Adulation brings intellectual paralysis

Continued adulation of battlefield exploits point to intellectual paralysis.

It seems our thought processes have stalled, leaving us locked in an era when conquest of the other, and nature, signified elevated status.

Humans have always sought status resorting frequently to conflict and defeat of the other to cement their superiority with the ruins they have wrought being evidence of their success.

Celebration of that perverse success and, equally, the repeated remembrance of events past, even if that moment in history can be shown to be the antithesis of human betterment, draws on powerful human emotions making the event almost transcendental.

Most see participants in the conflict, survivors or otherwise, as sublime, attributing to them god-like ideals and values, adorning them in garments of splendour, awarding them medals and recognition for doing something that was simply a waste of human capacity and the manifestation of mob-madness.

An example of this recently dominated our popular media when a young man acted out the doctrines of our militant thinking; thinking that sees solutions in only physical confrontation.

Our intellectual stasis sees us trapped in a paradigm in which past events become a pattern for the future, negating adventurous and expansive thinking that allows us to understand that decency and discussion are better tools than bludgeoning another.

Decency and discussion is simply that and doesn’t need to be clothed in gaudy colours, adorned with medals or given to rapturous celebration, rather just thoughtful talk and kindly consideration of the other, embracing the realization that others, whatever their beliefs or passions, cry, bleed and feel just like us.

Life may appear linear – destiny that takes us from A to B without change – but it is not for with courage and commitment, and deep thought, it is unquestionably possible to change human behaviour and make what was common, a rarity.

Our ongoing adulation of battlefield exploits needs to stop for if we allow ourselves truly expansive thinking and consider 10 000 years hence what happened at, say Gallipoli, will be irrelevant and lost in the mists of time.

Rather than looking back and devoting time and energy to what was, we should, conscious of our errors, use our vigour to build our life around realities of the moment, rather than though an addiction with imagined glories of fruitless events.

Long has the wisdom of crowds been an article of faith, but such belief is slipping away, compounded, locally, by recent city council elections and in a broader sense, the apparent inability of many to accept that human behaviour is changing our climate and, in this instance, the absence of reason about disagreements that manifest violence and how recognition means reinforcement of failed ideas leading, inalienably, to more anguish.

Decidedly different beliefs, but strikingly similar ideals

The fellow considered to be “Mr Shepparton”, Bill Hunter, died recently and was buried on Thursday (May 31). More than 1000 people attended his funeral and being one of those, I later that day reflected on knowing him through my former role at Editor of the Shepparton News.

"Mr Shepparton" - William
Birchall Hunter.

Bill Hunter and I had decidedly different beliefs, but in the chaos that is life, we had strikingly similar ideals.

He was ardently attached to some values that I saw as frivolous, but even though my position was obvious, and different, he was always a truly nice bloke whose friendship never fluctuated despite those dissimilarities in our relationship.

His obsession with the “bigger picture” and the importance of getting things done, seemed to relegate those lesser personality issues that people often focus on to near the bottom of his hierarchy of concerns.

That, however, does not suggest Bill didn’t care about those around him: he did, and that was unquestionably one of his true strengths – he cared deeply, about everybody and everything.

Listening to W.B. Hunter Group managing director, Michael Moroney, and the Shepparton based MLC, Wendy Lovell, talk about his dynamism and his long and tireless contribution to the Goulburn Valley, and Shepparton in particular, it feels rather bold of me to call him a friend.

However, it was obvious to all at yesterday’s funeral, that Bill was everyone’s friend, even in the rough and tumble of business and politics at the local, State and Federal levels.

Bill had the rare skill to identify something for what it was, do it without undue offence, move on and again focus on the greater good for the greater number.

The lessons of history were not wasted on Bill for he understood scarcity and the use of finite resources.

No matter where he was and should he need to remind himself of something, he could produce a used envelope and quickly note the message. Bill never wasted anything, not even used envelopes.

Every community needs a champion and the one we fare welled yesterday was the essence of the energy that saw Shepparton become Greater Shepparton.

Furphy 'specialist' to speak at 2012 John Furphy Memorial Lecture

A fellow who is not a Furphy, but is considered a Furphy specialist will speak at next year’s annual John Furphy Memorial Lecture.

Professor Geoffrey Blainey
spoke at Wednesday night's
John Furphy Memorial
Lecture in Shepparton.

An Emeritus Professor of English at La Trobe University, John Barnes, will deliver the eighth annual oration on September 13, exactly 100 years, to the day, that noted author Joseph Furphy died.
The great, great grandson of John Furphy, Adam Furphy announced details of the 2012 lecture after Professor Geoffrey Blainey had spoken at Wednesday night’s memorial lecture.
Adam, along with being the Managing Director of J. Furphy and Sons in Shepparton, is the chairman of the regional advisory board for the Shepparton campus of La Trobe University.
The Harder Auditorium at Shepparton’s TAFE College seats 160 people and was nearly full for Wednesday night’s lecture.
Prof Blainey, who obviously has a deep and broad understanding of Australian history, encouraged people to consider that history fully before blandly accepting many of the present arguments about climate change.
He pointed to changes in the world’s climate that had resulted in significant alterations to Australia’s coastline, including the creation of Bass Strait and the appearance of Tasmania as an island, which were all events that Aborigines of the day had learned to live with.