"Mum, if everyone is special, that means no-one is special"
Dash Incredible
I have a confession to make.
I love Pop Idol. And Australian Idol is even better than its British namesake. I love Australian Idol for two reasons;
i) being a bit of a singer-songwriter myself in my youth (i emphasise the 'bit'), i appreciate the many genuinely talented young artists they feature on the program.
ii) it is by far and away the most politically incorrect program on TV
"You’ve got looks that would turn heads but you have a voice that would turn stomachs", one particularly talentless blonde was informed.
Not-so photogenic Kalgoorlie teenager Jennifer Farrenkothen was told "You remind me of Pink’s older sister: Stink".
For many young people, this show is obviously the first time in their short lives that they have been told they are not wonderful or gifted or a star. They are informed, brutally, that they are ordinary and will never make it. I am all for building up our children's confidence but wildly inflating a child's opinion of himself will not do him any favours in the long run. The return to earth is crushing if postponed for too long.
The judges are an odd bunch but i assume they all know something about what it takes to become a pop star. One girl with a beautiful voice was told she 'needs to shed the pounds'. This was the best advice anyone could give her because she has the talent to make it. It is refreshing to hear such frank and constructive advice as opposed to the usual lying crap of 'we're all beautiful'.
My one criticism - cut the bullying of the truly talentless. Politely usher them off the program and move on to the next contestant. You don't need to humiliate the genuinely awful.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Australian Idol - All Must Not Have Prizes
Monday, August 06, 2007
Artists' Law of Bravery In Action
'Criticism of a religion is inversely proportional to the probability of its proponents killing you multiplied by their density.'
Meet Sydney-born Van Badham and Jonny Berliner, two artists determined to bravely prove the rule.
They are the writers of a new 50 minute musical, Cash in Christ, premiering this weekend at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival.
Badham wrote the play, which satirises the 'modern capitalist mega-church', to reflect her fears of the rise of that global killer- far right Christian fundamentalism.
"I find the Christian right groups that are enormously powerful in our own culture a larger numerical threat than extreme Islam. Bush is from the religious right and he has the bomb; that terrifies me far more than the potential of other extremists to get their hands on nuclear weapons."
Badham is concerned that despite the many world-wide conflicts involving Lutherans, the increasing prevalence of Methodist suicide bombing to achieve martyrdrom, and the killing of innocent civilians by extremist Presbyterians, they have become immune from criticism.
"In the religious right it is the self-appointed moral majority that sets its own rules, and anybody opposing them is labelled unpatriotic and shouted down."
Badham was angered by the issue of a fatwa on the artist who designed the Chocolate Christ, death threats against Richard Dawkins following publication of 'The God Delusion' and the 24 hour guard necessary to protect artist Andres Serrano after the Piss Christ was exhibited.
"It terrifies me that a few religious groups were able to cause a furore around Jerry Springer – The Opera in Britain." shaked Badham.
She is particularly concerned that Islam has been tarred with the same fundamentalist brush and is keen to redress the balance,
"I've been very sensitive to extremists in other religions, particularly Islam, being demonised."
When conducting research for the show, she chillingly described the Christians she met as 'kind' but she was wise to their trickery and said she 'felt their attitudes might foster religious intolerance.'
Other opinions at A Tangled Web and The Brussels Journal
Should Diversity Be Celebrated?
'This company is committed to celebrating diversity.'
A line you will see on every single major corporation's mission statement. What you won't see is any persuasive arguments as to why. Studies showing diversity's compelling effects on the bottom line are not distributed far and wide. So why are the benefits of diversity trumpeted by both corporations and Western governments the world over?
Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam has recently released a research paper based on five years of study showing that
'immigration and ethnic diversity have a devastating short- and medium-term influence on the social capital, fabric of associations, trust, and neighborliness that create and sustain communities'
Putnam's research revealed that,
'immigration and diversity not only reduce social capital between ethnic groups, but also within the groups themselves. Trust, even for members of one’s own race, is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friendships fewer.'
How does this tie in with the findings of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) which concluded that economies with high levels of trust grow at a faster rate than those where there is lots of mutual suspicion.
I am a strong advocate of economic migration, believing it to have strongly beneficial effects on the host nation and the individuals concerned. But this study gives pause for thought about whether numbers should be limited in the interests of 'social cohesion'.
via Pub Philosopher
Where To Take This Blog?
I have been daily blogging now for six months. It's a tiring job but immensely rewarding, especially the steady build-up of visitors and the increased activity in the comments.
July saw my best stats to date. 15,000 page views and nearly 10,000 unique visitors. Also, i signed my first paid Blog Ad (see top left and take a look at the essay competition).
But i'm not sure where to go from here.
