The Wonderful World of Oz

It seems like everyone has gone soft these days. Bullying and name calling turns everyone into snowflakes, and they make it such a big issue. Why don't these people toughen up. The world is never going to be paradise, there will always be bullying and bad behaviour, so why are people expecting people to act like divine beings?...that will only set you up for disappointment.

Kids expect the parents or teachers to fight their battles for them.
Adults expect the police to charge others because they got insulted.

So what is someone swears or insults you. They are the one with the problem. If you get upset, then you are the one with the problem, ie, the problem = you are a snowflake.

We can't force people to wake up, so why are we trying to?
Laws don't change hearts either.
 
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Journeyman said:
Shooey, with respect, you are a white male who is financially comfortable (at least it looks like it from your clothes and large collection of expensive shoes). You're not the sort of person who experiences racism in Australia.
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But as a mature adult, he regardless of financial comfort, will be able to recognize it, no?

We can all recognize good and bad behavior.
 
The Shooman said:
So what is someone swears or insults you. They are the one with the problem. If you get upset, then you are the one with the problem, ie, the problem = you are a snowflake.
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I'm confused about what you're actually trying to say in your past couple of posts.

Are you essentially saying that we should just turn the other cheek?
Just tolerate racism, abuse and other bad behaviour instead of calling it out for what it is - because if we point it out and confront it, we are "snowflakes"?
Or are you saying something else that I haven't grasped?

Pimpernel Smith said:
But as a mature adult, he regardless of financial comfort, will be able to recognize it, no?
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Surely, as a man of the world, you are not this naive?

I know white, middle-class, Anglo-Saxon people who genuinely believe that there isn't any racism and that BLM is all a ridiculous beat up. They think that way, because they grew up in a white, upper-middle-class suburb along with other white, upper-middle-class children, went to an expensive private school with other white, upper-middle-class kids, went to a good university and attended parties along with their white, upper-middle-class friends, married people from that same social group and then got jobs at large accounting or law firms and bought houses in largely white, upper-middle-class suburbs.

In other words, they live in a "bubble" of privilege. They have never experienced discrimination themselves (unless you count positive discrimination).

To such people, racism and discrimination is (literally) foreign - unless it's them practicing it against someone else, but then they'd probably think of it as a joke and say that they didn't really mean to hurt him, they were just being funny.
 
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Journeyman said:
Surely, as a man of the world, you are not this naive?

I know white, middle-class, Anglo-Saxon people who genuinely believe that there isn't any racism and that BLM is all a ridiculous beat up. They think that way, because they grew up in a white, upper-middle-class suburb along with other white, upper-middle-class children, went to an expensive private school with other white, upper-middle-class kids, went to a good university and attended parties along with their white, upper-middle-class friends, married people from that same social group and then got jobs at large accounting or law firms and bought houses in largely white, upper-middle-class suburbs.

In other words, they live in a "bubble" of privilege. They have never experienced discrimination themselves (unless you count positive discrimination).

To such people, racism and discrimination is (literally) foreign - unless it's them practicing it against someone else, but then they'd probably think of it as a joke and say that they didn't really mean to hurt him, they were just being funny.
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B.L.M. is a Marxist front. Now we've got that over with...

You can live in bubble of privilege and still have empathy and recognize the suffering of others. And in that bubble of privilege people can still get cancer, get killed in car crashes etc. You don't need to experience racial discrimination to understand the evil. Just because you're middle class doesn't mean you can't feel and understand what it is to be a minority.

This White Privilege/Critical Race Theory is a malignant force and needs to be exposed and ridiculed. The notion that some white kid born into an impoverished sink estate has privilege above a black kid born to middle class family of doctors in London, or an Indian of high caste born into the ambassador class is absurd and noxious.

The current trajectory will lead to a bitter hyper-racialized society were equality is scoffed at, as the conclusion will be reached that they never wanted equality only dominance and submission. Do you really think the Anglo-Saxons of the West are going to shuffle off into being a second class caste fearful of revenge for crimes committed by their forefathers?

Guess again. Equality of opportunities is the only way and was the direction and the answer most of us had already reached.
 
Journeyman said:
Surely, as a man of the world, you are not this naive?
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a story, in two parts
Pimpernel Smith said:
B.L.M. is a Marxist front. Now we've got that over with...
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Pimpernel Smith said:
You can live in bubble of privilege and still have empathy and recognize the suffering of others.
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that should give you your answer jman. in case you needed further clarification:

Pimpernel Smith said:
as the conclusion will be reached that they never wanted equality only dominance and submission.
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so you see, its not really racism. we're just trying to protect ourselves from the swarthy looking types who are trying to dominate us!
 
Pimpernel Smith said:
B.L.M. is a Marxist front. Now we've got that over with...
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I should have known that would trigger you! ;)


Pimpernel Smith said:
You can live in bubble of privilege and still have empathy and recognize the suffering of others. And in that bubble of privilege people can still get cancer, get killed in car crashes etc. You don't need to experience racial discrimination to understand the evil. Just because you're middle class doesn't mean you can't feel and understand what it is to be a minority.
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Yes, you can live in a bubble of privilege and still have empathy and recognise the suffering of others. It's possible - but it's less likely.

Cancer is universal - we all get cancer. But if you're raised in a bubble of privilege, you're far less likely to suffer discrimination. It's not part of your world experience and so you don't recognise the impact of it. It's easy to ignore, easy to brush away - "Oh, they're just joking - why is he getting so upset about it?!"

