Partial to that Partial Light
Photographer: Steve Reekie. NZ.
Virginia Woolf called this the “shock-receiving capacity” necessary for being an artist — the willingness to see the totality of life, in all its syncopations of grief and gladness, of beauty and brutality, and feel the shock of it all, and make of that shock something that shimmers with meaning. Susan Cain calls it “the bittersweet” — “a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world.” The Marginalian.
Goodbye to sweet reason. Goodbye to all rationality. The public square had become so utterly dishonest he could hardly bare to inhabit, or even watch, the nation's media.
Utterly, totally, dishonest.
The putrid news, at least as far as he was concerned, that NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant had received an Order of Australia threw him into a funk; he shouldn't care, he shouldn't let these things affect him.
After all, nobody cared, everyone was disengaged, nobody expected anything better. The politicisation of Australia's award system had been going on for years; whether it was giving rewards to those involved in the discredited Iraq war, although as it was all secret we were never allowed to know exactly what for; to the endless woke PC cavalcade of multicultural and feminist emblems.
We just got used to it.
But this one; it was an insult to every freedom fighter, every individual who stood up to the tyrannical over-the-top tilt into totalitarianism the country had endured; as these people executed one failed and discredited public health policy after another.
Not that it mattered, because none of it mattered in the vast reaches of space and the vast reaches of time they were now daily encountering. With. With who? With what?
But nonetheless it flattened him, this despair at the body politic, the useless handwringing, the utter banality of it. He could grab them by the shoulders and shake them; but it didn't matter, he just had to learn to live with it.
There was no shortage of things to be outraged about.
The world's worst internet, highest electricity costs, most surveilled population, least free democracy.
Even those like himself who had been so out on a limb, fighting not to be heard, well maybe, but to "stand tall, stand straight, and look the world right in the eye". To be able to hold a differing view and not shove it down everybody's throat.
Except this was so destructive, so outrageous, so difficult to fathom; the pig ignorance of it all.
Every time it happened it dashed hope of any reprieve further into the flattened ground; for if this was all the intellectual capacity humans were capable of, this utter lack of curiosity, this infuriating herd behaviour as they walked to their own destruction, well so be it.
After a good quarter of a century of endless discussion and endless news stories on energy policy; now, as we shivered through a bitterly cold winter, one of the coldest in a good half century, there were warnings of power outages and escalating costs.
He would lie in bed just to stay warm; and here the endless stream of voices and discontents and snatches of radio and television, as if a seaweed bed of dreams in a wide stream of propaganda; as if this daily torment could rescue him, the truth would out, nobility rise.
No single human was capable of understanding much of it at all; no matter how high their IQ, how gifted their talent, how close they were to hearing the sometimes weary messages of the gods.
For this time round, they were not happy; and the level of frustration and anger they felt, well that wasn't the right way to put it, anthropomorphising something well beyond the human realm; but something akin to anger, where whispers of Ishtar, the Assyrian God of war and love, caught in that massive storm, a part of a whole, that grasp of a vast circling whirl, all of it bore down upon this moment.
And those who dared to tamper with this thread, those who thought they could dictate the future of this species, who thought they could control the creations of the gods, who thought that homo deus and super intelligence was the first time round; had much to learn.
They already knew.
There was a much bigger prize.
Outside of time; or long outside human time, the human lifespan.
And so it was, and so it will always be, this theatre of the discontents, this moment, with history on the turn. It took a lot to stir them; to stir if not hatred something akin to anger, and a deep sorrow.
After the tribulation, trust no man.
MAINSTREAM NEWS
SKY
NSW households are being urged to limit electricity usage to avoid power blackouts as temperatures plummet
Unexpected coal-fired generator outages and freezing temperatures are adding pressure to New South Wales' already strained power system.
Households across New South Wales are being urged to limit electricity usage or face blackouts as the state’s power crisis deepens.
Unexpected coal-fired generator outages and freezing temperatures are adding pressure to the state’s already strained power system.
On Monday, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) was forced to issue a “lack of reserve” forecast urging residents in New South Wales to conserve power by 8pm.
An alert was also issued for Queenslanders to unplug by 5pm, but an updated statement said generators were directed by the AEMO to provide “sufficient power generation” to cover the shortfall.
THE NEW DAILY
Authorities in China’s capital Beijing are racing to contain a COVID-19 outbreak traced to a raucous 24-hour bar known for cheap liquor and big crowds, with millions facing mandatory testing and thousands under targeted lockdowns.
The outbreak of nearly 200 cases linked to the city centre Heaven Supermarket Bar, which had just reopened as curbs in Beijing eased last week, highlights how hard it will be for China to make a success of its “zero COVID” policy as much of the rest of the world opts to learn how to live with the virus.
China is only just shaking off a heavy blow from a two-month lockdown of Shanghai, its most populous city and commercial nerve centre, that also roiled global supply chains.
Dine-in service at Beijing restaurants resumed on June 6 after more than a month in which the city of 22 million people enforced various COVID curbs.
Many malls, gyms and other venues were closed, parts of the city’s public transport system were suspended, and millions were urged to work from home.
GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA
Anger about the Sydney Morning Herald’s reporting of Rebel Wilson’s new relationship has boiled over into the newsroom, with an anonymous staffer sending an email to colleagues claiming the paper’s reputation was being “trashed”.
“Here we are again – our newsroom has become the story,” the email sent on Monday afternoon stated. It referenced a February controversy when the editor, Bevan Shields, wrongly insisted a train network shutdown ordered by the state government was a strike.
“With the ‘strike’ fiasco, we were a national laughing stock – but now we’ve attracted international attention,” the email, signed “staff reporter”, said. “One doesn’t have to search far to find the common denominator in those editorial decisions.”
The anonymous email claimed “our reputation is trashed” and the writer stated “management silence us on social media and treat our audience with contempt … what’s the point?”
ABC
The days are getting shorter and colder and afternoons spent soaking up the sun are well and truly behind us — especially in the southern states.
But if you think the mornings are dark and gloomy now, wait until we hit the winter solstice.
Next Tuesday, June 21, the southern hemisphere will experience its shortest day and longest night of the year.
And as we're plunged into darkness, the northern hemisphere will enjoy the summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
