Unpublished Letters to the Sydney Morning Herald

04.10.09

Here we go again! Another mob from elsewhere come to live here because its a more peaceful society, then start saying it should be more like where they’ve come from. (Keysar Trad SMH Spectrum Oct 3-4) Excuse me, Keysar, but polygyny (sic) is an old tribal custom resultant from higher male mortality, usually when males are older, then only with proven ability to support more wives.

Recent research has blown the myth of lifelong male virility, showing progeny intelligence deceases as the male sperm ages. This would indicate a generally lower intelligence in a society with such cultural practice. Still want to argue?

Likewise, the patriarchal myth of low female libido is blown away by your own (and many other) cultures’ anxieties about female sexuality. Extramarital affairs are not exclusive to men, but under patriarchy they are enabled by financial dominance.

I, Keysar, like other female acquaintances, have found many men intimidated by libidinous females. Common male responses are to emotionally demean or physically intimidate such women into submission. I'm quite sure some of my partners would have loved to wrap me in a veil too.

Like polygamy, monogamy works for some but has its casualties. Personally, I think we should be free to marry whom and how ever many we choose. I probably could have kept at least three husbands happy. And just what are these ‘medical reasons’ you cite against polyandry? Momma’s baby, Papa’s maybe?

07.07.09

During the Howard-Costello era, public debt was transferred to private debt as the country launched into a real estate speculation frenzy and followed Howard's urging to become 'mums and dads shareholders.' Well, we know what happened to those bubbles of fiscal lightheadedness, and I think we're all a little more savvy, if bruised, now. Does Malcolm really believe that old bogie is going to work again, or is he just a bear of little imagination and can't think of a new trick?

Regards, Teri


Good Weekend 06.08.09

At last! An article on Cuba without an agenda! Gerard Noonan and daughter Anna (Revolutionary Road, August 1) have done their homework on the origins and effects of the US embargo and its long-running quasi-war sustained by the hysteria of the expatriate Miami Mafioso still mourning the loss of their fiefdom. They meet Cubans with clear eyes and open hearts, pay respect to the humanity and achievement of the Cuban people. And they hit the nail on its proverbial head with observations of the dangers that suddenly open borders will bring. Let’s hope the friendly lawyer, Javier, is right. The riches Cuba has nurtured in its people’s resilience and humanity should never be for sale.

15.04.08

Being an historian of Australian political development and long cognizant of the dragging anchor on progressive politics of Labor's right wing, Monday's (ABC1 14.04.08) Four Corners was not terribly surprising. Its the old adage of 'lie down with dogs, get up with fleas' writ large and if the NSW Labor Party was a dog it would be considered so riddled with parasites that it may not survive the cure and would be better put down.



However, watching the brazenly disingenuous Noreen Hay repeatedly declare she had 'all sorts' lobbying her and had done nothing wrong in accepting substantial donations from developers whose projects she was supporting, and that she had been reinstated as Parliamentary Secretary, I did become nauseous with the pervasive moral vacuum. I had genuinely believed we had enough checks and balances in place to keep the perennial moral cancer of corruption contained.



Evidently not. Awareness of Frank Sartor's slippery rezoning practices in the Hunter Valley should strike fear in everyone's heart. That he called his parliamentary critic 'a spiv' is manifestly a case of 'pots'n'kettles.’ Sartor's assertion that councils 'take too long' approving DAs is code for 'forget your silly little illusions about democracy guys, the robber barons are in charge around here.' 



Tragedy is, we know from experience that the Liberals do not behave much differently once entrenched in power. Its the type of people attracted to adversarial politics, the way the electoral system has developed the need for massive campaign funds that drives ambitious politicians into developer's pockets. It has to stop, now! 



I vaguely remember a time when the media was obliged to provide a set amount of free time for each contender at elections, and we must reinstate that immediately. Let aspiring pollies go back to eating cake with the laity at morning teas in community halls across the country rather than drinks and dinners in expensive restaurants with the boys. And they all should do an obligatory ethics and civics course with regular updates. 



2008 on the Bill Henson brouhaha

Here we go, with self-appointed spokespeople of the ‘vast majority’ of Australians applying moribund values in realms of which they are utterly ignorant. Witness the obscene interpretations of Bill Hensen’s work by various complainants and in the actions of the NSW Police.

It is essential we remember that much recorded child abuse is historically revealed as conducted by seemingly ordinary individuals, often considered respectable members of the community; even guardians of public morality.

As intelligent as Mr Rudd may be, he is not an art critic. His aesthetic judgement of Bill Hensen’s photographs is not relevant to the legalities of this brouhaha and journalists who consider he and other such paragons are valid commentators are simply being sensationalist

Mr Howard was accused of harking back to the nineteen-fifties when his rhetoric was straight out of nineteenth-century laissez faire economics. Beware the saintly Mr Rudd, whose aesthetics appear not to have evolved since Mr Menzies’ halcyon days of artistic repression.

12.12.05

Doesn’t anyone remember the 60s and 70s, Bodgies and Widgies doing battle with Beatniks, Rockers then Westies making forays to the coast to battle with ever-pumped Surfies? Testosterone and youthful bravado, tribalism and cultural territory incursions, all grist for the media mill and the politician’s opportunity for a bit of grandstanding. Lets do the time warp again!

OK! So, there’s a racial tone to it now, mostly, I hazard, because the public sphere has reached a critical mass of fear-raising hyperbole about ‘people of middle-eastern appearance.’ This is prefaced by the recognition that the vast majority of Muslim families are probably well-adjusted, peace-loving people. But, yes, there’s also the fact that we are all a bit over of the victim drums being beaten by the Muslim community at every instance, including those where they should be looking a little closer to home for the problem.

