Euphemisms are on my mind. They've been flying around like confetti for
years now. They're on the news. They're in the ads, they're on talk back
radio, magazines, papers ... and they're on everyone's lips, even
(especially) on the lips of people who wouldn't know what a euphemism
was if it bit them. When did this 1984-style 'newspeak'
sneak up on us to the point we barely even notice it now? When did
'defence' replace 'militarism' in the lexicon? When did 'democracy'
become code for 'consumerism'? Why are people referred to as 'resources'
now? When did we start thinking that 'globalization' meant anything
other than 'international slavery'? When did the English language
become so debased? When perfectly
good words were put into chains, hitched to bandwagons and taken so far
away from their natural beginnings that we barely recognise them any
more, that's when. Perhaps it was
around about 1984 when it started getting really bad? That was back
when a couple of shiny new euphemisms were invented: 'Reaganomics' which
was a euphemism for 'unleashing the rampant greed of the oligarchs' and
'Thatcherism' which was code for 'crushing the union movement'. It's
been coming for a while of course, this 'newspeak'. The Viet Nam
war-mongers came up with the term 'collateral damage' which is a very
handy euphemism for 'dead people, mostly women and children'. It sounded
so much better on the news after all. They had others, many others.
'Friendly fire' for instance, was a euphemism for 'idiots running about
with guns who have no idea what they're doing or why'. The list goes on
(and on).
The advertising
industry has been at it for decades of course and the PR industry has
got its clutches well and truly on politics these days.
'Sustainability', (from the Latin, sustinere "hold up, support, endure," from sub "up from below" + tenere
"to hold") has become a catch-all phrase for corporate greenwashers,
who want to do everything but 'support from below'. What they want to do
is suck the life blood out of the Earth in the world's largest ever
Ponzi scheme ('growth'). From this PR 'newspeak' dictionary come the
oxymorons 'sustainable growth' and 'sustainable development'. What is
'sustainable development'? Is that taking away the lands of indigenous
people and giving
them all a job in a mine, some cigarettes and an iPhone? Develop:"from French développer, from Old French desveloper
"unwrap, unfurl, unveil; reveal the meaning of, explain"... When did
'develop' become a euphemism for 'ruin' as in 'develop the Kimberley'.
Since when did to 'unfold' mean to ravage and destroy something
perfectly beautiful, useful and fine the way it is, so a few people can
buy themselves a yacht and a racehorse or two so they can show off to
their equally misguided friends? Hmmmm?
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Thursday, 22 August 2013
Get your kicks....
I've been thinking a lot about what makes people happy this week. I
often despair for our 'culture', obsessed as it seems to be by money,
power, fame, sex, thrills and excess ... and that's just the nightly
news. All of this is crazy carrying on is not conducive to happiness,
despite what the advertisers would have you believe. It's very bad for
the health of the individual and the planet as well. The other night,
trying to enjoy a rare quiet night at home in front of the telly, I was
searching for some respite from the murder
shows, sports scandals, Tony Abbott, fighting couples and explosions, I
switched over to Channel 34 NITV - National Indigenous TV. It was like a
breath of fresh air. There was a man teaching his grandson how to carve
the old masks in Alaska. Here was a woman teaching her granddaughter
how to salt fish for the winter. It was quiet, soulful and full of love.
They were saying they didn't have a lot of money, their clothes were
old and so on, but they were happy. They had their bit of land that
they'd always had and the river was still clean and full of fish, the
family were all living close by. They were gently spoken, smiling and
obviously content with life ... I thought these people were way richer
than Gina Rinehart myself.
But, we love thrills and excitement too. Too much peace and quiet can get a bit boring after all. Can you have thrills and excitement without wrecking the planet, starting a war, ruining your health or being very, very wealthy? Of course you can. I watched the movie Exit through the gift shop the other day. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. It's all about the 'street art' scene in France, the UK and USA, especially Banksy and a few of the other leading lights. Everyone hates mindless tagging, but this movie shows the real artists who emerged out of all that anarchy and what happened next ... The movement is very anti-consumerism, anti-imperialism, anti-war, anti-authority... The artists pride themselves in making art out of nothing, getting paid nothing for it, just doing it to amaze, amuse or awaken. They put a lot of time and effort into their 'pieces', and take considerable physical risks as well sometimes, only to see their work scraped off the wall the next day, painted over, or crumble away in the weather. They don't believe art should be locked up indoors for the enjoyment of the rich and powerful, but it should be free for everyone. They're mostly dirt poor, but these crazy cats are full of life, reforming zeal, humour and creativity and are having the time of their lives. One of the young men described the way he'd chosen to spend his life (spreading the anti-consumerist word to the masses) as being the most joyful and fulfilling thing he could imagine doing, even though he had barely a penny to his name.
