Posts by chris
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Stephen Judd,
wow, I took it as a typo. A lucrative industry there.
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this seems well-done to me.
By the time she pays $250 in rent, $90 for power and $70 for petrol to get to and from work, Masoe has about $43 left to pay for groceries.
$90 p/w for power? Are prices really this high now?
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Hard News: Who owns the news?, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
we all end up knowing too much we don’t need to know, too much complexity, too much detail without corroboration – and it overloads our filters and ability to act decisively.
I'm definitely feeling that Ian.
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Hard News: Who owns the news?, in reply to DCBCauchi,
Is it being distracted by others’ flames, stopping us from kindling our own, or more looking at how they built their fire, to inform our search for kindling?
Interesting perspective DCB. I mentioned fire as analogous to a civilization, the global blaze of sustenance, each nation huddled about its own shoulder of the bonfire. Answering your question in that vein, I do sometimes wonder if we focus too much on the USA's waning light as opposed to focusing more on the winning methodologies of countries such as Australia, Singapore, India, China, Brazil etc who through whatever means are weathering this lull with less ado. What works as opposed to what hasn't. On that bent, my potential answer to the second part of your question is rendered moot as we are relatively well informed there: (from your link)
"CORPORATE GREED, WAR, Gov WASTE + CORRUPTION, GENECIDE, POLLUTION, PROHIBITION..."
To your actual question, correct me if I'm wrong, and I do apologize if I am - the 99% movement as the fire. I agree that looking at how they built and are building their fire is of sociological interest and can inform activists. But I remain skeptical, not so much about the intrinsic value of a protest about the distribution of wealth as about the likelihood of it garnering any kind of tactile result. Given that nowadays the relative degree to which public demonstration is sanctioned in a territory seems almost inversely proportional to its probable effectiveness, this gathering seems to serve as little more than a good hard look in the mirror.
Ostensibly it increases our awareness of an issue that 99% (+/-) of us face, and thus online in our caves we duly reflect, rather than say hamming it up over yonder on a jetski. But do NZers truly face these same torrid scenarios? Are we the same 99%? with our free health care and welfare state? From the first page of that link there are some interesting trends:
"At 21 years old, I am…
-One semester from graduating college with a degree no one seems to hire
-In massive debt because of that once “dream degree”
-About to become a mother to a baby whose illness has gotten us booted off government health insurance…at 9 months pregnant…""I am a married man w 3 children. Living w my wife 3 kids and + SISTER. I am the only ONE working. Save the little we have to MAKE eNds meet. + That's NOT Enough...
I'm a single mom of 2 trying to beat statistics..."
$73,000 in student loan debt for a degree I couldn’t finish because a guy decided he wasn’t too drunk to drive. (He was!) I got nothing from his insurance company…because he didn’t have one.
Callously, one could argue that the lack of pragmatism and responsibility in some of these peoples' stories is adequately reciprocated by their democratically elected government. This downward US swing has been in motion for decades, and we didn't elect their leaders. That a central country is in freefall is of concern and yet the world goes onanon. NZers of course face similar issues, but fortunately they are not the very same, and we only have so much attention to give. I'm not sure how much is enough, but an election looms. Mass apologies for the rant.
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Hard News: Who owns the news?, in reply to Islander,
"-I’d stop it there,"
Tēnā rawa atu koe hīnātore. ko koe tonu a runga.
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Thanks for taking the time to answer Islander, much appreciated. Perhaps it's a false equivalence, but I'm ever querulous about the amount of attention afforded the US by ANZers, it doesn't get so much airtime here, nothing much does, besides growth and development. Our gaze stolen by a dying fire's embers, waylaying our task of collecting fresh kindling from the dilating blackness.
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Hard News: Who owns the news?, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Do you think in the old times, citizens in far flung territories, not simply aligned with but under the thumb of the empire cared much about the goings on in Rome?
Does our enhanced ability to vicariously share in these distant struggles motivate significant reinforcement and real momentum with regards to similar issues in our own backyard or does our possession of a digital "support" button transfer the general populations' enthusiasms offshore, as it were. Relegating these kinds of occurrences to a mere spectator sport?
Genuine questions.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to Just thinking,
If I’d seen that AOS-swoop picture twenty years ago there’s no way I would’ve believed this could be the New Zealand of the future. Seriously, what happened? the Brazil production designer deserves full credit. I pity any paramilitary outfit lacking becoming dayware.
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Frankly impressed JoKey has the time and energy. Supreme multitasking, or inequitable workload? Either way my cat maintains he's a flimsy sot.
Do some actual work you lazy fuck.