Violence – Futility – Violence – Futility . . .

Fiona Uncategorized

Bushfire Bill gets it:

When I was watching 60s war movies with my Dad as a little’n, I used to ask him why the Germans bothered with armies and stuff, when they could just blow up bombs in London and terrify the populace that way.

He talked to me about “rules”.

Later on, after I grew up a little, I thought that if The State (l’Etat?) guarantees more or less 100% security, then anyone who took even 1% off that, was defying the State’s authority and was thus undermining the other 99% of the State.

In my mature(r) years, I have thought that if WE bomb THEM, then why can’t THEY bomb US?

The product sold to us in the West of highly trained fighter jocks, 30,000 feet above the fray, dropping laser guided bombs on hapless and defenceless targets, who then die terrible deaths with their bloody, eviscerated intestines wrapped around the severed, eyeless, lipless heads of their children, was always false advertising.

We sit in our fighter jets playing win-win video games.

They arm themselves with Kalashnikovs and retaliate against our homeland.

Yet the former is moral and surgical. The latter excites worldwide horror and revulsion.

It’s not win-win anymore. The targets have learned how to be the aggressors.

Can we really blame them for retaliating in the best way they know how?Can we condemn them for bringing home to us, in our supposedly secure cities, just what it is like to have random murder perpetrated on our citizens and loved ones?

I’m as horrified as the next person by what happened today. I’m revolted and disgusted about Paris.

But can I blame “the enemy” for giving back to “us” some of what we have done to “them”?

In my heart of hearts, I can’t.

I hate it, but you can’t say we weren’t warned of the consequences of our actions.

Can someone tell me I’m wrong? And if I am, where I’m wrong?

As does Leone (not to mention every Pubster who has been commenting since earlier today):

You are right, and I agree with everything you say.

Tonight New Matilda gave us this –
(IMAGE: Moyan Brenn, Flickr) Paris Attacks Highlight Western Vulnerability, And Our Selective Grief And Outrage
https://newmatilda.com/2015/11/14/paris-attacks-highlight-western-vulnerability-and-our-selective-grief-and-outrage/

It has attracted quite a bit of ‘how dare you say this right now’ comment. But it is absolutely right, and there is no ‘good’ time to point out how hypocritical we are, weeping over one outrage and ignoring another, just as horrifying, because those killed or injured are not white, or European, or Australian.

And Kaye Lee from AIMM:

Does anyone truly believe that violence can lead the world to a better place?

There can be only one reason for the attacks in Paris and that is to draw the West into increased military action in the Middle East, and from the sounds of it, that has been the call from many people today.

To those whose answer to the bombs and bullets is bigger bombs and more bullets, I would say you are being manipulated in the same way as the ignorant deluded handful of people who carried out these attacks.

How can you claim to be on the side of right when you use the same methods – go to a foreign country and kill innocent people?

How can you speak of national security and protecting your borders as you invade other countries?

How can you claim to be protecting human rights as you bomb hospitals?

How can you claim to be fighting for freedom as you lock up the people fleeing from oppression?

We have removed countless despots and dictators but rarely has it gone well. We install corrupt governments or leave when it becomes politically inconvenient to stay and leave people to cope with the mess we leave behind. We train and arm paramilitary groups and then abandon them and show surprise when they team up with others we don’t care for.

The armaments industry is a huge global business with no ethics. Defence forces are empire builders who demand hundreds of billions to ‘keep us safe’ as they spark aggression around the world.

If you kill people, others will want revenge. Where does it stop?

Is humanity capable of civilisation? Capable of tolerance? Capable of accepting the responsibility of caring for and nurturing all children, educating them, and protecting the environment so they can have a future?

Billy Connelly used to do a skit about his mother belting him for hitting his sister. Are we to respond to violence with violence and see ourselves as saviours?

Until we learn to respect each other and the planet we share, we are doomed to let those who would use us for their own power and profit pull the strings.

VIOLENCE BEGETS ONLY ONE THING – MORE VIOLENCE

Somehow, we – the beneficiaries of the West’s crusading, colonising, exploiting activities for so many centuries – have to resolve this hellish brew. As far as I’m concerned, however, Kaye Lee has nailed it:

Until we learn to respect each other and the planet we share, we are doomed to let those who would use us for their own power and profit pull the strings.

525 thoughts on “Violence – Futility – Violence – Futility . . .”

  1. Julia Gillard, just like every other politician, took advantage of the generous ‘travel allowance’. She bought a flat in Canberra and lived there until she moved into The Lodge. We helped pay for it, as we pay for so many other Canberra residences. The property was sold early in 2013 for a healthy profit.

    Click to access GILLARD_Julia.pdf

    http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/finding/location/act/20764-julia-gillard-sells-canberra-investment-apartment.html

  2. You can just imagine Waffles’ royal progress through the streets of Manila. The motorcade with the police escort, the limos with dark windows, in one of them sits Waffles, nosegay pressed to his face to mask the smell of poverty seeping in through the aircon, trying to avert his eyes from the few poor people who managed to escape the clean-up purge……….