Excessive amounts of money are not necessary for a happy life and there are a lot of good ways to get your kicks that don't involve harming yourself or others. Sometimes less is more.
But, we love thrills and excitement too. Too much peace and quiet can get a bit boring after all. Can you have thrills and excitement without wrecking the planet, starting a war, ruining your health or being very, very wealthy? Of course you can. I watched the movie Exit through the gift shop the other day. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. It's all about the 'street art' scene in France, the UK and USA, especially Banksy and a few of the other leading lights. Everyone hates mindless tagging, but this movie shows the real artists who emerged out of all that anarchy and what happened next ... The movement is very anti-consumerism, anti-imperialism, anti-war, anti-authority... The artists pride themselves in making art out of nothing, getting paid nothing for it, just doing it to amaze, amuse or awaken. They put a lot of time and effort into their 'pieces', and take considerable physical risks as well sometimes, only to see their work scraped off the wall the next day, painted over, or crumble away in the weather. They don't believe art should be locked up indoors for the enjoyment of the rich and powerful, but it should be free for everyone. They're mostly dirt poor, but these crazy cats are full of life, reforming zeal, humour and creativity and are having the time of their lives. One of the young men described the way he'd chosen to spend his life (spreading the anti-consumerist word to the masses) as being the most joyful and fulfilling thing he could imagine doing, even though he had barely a penny to his name.
Excessive amounts of money are not necessary for a happy life and there are a lot of good ways to get your kicks that don't involve harming yourself or others. Sometimes less is more.
Love conquers all
I've been thinking a lot about love this week. Not just the boy/girl
meets girl/boy variety, but more broadly. So much of the bad behaviour
in this world is driven by hate, greed and fear and so much of the good
behaviour is driven by love. You need to exclude the 'love of money' of
course. That goes under the heading of greed. The Greens have always
stood for the four pillars,
an overwhelmingly positive vision for how to bring about a more just
society, healthy biosphere, equitable economy and peaceful world. Every
Greens party in the world (and there are many) use the same four pillars
as the basis of their policy making. The older parties continually bang
on and on about money, power, fear, selfishness and separation. It's a
very unpalatable vision of how the world should be in my view and I'm
often astonished at how many people buy into it. But then I guess most
people are brainwashed by the steady diet of 'news' we are fed, not to
mention the constant barrage of marketing of envy, greed and fear that
is so prevalent in our 'culture'. I've ranted about those things in the past, so won't repeat myself here.
Despite the pretensions of the old parties to present a 'positive' face this campaign, so far it's what the young folk would call an 'epic fail'. This week they seem to be trying to demonstrate how very positive they are on 'women's issues' by bickering over minute differences between their 'paid parental leave' schemes and whether shareholders or billionaires are going to be made to foot the bill. One of the best things about being involved in the Greens is that you can be sure you're always on the side of love. The ALP made a big hoopla recently about how they would (finally) have a 'conscience vote' on marriage equality if they get in. Well, bully for them. We've been saying for years that love is love, no matter what gender you might be, and it's nobody's business who you marry as long as it makes you both happy. It's been part of Greens policy forever, not just a 'conscience' issue, but foundational to the notion that discrimination is wrong and love is good. It's well known which side the Greens stand on when it comes to treating refugees with compassion as opposed to an almost psychotic fear of 'invasion' reminscent of the old 'yellow peril' nonsense. If you suggest that the billions being spent on locking up the unfortunate on remote islands would be better directed at love than hate they call you mad. But it would actually be far more economical to help people to stay in their own countries safely and peacefully. How is that possible? Well, by boosting diplomatic efforts through the UN rather than enabling the bellicosity of the USA. Imagine if billions (trillions) were spent on stopping wars, encouraging micro-credit schemes, supporting the rule of law, educating women, stopping the trade in illegal arms, agricultural projects, banning landmines, renewable energy projects, reforestation, species protection and so much more. With these simple measures you could raise the standard of living of billions of people and put an end to much of the strife in the world. But that's crazy talk, right? We can't afford that, can we? Well, actually we could if we did this: http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/ and stopped doing this: http://www.globalissues.org/issue/73/arms-trade-a-major-cause-of-suffering
