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I hate my Dad

January 28th 2008 13:44

There’s a protest on. Cars are stopped at the lights, waiting for the protesters to walk by. The first comes by with a Placard and yells “Down with Howard, War Mongering bastard”. The second comes along with a massive placard – “Destroy the neo-fascist evil Capitalist system!” Then a third comes along with a placard and yells;
“I hate my Dad!”

It’s a joke, but the message does convey a certain seriousness. The idea that those in our society – protesters, dissidents and radicals are simply acting out of our own anger against authority and fighting outside wars to avoid dealing with our own issues, is, sadly, not redundant.

The difficult thing to understand about righteous battles and causes it that there is no visible difference between the man executing his actions for a noble cause, and a man doing the same for a vengeance. The eye sees the same man, whether he is in Iraq to liberate the citizens in the name of liberty, or just wants to ‘scare up dem sand niggaz’.

Hate Bush? Or just Anything?

This is a scary concept, especially when we regard the important role rebels and dissidents play in our society. It was dissidents who gained women’s rights, gay rights, Aboriginals rights. Dissidents have fought against injustice for many years.

This raises a question; is hatred – rational or otherwise – an essential component of a shift towards positive change? Women needed to hate their oppressors, as did Aboriginals and homosexuals. Without a powerful tide of resentment towards the Howard government, we would have never seen the birth of the Rudd Government.

Do we ever push for what is right? Or does society simply wait for the right moment to push against what is wrong? It has often been said of Australians that we do not vote Governments in, but out. We vote not for but against.

Does humanity really have those who fight for what is right? Or are we just a pack of lost kids waiting to seek revenge on the eternal omnipotent authority figure who consistently slips like mist through our fingers?

Image by TJ Scenes Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Politics, Pop Culture, Miscalany

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Kiddie Energy Drinks

October 25th 2007 03:24

Remember Bad Boy, that brand with that feisty Eight year old with big muscles on T-shirts – think a white version of little boy 50 Cent. Well they’ve branched out from clothing. Now they make energy drinks.

Have a look at the can design. The image of the ‘Badass Face’, the simple lines and colour design, the anti authoritarianism, the name of the product. This is not an energy drink aimed at the adult energy drink market.

Even more profoundly disturbing is the ‘Monster Mash’ product. Turn the can on it’s side and you’ll see a list of reasons to drink Monster Mash. Number 2?

You’re too young to by alcohol. See the picky?

What age group do you suspect this appeals to?

Basically the message is this – this is what you can drink to get messed up – not drunk, but you can still achieve a caffeine high; it’s cool.

Marketing is a strange beast. It’s what makes us pay $5.00 for something that has an exact equivalent at $3.00. It’s why blokes can drink mild without looking like a sissy, and why chicks will buy certain types of ice-cream that don’t make them look like a Bogan. And it’s how, right now, people in suits and ties are seducing your children into indulging in addictive drugs, right under your nose.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Drugs, Politics, Pop Culture, Health, Miscalany

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Listen to Noah?

October 19th 2007 09:44

“Um, guys?” says Noah.

“What?”

“We have a problem. Rain is going to come down. Huge flood. Wipe everything out. We have to build an Ark.”

“Bullshit.”

“Nah, fair dinkum.”

“Who says?”

“God says.”

“Bullshit.”

“Look, he passed on the message. That’s it. We have to work together, build an Ark. Get two of every creature on it. And we have to start changing our lifestyle to be less sinful.”

“To hell with you, you puritan bastard. I know this is rubbish. You must have some kind of loopy secret agenda to be spreading these foul lies.”

Noah and the angry disagreement man part ways. However it is not long until they meet again.

“Hey Noah”

“Gahh, what?”

“I can prove you’re wrong.”

“Dude. You can’t. There’s a flood coming. God’s sending it to destroy all the sin.”

“I can disprove it.”

“…riiiight.”

“These individuals who I quote these following statistics off, state that though rigorous theological testing, these is unlikely to be a flood…”

“The test has been done, mate.”

“Oh no, not this one. My carefully chosen set of expert scientists have through considerable research examined the problem. They discovered that this Global Flooding is simply factually untrue. They further decided that even if it is true, then it’s not the result of an act of God based on increasing sin levels but a simple natural phenomenon that is unaffected by human actions.”

“I don’t suppose this study was funded by casinos and brothels?”

“The study was funded in part by some groups like those you mentioned, but that in no way damages the integrity of the study, and to suggest it does is offensive to the professionals who put their efforts into the study.”

Then the rain starts.

**********

“Um Guys,” says Dr Scientist.

“What?”

“We have a problem. Ice Caps are melting. Human influence is accelerating Global Warming. We have to curb our consumption.”

“Bullshit.”

