Straight Back In Time
This massive edifice of evil, was too complex, and, really, too elegant, to assign to just human awfulness and human inventiveness. It suggested a spiritual dimension of evil.
This evil was like a giant cultural spaceship which landed on Earth, with a technology to unfold and almost at once to set foot upon the egalitarian, post-enlightenment West a global dystopia run on cruelty and cognitive dissonance.
How could otherwise nice people have come to do such evil?
Naomi Wolf. The Bodies of Others.
"For someone long prepared for this to happen."
He sat on that sunlit step; flooded with light, exhausted, perhaps, to be fanciful about it all, as if he'd just written 1984 and was basking in the glory.
Except, of course, George Orwell aka Eric Blair never lived to see the stunning success of his anti-totalitarian novel, and was suffering the effects of tuberculosis even as he wrote it.
He certainly never lived to see the book become the most referenced work in the English Canon in 2020; and later still, 2021, as he sat on that step in an undistinguished suburb called Oak Flats, or 2022, when having endured the totalitarian derangement of the country, all fear appeared to have been set aside.
It's surprising people aren't more angry was a common comment; and lo and behold, in this little edifice, or place, in this little ledge on a diminishing authority, in this place which, unlike much of the country, would see great prosperity in the years, the decades, the centuries to come; it was as if nothing had happened.
Evil got rewarded.
Cognitive dissonance reigned.
It was true, as that sunlight streamed down on his face, that much had been written and much had changed.
It had always been a truism, or he had always found it true, that if the debate at the top, that is the intellectual class, changed, then eventually the masses would follow.
The trouble was in this benighted era that academics had been entirely corrupted; true to their funding sources they wrote stories about vaccinating their five-year-olds while the government's propaganda wing the Australian Broadcasting Corporation breathlessly reported that six month old babies would now be eligible for the vaccine in America.
It was an insane, deranged, deep and widespread evil, and no one, or almost no one, stood up against it.
The nature of it, the size of the scam, was both confounding and extraordinary; and it revealed so much about humans, the human species. He was shocked, withdrawn, thought he should just be happy and forget the loss, except, of course, what passed for happiness soon became boring, a deadhead notion much like the idea that the only happy people were those who had had a lobotomy.
The country was careening into disaster.
The previous government had been appalling, those fragile edifices in which the humans placed their faith, or were expected to place their faith, and optimistic view that things were getting better. But it simply wasn't true.
The world's worst internet and most expensive electricity, or thereabouts, both brought about by massive multi-billion dollar government interference in the market, had its consequences.
Petrol was now over two dollars a litre, record highs, and as the cost of living crept ever higher, and hopes and aspirations ever lower, an intense sadness at the madness swept across those who followed these things.
For it could not endure.
He went down for his coffee at Village Fix each morning. People pursued the ordinary. Those who were awake at that hour, who did things, up and at them, gathered there as part of their day, drinking the best coffee in the district, making the usual jocular not quite ribald jokes that was so typical of the Australian demeanour, and swept away, swept away, clung only to that sense of normality. That very, very precious sense that things were alright.
He gathered there in the morning as if clutching at fronds rising up to the sky, as spirits stirred through the trees, distributed intelligence, as if communality was a sacred right, the social nature of the universe, this precious time, this precious moment, as chaos was visited upon the Earth.
No one stood up. Almost no one. Almost all his old colleagues stayed silent.
It was a brutal time; that's what he wanted to write. And no doubt for some it was. But here, in this prosperous little enclave, in this pedestrian place where everything was forgotten even before it happened, not so much.
We went about our wearied lives. Another friend was dying. Most of those he had partied with as a young men were long gone, AIDS and overdoses, and now, of course, old age.
This was a new crew.
They were passing, casual acquaintances; the legends he had known long gone.
He noticed it; even in this suburb. The old man next door had died. The old man over the road had been taken to a home, and then he, too, passed away. The difficult, angsty, bitter woman over the back fence had sold up and moved north.
Lots of people were moving north to warmer climes; were seeking simpler lives; and how the Australian governments had got away with the totalitarian abuses they had foisted upon the population, that, too, was a mystery.
