Across the vast expanse of human history, whenever a systemic injustice is set to be addressed, a garbled chorus of conservatives incoherently shit themselves, terrified that things are about to become less awful for someone else. This is a well worn and readily exploitable pattern. Gay marriage was set to Domino Effect us into marrying sheep and tractors, Australia’s moral compass ablaze in a barnyard orgy of inappropriate but innovative uses of farmyard implements. Needless to say, this did not happen. The apology to the Stolen Generations was going to lead Australia down an endless path of compensation lawsuits, bankrupting the nation as wealth funnelled its way into remote communities bursting with gold chains, teeth grills and Cadillacs bouncing on hydraulic suspension. This didn’t happen either. Mabo and the Land Rights movement was going to lead to white Australians losing their homes. I’m sure you’ll be shocked, but this hasn’t come to pass. And allowing women to vote was going to destroy the wisdom believed inherent in democratic decision making. Democracy is a little on the fritz, admittedly, but even Andrew Tate couldn’t blame that exclusively on women. Didn’t happen.
https://theshot.net.au/general-news/the-no-campaigns-argument-isnt-based-on-fear-it-is-fear/
The epithet ‘useful idiot’ has often been attributed to Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik revolution of 19171, but there is no indication that any of Lenin’s works contain the epithet….
Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob adores as the interpreters of nature and the gods. For these men know that, once ignorance is put aside, that wonderment would be taken away, which is the only means by which their authority is preserved.
Parque Nacional Yasuní (PNY) is a national park in the far east of Ecuador and occupies an area of just over 9,800 square kilometres. The park lies within the Napo…
Over the last little while I had to deal with an American cooker who was completely lacking in any understanding of science, let alone any dealing with Covid-191. Not long…
As I explained in an earlier post, my partner and I have both had Covid-19 after three and a half years of avoiding catching it1. While we were both very…
You see, if somebody robs a store, it's a crime and the state is all set and ready to nab the criminal. But if somebody steals from the commons and from the future, it's seen as an entrepreneurial activity and the state cheers and gives them tax concessions rather than arresting them. We badly need an expanded concept of justice and fairness that takes mortgaging the future into account. [The Real World of Technology, CBC Enterprises, 1990. https://monoskop.org/images/5/58/Franklin_Ursula_The_Real_World_of_Technology_1990.pdf]
There have been numerous documented cases of money paid to local government councillors by people like property developers who are looking to make a load of cash based on alterations…