Talking with strangers, falling foul of an adage

Prof Penny Russell.

An adage is frequently used in a metaphorical sense to help explain a complex message in just a few words.

The phrase such as “A fish always rots from the head down” is an adage suggesting that when an organization or state fails, it is the leadership that is the root cause.

The adage that the “spoken word can never be revoked” is understood to have a biblical history and that being the case it would undoubtedly not be used in its original format in today’s secular conversation.

However, only recently it surfaced during a short conversation with Sydney’s Professor Penny Russell on one of Brisbane’s wonderful “CityCat” ferries.

Prof Russell was travelling to the St Lucia campus of the University of Queensland to attend a meeting of the Australian Historical Association.

As an historian, Prof Russell has long been eager to better understand manners and broader behaviour and so in 2010 wrote about much of what she had learned in the book “Savage or Civilized?”

In the introduction to the book, Prof Russell said that when she told people she was writing about Australian manners, they tended to laugh and ask, “Have you found any yet?”

Quizzed about the book, it quickly became obvious that what the Professor had written was not proscriptive, that is deciding what is right and wrong and so suggesting answers, rather it was descriptive, simply explaining what existed and why.

Prof Russell said she always found that one generation frequently considered its manners to be better than those of following generations.

That, she explained is rather subjective and needs to be considered in the context of the times – for example Facebook demands manners that would be foreign to and simply unknown by people of even a generation earlier.

Discussing manners, Prof Russell said it was once considered an abuse of manners for a man to talk with a woman while wearing hat – bingo!

Yours truly was wearing a flat cap; an apology was volunteered and accepted by Prof Russell who said that it was just an example of what had once been common and as she could hear her own words as she looked at my cap.

It was a poignant lesson about manners and a wonderful example of how the spoken word can never be revoked.

Elected to the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2012, Prof Russell is the Bicentennial Professor of Australian History, Chair at the Department of History at the University of Sydney.

Having only just begun to read her book, it seems a personal practice of talking with a stranger every day would have generations ago put me into the “savage” class as it was then considered bad manners to talk with anyone without first being introduced.

(Having read this, Prof Russell added an adage of her own: '”Beware of what you say to strangers, lest they turn out to be journalists”?)

The incoherency of democracy stumbling from a 'low blow'

Writing coherently about something that is decidedly incoherent is difficult.

Democracy stumbled recently as it took a low blow with the repeal of the carbon pricing mechanism and so appears ill-equipped to untangle the complexities of climate change.

Former Australian PM, Kevin Rudd, among others, including many from the other side of the ideological divide, have declared climate change as humanity’s greatest ever moral challenge.

That observation follows an even earlier comment from former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter who said in 1971 that the energy crisis was “the moral equivalent to war”. Climate change is about many things, but chief among them is our frivolous use of energy.

Few, if any have argued for the abandonment of democracy, a social governance process that has underpinned societies for more than two centuries , but it was no less than Albert Einstein who said a problem cannot be resolved by the thinking from which is arose.

The world now faces difficulties created and encouraged by democracy and so applying the Einstein maxim that revered social governance process should now be questioned.

Democracy allows for debate, difference of opinion, the rule of law and within and around those attributes, tolerance.

That heady mix of values are now entrenched, most certainly in developed countries and although they now have a foothold in many other places, their import is as varied as the cultures which have embraced them.

Returning again to Mr Rudd’s 2007 observations, he noted then that climate change was so vast that it was beyond politics.

His prescient comments apply to what presently exists – climate change is unquestionably the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced and democracy appears unequal to those challenges.

Beyond that, the magnitude of what is ahead appears to escape the understanding of the Abbott-led government.

Yes, addressing the causes and mitigation of climate change is something that is beyond politics and demands creative, innovative and courageous ideas that appear to exceed the capacities of existing egalitarianism.

Democracy as an ideal is to be celebrated, but it was adherence to its fundamentals that gave rise to the Anthropocene – a scientifically recognized era acknowledging the influence of man; an era of industry, growth, conflict and profit that has disrupted the world’s climate.

