Posts by binary.heart
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[Whaleoil is] "Jerry Springer meets Fox News" - Actually that's pretty unfair on Jerry Springer and Fox News
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One of the few films that I have carried with me since I saw it when I was young. I really enjoyed sharing it with a 7th form class as part of my teacher training. An amazing film. Thanks Joe Wiley. I never knew it was you. : )
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Hard News: My Year in Culture, in reply to Damian Christie,
Absolutely agree.
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"But would the former Alliance's core non-Green voterbase of betrayed former Labour voters have the same problem?"
- This one still does.
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"And having the conversation started by a major party rather than a minor one makes it harder to dismiss."
Yup, that's exactly my point. It's not to disregard the part played by other parties and groups, but Labour's adoption for the time being of some of these ideas opens the debate up usefully.
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Amongst other people I know who vote Green in Wellington. There seems to be growing discontent with the MPs and the feeling that the party is moving away from its original feel. Rather than tracing it back to backing Metiria over Sue Bradford, a lot of it is being put down to Russell Norman's influence - which I think is seen as too media-focused and increasingly moving away from their core values.
Personally I would welcome another major left-wing party. One point I'd make in response to Giovanni is that Labour's 'leftward shift' - is opening some actual ground for discussion in the political landscape that has been exceedingly hard to dig over of late.
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"I'm with you in principle, but people really don't do that anymore."
As a group of people they get together in organisations like the Employers and Manufacturers Association and lobbied National for the sort of changes we are seeing now.
The sole purpose of these changes are to increase their power in the workplace. The way they wish to do this is to diminish if not kill off unions, and deny people basic workplace rights. If you are an employee and you don't regard the EMA and such as an enemy - you are not paying attention.
Many people don't belong to unions and will see some areas of these changes as not affecting them, but many industry standards for payment and conditions spring from union collectives. They want to drive wages down everywhere, and this is a key way to do it. And by the way - is anyone out there feeling overpaid at the moment.
"That wasn't my intention."
Ok. Thanks in general for raising the issue on your blog. I'm glad this is getting more airtime and discussion.
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"I was simply saying that I don't find it useful to see people who create businesses and employ other people as the enemy."
It's fine to state your view, but to try and back it up by completely obfuscating the hard work of the employees who create the turnover that pays for their wages I believe is wrong.
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"It's a nuance that seems to get lost sometimes, though, doesn't it?"
Evidently.
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"I don't regard employers as the enemy. That would be ridiculous. The enterprise and willingness to embrace risk of employers literally pays the rent of millions of people."
I can't say I'm fussed on the first sentence, but the second sentence is patently ridiculous. It's the hard work of thousands of employees that pays their rents, not the largess of employers. If the employers couldn't extract surplus value from workers' time and effort they wouldn't bother employing them.