While the hyped up Anglo hooligans need to be reined in, the Muslim community does need to take some responsibility for its own hooligans too. There are a few abrasive cultural glitches that need to be addressed by that community. This was started, after all, with the bashing of two lifeguards by Muslim youths . Locals tell me that large groups of Muslim boys have regularly been setting up camp at the flags and making themselves conspicuous as stroppy smartarses, particularly with their behaviour towards girls. A number of young Islamic men have recently been up on gang rape charges, ramping up the clashing of cultural values, but we should remember that we’ve only really begun to deal with our own Anglo rapists who claimed it was invited too.

However, in Muslim family status the male child is traditionally elevated, which tends to give them an overweening sense of their own importance. Islam also teaches that decent women adhere to a strict code of modesty and women who flaunt their bodies are whores. Put these together and we can well imagine what courses through testosterone-charged Muslim youths’ minds of when they hit the sensual abandon of the Aussie beach scene.

So, they hang out in groups for safety, as does any other cultural group. But when they dress in an aggressive style and flaunt attitude, as young men the world over can do, it makes for an intimidating experience to Anglo girls more used to an oblique, laid-back approach. No wonder these ‘little kings’ get the flick, defend their honour by a bit of name-calling. And tit goes for tat, and soon you’ve got a few idiots on both sides shaping up to each other, the boys charged with keeping order on the beach get involved and get bashed for their efforts, then you get the escalation by a few more hot heads, and then the media and pollies gets hold of it, and it all goes haywire!!! Aaagggghhh! Just calm down! Everyone!

Commentary on Other Issues

On the scare email forward warning the child murderers of James Bulger were to be relocated to Australia

The James Bulger murder is, indeed, a horrific story. However, and I realise I'm treading a fine line here, we need to keep in mind a number of things and ask a few questions before we react to something so seemingly black and white.

1) Both the victim and perpetrators were children. The boys who did this horrible thing were not at an age where any child psychologist would say they were in full possession of all necessary and sufficiently mature cognitive skills to be held fully responsible. That's why we have different laws for adults and children, and unless you want to revert to more barbaric times, and start punishing children and adults in the same courts and by the same laws, we have to accept that there are some very big differences that need to be accounted for.

2) As children at the time of incarceration, they would have been subject to a battery of tests and, since they were unique, in that there being very few child murderers, and children are so much more malleable than adults, there would be a time of release set in their sentences. As a consequence of these factors, the authorities would have been at some pains to implement a concentrated and targeted rehabilitation program.

3) We also know that incarceration, itself, causes psychological damage, and, for children in such an extended and isolated situation, they would be unable to develop suitable social skills to equip them for their pending release - and unless we intend to put them away for their entire lives, they will be released at some time. Their guardians would be in the best situation to identify a point where, if they were still going to be able to adapt to normal life, they would need to be released, before they reached a stage where they would never be able to live normally in society again. This would have been the advice informing that judge's decision. We are not in full possession of the facts.

4) We normally hold parents responsible for their children, so why were these boys at loose ends, and so lacking in moral control that they were able to do this? What had their parents taught, or not taught them. Why were there no indicators of this potential that were picked up in advance of this final act?

5) And on a larger scale, we must also hold society responsible for our children. These boys did not perpetrate this monstrosity by themselves, but were responding to a complex, confusing, and morally subverted society from which they get a barrage of mixed messages. Why do we allow children to be exposed to so much monstrosity in the media? Why, indeed, do we allow so much awfulness in the media at all?

6) If it is a matter of ensuring that not just one life, but three, are not lost, we must accept the expert's advice that these boys have had sufficient vengeance implemented and are ready to attempt to live a normal life. That's what we educate and pay people to become child psychologists and judges for - to be experts. We, none of us are experts in this matter, so how can we form such an extreme opinion and set out to persecute and prosecute what we don't have the full information or training to understand?

18.06.09

It should be evident to even the most anthropcentred that humans have exceeded a critical mass for any viable equilibrium with the rest of the Life on this planet. That Peter Costello actually urged Australians to breed up, using specious statistics to support his argument, and set up an indiscriminate system whereby adolescents traded babies for technology, should put him in the loony bin of our history, not lauded as the 'best treasurer' as some brotherly idiots have been doing. The tragedy of this is that, people like myself who have long been aware of this problem and chosen to limit their breeding have simply made way for those of lesser consciousness to proliferate.

Piscina Podium - Yes We Can

Piscina Podium - Yes We Can

26.09.09

Homo sapiens is a highly interactive species and at this point in our history, with the capacities we have developed, it can be truly said that we have made our world entire, both by the things we have chosen to change and that which we choose to leave alone.[i] As a consequence, it can also be said that we are able to make the necessary changes to save ourselves, and many other species, if not from universal doom at least to avoid considerable environmental stress; if we choose to. The most worrying human characteristic active here is that hoary old millenarian streak, the seeking of purification in species death or transformation that seems to be driving us lemming-like into willed immolation.[ii] I recall being chilled to the bone by Evangelical US President Jimmy Carter during the Cold War, evincing the conviction that if he happened to be the one who was put in the position of pressing the button that brought about Armageddon through nuclear annihilation, well, that would be as God willed. This may be some primal construct originating in an evolutionary urge for change that has created space for new species development. In an overcrowded world it produces a chthonic dragging anchor, producing the inertia gripping governments world-wide and which allows us to tinker around the edges without making the radical changes we know, well, some of us know, are essential.