Sometimes I scratch my head with wonder at the old parties' relationship to our Mother Earth, our only home. They really seem to hate her. It doesn't make a heap of difference which mob is in. They both permit mining in national parks, despoilation of beauty spots, wiping out of species, endless 'development' and expansion of roads, mining, and the like. Both the old parties have plans to protect our 'economy' from impending doom by coming up with half-baked and largely useless policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions in any meaningful way, while giving multi-national corporations kick backs by the billions of public money, the better to assist them in killing our Earth more swiftly. The Greens are often accused of being radical or weird or loopy for suggesting that we're going the wrong way and the policies of the past couple of hundred years deserve a major rethink. Suggesting that maybe love is a better way to go than hate and greed puts you in the kooky club. But in the end it is not money, but love that truly rules the world. Appealling to the lowest aspects of human nature is nothing new, but me, I choose love. I choose the Greens. I choose to be on the right side and the winning side. Don't forget, while you're out campaining and volunteering, demonstrating and letter writing, to do it with passion. Do it with courage. Do it for love. Always remember, love conquers all
Despite the pretensions of the old parties to present a 'positive' face this campaign, so far it's what the young folk would call an 'epic fail'. This week they seem to be trying to demonstrate how very positive they are on 'women's issues' by bickering over minute differences between their 'paid parental leave' schemes and whether shareholders or billionaires are going to be made to foot the bill. One of the best things about being involved in the Greens is that you can be sure you're always on the side of love. The ALP made a big hoopla recently about how they would (finally) have a 'conscience vote' on marriage equality if they get in. Well, bully for them. We've been saying for years that love is love, no matter what gender you might be, and it's nobody's business who you marry as long as it makes you both happy. It's been part of Greens policy forever, not just a 'conscience' issue, but foundational to the notion that discrimination is wrong and love is good. It's well known which side the Greens stand on when it comes to treating refugees with compassion as opposed to an almost psychotic fear of 'invasion' reminscent of the old 'yellow peril' nonsense. If you suggest that the billions being spent on locking up the unfortunate on remote islands would be better directed at love than hate they call you mad. But it would actually be far more economical to help people to stay in their own countries safely and peacefully. How is that possible? Well, by boosting diplomatic efforts through the UN rather than enabling the bellicosity of the USA. Imagine if billions (trillions) were spent on stopping wars, encouraging micro-credit schemes, supporting the rule of law, educating women, stopping the trade in illegal arms, agricultural projects, banning landmines, renewable energy projects, reforestation, species protection and so much more. With these simple measures you could raise the standard of living of billions of people and put an end to much of the strife in the world. But that's crazy talk, right? We can't afford that, can we? Well, actually we could if we did this: http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/ and stopped doing this: http://www.globalissues.org/issue/73/arms-trade-a-major-cause-of-suffering
Sometimes I scratch my head with wonder at the old parties' relationship to our Mother Earth, our only home. They really seem to hate her. It doesn't make a heap of difference which mob is in. They both permit mining in national parks, despoilation of beauty spots, wiping out of species, endless 'development' and expansion of roads, mining, and the like. Both the old parties have plans to protect our 'economy' from impending doom by coming up with half-baked and largely useless policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions in any meaningful way, while giving multi-national corporations kick backs by the billions of public money, the better to assist them in killing our Earth more swiftly. The Greens are often accused of being radical or weird or loopy for suggesting that we're going the wrong way and the policies of the past couple of hundred years deserve a major rethink. Suggesting that maybe love is a better way to go than hate and greed puts you in the kooky club. But in the end it is not money, but love that truly rules the world. Appealling to the lowest aspects of human nature is nothing new, but me, I choose love. I choose the Greens. I choose to be on the right side and the winning side. Don't forget, while you're out campaining and volunteering, demonstrating and letter writing, to do it with passion. Do it with courage. Do it for love. Always remember, love conquers all
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