We... They... Us... Them - anyone else tired yet?

I'm done reading about Zaky Mallah.

It's been said before and it will be said again - reading the news is so tiring. It doesn't end with whatever article you're reading either. Venture, if you dare, into the comments and soon enough, you're drowning in vehement, and often madly vindictive, declarations about 'The Left' or 'The Right'. Yes, I know I've said all this before but honestly, it still applies and it's still tiring.

You've gotta love modern hypocrisy. From all sides.

The Left, The Right, The Religious, The Secular, The Rich, The Poor... are all groups. If we were talking about just one person, that would be complex enough but we are talking about huge groups of groups (apparent typo absolutely intended) of people and the groups and the individuals are all complex unto themselves. Generalised statements about any of those groups and any other similarly and arbitrarily categorized pockets of people are therefore not only always going to be open to question, but also only add further fuel to the fire that is ongoing Us and Them mentality which seems inescapable when discussing any matters of complexity and ultimately paralyzes any progress.

Sadly, for too long, I myself have fallen for this way of thinking and it's time to stop because it is hypocrisy in itself.

A very, very true article I read and wanted to share...

Plane crashes, terrorism, random violence - new realities amid our relative security 

by Waleed Aly

From the article:

'Here's the thing: in our streets, in our bank accounts and in the air, we in Australia lead about the safest, most secure lives of any people. Ever. Our real income is up and the road toll is down (the lowest since 1945, by the way). We live without any genuine prospect of political strife. We're not about to be invaded or bombed with nuclear weapons – our most feared enemies have knives and guns, not armies in tanks. We're not likely to be decimated by some disease or virus – Ebola or otherwise. Yes we have problems, but they're the kind most of our species could only have dreamed of having. And yet that's so easy to forget because there's this continuous, churning fear.

Our mortal selves aren't under threat, here. But the myths we've built about ourselves very much are. The myth that our addiction to alcohol is innocently, endearingly larrikin, for example. Or that the problems of the world – like Russia's incursion into Ukraine or the disaster of Iraq and Syria – have no call on us and simply don't raise their heads in Sydney or Paris. Indeed the myth – that incidentally underscores how cheerfully we'll slash foreign aid – that we can set ourselves apart as (largely uninterested) onlookers: that the world is a sideshow to which we'll occasionally buy a ticket, but not our society.'

It has certainly been a hell of a year.

As I've already had my rant about Islamophobia, I'm not going to repeat myself on the matter. What with Martin Place, Charlie Hebdo, the continuing horror in Nigeria (which, if magnitude were measured by media coverage, one would assume only involved a handful of victims as opposed to the hundreds more people and the ongoing nature of the onslaught), alongside the sheer reach of news nowadays, Islam has never had a higher profile. 

{{ If anything, as always, what follows these sorts of events is a pretty decent display of human nature's extremities - those calling for the death of all Muslims, beating their chests about how these attacks prove without a shadow of a doubt that all Islam is the root of evil, etc, etc. Then you have those who immediately jump to the defence of all Muslims (not a bad thing) and attack those who would dare to say anything potentially critical and citing agendas left, right and centre, without a glance at the victims and the perpetrators. }}

Ultimately, however, it can't be denied that our existence down here in Australia could not be more sanitised - whether it be by our sheer historical youth (something only made more glaringly clear on my recent trip to Europe) or our cultural propriety, though we certainly bear scars from the inevitably deep wounds endured by any colonised country with an indigenous population, as the article stated, we are a country neither plagued by real famine, violent social upheaval or any kind of real threat - or even experience - of invasion. Though our freedoms are flawed, one could argue that that is more to do with the very flawed nature of freedom itself as opposed to our country actively oppressing us in ways that could ever begin to compare with places like North Korea or Russia.   

In terms of our exposure to active bouts of violence or even visual displays of real carnage, our news coverage is clearly censored or otherwise plastered with warnings of 'graphic images'. We barely see real live active horror onscreen, let alone in real life. Compare this to Filipino news where, when I watched it for the very first time, they were covering a story about a road accident and as the camera panned over the scene, I watched mindlessly for a few seconds before having to blink and exclaim, 'Is that a dead body? Is that the guy right there? Oh my gosh!' The dead man was clearly there on the screen, still, mangled, bloody and completely uncensored. My eyes, so much more accustomed to footage of fully zipped gurneys or camera shots aiming just that inch over from accidents courtesy of Australian news, were wide with shock and horror. And that was from a news report. Of a road accident. 

The next news item was actually worse - a case of escalated road rage in a country not only in possession of guns, but hot and high temperatures. The images in my memory are somewhat fuzzy, but the most outstandingly clear image is of the men actively shooting at each other at surprisingly close range, protected only by ducking behind their vehicle doors. Again, I was shocked. Although again, this was still just footage of a crazy road rage incident. 

Essentially, though the media insists on telling us that we are becoming desensitised to violence and gore in society, this doesn't include one very particular form of desensitisation - the kind that comes with actual personal experience. Outside of those who have come from countries filled with turmoil or those who have travelled to fight, work or live in such countries, the most people down here have had to endure are occasional bouts. 

