Posts by BenWilson
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I'm thinking Key's new nickname should be Nero.
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<shameless plug>
My sister Alexa is doing a short tour of her dance work Weg: A-Way, which builds on her previous works and draws inspiration from her recent time choreographing and dancing in Berlin.
This Saturday 8th Oct only in Auckland, at Q Theater, 305 Queen St, as part of the Tempo Dance Festival. Book here
Two nights next week in Christchurch, Tues 11th, Wed 12th, for the Body Festival further details and booking here
One night in Dunedin, Fri 14th, Rice and Beans Gallery, 127 Lower Stuart St, 8pm, KohaAlexa's been developing her dance and choreography talents for nearly a decade now. What she always wants is an engaged and critical audience in her shows, which are aimed to be thought provoking as well as entertaining. Feel free to check the Facebook event if you want to discuss it or see who is attending. I'm sure any feedback will be welcome in the discussion threads.
</<shameless plug>>
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Lilith __,
And this non-sloppy kiss is for Ben if he's still reading.
Are the ribs in the mask "for her pleasure"?
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Field Theory: Rugby World Cup stories, in reply to Ross Mason,
Is there a wooden spoon award, Hadyn?
That sucks, Ross. Where were they in the end?
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Field Theory: Rugby World Cup stories, in reply to bmk,
Hah! That's never going to happen. The All Blacks have vowed to win every game. It's the righteous way to win, being the only team that never got beat.
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OnPoint: Set it on fire, then, in reply to DCBCauchi,
I have a horrible feeling that that generation is now in its 20s (except grumpy middle-aged men have always said that about every generation in its 20s).
Indeed. I wouldn't put it past any generation, including my own. Traditionally, gratuitous war has been something most pushed for by the people least likely to die in it, rich old men. Indeed, their own children are likely to be beyond conscription age, so it's only their grandchildren, of which there are often many, and plenty that are too young. So, their genetic survival being assured and their own death imminent, it becomes an exciting spectator sport.
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OnPoint: Set it on fire, then, in reply to Lucy Stewart,
Possibly the range of other ways to die, and nearness of death in people's lives, influenced people's willingness to commit murder and violence?
Certainly, when life is cheap and short, you'd be inclined to get on with it as hard and fast as possible. But the inclination to murder and violence is something I believe to be built in, taking the many layers of civilization that I've been lucky enough to live under to reduce. Even then, when "civilized" people get down to violence, they do it in a different way, using technology to rain death down indiscriminately, and propaganda to soften the blow to their conscience.
It's not really very far below the surface. However much Pinker righteously points out that the world was a more violent place, the huge anomaly of the ultra violent wars that technology makes available to us, and we have availed ourselves of periodically, makes me uninclined to be complacent about our capacity for a sudden, horrible reversal. His statistics could be reversed in under one hour if nuclear war ever broke out, and there is no reason to think that humans can't develop even more devastating weapons.
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OnPoint: Set it on fire, then, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Well, maybe not quite enough...:-)
once the capitalist system collapses under resource exhaustion and the (failed) globalisation of affluence.
See I don't think that's going to happen. Only Western capitalism is collapsing, and to a large extent it's collapsing towards the Third World, which rises the more it seizes (well, wins an auction for) the main means of production, labour. It's an ironic outcome of globalization. Affluence globalization actually does mean hard times for rich nations. I don't think the key proponents of globalization realized this. Or maybe they did but they didn't care.
It has to stabilize out at some point. I just don't know when. We'll probably eventually get used to the idea that the economy can't keep growing so fast, until the laggard nations reach reasonable levels of affluence.
So perhaps I am agreeing after all.
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OnPoint: Set it on fire, then, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Actually I’d regard such unpleasantness as inevitable
Gawd, the pessimism. I like to think civilized humans can organize themselves better than that. A sustained downturn in democracies could just lead to them organizing another variant on the New Deal, and perhaps addressing the key causes of global financial instability. Doesn't really require martyrs, just Acts of parliament, and ticks on voting papers. I don't like our current government, sure, but they won't last forever.
The only question for me is "how sustained?". How deep into full blown depression do we have to sink before more sensible measures become obvious voter choices? And WW2 lies there beyond the Godwin barrier as a warning against using violence at a Great Nation level to solve these problems.
But enough of this digression.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Lilith __,
And all the tea fanatics I know are fanatical about using a teapot and wouldn’t dream of doing it this way even if they could.
I get where they're coming from. Putting a condom on your tea might actually make it not worth drinking. But they should at least try! The elitist gits, don't they know the working classes use tea bags.
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