“Look, that’s the scientific consensus. That’s it. We have to start looking at viable scientific ways in which to solve these problems. And we have to start pursuing alternatives to our excessive Greenhouse Gas Emissions.”

“To hell with you, you alarmist greenie bastard. I know this is rubbish. You must have some kind of loopy secret agenda to be spreading these foul lies.”

Dr Scientist and the Self Righteous Conservative part ways. However, it is not long until they meet up again.

“Hey Dr Scientist”

“Gahh what?”

“I Can Prove you’re wrong”

“Dude. You can’t. Global warming is a scientifically proven consensus.”

“I can disprove it.”

“Riiiiiiight”

“New research from a specially selected panel of independent unbiased experts suggest there is no correlation between levels of C02 and the rate of the Earths warming.”

“Dude, the tests have been done.”

“Ohhh yes, but this is from a new group of professionals who know more than the world’s highest regarded scientists. There is no truth to this ‘global warming’ and even if there is, it is certainly not man made.”

“I don’t suppose this was funded by right wing agendas and oil industries?”

“Well there may be some association with those interests but that in no way impedes the credibility of the research and to suggest so is an affront to those working hard on this research.”

Then, the weather changes.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Politics, Pop Culture, Miscalany

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Is Racism Justified?

October 4th 2007 13:30

We treat different people in different ways. We have to. People are different. We don’t try to demand folk with wheelchairs climb the stairs, and we don’t ask Vietnamese actors to play Michael Jackson in the biopic of his life.

However, when we decide on how to treat people based on race, we run into the issue of racism. The best way to describe racism, I find, is to regard it as ‘racial discrimination’ – specific discrimination based on an individuals race or ethnicity. And there is a question of if racial discrimination is ever appropriate to which I would have to say “yes”. Now it’s very easy to get all indignant and be all like ‘that’s not cool man! We’re all the same on the inside! Don’t be hating!’

You’re a Customs Officer. You have to do baggage checks at a flight leaving Vietnam. A large amount of the Heroin smuggled into Australia is taken in from Vietnamese locals. Who are you going to pick?

You are a police officer in a remote Australian community. Somebody walks past you with a bottle of mentholated spirits. They tell you it’s just groceries for their parent. In one scenario they’re Greek, in the other, Aboriginal. Would your reaction be racially discriminate?

If you’re Investigating terrorism do you start with Koreans? White extremist graffiti, do you ask an Indian? We have to go with the clues we have, and sometimes the only clue we have is a face. A race. An ethnicity. A culture. A stereotype. A presumption.

Racism? Discrimination?

The complexity with racism is that the concept in itself seems to have become synonymous with the idea that we should treat everyone the same. This is obviously untrue, and when failing to pretend that we are all exactly the same is perceived as synonymous, we run into problems. The question is – to what extend does treating people differently for all their differences become an act of hatred, and to what extent does it become an act of common sense?

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Politics, Pop Culture, Miscalany, Subcultures

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No, YOU’RE like Hitler

June 16th 2007 09:14

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one. This well accepted fact of the Internet is known as Godwin’s Law, also referred to as Reducto Ad Hitlerum.

Basically, it refers to the inevitable practice of somebody being compared to Hitler, or a group being compared to Nazis, within a debate or disagreement.

This is problematic. The main issue I can see is that when people compare to Hitler it is rarely expressed in a direct ideological comparison. Instead, usually it is designed to simply portray that other individuals ideas as ‘bad’. And the reason of why it’s bad is usually given as – because it’s like Hitler/Nazi’s.

This is where it gets sticky. Because the next question is – why is Hitler bad? Obviously because he was a genocide warmonger.

However, this is rarely relevant to the discussion. Usually the subject will be something totally separate to WWII. Which makes comparisons to Hitler over things such as Environmentalism (yes, I have seen this) quite bizarre, as they rarely take into account the fact that the reasons Hitler was considered ‘evil’ are separate to the elements of the debate that they are depicting him as having similarity with.

Basically what I’m getting to, is the argument is always the same. So and so shares X attribute with Hitler. Therefore So and so is as bad as Hitler. Hitler is not bad because he did what so and so did. Hitler is bad because Hitler is bad.

This is the risk we face when we as a society begin to turn history into mythology. By changing our view of Hitler from ‘a man who committed evil acts’ to ‘the personification of evil’, we no longer recognize the lessons learned from the man and his acts – one can avoid being Hitler simply by ‘not being evil’ – in which the inference is, nobody could be like Hitler because he’s an ethical absolute – nobody could be pure evil so nobody can be Hitler. Therefore, nobody has anything to learn from WWII as it was caused by pure evilness, which is not something we individually are capable of.

When society builds facts into mythology it paves the way for ignorant arguments, based on pretty much nothing to hold strong emotional power over the masses, twisting words into powerful pieces of propaganda.

Just like Hitler did.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Politics, Pop Culture, Miscalany

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