This is not to diminish these events as real, shocking and genuinely frightening events - to this day, thanks to Wade Frankum and his shooting at Strathfield Plaza in 1991, 23 years ago, though it has weakened significantly over the years, I still experience hesitance when thinking of going there. For years, it made me wary of Strathfield in general. Sure, you could blame my childish naivete for such fears but even now, at 32, some of it still remains. After 23 years. Hell, 18 years after the fact, the words, 'Port Arthur' are still kind of chilling, all thanks to Martin Bryant. 

But at the end of the day, a large part of why these incidents are so shocking is because they still stand out as relatively rare. We compare ourselves to places like America and we feel secure in the fact that that stuff just doesn't happen here. Australia's last high profile hostage taking was in 1984, 30 years ago (though there have been a few incidents in between, it is still a very small number over a 30 year spread). Compared to the number of reported shootings in the US alone, we're doing a lot better. These incidents are rare, which adds to their level of horror. 

Whereas in other parts of the world, this sort of terror is a way of life. Syria, Iraq and Nigeria could not stand out more right now. Or how about Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Eastern Ukraine, just to name a couple more. In places like these, the possibility of raids, kidnappings and straight up slaughter is actually a part of every day living. 

Life is nothing at all like that here in Australia. Not one bit. And true, this has led to the degree of separation many down under feel from the rest of the world's woes. And true, this sense of distance from those harsher realities was shaken, a lot, on December 15 last year as we all watched as those hostages stood with their arms raised against the windows of the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place. And truly, it all did not feel like something that belonged here in Sydney, least of all at Martin Place in the Lindt Cafe, but watching it unfold, the myth to which Aly refers took a solid beating.

Now the bigger, more widely (if subconsciously) perpetuated myth that needs busting? That events of any kinds like these belong anywhere.

Despite horses and buggies, Amish aren't necessarily 'low-tech'

Click the title...

I actually found this really interesting... especially now as everyone constantly lauds the awesome that new technology has been able to bring into our lives while also maintaining the unavoidable wariness of its potential downfalls.

A point on the whole idea of 'friends' VS 'contacts' - from the article:

CNN: What about cars?

Brende: To the extent that you are mobile in an automated or motorized way with something like a car or motorcycle or fast moving tractor, you've increased your radius of contact with other human beings, but at the same time you dilute the quality of contact within that radius.

Like any notion, it's true when it's true and not when it's not (simply put, you're either real friends or you're not) but in a world where networking, 'add as friend' and 'follow' are such highly promoted focal points of communication it's hard not to imagine that human relationships have definitely taken some hits as the years have gone by.

That said, this is all coming from someone writing on an online blog and who has certainly enjoyed the expanded horizons in acquaintance provided by good ol' technological advance. Heh, you'd think my ass would hurt after sitting on this damn fence this whole time...

Oh well, bonus? A little less stereotyping in the mass media about any particular group is always welcome so cheers, Mr Sutter. Thanks for teaching me a little more about the Amish and backing up my belief that being 'behind' doesn't necessarily mean staring people in the ass and missing out on the good stuff.

Yesterday...

I know that I didn't say much with regard to 911 yesterday and, in all honesty, I didn't really want to. I understand people wanting to remember such a terrible day... what it stood for and the effect it had on so many lives, and I respect that. But at the same time, I hate the fact that everywhere I turn, it's being flashed in my face by the media, like ads for some new product. 

It's that part that sickens me. Nothing else. 

I don't know about everyone else... I do remember where I was and what I was doing when I found out what happened. I also remember listening to my radio on the train to uni that morning and listening to update after update. It was scary, but at the same time, I don't think I was really feeling anything... not yet anyway. That didn't happen until all the footage was shown on all the news channels later that day. And the next day. And the days and weeks after that... and so on. 

All I can say is that my prayers are with all those people who were, in any way affected by 911... it's the best I can offer.

That said, I thought that this very simple tribute was really beautiful.

Thanks for that Wil.

ninemsn poll

Well, I've looked everywhere and I was right... those papers are at the library. One's a textbook actually. No worries. 

I just checked the poll on ninemsn.com.au and, well it seems as though people down here reckon Arnie would know what he was doing as Governor... I really want to know what some of the people up there are thinking of this. I mean, I'm watching this and sort of thinking back to when Estrada became President of the Phils, which I thought was just downright bizarre. Still following how it goes just like I said I would.

Huh. 8 year olds can model as adults now. Interesting. I just pictured my younger sister getting all dolled up like that and a shudder ran its way clean through me.

I just found out that the Panthers are just under the Roosters on the ladder! Crap. Sydney beat Cronulla... oh who am I kidding? That one was kind of obvious. And Penrith have the bye next week too. Damn. Well, they shouldn't drop too far down. Points-wise, they're still up there.

Apparently they're going to be looking into the video refs... they'd better be! After the Panthers/Dragons game last week, they'd better. The video ref disallowed one VERY clear Panthers try and then awarded a try from a completely FORWARD pass to the Dragons... in the end, the Dragons won by one converted try. One! 34-28. I was so bloody mad after that match!