Sadly, the climate change conversation has been politicized creating a “them and us”, a “goodies and baddies”-type discussion, which is simply wrong for no-one is correct or incorrect, no-one is either good or bad rather, we’re all responsible and so together face the unintended consequences of the natural expression of our species’ will to survive.

So where do we go from here?

Work hard to understand and reclaim democracy; support those who epitomise its values and step away from those who don’t.

Standing writes about 'the precariat' and provides a template for the Australian Budget

Guy Standing wrote about the
 'precariat' in 2011 and provided,
 unintentionally, a template for
Australia's 2014 budget.

Guy Standing unintentionally provided a template for the first budget of the Tony Abbot-led Coalition Government.

The British professor of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London wrote about “The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class”.

Most everything the professor discussed in his 2011 book as damaging to society has been embraced through the intricacies of this year’s federal budget.

The “precariat” arises when people find themselves in precarious life positions; that it become increasingly difficult to find work and frequently they can only find lower-skilled, temporary positions that are inevitably poorly paid.
Our market-driven consumer society demands a regular and substantial income, something that is missing when people find themselves in casual, temporary and poorly paid work.

Those living in and operating on the fringes of society – that so-called “fringe” is now creeping into the fabled middle-class” - have long been the prime users of a societal welfare infrastructure that is now being eroded by a government that has declared an end to the “age of entitlement”.

Utilitarianism, much discussed and criticised by Standing, has been wildly embraced by the present government that believes all are equal and in applying its ideological strait-jacket expects all people, whatever their skills, talents or intellectual adaptation to the market system, to survive unaided.

Nice thought, but it is clearly wrong for not all have the necessary aptitudes to prosper in a society whose emphasis is on profit and has little regard for the welfare of people.

A market-driven society in which everything is a commodity, including people, and has no respect for idleness and leisure, both attributes upon which innovation is reliant, as they make no obvious contribution to the balance sheet.

This rude push to put an economic value on everything robs people of reflection, leaving them with no time to contemplate, ponder and simple wonder about a better way.

The agenda of our relatively new Coalition Government has seeped into every crevice of Australian society and nothing appears sacrosanct in its bid to make repairs to the country’s budget; repairs that disinterested economists argue are not needed and are little more than a fabrication.

Everything, even our intergenerational responsibilities, are being discounted as our government rails against everyone who finds comfort in renaissance-like values of literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry.

The ideological neoliberal-driven agenda has the government muddling about in the past and pandering to populism; a populism fuelled by a fallacious fear of the other, a distorted sense of security and a misunderstanding of risk.

Standing explains how those any many other matters are giving rise to the “precariat”. His book is unsettling, but worth reading.

Basque Country once ripped asunder, is now rebuilt and helping show the way.

Spain’s Basque Country was a personally unknown entity until discussed by Nathalia artist and social justice/peace activist, Bill Kelly.

Nathalia artist and social
justice/peace activist, Bill Kelly
 with a piece he drew
following a recent operation.
 

“Kelly”, as he is known by everyone, including his wife, Veronica, has a unique interest in the Basque County evolving from his passion for both art and peace.

A decades-long interest in the Pablo Picasso painting “Geurnica” created in response to the bombing of the Basque Country village in northern Spain, by German and Italian warplanes the Spanish Civil War on the eve of World War Two, has left Kelly with a unique perspective of Geurnica.

An American by birth who has lived in Australia for decades, Kelly has a third allegiance which is almost as powerful as both his birth and now home-place.

Much of Kelly’s art has a sense of yearning for peace – the essence to Picasso’s “Geurnica” and he visits there at least annually to contribute to ceremonies recognizing when peace died at the Basque village in 1937 and is now reborn.

With personal interest in everything of the Basque Country ignited by Kelly, it was fascinating to learn that a professor of political and social philosophy at the University of the Basque Country, Daniel Innerarity, is a prolific author of books discussing the human condition.