There was, indeed, an evil afoot.
The destruction of Australia barely an afterthought.
Why the gods regarded this place as so important he could only guess.
Let the recriminations begin.
For there would be plenty of howling and anger; as people sought revenge on those who had done this, to them, to their children, to the country as a whole.
Beware the mob.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
SKY
World Health Organisation set to rename monkeypox to reduce stigmatisation and racism
The World Health Organisation is expected to rename monkeypox to reduce stigmatisation and racism surrounding the virus, as outbreaks are no longer endemic to Central and West Africa.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signing a deal to prioritise “climate gestures” amid an energy crisis could be “signing his own political death warrant,” says Sky News host Chris Kenny.
Mr Albanese and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen signed a letter to the United Nations promising to deliver cuts to Australia’s emissions by at least 43 per cent by 2030.
“So that’s it, rather than ensure you have enough electricity, no greenouts, and that your electricity is affordable,” Mr Kenny said.
“Albanese and Bowen, in the middle of an energy crisis, have bowed to the UN and promised to cut our emissions by even more.
“The political timing is unthinkable.”
THE SPECTATOR
A tweet doing the rounds this week is surely satire? Apparently not. Writing from Sydney’s oceanside suburb of Manly, the spiritual and political heartland of the Teal independents, the writer says: ‘Many houses on the northern beaches were without power this morning and there will be more blackouts to come. I know it’s a bit cold but it’s a very small price to pay as we finally take real action on climate change (the words ‘climate change’ are highlighted in a suitably reverent greeny/teal colour) and ensure we never have bush fires (sic), floods or earthquakes ever again.’
And there in a nutshell (the emphasis being on the word nut) we see the monumental and frightening stupidity that an entire generation of young Australians and arguably (if the recent election is anything to go on) a majority of the population has decided to embrace.
In this brave new teal-coloured world, it is now a virtue to freeze your socks off and to go without the basics of warmth, light and energy (and food?) in order to, er, ensure that we tame nature. The religious zealotry with which the author appropriates traditional religious concepts of suffering and self-denial in order to appease the gods of nature is startling. In that one tweet, centuries of enlightened thinking, science, philosophy, physics and theology are turfed out the window.
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As the dust settles on Covid, many Australians are still trying to make sense of the radical hysteria that overtook so many in our purportedly laid-back, larrikin nation.
This week, a married couple shared with me the tragic story of their miscarriage earlier this year, and how hospital staff refused to aid them in the throes of their pain and distress until they took a RAT test. Even then, the husband was forced to wait outside, alone, before hearing the dreadful news.
Gripped by fear, whole cities were locked down for months on end, driving up deaths of despair, and running businesses, children’s education, youth mental health, and community cohesion into the ground.
A ring of steel encircled not just our continent, but even our states, with loved ones needlessly cut off from Christmases, weddings, funerals – and most heartless of all, dying loved ones.
Vaccine Fervour
After a year of promise, the vaccine was promoted – and widely embraced – as a silver bullet. But as evidence of its leakiness, waning efficacy and rumoured risks reached our shores, any who questioned it were ostracised as social pariahs. Holistic health, natural immunity for the already-recovered, and early Covid treatments were comprehensively poo-poohed.
The worst was yet to come.
Following eighteen months of financial hardship, hundreds of thousands of Australia’s best employees were put out of work for refusing these vaccines whose hazards and benefits were still being tested. Doctors were silenced for any dissent.
A not insignificant number of Australians coerced into taking the vaccines began suffering serious side effects. Paralleling events globally, news emerged of Aussies dying from the vaccines. Their stories were ignored. Those who sounded the alarm were censored on social media and howled down as ‘conspiracy theorists’.
All this took place as a US public health agency was suing to hide Pfizer vaccine trial data from public view until the 2090s.
Crowds took to city streets in peaceful protest against the lockdowns and mandates in numbers not seen since the Vietnam War. The media downplayed their size and misconstrued their motives, while authorities assailed them with tear gas, rubber bullets, and other deplorable human rights abuses. A majority of Australians apparently approved of this unfathomable response.
