Archive for November, 2007
Australia, the Failed Idea?
The question on my mind this evening, the night before the Australian people evict John Howard from his seat of power, is: did the fake “Islamic Australian Federation” leaflet damage John Howard’s re-election campaign? For the record, I don’t really think so and certainly not anymore than say Pauline Hanson did in the late 1990s or the “Children Overboard” affair might have in 2001. After all, Mr Howard has eloquently side-stepped alleged links between himself and racist forms of thinking, via a kind of plausible deniability, while at the same time benefiting from the support of those voters who peddle a broad-spectrum racist sentiment. Given his election win in 2001 and subsequently in 2004, I’d wager that’s a lot of people who do. Sure, Mr Howard dissociates himself from the recent example and claims the leaflet is not part of his campaign. He even “condemned it” and “was appalled about it” while avoiding “some kind of personal responsibility”.
Articulating Our Selves Online
A mate and I had recently completed another quest in a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG). Or more accurately, I spent some more time in front my laptop clicking the left mouse-button and moving a collection of pixels that I had named as a character through a sequence of pre-configured animations (walking, running, charging, fighting, etc). This I did alongside another collection of pixels that my friend had named and because I could see his formation of pixels alongside my formation of pixels on my personal computer screen, I filled in the absences and tricked myself with the illusion that my mate and I were working pixels “together” on the same virtual space; like two people sharing a desktop but without requiring the physical presence of the other. I’m certain he felt the same 5,000 kilometres away.
Spare A Thought For …
From Double Bay to Cottesloe a self-evident truth is known. If more than one thousand people want to do something, then it simply is not worth doing. Populist, popular, POPPY-COCK. No decent tradition is evah passed down to the masses but only to the lords and ladies of the manor born. This goes along with another important truism. If something can be taught, it is simply not worth learning. Status, leadership, destiny are innate gifts that have been genetically honed by centuries of breeding and privilege. These important, nay vital ingredients of a higher life can neva be acquired by the accidental or lucky purchase of a dot.com stock.
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