Don’t get me wrong, its not that I am totally committed to the construct of solely anthrop-generated climate change, or that we are subconsciously determined to drive ourselves into extinction. I’m more inclined to think that the current global civilisation is so complex, so layered, with strata of societies and individuals at so many different levels of consciousness with outmoded cultural practices that overlap more enlightened awareness. But it is certain that our destructive behaviour is complicit in the multi-factored perfect storm looming on the 360° horizon. There are the social disasters of defunct traditions producing over-population and the conflict that is emerging over scarce resources, manifest toxic agribusiness practices that we seem unable to change fast enough to prevent causing massive deterioration of health, both to ourselves and the environment.[iii] This Earth is a dynamic organism and our present civilisation has been privileged to develop through one of its most benign and stable periods. However, given the planet’s orbit wobble and molten core, along with it’s volatile cosmic environment, not the least of which is our own sun, that calm was never going to last. And I’m certainly not convinced that we can do anything substantial enough to halt the geomorphic and climactic processes now at work.

However, there are many things we can do that will assist this miraculous, life-bearing, cosmic capsule we inhabit to retain some of the environmental factors that make life reasonably comfortable for ourselves and the other species we share it with. We can cease using materials that we know to be poisonous, both for ourselves and other species, and try to clean up the massive chemical mess we’ve made of the environment; we can relinquish the waste disposing habits that are turning the waters of this planet into a toxic soup, and stop dissipating its finite resources in disposable consumer items. Many of the wasteful and entirely unnecessary habits we have developed are also major contributors to the greenhouse gasses that are threatening our survival. We can recognise that there is nothing about culture or society that is set in stone, that we make our world as we move through it, and use our considerable creativity and know-how to prepare for the changes to come. For whatever we do now, even if we cannot entirely mitigate the trajectory of climate change, there are massive upheavals impending and we need to be ready for them. This will mean making changes in our values systems and cultures anyway, and it will be far better if those changes are willed by us, changed by us, rather than forced upon us by scarcity and social breakdown.

I, and a multitude of others, both now and before me, who share this understanding, have been saying this sort of thing for well over a century now, and it feels futile saying it again, and again.[iv] I am given some heart by hearing environmentally and ecologically aware sentiments evinced by an increasing number of people, and witnessing small changes happening around me, particularly in the shift to valuing quality of life and people above material gain. But it seems, ostensibly, those perennial ‘vested interests’ block the way to larger progressive development, along with their symbiotic businesses and dependent communities. A perfect example of this is Australia’s coal industry, which receives massive government subsidies (read public/our money) on the basis of contribution to GDP and employment, despite these figures not actually being quite as significant as those vested interests present. We know coal is one of the most polluting energy sources, and some social engineering with additional funding into diverting those communities into alternative industries is not beyond State and Federal government capacities. So why don’t we do it? And why am I feeling so depressingly cynical about the, albeit quite sincere and fervent, expressions of intention to make radical changes currently evinced by President Obama and Prime Minister Rudd? Yup! Its those bloody-minded ‘vested interests’ again!

We (in the Royal sense) do have the power to change our world, in any way we choose. It’s all to do with the strength of our collective belief in the Great Idea. Witness the way the Industrial Revolution and concomitant rise of the precedence of Science, with their promise of future benefit for all and maxim of, ‘You can’t stand in the way of progress,’ were supported by the great mass of ordinary people. These were, essentially, powerful Ideas. If the British people of the early to mid 19^th century had based their belief in ‘progress’ on material fact, the vast majority would have not had such faith, as their living conditions were awful. Indeed, for many ‘ordinary mechanics’ average life expectancy was seventeen, a short and horrendous experience in which the Evangelical’s promise of ‘rewards to come’ flourished.[v] Of course, this figure was exacerbated by massively high birth fatalities due to childhood ricketts, a disease of poverty and malnourishment that deformed women’s hips and birth canal. But people endured these privations in the belief that their descendants would eventually profit. The worst thing that can happen now is to lose our faith in human capacity for conscious change. As President Obama reiterates, constantly, like a mantra, hoping to instil collective faith in our ability to turn this great ship of civilisation around, “Yes We Can!’

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[i] When one considers the massive terraforming projects we regularly undertake, it could be said that we decide to leave some regions alone not because it’s too hard but because the energy required would not equal benefits.

[ii] Doctrines posing some form of reincarnation with its highest reward being enlightenment and/or release from the ‘wheel of life,’ and, of course, Christianity’s promise of escape from the trials of material human form in ‘the rapture’ that has fuelled western millenarianism for two millennia.

[iii] The fact that we are currently growing larger and living longer due to increased nutrition is the effect of past behaviours and long-term outcomes of damage from synthetic hormones, heavy metals, pesticides and herbicides, and now the premature introduction of nanotechology to consumables, has yet to play out in succeeding generations. Add to this the weakening of ‘survivor genes’ by social practices artificially supporting proliferation of faulty genes, the over-sophistication of mating and procreation, the medical maxim of ‘life at all costs’ that preserves flawed genetic lines and technology usage that debilitates healthy cognitive and physical development in children and we have a ‘perfect storm’ of chronic disease looming on that front too.

[iv] In my thesis research I read numerous articles in socialist newspapers warning of the repercussions of land misuse and the importance of paying more respect to ecological balance. William Morris’ turn of the century utopian romance, ‘News From Nowhere’ proposed a graceful, artisan society in tune with the natural world.

[v] Frederich Engels’ study of mid-19^th centuryworking class social conditions.

Piscina Podium - Trouble with Men

The Trouble with Our Men

I have done some study in gender sociology, my major essay of which argued for the loss by both male and female under patriarchy (aka Dorothy Dinnerstein), and youth suicide and masculinity issues research. So you can be assured that what follows is not generated by any misanthropy.

