Category

Society

September 6, 2023
1

Across the vast expanse of human history, whenever a systemic injustice is set to be addressed, a garbled chorus of conservatives incoherently shit themselves, terrified that things are about to become less awful for someone else. This is a well worn and readily exploitable pattern. Gay marriage was set to Domino Effect us into marrying sheep and tractors, Australia’s moral compass ablaze in a barnyard orgy of inappropriate but innovative uses of farmyard implements. Needless to say, this did not happen. The apology to the Stolen Generations was going to lead Australia down an endless path of compensation lawsuits, bankrupting the nation as wealth funnelled its way into remote communities bursting with gold chains, teeth grills and Cadillacs bouncing on hydraulic suspension. This didn’t happen either. Mabo and the Land Rights movement was going to lead to white Australians losing their homes. I’m sure you’ll be shocked, but this hasn’t come to pass. And allowing women to vote was going to destroy the wisdom believed inherent in democratic decision making. Democracy is a little on the fritz, admittedly, but even Andrew Tate couldn’t blame that exclusively on women. Didn’t happen.
https://theshot.net.au/general-news/the-no-campaigns-argument-isnt-based-on-fear-it-is-fear/

Dave Milner
August 10, 2023
1

You see, if somebody robs a store, it's a crime and the state is all set and ready to nab the criminal. But if somebody steals from the commons and from the future, it's seen as an entrepreneurial activity and the state cheers and gives them tax concessions rather than arresting them. We badly need an expanded concept of justice and fairness that takes mortgaging the future into account. [The Real World of Technology, CBC Enterprises, 1990. https://monoskop.org/images/5/58/Franklin_Ursula_The_Real_World_of_Technology_1990.pdf]

Ursula M. Franklin
August 6, 2023
1

I used to be part of this dilettante conservative intellectual class until I realized that while my colleagues and I fashioned ourselves as thought leaders for the right, we were really just puppets for decrepit, out-of-touch oligarchs. Republican billionaires created the hellish state of our current politics. Some of them, like Elon Musk or Peter Thiel, are outright fascists who want to create dictatorship. Some are Christian supremacist theocrats. But many are just delusional rich kids.

Matthew Sheffield
Bitnami