Take note, fuckwitts.
Regardless of the state of the current debate about population in Australia, this ad effectively sums up the boneheaded crap that both sides are throwing around concerning asylum seekers.
As I said to someone else, bring on a catastrophe and a mass migration of the "Boat Skips". Schadenfreude be my friend.
Click to viewAs I said to someone else, bring on a catastrophe and a mass migration of the "Boat Skips". Schadenfreude be my friend.
I think the fact that population is being discussed at all is a step in the right direction, and as people become more educated about the realities of the situation (such as the numbers of "boat people" against what The Chaser brilliantly described as "womb people") the more the debate will mature. Did you see Dick Smith's doco on population last week on the ABC, and too a lesser extend the Q&A panel afterwards? We need more Dick Smiths and less Alan Joneses talking about issues such as these.
It's almost certain The Greens will have the balance of power in the Senate after July next year so we will need leadership from them on this issue (we sure won't get any from an Abbott government and while she's better on this issue, I don't hold high hopes that a Gillard government will ignore opinion polls and talkback and take a logical and pragmatic line), not bleeding-heart rubbish such as that regularly doled out by Sarah Hanson-Young. The fact remains we can't reduce our emissons with an exploding population and people will have to choose between strong economic growth and the human race's future. Tough choice.....
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On the racism question, I do believe that when it comes to the asylum seeker issue, many people are seeing it in terms of "darkies swamping our shores" rather than "people swamping our shores". I have a feeling that if these boats were filled with Zimbabwean farmers escaping Mugabe's regime, people would be much more tolerant. And it does pain me to say this. All the talk about "the queue" and "population increasing" is a smokescreen - I really do believe the majority of people don't like the idea of a bunch of non-Anglos coming to Australia, whether they'll ever admit it to themselves and others or not. And this is, to put it bluntly, fucked and I wish it would change. Not only for the obvious reasons, but because it misses the point which you brought up - that there needs to be intelligent, sober and rational debate concerning population and Australia's capacity to deal with it, from the birthrate point of view, the economic vs "we're-screwing-up-our-future" point of view, and a humanitarian point of view. And I hope that we get some smart debate concerning this rather than the hyperbolic shit-flinging we have been subjected to.
The fact remains we can't reduce our emissons with an exploding population and people will have to choose between strong economic growth and the human race's future. Tough choice. Just on this: I wonder what the current trends are for world population and Australia's population increasing? From what I had last heard, our population was effectively decreasing due to a lowering birth rate but I suppose that might have reversed itself recently.
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Apropos of nothing, I just wanted to ask you something: is it true that Ryan Marauder from Gospel of the Horns plays in a white power band, and that a lot of skins frequent their concerts? I've actually avoided listening to GotH for this reason (as silly as it may sound). I wish I were the kind of guy who could listen to music without worrying too hard about the band's political persuasion, it'd make things so much easier...
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I'm wary of simple similes like the white Zimbabwean farmers, as again, it's more simple pigeonholing rather than a useful intellectual exercise. There's only a handful of whites left in Zimbabwe, and it has been proven that Australians do have compassion for small numbers of refugees. What so many people are worried about are the tens of millions of refugees out there (and this number will only increase as climate change renders much of Africa and the sub-continent unable to support any more than small populations) and how many of them will try and come to Australia. As we've agreed on before, Australia cannot support a large population, and the notion that we have lost control of the arrivals I think is a legitimate fear. Look at Britain, after years of an open-door migration policy they are worried about all the strains on society that mass-migration creates. And who is it that they are most keen to get rid of? Is it the darkies, the towelheads? No, it's the Poles, their fellow white Europeans. It's the numbers, not the colour of their skin that is the key factor here.
I explored the population question in more detail a couple of years ago here: http://saithkar.livejournal.com/44862.html
Australia stands apart from most of the developed world in have a massively increasing population both through migration and through domestic birth-rate. It's interesting to note that countries such as Japan are able to continue growing their economies WHILE having a declining birth-rate but strangely you don't hear business "leaders" and politicians mentioning this inconvenient truth as their too welded to the concept of ever more fuel for the fire. More people, more consumption MORE!
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Marauder did in the past play for a far right band, although Gospel of The Horns are in no way Nazi and don't have a political angle. If you speak to him he's a very reasonable guy (who admires hot Asian women ha!) so don't write the band off as racist. I've only been to one GoTH gig where there were a handful of retarded nazi punks, at the dozens of others it's just been your normal metal crowd.
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Call me out if you think it requires it, mate, seriously. I would do the same in anyone's journal (and have). I agree that the Zimbabwean example wasn't the best one. I have in the past had infuriating conversations with people about "queue jumpers" and the like (one when we were on our honeymoon - the tour operator holed me up in a corner, asked me where I was from, and then proceeded to regale me with his educated "opinion" on "queue jumpers" and "pull factors" and it took all I had not to punch him...), and people like Steve Fielding opening hi9s mouth and infecting everyone with stupid when it comes to this issue (actually, any issue, really...). It really does befuddle me as to why everyone latches onto boat people as part of the "expanding population" problem when it's patently not the case that their current arrival levels are what's causing our population woes. Probably because it's an easy target which the media and politicians can exploit very well. And this is why I'm leery of the Australian public's intelligence: if I can see through the bullcrap, surely anyone can? And not defending the left's propensity to exaggerate (the Godwin argument is ludicrous, as you say), but I suspect what happens on the left a lot is that people get frustrated with the sheer fucktardry they're encountered with and respond with more fucktardry. Of course, it doesn't work any better than rationalism, which I wish people like Sarah Hansen-Young would realise.
To be honest, I don't think anything is going to stop population explosion. And in fact, I look at it the same way I do the mantra of capitalistic perpetual growth: it is unsustainable, and eventually there will be a crash. This happens in natural populations all the time, which is why they eventually become self-regulating. Growth, expansion, resource scarcity, crash. No amount of hand-wringing or education is likely to stop it. So I suppose I should amend my statement: nothing is going to stop population explosion, followed by catastrophic decline. It's going to happen everywhere on a different scale. I'm not saying we just sit back and let it happen, but I think that it's inevitable regardless of whether or not we take steps to counter it. Depressing...
Oh, and thanks for the info re: GotH. I figured that Marauder wouldn't be anti-Asian anyway considering they're supporting a Japanese band in September (did he try to hit on your girlfriend? ;) ). If there's one thing I hate, though, it's the Oi, hatecore, NS and white power music groups. Not only because they're largely shit musically, but because it's that same retarded perpetuation of rubbish ideology. And don't get me wrong: the straightedge movement, the PETA lovers like Cattle Decapitation and the anarchist punk movement can go and fuck off too (at least, anarchist punk in its modern incarnation). I just don't understand people with far-left or far-right opinions. They confuse me and make me feel decidedly uncomfortable.
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Have a read of that entry when you have a minute and keep an eye out as I'm going to do another post on the election tonight which you may find of some interest.
Ryan's far too much of a gentleman to hit on anyone's girlfriend although he does agree with me as to her smoking hotness. I hate Oi music and NSBM as much for the lack of talent on display as for the dodgy politican angles, but then we agree, fuckwittery is everywhere and on all sides. All you can do is fight back against the stupidity using reason and facts.
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