Once upon a time, but not that long ago, our civilization periodically culled testosterone levels with a nice little war and packed its excess women off to the nunneries. This was a rather brutal but very practical way of maintaining social peace and population balance. We know that testosterone is a wonderful but sometimes troublesome hormone, present in varying, relative degrees in both male and female. It is necessary for its production of physical strength, vitality and assertiveness but Janus-faced, it is also more vulnerable to chromosomal insult that produces defective personality types such as ‘fragile X’ sociopaths. Disorders on the AspBerger’s-Autism and ADD-ADHD spectrums are also more common amongst males, but not exclusive to them. Violence and aggression are the more troublesome characteristics of testosterone, useful when disciplined and targeted positively but dangerous and destructive when controlled by evil agendas or combined with personality disorders. Civilisations have harnessed the force of this dynamic hormone for enforcing civil order, adventuring and military conquest. Its positive face has given us men of great genius and achievement, its negative, the horrors of war. It was only in the mechanised carnage of the 20^th Century that war became sufficiently monstrous to give us pause from a long warrior history that exulted in battle. Testosterone and its danger to social peace have long been known, and H G Wells rather brutally observed that society needs a good war every now and then, just to cull its presence.

Our civilisation has seen a confluence of factors impacting on the male of our species in greater, more troublesome ways than perhaps ever before. The complex problems emergent from these factors appear to have only become exacerbated in Gens ‘X’ and ‘Y’ males and, after a variety of personal and proxy experiences combined with ongoing interest in cultural and current affairs, I have come to the conclusion that our civilisation faces a looming tsunami of problem males in the coming decades. The most basic assaults on human males over the past three generations is agribusiness’ practice of female hormone additives in the food supply, with as yet unknown outcomes on the male of our species (and other species for that matter). To this is added indiscriminate use of heavy metals in pesticides and herbicides, which are now indicated in neural disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease, and in vaccination serum, controversially associated with Autism. The effects of such pollutants on other neurally based behavioural conditions are yet to be confirmed, but since we know the male embryo is generally more vulnerable to in-utero insult, the potential for a higher than normal range of male dysfunction cannot be discounted. Add to this diminishing breastfeeding, an organic filter that once shielded the neonate and infant from environmental contamination.

Then there are a variety of cultural factors that have placed additional stressors on the intimate and socio-economic male roles. In particular the advance of feminism, in which women gained cultural territory by encroachments on formerly exclusively male precincts but few acceptable new avenues have opened for males. Witness the short-lived, much derogated, SNAG and Metrosexual and the poor males who did their best to adjust to these new regimens but just ended up being pilloried. Cultural mores have also shifted to counter and disparage previously acceptable forms of male aggression without offering a sufficient variety of alternative outlets; the Brad Pitt film, Fight Club, an important exposition of the distortions resultant from these repressions. Compounding these diverse influences are an education system that enforces a uni-sex curriculum with little recognition of unique male biological and psychological needs, the protracted adolescence of a Peter Pan syndrome now extended well into the thirties, the explosion of virtual technology encouraging perceptions of action without consequence, and the ubiquitous use of neurologically damaging hydroponic cannabis and ‘party drugs’. Combined, these cultural and biological phenomena have added to the normal risk factors of being male by a factor of ten, perhaps more.

Of course, every human alive is a descendant of survivors and there will always be a greater proportion of robust males, either resilient enough to overcome the damage of whatever cocktail of insults the environment throws at them or sufficiently fortunate to grow whole and sound in a protected environment. However, it has been my observation that there is a growing number of dysfunctional males with varying types of psychological disorders of various degrees of significance who are now approaching or in their thirties without having developed a solid intimate relationship or found satisfying work that facilitates the development of mature capacities and responsibilities. Many of these men are vulnerable to further damage, both physically and psychologically, due to poor dietary and behavioural patterns, and so are liable to greater disintegration with concomitant poor health outcomes. These men not only do damage to themselves and the women they engage with but, if they comprise the numbers I suspect, are likely to present a serious risk factor and cost to our society in the not so distant future.

I don’t have an answer to this perceived concern of mine, and am not proposing H G Wells’ solution, but I do think its something that requires more attention, both for those males now heading into a bleak Never-Ever-land and for the vulnerable males to come.

Piscina Podium - Baby Boomer Techno Overload

Baby Boomer Techno-Overload

Rant written 11/07 but still relevant

No one could accuse Moi of being an unadventurous spirit! As a precociously mature nubile this long-legged Aussie filly beat ‘The Shrimp’ to the mini-skirt by years, in equally inappropriate if not equally public settings – my short skirts got me fired more often than photographed. As a proto-intellectual, I railed against the cultural tragedy of the creative human soul in slavery to the brain-deadening tedium of one lifelong job; dreamed a time when we explored our boundless capacities, might be as Karl Marx had prophesised: “A poet in the morning, a hunter at night.” An organic feminist, I declared never-ever would I wait patiently for the husband to wend his way homewards; indeed, to me ‘stand by your man’ meant at the bar as much as the kitchen.

This youthful courage precipitated enterprises and career changes, from clothing as Art and theatrical costume design to commercial fashion, then academe and, inevitably, the brave new digital world. Writing essays in the early 90s, ‘cut’n’paste’ still meant scissors’n’glue,’ then with the strained mercies of fellow students in the computer room, I taught myself computing. Early on the tragic face of a student who had lost their entire thesis in an IT crash imprinted itself, inducing pathological back-ups, so I have survived the occasional virus depredation unscathed. I’ve learned those IT protocols necessary to function in the academic market place, even considered myself fairly techno-savvy, until recent techno-overload regressed me to the ‘terrible twos.’

Although the Boomers invented the IT industry, later generations have grown up with it and appear more receptive to its intricacies. In a few short weeks I’ve purchased a pretty new laptop, a mobile phone and a camera, which have drained my reserves of patience with techno-teleology. Having personal confirmation of the empirical link between stress and pain, and being pain-aversive, I’ve been chanting the Boomer’s mantra, ‘chill baby,’ ad nauseum. I am now resorting to the writer’s familiar debriefing strategy of appealing to shared suffering – there must be others out there! Cannot tell you what it would do, to think I was the only person experiencing these vexations.