    Malcolm Turnbull will be spared the sight of beggars on Manila’s streets

    The poverty on the streets of Manila shocks first time visitors.
    But Malcolm Turnbull and other world leaders will be spared the sight when they attend this week’s summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
    In a “clearing operation” Philippines municipal authorities have rounded up several hundred mostly indigent and homeless residents of the sprawling city, including more than 140 children, and detained them without charge

    http://www.smh.com.au/world/malcolm-turnbull-will-be-spared-the-sight-of-beggars-on-manilas-streets-20151116-gkzu6r.html

  3. Dedalus,

    the day that japanese bombs rained down on Darwin.

    Don’t forget the bombing of Broome, and several places in Queensland (Horn Island, Mossman, Townsville), WA (Exmouth Gulf, Onslow, Port Hedland) and other NT places (Millingimbi and Katherine, to name two).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Australia,_1942%E2%80%9343

    But yes, Darwin copped the most, and the worst.

    Not that we were told anything about this when we studied Australian History in the late 1960s.

  6. Now, if only Your Government could do a similar analysis for Nauru and Manus …

  7. Next step – abolishing all rebates for private health cover and putting that money into the public health system.

  16. Strange – I thought Malcolm The magnificent would have been front and centre at the G20

  18. The very unChristian Christian

    A Queensland MP has renewed calls for Australian governments to consider the death penalty to deal with terrorists in the wake of the Paris attacks, which have claimed at least 130 lives.

    Moggill MP Dr Christian Rowan sparked controversy last week when he used a debate about counter-terrorism laws in parliament to call for considering the reintroduction of the death penalty for “certain or specified terrorist acts”.

    Just what you want to hear from an ex-president of the AMA in Queensland.

    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-mp-calls-for-debate-on-death-penalty-for-terrorists-20151116-gl05e5.html?&utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=nc&eid=socialn:fac-14omn0037-optim-nnn:nonpaid-25062014-social_traffic-all-organicpost-nnn-btimes-o&campaign_code=nocode&promote_channel=social_facebook

  20. Snouts troughs….these Liberals never miss an opportunity to enrich themselves at our expense.

    Proposed Flinders Ranges nuclear site identified as pastoral property belonging to former Liberal senator Grant Chapman

    A former South Australian senator and Liberal Party president who jointly owns one of several proposed sites for a nuclear dump in the state said he would be willing to allow high-level waste to be stored on the property in the future.

    Grant Chapman owns the long-term lease to Wallerberdina, a station near Barndioota in the Flinders Ranges about 40 kilometres north-west of Hawker, which is currently used to graze cattle.

    It is one of six sites across the nation, including three in SA, being considered by the Federal Government to store low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste.

    News of its potential future use has alarmed some neighbours, who are opposed to a nuclear dump and said they had not been consulted

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-16/proposed-nuclear-site-identified-as-wallerberdina-station/6944636

  22. This little black duck

    Watched a news report on the G20 and they particularly noted the difference in treatment Bad Vlad is getting compared to “Bris-Bane” as them overseas types like to pronounce it. They showed a couple of delegates at the conference taking photos of the talk your photo showed.
    .
    On Pub matters. Youse bloody cats get everywhere ! Part of the report of the G20 meeting showed the empty stage where the leaders speak and two moggies , from gawd knows where, enter stage left gambol across and exit stage right.

  24. Kaffeeklatscher,

    We felines can’t help it if youse humanes are totally lacking in initiative, enterprise, and free will.

  27. Fiona

    It made me 😆 because there was a spot with the tightest security in the world at the mo’ and a couple of cats were wandering about. What on earth were they doing there , looking for Death Cult mice ?

  30. It is not consonant with Our notions of Our deity dignity to appear on a silly little piece of paper or whatever it is that the Australhumanes use these days.

  31. Ooops !

    “Salah Abdeslam: Police stopped Paris attack suspect near Belgian border hours after the killings – but let him go

    Speaking to the Associated Press, four French officials said he was one of three people travelling in a car which was stopped at the French-Belgian border, around 120 miles from Paris, early on Saturday morning, hours after he had been identified as the renter of the car.”

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/salah-abdeslam-police-stopped-paris-attack-suspect-near-belgian-border-hours-after-the-killings-but-a6735656.html

  32. http://www.afr.com/news/politics/fairfax-ipsos-poll-voters-back-gst-rise-as-long-as-they-get-compensation-20151114-gkz84n

    Nov 16 2015 at 7:00 PM
    Fairfax Ipsos poll: Voters back GST rise…with compensation
    by Phillip Coorey Laura Tingle

    A majority of voters supports increasing the rate of GST if it includes compensation for lower and middle-income earners, providing a solid policy reform foundation for the Turnbull government, which has surged to its biggest lead yet over Labor.

    The latest Fairfax/Ipsos monthly poll shows the Coalition continuing to stretch its lead under Malcolm Turnbull to now lead Labor by 56 per cent to 44 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.

