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. joe6pack

    Fantastic news. A pretty after, after, after it’s healed photo to replace the first one I asked for would be appreciated, to wipe that memory from my feeble mind. I’ll try and remind you in a month or so. 🙂

  4. Good onya Joe! Onwards and upwards from here.
    BTW today I got the biggest of ticks from my orthopaedic surgeon and the physiotherapist with respect to my shoulder surgery. I got the green light to do anything that doesn’t hurt me.

  5. What a statesman!

    The prime minister is refusing to say whether Australia would participate with the United States in freedom-of-navigation exercises in the South China Sea and says the US Congress remains the biggest impediment to landing the still contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership.

    On the opening day of the Apec summit in Manila, and after his first substantial meeting with the US president, Barack Obama, Turnbull was coy about Australia’s intentions if the US decided to send another warship to the disputed region of the South China Sea.

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/18/malcolm-turnbull-stays-coy-over-australian-role-in-south-china-sea

  6. OK, that’s good news about joe6pack and BK. Must be the atmosphere here at The Pub that did it. Who’s next?

  7. That’s excellent news BK. Great to have you back at top speed again.

    Good news for you too Joe. Is your Maybelline modelling contract still operative?

  10. Andrew,

    Love the new layout.

    Love – as I have always – your incisive skewering of stupid / deliberately dishonest “journalism”.

    I shall read your latest offering now, and apologies for not having commented much in the last few months. If you’ve been dropping in here from time to time, life has been a bit torrid for moi, and for several others.

    However, we are still in there, ready to mount the barricades, and I’ve been out the back sharpening the

  11. Hi Andrew – I had a look at the site a bit earlier. Have to admit that for a moment I thought you’d been running a completely separate blog all this time, with a whole bunch of articles I’d never read. Once I got over the disappointment at not stumbling over a treasure trove of new reading…

    Love it. Well, basically, as long as I can read the articles I’m not much fussed how the site is laid out. I’m there for the clear thinking.

  14. It’s all kicking off up North!

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/18/northern-territory-government-plays-musical-chairs-in-late-night-special

    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2015/11/18/dear-speaker-there-has-been-a-coup-oh-wait/

    http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/kezia-purick-remained-speaker-in-dramatic-late-night-sitting-of-territory-parliament/story-fnk0b1zt-1227612103630

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/world/asia/pakistan-military-expands-its-power-and-is-thanked-for-doing-so.html remember when the Taliban was making inroads there in 2013? A article on the current state of play.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-18/myer-turns-down-ombudsman-offer/6949642

  15. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-18/shooting-during-police-operation-in-paris/6952078

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/world/europe/paris-attacks-abdelhamid-abaaoud-an-isis-militant-from-belgium-whose-own-family-wanted-him-dead.html good story

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/nov/18/bomb-isis-in-syria-newspapers-even-on-the-right-are-not-united roundup of UK papers

    http://www.themandarin.com.au/56974-walking-fine-line-nsw-lawmakers-aim-balance-scales-sex-work/ a good explainer on this topic

  22. Caper White butterflies are on the move at the moment; nobody is really sure why they do it.
    (Theories include being forced out due to a lack of their food plants, mostly native caper bushes; alternatively, they are genetically hard-wired to migrate to areas that are no longer suitable habitat.)

    A bit bigger than Cabbage White butterfly found in vegetable gardens, it had broad black edges to the wings.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belenois_java

    Blue Tiger and Lemon Migrant butterflies also migrate:
    http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Ask+an+Expert/Question+of+the+month/Question+Archive/Questions/2015/February+2015#.VOq63OaUfzg

  23. Jaeger,

    We are experiencing a – for inner suburban Melbourne – most unusual attack of bush flies – the little rotters who are responsible for the famous Aussie Salute.

    I also noticed a cluster of really tiny flies, like miniature bush flies but at most 4cm long. Whether they are the newly-hatched ones, or a different variety, I don’t know.

    I’m developing a bad feeling about this summer.

  26. Hl Andrew.

    Good to see you over here again. I’m OK with the new format. The renaming is also good because it is closer to the issue central to your chronicles. And the Hanson post puts that, what I’d call the Chicken Little issue, into a more realistic position.

  27. Gorgeous Dunny,

    Okay, I’m being pedantic – but why should anyone be surprised after what I’ve been doing for the past few days?

    So, did you mean

    H1 Andrew

    or

    Hi Andrew

    I will amend your assignment and adjust your grade when you have submitted that clarification . . .

  29. ABC Tropical North
    Yesterday at 13:19 · Edited ·

    From inside the plane….