First the laptop. When it was still singular, one of my supervisors used to swan into the seminar, slipping this sublime techno-cultural artefact onto the table with such insouciance that I was positively green with envy. Finally, that long-desired beauty is mine! Of course, I did buy it for its famed graphics capacities … but I’m also a sucker for a pretty face. After all, I reasoned, starting career number three as a professional writer means this is a purchase for life. So I diligently read the manual – a first for me and a dampener on romantic notions. How does that saying go? ‘Don’t wish too hard … for it might happen’?

There is a certain type of rage that only computers can elicit in the otherwise emotionally mature user, though road rage comes close, perhaps. If manufacturers insist on continuing to rush immature technology onto the market then use upgrades as a milch cow, I recommend supplying each purchaser with a Bobo doll on which to vent frustrations. My techno-honeymoon consisted of travel to an inconveniently situated service centre where disdainful personnel didn’t fix the problem; endless hours on the help line, erasing/reinstalling software then the operating system (OS); program idiosyncrasies only aficionados can interpret – thankful I’d taken a jocular tone with those help line lads. There’s a new OS version that smooths at least some of these glitches, released mere weeks after the damned thing was bought but, of course, it’ll cost more. How quickly lust elicited by mere appearances fades in the glare of malfunction and malfeasance! Another weekend, or two, studying the manual and we may be compatible.

Then there’s the mobile phone. Just how did these telcos manage to achieve such an unregulated market for an essential service? Oh yes, that hoary old free market maxim, ‘greed is the best R&D driver.’ More like a licence to confuse and capture the uninformed consumer, trap them into ‘deals’ before a competitor can. But just how do we become ‘informed’ when the flim flam principle is universal? I mean, just how much time do we have for gathering this information anyway? And how do you know what you’re being told is truthful? Welcome to the Shark Pond!

I’ve been known to envision precocious technology, so when enquiries met the assertion that broadband for a laptop bundled with a mobile phone service was still a long way off, I signed away my freedom to choose for the next two years with our national server. I’d avoided these detestable contracts, but prepaid is extortionate and at least we still own a tad of this telco. One week later, an international interloper advertised what I’d been told didn’t exist. I simply cannot believe the salesman was ignorant of its advent. Remonstrations with the telco to which I’d signed my life away met with amazement at my naiveté. Caveat emptor, ‘cop it sweet’ they declared! I now have to study the phone manual. Another weekend should do it; lucky I’m an academic!

Lastly, the new camera and its tome of a manual; just who writes these bloody things? How many different functions can one itty-bitty piece of machinery produce anyway? I diligently study the manual, only to discover that the all-essential memory card has to be purchased separately, at around one third the cost of the camera. So out again; more money! It’s finally all set up, making the right noises, but the carefully set up photos are nowhere to be found and I’m at meltdown. Back to the retailer, salesman presses a few buttons and whammo! There are his photos, but mine are nowhere. Have to read the manual some more, take those photos again. There goes my weekend, again. Once upon a pre-tech time, weekends were spent visiting friends, art galleries, reading papers...

PS. an '09 Telstra nightmare:

Dear Telstra,

I am aware that all large organizations have black holes that an unfortunate customer might fall into. I have fallen into one such hole and am attempting here to obtain some redress for the substantial inconvenience and stress caused to me, and informing you of the problem to avoid it happening in the future. Below please find the litany of inefficiency and poor training evident in the ineffectual support from the many Telstra operatives dealing with this issue.

Welcome to my nightmare:

• Monday 13.07.09 I lose my prepaid mobile, ring Telstra and am assured that I can have the line blocked and my number – 0417 811 032 – transferred to a new handset. At this stage I love Telstra.
• Wednesday 15.07.09 at 12.38pm purchase a Samsung E2510 at Chatswood Westfield Telstra - Merchant ID: 21732730; Terminal ID:71895312; Inv/Roc:000308. I explain that my was stolen and the number was blocked until I got a new handset, and ask the salesman to set the new handset up to transfer my number and arrange to have the number unblocked. He puts in a blank SIM card and directs me to a customer phone in the store but the recorded directions do not seem to have the appropriate section and I ask another salesperson to help. She gets through to the right section, deals with the consultant and says my line will be unblocked in 24 hours, if its not to ring 125 111.
• Thursday 16.07.09 1.30pm its not unblocked. I ring Telstra and am told its not done yet and to wait another 2 hours. Its not and I ring again and this consultant tells me to take the battery and SIM card out, rest the phone for 5 mins. It doesn’t work and I ring back, am transferred and get lost on the line. I ring back, get passed around to more consultants. I’m told it will be unblocked in 24 hours.
• Friday 17.07.09 the line is still blocked and I take the phone to the Telstra store at Warriewood Centro – the salesman there (Matt) has been helpful in the past – and he spends some time on the case, that he can’t understand it because for all the time I’ve spent on the phone to Telstra nothing has actually been done, but then says it has been sorted and will be unblocked in 24 hours.
• Saturday 18.07.09 the line is still blocked. I ring Telstra again, spend about 3 hours on the phone, back and forth with various consultants, ringing back a number of times until I am told it is fixed and will be working in 24 hours.
• Sunday 19.07.09 its not!
• Monday 20.07.09 I take the phone back to Telstra Warriewood, leave it with them, go away for a couple of hours, come back, but its not fixed so I leave the phone with them to sort it out.
• Tuesday 21.07.09 ring Warriewood Telstra, am told he’s been going around in circles and there’s nothing more he can do. I need to ring Telstra again and try to speak to one of the ‘really smart guys upstairs’
• Wednesday 22.07.09 I ring Telstra 3 times, spend 2 hours being put on hold and ‘lost’ before I get on to one of these ‘smart guys’ who puts directions of what needs to be done on my account. I ring the Telstra Warriewood and am told the store is a franchise and he doesn’t have the authority to do any more to help me.
• Thursday 23.07.09 I go to the Telstra store at Warringah Mall and the tech help man, Dave, spends some time on the issue. He says the original salesman did not set up the blank SIM card to transfer my number, but that has now been done and it should be working in a few hours.
• Thursday 3 hours later, the line is still not unblocked. I ring Telstra again, after explaining the problem again, I get put through to some ‘diagnostic expert’ who tries a few things, says when he phones my number it is still giving a recorded message saying the line is restricted. He thinks the SIM card may be faulty and will organise for a new card to be sent and will now put me through to the ‘sales and billing’ department, it will only cost about $30. I say he can’t be serious, that Telstra has supplied me with a faulty card and expects me to pay for a replacement, and after consuming more than 20 hours of my precious time? He says, well, no, perhaps they might just give it to me. I ask if it is possible for him to put this in writing on my account, and arrange with the Warriewood Telstra store for me to go in there tomorrow and replace the SIM card, and Telstra can send it to them, so they are not out of pocket any more than they are already. He says no, he can’t because Telstra consultants are not allowed to make contact with Telstra stores. He says he will transfer me to the SIM card department, puts me on hold. After about 15 minutes on hold I’m back at the introductory automated voice again, thence to a Telstra ‘consultant’ who says how really-really sorry they are for the inconvenience, and will transfer me to the right department, and after another 10 minutes on hold I end up back at the introductory automated voice again!
• Well, its back to the Warringah Mall store for me tomorrow, again!
• There was some young tech-head at the counter, I said, "This all Has to End Now!" and wadda'ya'know, it did!