Sadly, many churches sat by silent, even dividing their congregants by vaccine status, and demeaning those who questioned the establishment.
Ask Lindy Chamberlain
What madness overtook us? Is there a precedent for Australia’s latter-day fling with frenzy?
Lindy Chamberlain is a legend in Australian folklore: a mother wrongfully accused of killing her nine-week-old daughter, Azaria, while camping at Uluru in 1980.
CRIKEY
Academics and digital privacy groups have called for a ban on the use of facial recognition technology until proper regulations are put in place to protect the public, following claims that retailers like Bunnings and Kmart may be breaching the law with their use of the technology.
Yesterday, consumer advocacy group CHOICE released a report investigating how Australia’s top 25 retailers are using facial recognition technology. Their major findings were that three of them — Kmart, Bunnings and The Good Guys — admitting to using the technology.
When CHOICE staff visited their stores, they found that Kmart and Bunnings stores had signs that were “small, inconspicuous and would have been missed by most shoppers”. This may contravene the Privacy Act, according to CHOICE.
Bunnings was the only store of the three that explained why they were using the technology (“to prevent theft and anti-social behaviour”). The company did not immediately respond to request for comment about whether the use of facial recognition had flagged any individuals.
Beware facial recognition: Australia risks embracing mass surveillance, ‘broader protections’ needed
Additionally, the consumer advocacy group also surveyed 1000 Australians and found that three quarters of them were unaware that retailers were using the technology. Two-thirds of them said they were concerned that profiles created using facial recognition could harm them.
It’s on the back of these findings that there are renewed calls for a moratorium on the use of the technology to surveil the public until further safeguards are in place.
The Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology director Peter Lewis said that CHOICE’s findings showed that the technology “is being deployed without necessary safeguards and redlines to protect the public.”
THE GUARDIAN
Australia could have 15,000 Covid deaths in 2022 and that’s ‘way too high’, epidemiologist says
Margaret Hellard wants masks reintroduced indoors and air quality prioritised but other experts say population is well protected against severe disease
Up to 15,000 Australians are expected to die of Covid this year but an infectious diseases expert says that number is “way too high” and more should be done to encourage mask use and improve air quality.
Prof Margaret Hellard from the Burnet Institute has advised the federal and Victorian governments during the coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday, she warned the country was on track to have 10,000 to 15,000 Covid-19 deaths in 2022, which was far too many in her view.
“This kind of notion going around … that there’s nothing that we’ve got to add or to offer, and that really things can’t be done, is actually incorrect,” Hellard told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the state’s pandemic orders. “The current level of vaccination is not high enough.”
Hellard said if Australia reduced Covid-19 transmission by 20%, more than 2,000 lives could be saved. She said rather than society accepting the new “Covid normal”, authorities needed to pursue measures to minimise virus cases and deaths, including reintroducing masks in enclosed spaces, prioritising air quality, boosting vaccination coverage and maintaining virus testing and isolation.
THE NEW DAILY
Australia has submitted more ambitious climate targets to the United Nations, with the government declaring the country has turned a corner on the issue.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed an updated version of the country’s nationally determined contribution to the UN’s framework convention on climate change on Thursday morning.
The signing took place in Canberra alongside Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen and industry stakeholders, including business groups, trade unions and energy advocates.
Mr Albanese has written to the UN’s executive secretary Patricia Espinosa to convey Australia’s new stance on climate change under the Paris Agreement.
The prime minister said the updated submission for a 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 would provide certainty and point the country in the right direction.
“What today demonstrated … is an opportunity that Australia has to end the climate wars, an opportunity for solutions, not arguments,” Mr Albanese said.
“It’s all about the short-term capital investment that’s required, but then you get the long-term benefit, because the cheaper, cleaner energy flows well into the future, and that’s what sets Australia up for the future.”
The government’s emissions reduction plan of 43 per cent by the end of the decade was higher than the 26-28 per cent target proposed by the previous government.