    Glenn Badke was on board a plane on the tarmac at ‪#‎Moranbah‬ yesterday afternoon when a severe storm hit the area. Wind gusts of almost 160-kilometres an hour were recorded. It tipped the commercial passenger plane onto its wing, pushed it down the runway and spun it around. Thankfully, no-one was hurt.

  31. Jaeger,

    1998, I think.

    DD and moi were at the end of a flight from Melbourne to Canberra.

    It was late in the afternoon; the temperature in Canberra was very high.

    We came in from the south (the only option at Canberra at almost any time). The plane rocked from side to side as we descended. I can’t really portray the true scariness of the landing, but in spite of everything it was a landing with front wheel down then the rest down together. Brilliant flying.

    I asked the cabin crew to give the cockpit crew my thanks and admiration.

    DD complained about the bruises on her arm for at least a week.

  33. Jaeger,

    I can’t help with the fly identification, sorry; this may offer some clues

    Just what I needed – thank you so much.

    Almost certainly juvenile house/bush flies.

    Will deal with them tomorrow!

  34. Occasionally it slips through, Fiona. ‘Hi’ it should have been, but ‘H1’ is also fine with someone in Andrew’s calibre.

  37. That Miranda Devine may thinks she looks ok in a shirt 2 sizes too small, but the mutton dressed up as lamb comes to mind.

    Joe6 – good to hear your good news. Excellent stuff.

    But as far as Miranda Devine is concerned, I was thinking more of those stories you’ve told me of the back bar at the Kalgoorlie Pub.

  38. This slipped under the radar – the government has announced two new appointments to the ABC board, one of them made directly by the government, not through the usual selection process.

    Appointments to give ABC board gender, geographic diversity boost
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/appointments-to-give-abc-board-gender-geographic-diversity-boost-20151118-gl1xqi.html

    There has been a bit of MSM gushing over the appointment of two women. Big deal. Not so amazing when you remember that one of the out-going board members is a woman, Cheryl Bart, so there has not been much change in the ‘gender diversity’ of the board at all.

    The new board members will help choose Mark Scott’s replacement.

    Mark Scott’s successor in line for pay rise as ABC managing director race heats up
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/mark-scotts-successor-in-line-for-pay-rise-as-abc-managing-director-race-heats-up-20151113-gky4da.html

  43. Minister Mal Brough hands over documents to police relating to Slipper-Ashby case

    Special Minister of State Mal Brough has confirmed he has handed over documents relating to the disclosure of former speaker Peter Slipper’s diary after he was visited by Australian Federal Police officers at his home on Tuesday.
    Labor MP Graham Perrett, who had written to the AFP about Mr Brough’s role in the case, has questioned whether the Queensland MP should remain in the ministry while the matter is under investigation.
    “The Westminster system doesn’t disintegrate if a minister steps down while they’re being investigated. If you look back at the Westminster tradition, ministers have stood aside for less,” Mr Perrett told Fairfax Media

    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/minister-mal-brough-hands-over-documents-to-police-relating-to-slipperashby-case-20151118-gl2iyd.html

    As well as all that, Brough lied to Turnbull about being investigated. Remember these?

    New Special Minister of State Mal Brough under investigation by the Australian Federal Police
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/new-special-minister-of-state-mal-brough-under-investigation-by-the-australian-federal-police-20150927-gjw2qg.html

    Mal Brough: I’m not under investigation by the AFP over Peter Slipper diaries
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/mal-brough-im-not-under-investigation-by-the-afp-over-peter-slipper-diaries-20150927-gjw4ig.html

    Turnbull should not have ignored the stench around Brough, should have done as Abbott did and left him on the back bench. That old Turnbull lack of judgement thing yet again.

  44. There were a lot of “home grown” terrorists in 70s Europe and more than a few popping up now. I think it is more than a coincidence that during both periods the employment prospects for young people are bleak. Not to mention the 1930s.

    What a shame the “economic rationalist” pricks and their “austerity now” calls do not factor in this cost of their policies.

    .
    CTar1
    Bad Vlad has assigned 24 strategic/long range bombers to Syria. In other words big bastards. Some serious flattening coming up. If it were the Allies I’d say pretty useless but Russia has been working directly to support Syrian army attacks so there are “boots on the ground” to back up any bombing. Syrian troops are pretty much fighting for their survival so unlike Iraqi soldiers “motivated”.

  47. Woo hoo!

    Grand-daughter No 4 has finally arrived, just a few days late. My daughter’s first child. Mum and bub doing well.

  48. Leone,

    14th November. I didn’t know until this morning.

    His portrayal of Shylock in the Beeb’s The Merchant of Venice (early 1980s) is something I hope I will never forget.

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