This missive was sent to Telstra on their website and has not been responded to. This is why Telstra has such a bad name .Telstra has now consumed at least 24 hours of my precious time, not to mention the emotional energy and mental space taken up with sheer frustration. I’d like to receive an abject apology from Telstra, and some additional credit on my prepaid account as recompense for the time wastage.

Piscina Podium - On Being Left

On Being Left

An invitation to ongoing discussion as an addendum to the formal symposium paper presented at the 2004 UTS ‘Researching Work and Learning’ conference

Since writing the paper published in these conference proceedings, which argues against the conservative campaign to disappear the historical working class identity, there has been some quite marked developments in this arena, in particular with the recent passing of the Howard government’s Industrial Relations Legislation. Whilst the groundswell of public reaction has been relatively muted to date, the main reaction coming in a renewed energy from the labour unions, there is an underlying unease in the public mood; for many, it is accompanied by an as yet chthonic recognition that they may still be working class after all. With its control of the Senate, the ideological arrogance this government’s leaders and the compliant nature of Labour have brought Right wing ideology into the spotlight.

This necessarily calls into the question also the place and character of its natural opposition, the Left. Since for some time now, along with working class identity, Right wing public commentators have been attempting to disappear the ideological Left along with the working class identity, I thought that it was timely to explore just what it means to be Left. This short essay is a skeleton of a larger work that I am embarked upon, based upon ideas developed during the research conducted for my thesis on the history radical education. I offer it as an addendum to my published contribution for this seminar and invite criticism and contributions to this project.

Old foes and the enemy within

The dialectic between the ideological Left and Right is an ancient battleground of power and defiance, assertiveness and resistance. However, these characteristics do not necessarily belong in discrete political or class camps, since we can refer to the progressive assertiveness of the historical radical Whigs and other Liberals versus the slavish monarchism and obdurate resistance to progressive change of a sector of Labour politics and traditional working class conservatism. Indeed, there are also numerous historical examples of creative merging of ruling and lower class interests, in the diversion of potential opposition, for instance, that ubiquitous Roman euphemism of ‘bread and circuses,’ unparalleled in its cynical awareness. Nineteenth century conservative government warnings of imminent social breakdown whipped Church and King mobs into ferocious attacks on the writers, publishers and distributors of radical literature, such as Tom Paine’s The Rights of Man. In our own times, John Howard beguiles that same population with his empathy for ‘the battlers’ rhetoric, then appeals to their worst instincts, influencing their voting behaviour whenever it seems they might stray. Howard’s Tampa speech was a wonder of moral turpitude, drawing upon that ancient cultural meme, the fear of invasion those of British, Celtic, Anglo Saxon and Viking stock inherit from ancestors who were both the invaded and the invaders. Then in 2004, at the extended peak of a property boom, there was the jab to the precarious hip pocket nerve with unwarranted implications that interest rates might rise if Labor were to gain fiscal control. This is masterful, Machiavellian power stuff, with which the Left’s tradition of moral action and an obligation to critical consciousness can never hope to compete.

In recent times, a concerted attack by the Right has been launched upon the Left wing intelligentsia, a barrage of snide remarks in public commentary, sniffy asides about ‘latte sipping, bleeding hearts’ whom are politically correct to the point of ideological stupidity. However, the most insidious attempt argues that all its battles have been finally lost or won, that in this pragmatically egalitarian society there is longer any need of such antiquated sensibilities and idealism and the Left simply has no reason to exist. Of course, this has similarity with another of their arguments - that the working class no longer exists - lately come under pressure, largely due to their own actions. This is a popular strategy of the Right, reinforced by a transparent, but nonetheless extraordinarily effective, blatant denial of the bleeding obvious. Therefore, it behooves the Left well to constantly remind the public that much of the social goods we have enjoyed over the past four decades were not delivered by benevolent conservatives, employers and politicians but wrested, one by one, largely through the efforts of the Left.