“Humanity at Risk: The Need for Global Governance”, a series of essays edited by Innerarity with Javier Solana, includes a quote from the a founder and editor of the daily Il Manifesto, the late Luigi Pintor, who said, “A society that assumes growth as its goal is like a person who considers obesity an ideal.”

Following the Pintor quote was an essay by Dimitri D’Andrea from the University of Florence in which he discusses the globalized risk and global threat for future generations from climate change.

The famous "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso.

D’Andrea wrote: “The fact that global warming is rooted in the ‘economic innocence of day-to-day consumption’ makes the catastrophe threatening us doubly unthinkable; unthinkable for it is too big for us to imagine and unthinkable because it is difficult to trace back to normal everyday life”.

The involvement of Basque Country thinkers in this social dilemma is not surprising for although they are relatively simple people who have lead equally simple lives for centuries, they are recognised deep thinkers who have contributed much to the world community.

The unannounced and unprompted attack on Geurnica in 1937 ruptured modern life in the Basque Country and in a seemingly disconnected way prepared the Basque people for the certain rigours that a changing climate will bring.

Kelly has been privileged to watch the Geurnican people recover from that sudden and violent rupture of their peaceful lives and within that play an important part in the rebuilding of the community; a community, for their work towards reconciliation and environment, named as a “UNESCO European City of Peace”. They are now far better able to, and are preparing for a different future.

 

 

Brighten up a dull life? - try volunteering!

Volunteering is sure way to brighten up a dull life.

Volunteers play a key role in helping
 maintain the Cotton Tree cenotaph.

People have myriad wants and needs, but chief among them is a sense that they belong, they are connected to someone or something, they are valued and important to the welfare of others. Volunteering answers those needs.

Thoughts that people have a worthy purpose are not only personally life-affirming, but through volunteering their community becomes a better place.

Everything about volunteering is advantageous for both as the volunteer benefits immeasurably and their efforts can change the lives of others.

Modern life appears to be about “me, me, me” with individualism being championed by many corporations and some governments who camouflage the endless pursuit of profit and growth as democracy.

The idea that people must be beholden to and servant of the economy has stripped people of the rich, important and intricate beliefs that can be found again through volunteering.

Our need for a common purpose, the essence of volunteering, and the sense of camaraderie inherent in groups has been exploited for centuries by political parties, commercial operators and those in the military.

The power of volunteering and the potent sense of wellbeing it brings to participants existed for all to see, and feel, at the recent 2014 Volunteer Recognition Awards in Shepparton’s McIntosh Centre.

Some 300 people gathered at the centre to hear who had been recognised by the City of Greater Shepparton as being among the city’s best volunteers.

The warmth and humility of these hard-working volunteers was tangible and so thick in the air, it was almost possible to imbibe it, suggesting that volunteerism is something that almost feeds upon itself.

An example of how the benefits volunteering brings to communities can be seen at the Cotton Tree war memorial on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, which a decade ago was in rather sad disrepair – today it is wonderful.

A local retired fellow, know to all as “Prickles” and whose father had died in the First World War, felt his dad deserved better and so began volunteering his time to tidy the surrounds, making the cenotaph something of which to be proud.

Prickles worked hard mowing the grass, creating some flowerbeds and brightening up the precinct until a request to the local council for some garden soil saw him caught in a bureaucratic controversy that, because of public risk and similar matters, forced him to become an official, but unpaid member of council’s staff.

Illness has forced “Prickles” into retirement and for the past four or five years Michael Powell has trimmed the plants, mowed the grass and generally kept the memorial tidy.

However, Michael is also stepping back a little and another local volunteer Bill Shaw is to become the “keeper of the cenotaph”.

Flailing, falling to his death, leaving many emotionally numb

A recent noisy and aggravated conversation on the eleventh floor of the resort caught the attention of many.

Those looking up from below, including my wife, watched as a fellow threw himself to his death.