    This shift, matched by a further decline in Labor’s fortunes and those of its leader Bill Shorten, may have been influenced partly by the Paris terror attacks and Mr Turnbull’s response. It represents a 3 percentage point swing to the Coalition since the last poll and also since the 2013 federal election.

    Since the last poll in October, there has been intense debate about the GST and tax reform in general. The latest poll finds support for a GST increase in isolation has plunged from 37 per cent to 28 per cent since April, while opposition has risen 7 percentage points over the same period to 66 per cent.

    However, when voters are asked whether they supported an increased GST if accompanied by tax cuts and other forms of compensation for household on incomes of less than $100,000, support almost doubles to 52 per cent while opposition plunges to 41 per cent.

    The findings will buoy the government. While it has yet to formally decide on whether to increase the GST to pay for the reduction of other taxes, it has been modelling scenarios.

    Despite it being highly likely that high-income earners will not be compensated for a GST increase, the poll finds they are more supportive of the change than those who stood to be compensated.

    Nervous backbenchers wary of backlash

    Of those on incomes of more than $100,000 34 per cent support a GST increase. This falls to 27 per cent among those earning between $40,000 and $100,000, and 22 per cent for those earning less than $40,000.

    Despite nervous backbenchers warning of a backlash from an increased GST, Mr Turnbull has repeatedly assured that any increase would be offset by compensation in the form of tax cuts and welfare increases for the low and middle paid.

    The poll suggests voters are much more hostile to an increased GST than they were to the original decision to impose a GST in 1998.

    The poll of 1402 voters was taken from Thursday night to Saturday night last week, during which time, Mr Turnbull was in Jakarta and Berlin and 129 innocent people were slaughtered and 350 more wounded in the Paris terror attacks.

    Traditionally voters flock to the incumbent in times of terror, as they did after September 11, 2001.

    This poll finds the Coalition’s primary vote has risen 3 points since last month to 48 per cent while Labor’s primary fell a point to 29 per cent, which is lower than the 33 per cent it received at the 2013 election.

    The Greens fell a point since last month to 13 per cent.

  35. “Fairfax Ipsos poll: Voters back GST rise…with compensation”

    Yeah right, in Malcolm we trust!

  38. Those cats were doing what felines always do, checking up on everything, making sure security had been properly attended to. We can’t trust mere humans to get anything right.

  40. Oh great. does this mean I can expect Brandis and his goons to knock on my door and confiscate my beloved PS4?

    Paris attacks: fears terrorists may have used Sony PlayStation to communicate

    Speaking at an event held by news outlet Politico on November 10, Mr Jambon specifically named the PlayStation 4 as being “the most difficult communication” method for intelligence authorities to monitor in counter-terrorism efforts.
    “It’s very, very difficult for our [intelligence] services – not only our Belgian services but international services – to decrypt the communications via PlayStation 4,” he said

    http://www.canberratimes.com.au/technology/technology-news/paris-attacks-fears-terrorists-may-have-used-sony-playstation-to-communicate-20151115-gkzsw7.html

  41. Bananas needs to learn that there’s more to diplomacy than cocktail parties, taking the latest bonking partner on overseas trips and shopping in Armani boutiques.

    Russia snubbed Australia’s involvement in talks towards a peaceful political solution in Syria.
    The United States supported Foreign Minister Julie Bishop attending the talks held in Vienna last week.

    But Russian officials involved in the International Syria Support Group meeting objected to Australia’s attendance, effectively vetoing Ms Bishop’s role.

    No explanation has been given for the veto, but the foreign minister has made a series of inflammatory comments about Russia over the MH17 disaster

    http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/australia-snubbed-in-syria-talks/ar-BBn2eeB?ocid=iehp

    http://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBn241Z.img?h=470&w=728&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=895&y=721

  42. Right, the more we kill the more secure we are.

    And we shall control the fifth estate.

    Cool!

  43. As for the cricket, (BK will understand) Steve Smith is unique as a batsman. Many have gone against “the textbook” and succeeded.

    Steve Smith has a weird grip on his bat that should limit him in his strokes. And, then, he plays to the on when textbooks say he should play to the off.

    As for this test, unless Steve identifies behaviour in the pitch, then he won’t give the Enzedders anything but 330 to chase at 6 an over.

    The commentary and prognostications on cricket that is shown on whatever TV here is beyond belief.

  44. I met a traveller from an antique land
    Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
    Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
    The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
    And on the pedestal these words appear —
    “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
    Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

  47. NZ has gone all defensive in the cricket.

    If they want to win then they should consider giving a few runs and hope that Steve Smith gives them something to bat at.

    As I see it, state of the pitch, he’ll ask them to get 300 + at six an over.

  48. The cricket commentators are supposed to commentate and not Nostradamus.

    Sickening, really.

  50. I had a meeting with a Muslim student this afternoon. She said she was so angry with the violent radicals who were trying to usurp her religion, and who were perpetrating unspeakable, unforgivable acts in the name of her religion.

    Then I read this:

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    For every individual involved with Da’esh, there are millions who are not, and who abhor Da’esh’s behaviour.

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