It seems that, by and large, the Right’s strategy works, because people have a tendency to be persuaded by assumed authority and utter conviction delivered by someone with the veneer of an expert, even if it conflicts with experience. This is reminiscent of those remarkable 1970s Milgram psychology experiments demonstrating that people would continue to deliver increasingly dangerous electric shocks to someone they thought the subject of an experiment on the command of a man in a lab coat holding a clipboard; the symbols of scientific authority in an era when the power of scientific expertise was accepted uncritically. Cloaked in the iconography of conservatism with its rhetoric of stability and order, the Right traditionally lays claim to the authority of professional expertise with the calm assurance of the ‘born to rule.’ They can lie unashamedly, conduct the business of the nation in inhumane and abominable ways, and people still believe and trust them because they look and talk ‘right’. I am reminded of a cartoon strip in a 1970s Mad magazine: A group of mothers cluster around a smart looking young dude in a suit, their raffish teenagers playing in the background school, they say, “You look so successful. I wish my Johnny were more like you. Tell us, what have you been doing since you left school?” To which the dude replies, “ I sell drugs to your kids.”

We know, from both historical and more recent examples, that progressive, Left-leaning liberals lurk within the Liberal Party ranks and Right wing ideologues dominate the Labor Party leadership. Neither is there a direct correlation between the Right and conservatism, as we have witnessed the rise of a radical Right that is equally as rabid as any old Stalinist in attitude. It is a matter of the dominance of an ideological paradigm. For two decades now we have seen the rise of Right wing ideology, in both of the main political camps and their influence on the wider social values. Over time, when the products of the rule of the Right are subject to examination there are invariably indications of a shift of public goods into private hands concomitant with an increase of social dysfunction, a swelling of the ranks of the disenfranchised matched by an increase in the prison population. For an example of Right wing Labor, we can evidence the long regime of the NSW labor government, the massive increase in demand on charities concomitant with the building of four new prisons.

We have witnessed the marginalisation of Left wing politicians in both Liberal and Labor parties, most of whom moulder on the backbenches. We see the workplace fraught with the pressures of fragmentation through casualisation, the stress of perennial contracts and ever increasing demands for greater productivity by less and less people. We, as professional adult educators, participate in this process through our compliance in that ubiquitous misnomer of ‘workplace training’ and the development of professional accreditation courses in every known human activity. The original adage of ‘lifelong learning,’ which once inspired us with the concept of ‘freedom to learn’ has morphed into ‘you must learn this.’ Our research in community education frequently feeds the rendering of previously grassroots community activity into professionalised services, their normal human-to-human conduct transformed into consumer products. I am currently witnessing my local swim club’s elders, many of whom have successfully taught children to swim for five or six decades for free, now invaded by the professionalised body of Swim Australia, which demands that they all obtain accreditation and charge for what was previously a free community service. One wonderful elder who swims laps every day, maintains the clubhouse and teaches kids with calm humour and authority despite his mild Parkinsons has been told he can no longer teach at all. I tried to foment resistance amongst them to no avail; they have been frightened into compliance by threats of litigation but, as one old community stalwart said, “The heart’s gone out of it for me.” So, where can a Left-leaning person move, anywhere within current bureaucratic or political systems, or the institutions it administers?

What is Left then?

At a time like this, I feel it is terribly important for people of progressive, left-leaning persuasion to not become disheartened, to not give into that ever-present danger of mind-numbing despair. I fight, sometimes in a moment-to-moment battle, to retain my universal, unconditional love of humanity by reminding myself of the daily courage and generosity by countless thousands of local heroes everywhere. I recall the works of those writers who have used their talents to articulate the inchoate needs of their societies, to inspire dreams of a better world and incite action towards it. I keep the mantra going that things have been much, much worse and what those heroes won in the past we may have to fight for again, but we can never lose it all. And we will win, again, because what we want is good and true. So, what do I think being Left is all about? I am an unashamed romantic and a utopian and here begin the discussion that I hope other voices may contribute:

Being Left is:

· It is an article of faith for me that, given the right kind of nurturing by their community, all human beings can have the capacity to fulfill whatever their physical and intellectual potential may offer. Karl Marx elucidated this concept with his maxim of the ‘hunter in the morning and poet at night.’ I see this as a society that inculcates the integration of each member’s natural need to undertake provision for the necessities of daily life with the creative impulse. The writer I think evoked this best is William Morris, with his artisan’s utopia in News from Nowhere.

· It is the understanding that nothing beyond the daily necessities of community, food and shelter, are givens in human life, that we make our world according to the scope of our imaginations, and we can create for ourselves, just as easily, a good and kind world as one that is callous and cruel. As Zygmunt Bauman articulated: ‘Utopia relativises the present, without which we could not envision an alternative future.’

· It is recognizing that the ‘dog-eat-dog, winners-and-losers’ paradigm of social order that some would impose only encourages the worst aspects of human nature and benefits those who have greater capacities for greed and unscrupulousness.

· It is recognizing that we all have different capacities, we are all products of the human gene pool, have gained our individual talents and capacities in that lottery and therefore the fortunate owe some service those less so. It acknowledges that each of us has something of value to offer their community and allots, again as Marx enunciated, ‘from each according to their abilities to each according to their needs.’

· It is believing that a truly human society is able to nurture all its members, to recognize that we are flawed creature, one and all, to be just and fair and, most importantly, to forgive mistakes and transgressions when they are redeemed by acts of reparation to those who have suffered by our hands

· It is being unambiguously opposed to State aggression or exploitation of any form, against individuals or in war. It is believing that there are always non-aggressive ways in which we can sort out our differences, even if they take time, and that war is never an answer to anything.

· It is an obligation to critical consciousness. This is an important characteristic, but it is also something that can be an Achilles Heel, for they too frequently turn the critical spotlight to their own differences and diffuse their energies in factional disputes. The trick is to find what we have in common and join forces in those.