 

My wife didn’t actually see the fellow climb over the balcony railing, but she did see the flailing, falling man.

Many tradesmen, mostly younger rather than older working nearby on the roof of a single story building, saw what happened as their attention had also been taken by the commotion.

Emergency people were called and the police, in dealing with what was in fact a suicide, offered the opportunity of counselling to all who had seen the man fall to his death.

News of the man’s death ricocheted around the community leaving those who had seen what happened asking “why” and along with that being emotionally damaged.

The man’s fall from and death at the Maroochydore resort is a microcosm of a near non-stop daily dilemma in which millions of people from around the world are trapped.

Many die from direct violence, thousands of lives are wasting away because of institutional violence and the world is held at ransom by the military/industrial complex which sees every problem as a nail that needs to be driven by a hammer.

Those in other parts of the world trapped by that direct/institutional/military violence that fill news broadcasts everyday are meant to find comfort in the idea that peace will evolve from overt use of force. It won’t.

The counselling offered to those who witnessed the Maroochydore calamity is a great compliment to a police force that has morphed from being in the early 19^th century little more than a protector of the propertied, profit makers to being a general guardian of society’s wellbeing, while maintaining law and order.

What we experience here in Australia is entirely absent in other countries with the devastating complexity of “there is no other way” view bringing down upon people degradation and violence of extremes that few here can even imagine.

Those living with, and dying from the application of that belief have only personal resources to fall back upon for no one is going to be there offering counselling or other emotional support to deal with whatever might be threatening them.

Emotional fragility can afflict even the strongest, but take away the support mechanisms we all take for granted, along with a lifestyle rich in comforts and even “strong” is a subjective term.

An almost impassable chasm stands between articulation and implementation

Between the articulation and implementation of a goal lies an almost impassable chasm.

We need to step back from the edge,
re-think our behaviour and choose a
wholly new direction.

The journey from promise to reality is pockmarked with disappointments, deceptions, social and economic difficulties and consequences, both unexpected and unintended.

Intertwined with this hazardous journey from promise to fact is the added confusion of ideologies, and although firmly believed by their protagonists, they frequently do little to help people break free of the many myths and fantasies that colour and confuse our lives.

The recent Federal Budget, and now the Victoria State election, ignited near endless ideological conversation about what will and won’t work, but rarely, if ever, are we able to judge anything without first reflecting on its economic cost.

That is understandable, but sad in the extreme and is the outcome of a market driven-life in which reward for effort is measured in money, with intelligence and influence is mostly attributed to those who have excelled in commercial life and have both burgeoning bank balances and life loaded with consumerist goods.

Our understanding of success in a life measured only by physical possessions and the instinct for gambling and craftiness that survival in our embedded market system demands is wrongheaded.

Rather than being slaves to the economy, we should be working hard for people, putting humanity first, and we are not.

Ideologues repeatedly tell us that until the economy is repaired, as is the chorus from the present Federal Government, Australia is not secure and cannot progress.

The latter are both subjective and beyond that are ideologically conditional and bound-up in myths and falsehoods sold to us as unavoidable realities.

Those “unavoidable realities” are nothing more than human constructs – we built them and so we can be re-build them with intent and effort equal to what it took to assemble them.

Post World War Two brought
burgeoning budgets, but the arrival
of the 2000s saw them fall away.

So the goal is that we build a life in which the rights and welfare of people are more important than profit, but between us and our destination lays that near impassable chasm and crossing it means a re-think, the fracturing of our allegiance to the military/industrial complex that feeds off conflict and human misery and the recognition that needs will always trump our wants.

The responsible men claim their ideological growth-driven pragmatism will ensure a re-birth of the post Second World War halcyon days when fossil fuels were abundant and cheap.

The game, however, has changed and never again will we see the once commonplace surging economies and so rather than dither on the edge of the chasm, we need to step back, re-imagine our lives and strike out in a wholly different direction, one in which we find contentment from collaborative communities; places where the economy again becomes a tool and a servant, rather than a template and the master.