty amused in a coffee shop in Amsterdam’s red light area when an excitable group of youths from the UK walked in. It was clearly the very first one they’d ever seen, from the shock, amazement, and excitement, of what a regulated cannabis trade looks like. They argued over the menu, particularly about the best way to spend their money, applying all of the ideas of drug use that apply in a prohibition culture like the UK (and here). They wanted to get as much as possible as cheaply as possible, and take it back to their room and get a wasted as possible. Then one guy raised the question of whether the premium quality stuff, at twice the price, might actually be much wickeder, and thus better value. The discussion went on. Eventually they bought some stuff and left. The woman serving had a laugh with me about it afterward, said: “always like that the first time. After a while they work out that you don’t have to buy the whole shop, you can have a smaller amount and have a better time, come back when you want some more, just like any product. And you can have it right here, not sneaking back to your nasty little room. And why not have the good stuff? When they go to the bar they’re going to spend 10 times as much as they spent here.”
I also went to a couple of bars over there, which had a really different vibe. Lots of old guys who were pretty much there as sex tourists. Didn’t like them at all.
Outside of that quite small district, though, the coffee shop and drinking culture seemed very different. The coffee shops were pretty much just like a cafe here, except some people smoked dope. At lunchtime, mostly people were drinking coffee and having cakes. After 5pm, there was a bit more smoking, but not really that much more. If you live in a non-prohibition culture, then you’re only going to have things when you really feel like them, rather than whenever you can get them. I don’t buy alcohol immediately that I see it and drink it in the middle of the day, because that’s not the way I want to spend my life. The bars were more like random suburban bars here – a few locals, some sport on TV, probably a pool table, and usually at least one old drunk who never left.
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Hard News: Narcissists and bullies, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
No, but it is efficient
Judicious use of “bullshit” to a couple of bullshitters on the radio was also to the point. Well done, it put paid to their whole angle that only the “leftist media” was against the idea of slut shaming and victim blaming, and considering rape to be more than “mischief”.
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