Posts by chris

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  • Random Play: So. I'm off Te Radar again,

    ha!

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Up Front: No Smoke,

    Great grandfather lived past 80 smoking a pack a day, grandfather died at 84, smoked two packs a day for 40 years. Neither died from smoking related illnesses, but yes, they did die. Our family has been smoking tabaccy for nigh on 400 years. I figure I'm more likely to die from high blood pressure induced by the wankoff lectures from ill informed do gooders....or a broken heart....or a punch in the face, than smoking. It's genes bro/Ms.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Cracker: Sintax,

    Likewise:

    In my room I have built a religion of a kind
    I've found virtue in things that stay the same
    In my room I measure time by the things that I use up
    And just like my shopping list I will never change

    The Mutton Birds - In My Room. Artist = Joe Wylie

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Suicide Question,

    "Well if you can't trust the media who can you trust?"

    Judge Neil MacLean

    I'd suggest family, friends, your doctor, nurses, teachers, your lawyer? Certainly when a high level member of the judiciary says something like that, it's understandable that New Zealand has such a high suicide rate.

    I thought you were a little gentle on him Russell, especially when he ignobly invalidated -

    PhD student Craig Colhoun... said more than 100 published articles have found that suicide media reports are associated with increases in subsequent suicide rates.

    -

    as a

    "perfectly valid point of view."

    Mainly he didn't seem to come out with any strong justification for a change. Despite Rebecca Todd's stirling work within the parameters of the law.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Cracker: Sintax,

    In my room I have built a religion of a kind
    I've found virtue in things that stay the same
    In my room I measure time by the things that I use up
    And just like my shopping list I will never change

    J. Wylie - artist.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Random Play: So. I'm off Te Radar again,

    And wouldn't you say that this country being the last big bit of land (outside Antarctica) anywhere in the world to be populated by anyone, and that having happened just about 100 years ago, makes it really quite a young country? At least relative to every other country on the planet?

    What? The entire African continent wasn't even discovered until 1998

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Suicide Question,

    Do you think anything can change those core belief structures?

    Certainly, I feel there is a constant dialogue of influence between all involved. The thing that disturbs me most is how those core belief structures have been influenced by the censorship of this issue, and the difficulty distinguishing between the various influences of the media, the legislative organization, the legislation itself, society as a whole, various subsets therein, the families and lastly individuals.

    As an example, I've had two old school friends take their own lives this year. I've no idea how, I tentatively asked friends about the first, but learned nothing, in the second case I simply refrained from asking. From time to time I wonder how they departed this world, then I console myself in the faith that if their families wanted that information available they'd make it so. I respect the family's rights in this case, more so than the media. I don't think I'd like to read it in the news, and would feel upset if I were to be exposed to these details by strangers.

    I'm left to contemplate if this is a traditional New Zealand approach or a conditioned response to the subjugated media. No clue really. I just hope I don't receive any more of these very vague emails in the near future.

    I was thinking more in terms of comprehensive articles, discussions of how and why, than the individual loss itself.

    I wholeheartedly agree.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Suicide Question,

    Should we open up another avenue of human misery to the media to mine? Do we really want our tragically departed loved ones to be used as page filler and coffee break fodder?

    So for those suicide survivors there is a distinct lack of openness, discussion and support.

    This is true Deb. I too am a fan of openness and clear reportage, but I find New Zealand's legislative approach to freedom of information in publication is already heavily morally convoluted. I feel it would be a mistake to make any changes to suicide reporting without also carefully examining other areas of news censorship and more poignantly the core belief structures that have combined to form this arbitrary set of standards currently in place, if for nothing more than to develop a more comprehensive approach to truth and transparency in the internet age.

    Judging the MSM on their current methods and standards, I don't share your confidence in the media's capacity to encourage compassionate discussion, nor offer or elicit much in the way of meaningful support. The MSM doesn't serve us as much as we serve them I feel.

    Still, it's a worthy debate. One aspect of this that interests me is that I've been reading for months in NZ MSM about how (at least one) Foxconn employee commited suicide by jumping to his death. Does the current standard only apply to deaths within New Zealand? What's that about?

    Really seriously: I find it utterly bizarre that, as a civilisation, we grossly underpay those who make the most difference (nurses, of all kinds; teachers; frontline police& GPs

    I second that.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Southerly: Confessions of a Social Retard,

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Hard News: Long will be the lunches,

    lovelyly written George.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

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