Posts by Deborah
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Ben Curran,
It is a difficult line, especially when actually, I think their beliefs are ludicrous. But if that's what they want to believe, and as you say, they aren't causing any serious harm, then really, it's none of my business.
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Yes, I'm inclined to reserve "Godbotherers" for people who bother me about their god. I don't even especially mind the door knocking Godbotherers, unless it's before 9am on a Saturday or Sunday, but it's the ones who won't just go away when you say politely, "No, thank you." that annoy me. Or the ones who thrust pamphlets at my children. Or the ones who say they will pray for me....
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Another piece I wrote for the Dom Post, this time arguing that we should be doing away with statutory holidays for Christian holy days. Not on-line, alas, but I have a scan of it here: Giving faiths equal rights under law not difficult.
Mind you, I am very much looking forward to having Friday off!
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Ummm... Late last year I was interviewed on Breakfast about marriage equality, mostly on the strength of an op-ed I wrote for the Dom Post about it. I was arguing for full formal equality for all New Zealanders. Petra Bagust asked me if it was a matter of morality vs. equality. She didn't quite know how to respond when I replied, "Whose morality?"
I suspect that she is so entrenched in Christianity that she can't quite perceive any other way of doing morality.
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and the decision to set up a checkpoint on the historic confiscation line was staggeringly stupid.
Yes. I suspect that it was deliberate, designed to show Tuhoe exactly who was boss. If it was deliberate, then it was an even more staggeringly stupid thing to do.
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Up Front: Safety Net, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Which basically leads to the conclusion that sometimes you just can’t do or say anything right :).
I give up! :-) I'll go back to rewriting my tax course now....
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I loathe the competitive call-out culture prevalent on some blogs. It looks to me like an in-group/out-group sort of thing, someone claiming her membership of the group by showing that she knows how to use the word 'privilege'. It's rarely helpful.
On the second hand, we have a persistent commenter at The Lady Garden who frequently turns up to make picky points or ask leading questions or explain things to us, to the extent that behind the scenes from time to time we send e-mails predicting how long it will take for him to chime in with a *splain (the * stands for his moniker, which NB! is not the moniker used by any of the people commenting on this thread to date).
And on the gripping hand, there's the bizarro bullying in places like Kiwiblog, where it is impossible to have any sort of discussion whatsoever. All three modes of blog-discussion are inimical to understanding and conversation and community building.
In my Ms Manner's mode, I'm wont to say that there is a vital difference between, "I think your idea is silly" and "I think you are silly" (substitute whatever epithet you prefer for "silly"). The former preserves the possibility of conversation, but the latter simply invites a flailing descent into entrenched positions.
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My dad was on It's in the Bag back when it was a radio show, in the booming metropolis of Ohura. It was a Big Deal for the community. Also a big deal for my mum and dad, who were very poor at the time (shepherds didn't get paid much), so the 70 pounds he won made a big difference to them.
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Lovely shirt, Russell.
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Fabulous pictures, Lilith. Thanks for posting them.