· It is believing that we are miraculous creatures, all of whom deserve the right to fully enjoy that state of being human on this marvelous planet, and that life and work are not separate but integral to that enjoyment. Our technology has the potential to free us all from the more base vicissitudes demanded by what we need to survive with a modicum of comfort, to give us all that enjoyment of life, not in an obscene degree for some and a pittance for others.

· And finally, for now, but perhaps most importantly, it is the recognition that we must treat that planet which is our home with the greatest respect and reverence, and must not plunder it wastefully, but nurture its bounty and repair what damage we have done, so that it may continue to be ours, and our children’s bounteous home.

Piscina Podium - The house of my dreams

The house is neoclassical Roman peristyle built in stuccoed hay bale with a wide, colonial-style veranda all round, the roof of which is made from photovoltaic cells and also catches the house water. It has an uncluttered, elegant, ethereal feel, the colours vivid yet subtle, and translucent, like watercolour paintings.

Along both sides french doors open onto flagstone paved, arched colonnades that run either side of a peristyle garden with a lap pool surrounded by fragrant vines, perennial bulbs and a plethora of orchids. A delicate, curved wrought iron, covered bridge crosses the pool mid-way.

The front end of the peristyle garden is a wall of wrought iron littered with stained glass sea creatures, in the centre of which is a nine-foot, slumped glass wave fountain that acts as reticulation for the pool water. This provides a glorious precursor to the Art Nouveau, seahorse motif, convex curved, frosted-glass entrance doors to the right. These open into the living area stretching that side of the building, at the far end, becoming dining then turning left into kitchen.

The the colonnade on living space side ends in a ramp to the roof garden. There are deep bay windows looking out to the external verhanda, with cushioned window seats above storage cupboards and recessed alcoves for bookshelves and artworks. The the window seats and alcoves have softly curved edges, those on the alcoves giving a subtle impression of ribs.

Indeed, the whole interior has few hard edges, all corners being softly curved rather than angled. This is a subtle effect though, and not a profiled feature, as such, meant more to endow an organic feel to the spaces. It is important that the proportions of all spaces follow the ancient geometric principles, so that there is a sense of harmony, both between and within all spaces.

The terrazzo floor’s pattern evokes the shore on a retreating tide at dusk, with sea flotsam embedded therein. Midway is a sunken, asymmetric semicircle lounge with large cushions facing a walk-in fireplace that has a tripod for smaller fires.

At the far end corner, the dining table is adjacent to French doors leading onto the veranda. The kitchen area can be shielded by a folding door when desired. There is a slow combustion Aga stove, its chimney replete with smoking chamber, plus a gas range on an island bench, a twin-tub, twin apron sink with good bench space either side, a rack for implements above and cupboards below.

Dutch doors lead to the walled kitchen garden and to the left a large walk-in pantry and preserving room, with a weighted lift to a cool storage cellar, can be entered from both kitchen and veranda. At the far end is an ensuite and laundry replete with gas copper for kitchen as well as washing purposes.

The number of bedrooms and size of study and studio on the left side depends upon the budget. Each bedroom has light golden coloured or limed timber flooring, ensuites, the main with a walk-in wardobe, and French doors leading onto both veranda and colonnade. The studio is at the front end and the study at the rear, in a raised, enclosed section overlooking the kitchen garden.

On this side the colonnade ramp leads to the main bathroom, raised above the lap pool and shielded by plants so that it remains private, but can also be accessed from the spa at the end of the pool. There is a sliding roof so that one may bathe and dry off in the sun when one chooses.

Lastly, there is a mosaic-tiled roof garden with sculptures, Gaudi-like minarets and a wrought iron, glassed pergola for dew-free stargazing.

I could elaborate further on accouterments, such as the glass door handles with shells and flowers embedded but, ah, enough of dreaming for the moment! Back to real life!

Piscina Podium - Redesigning education

A New Order: Family and Education

I believe that we have our society’s order quite literally arse over tit. Rather than suppressing the healthy young body’s impulse to breed when it is best able to produce quality eggs and sperm, we should facilitate reproductive urges with community and family support. Children mature, physically and emotionally, at different rates, some are less hormonally driven than others and some have intellectual artistic or physical preoccupations that require a continuous path. However, the vast majority of adolescents become preoccupied by their hormones, diverting so much attention to their physicality that it is a testament to human intelligence they achieve anything else. My model proposes an educational system based upon Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, whereby the child’s learning patterns, strengths and weakness are identified early and their education is designed to nurture talent and reinforce lesser capacities. There is a panel of responsible adults, parents, teachers and doctors that assesses the individual throughout development. On achieving physical and emotional maturity, there is some ritual celebration of passing into adulthood similar to the Jewish Bamitzvah. The young adult then becomes an active participant in their life, with the option of following an academic or skills development pathway, doing their National Service. If they choose to find a partner, they can begin a family that will be supported by family and community.

In this ideal order, post puberty education is a matter of choice and appropriate timing. Each individual has some twenty years of publicly supported education to be accessed as they choose over a lifetime. Someone with a talent requiring a continuous path, such as mathematics, music, or dance, would remain in education. Another whose hormones were more urgent might find a partner and complete secondary education part-time while having a family, then work for a while before undertaking tertiary education when they find something that interests them. There is a two-year commitment to National Service component to be completed at any time before the age of thirty, done in one session or periodic stints, and also a matter of preference. If an adolescent is proving difficult, their guardians might advise some National Service program that includes a disciplinary element, such as the military where they will also gain further vocational training, but this should be a matter of agreement between all parties. The options for National Service provide a wide variety of options, from military service to living in kibbutz-style accommodation and working on land or sea rehabilitation projects, or participating in local social or cultural programs, all with an educational component in the science and skills of the task. The educational allotment allows a quotient for mature career change or development, with which an individual might take a sabbatical on a basic living stipend to pursue a new private or professional interest, or advance an existing one. This system would then preclude the terrible waste of human potential currently still blighting our civilisation.