Just look at how sexual harassment and discrimination has been (and sometimes still is) minimised - it's just men having a bit of fun, it's just a joke, they don't mean any harm, she should just get over it etc etc.

When you're in a position of authority or power and you've never actually experienced harassment or discrimination, it is far harder to understand how it can actually impact someone, especially when it is an ongoing, repeated experience rather than a one-off experience.

Surely you can understand and appreciate that?
 
Yeh my wife only speaks American so I’ve given-up hope of ever moving the family back to Australia.
 
two depressing stories out of oz land today:

edition.cnn.com

The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its corals within 3 decades

Australia's Great Barrier Reef has lost 50% of its coral populations in the last three decades, with climate change a key driver of reef disturbance, a new study has found.
edition.cnn.com edition.cnn.com

www.theguardian.com

Australia has eight disadvantaged jobseekers for every entry-level position, report finds

Anglicare report finds situation has worsened for older people and long-term unemployed since start of Covid recession
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Rambo said:
www.wsws.org

Mounting evidence of systemic Australian war crimes in Afghanistan

The atrocities flowed inevitably from the nature of the war—a brutal operation to crush all resistance to the US military occupation of the impoverished country.
www.wsws.org

Dropbear Dropbear thought you might find this one interesting.
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Thanks. I was talking to a friend (who was attached to SASR in the late 90s) about this recently. In the limited interactions I had with the Regiment before that, they were consummate professionals with a largely counter-terror mission. Then the army expanded the Commando units, which developed a bit of a ‘complete the mission at all costs, any way you can’ spirit. These then became the prime recruit pool for the SAS. That no rules, cowboy culture infected them right when they started going a long GWOT overseas deployments with minimal oversight. Very sad to see what’s happened to them and I really hope they can clean house and come back.
 
yeah fucking Hillsong - ruined everything. I saw Zappa there, Graham Parker, Ian Drury - fell asleep in a John Mahavishnu McLaughlin gig
 
Dropbear said:
From House of Stoush to the Beatles, Rage Against the Machine, Plcebo, Morrissey, Metallica, Anthony Mundine, to Fucking Hillsong?

www.nme.com

Iconic Melbourne venue Festival Hall has been sold to Hillsong Church

Christian megachurch Hillsong has today announced it has purchased iconic Melbourne live venue Festival Hall.
www.nme.com www.nme.com
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fxh said:
yeah fucking Hillsong - ruined everything. I saw Zappa there, Graham Parker, Ian Drury - fell asleep in a John Mahavishnu McLaughlin gig
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Looking on the bright side, at least it's not going to be knocked down.

Festival Hall in Brisbane saw plenty of great acts over the years, including the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zep and many others. I saw Nick Cave, Radiohead, the Chemical Brothers, Powderfinger, Portishead and various other acts there.

Unfortunately, it was demolished about 15 years back and an ugly apartment block was erected on the site, with a few old photos of Festival Hall in the foyer and a Nando's and Chocolateria San Churro down the side.
 
I hope that it is haunted by rock and roll ghosts having orgies and doing lines off the arses of groupies.
 
Journeyman said:
Looking on the bright side, at least it's not going to be knocked down.

Festival Hall in Brisbane saw plenty of great acts over the years, including the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zep and many others. I saw Nick Cave, Radiohead, the Chemical Brothers, Powderfinger, Portishead and various other acts there.

Unfortunately, it was demolished about 15 years back and an ugly apartment block was erected on the site, with a few old photos of Festival Hall in the foyer and a Nando's and Chocolateria San Churro down the side.
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My parents went and saw the Beatles and many famous bands there. They were right at the front in the center when they saw the Beatles. They have told me many great stories, and they met bands and had all the top spots to see them. On the second night my dad drove his sister to see the Beatles, and after the show he talked to them.
 
Yes, shocking stuff - the culmination of a four-year investigation by a judge who is also a Major General in the Australian Army Reserve.

Here is a link to a redacted copy of the report released by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF):

https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/IGADF-Afghanistan-Inquiry-Public-Release-Version.pdf

"The nature and extent of the misconduct allegedly committed by ADF members on operations in Afghanistan is very confronting. The Report discloses allegations of 39 unlawful killings by or involving ADF members. The Report also discloses separate allegations that ADF members cruelly treated persons under their control. None of these alleged crimes was committed during the heat of battle. The alleged victims were noncombatants or no longer combatants.”
 
Its dreadful - but - and this is no excuse - I suspect worse from USA special forces types.

Added to this - as many serving people have said " We still have no fucking idea why we were there"
 
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Plastic "glasses" and with a head like that - no one would drink it
 
On the farm as a kid i had a pet (rescue joey) kangaroo - they are pretty dopey .
 
fxh said:
On the farm as a kid i had a pet (rescue joey) kangaroo - they are pretty dopey .
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When my mum was growing up in Tasmania, she knew a family that had a semi-domesticated wombat.

Apparently, it spent most of its waking hours gnawing on the furniture legs and you had to be quite careful when sitting down, just in case you sat on a couch or chair and one of its legs collapsed under you.
 
Had a family gathering at a location named after my family. The surrounding streets are named after us and the state's biggest park is named after us. I was never even aware of it until last week.
Buckingham park.jpg
 
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11B85D2F-3CD8-4BC7-A11C-64323102BED3.jpeg
Apparently I’m on the Perth Reflects Facebook group, because someone just posted this pic with me in it on the 20th anniversary of the WA Drug Summit at Parliament House. That might make me feel old, but then I read the dumb comments and feel a little less senile than the boomer posters, hahah!
 
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