I feel this blog needs more specialisation, for instance should i focus solely on Australian issues or exclusively on matters concerning the erosion of personal liberty? Should i team up with one or more other similar-minded bloggers? I would welcome any suggestions.
Anyway a huge thank-you to all those of you who read and comment here.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Girls Are Evil - And I Can Prove It
We all know that girls are a product of time and money. Hence,
Equation 1; Girls = Time x Money
We are also repeatedly told that 'Time is Money'. Hence, substituting 'time' for 'money' in the above equation produces,
Equation 2; Girls = Money x Money
Now bear in mind that 'money is the root of all evil', or
Equation 3; Money = square root (Evil).
Square both sides, and you have
Equation 4; Money x Money = Evil.
Seeing as though we have already deduced in equation 2 that 'Girls = Money x Money',
Girls = Evil
via Not PC
Friday, August 03, 2007
You Can't Ban Bigots
Governments just cannot resist interfering. Meg Munn, a junior Minister in the Brown govt, has said that,
'Muslim or Christian guest house owners who refuse to accept homosexual couples must impose a sleeping together ban on all other guests.'
According to Munn, if gays are turned away, the only way a Christian or Muslim guest house owner can lawfully stay in business is if he or she offers single bedrooms to all guests.
This is ridiculous for several reasons.i) It is a gross infringement on private property rights. Your home, you make the rules (provided no-one gets hurt).
ii) If certain religious groups really believe homosexuality is a sin, then that is their (odd and bigoted) lookout. Provided they are not calling for violence against gays, it really is their call as to whether to accept them into their home or not.
iii) It is yet another example of the nannying tendency of govt.
Let the market put the bigots out of business. If a company prefers to hire inferior heterosexuals or a hotelier to ban gays, they will soon go out of business. That is the way the market works. By imposing orders on hoteliers, the govt will only make martyrs out of them.
Giles Fraser, the vicar of Putney and a leading Church of England liberal, shows his total lack of understanding of liberty,
"It is nonsense for the Government to allow any loopholes for religious homophobia. Bigotry is bigotry whether it's dressed up in the language of faith or not."
Giles, it is not up to governments to 'allow' bigotry. That is the path to totalitarianism you utter moron.
Other opinions at Stumbling and Mumbling, Devil's Kitchen, and Nation of Shopkeepers.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Blogger Profiles; Jason Soon
Jason was born in Malaysia but moved to Australia with his parents aged fifteen. He attended the University of Sydney where he studied Economics and Law. He is now with an economic consultancy where among other things he works on regulatory and antitrust economics related issues. His favourite super-hero is, apparently, Batman.
He runs the free market blog, Catallaxy, and his latest article on the benefits of privatisation can be found in the CIS (subscription only).
i) Why Do You Blog?
Blogging combines a number of things that I would have been likely to do in other ways anyway. When I see an article that interests me or gets me thinking or annoys me or any other possible range of reactions above a certain threshold I'm likely forward it on to friends anyway or take note of it mentally or even bookmark it for more careful reading later. Instead I can now blog about it. But aside from chronicling my reactions to a particular piece, sometimes I just like thinking aloud and testing my thoughts among a bunch of people and I also like to hear what other people are thinking about a particular issue. Blogging (with comments) is a nice medium for this.
ii) What is your best and worst blogging experience?
The best blogging experiences I've had is when I've written one of my longer thinkpieces (which I don't have time to do on a regular basis) which I'm intellectually satisfied with and I get comments from readers telling me they got a lot out of them. The worst blogging experiences have been where I've gotten legally threatening emails not for anything I wrote but what others (like commenters) have written on my blog.
iii) What do you most dislike about your blog?
I don't think there's anything I strongly dislike about it. Sometimes the comments threads get a bit unruly and I have to cull things pre-emptively (as a precaution against legal risks as per above) and that can be a bit annoying but that's about it.
iv) Who are your favourite Oz bloggers?
Well I'm excluding my own crew in the interests of avoiding blog self-promotion ...
Andrew Norton, John Humphreys when he's blogging at ALS, yourself (Pommygranate) and Don Arthur when he blogs at Club Troppo (which isn't often nowadays). I would also say Steve Edney at Criticality except he seems to have gone into retirement.
v) Who are your favourite international bloggers?
The Marginal Revolution crew, Greg Mankiw, Steve Sailer, FuturePundit, Art DeVany
vi) What are you reading now?
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
vii) What is your favourite book?
It's difficult to nominate just one. But based on the number of times I've read and re-read it would have to be 'The Constitution of Liberty' by Friedrich Hayek. A close contender would be 'The Fabric of Reality' by David Deutsch though that covers just about everything else not covered by Hayek!
viii) What was the last good film you watched?
Spiderman 3
ix) Which film character do you most relate to?
Nothing readily springs to mind.
x) What major political issue have you changed your mind on?
I used to think inheritance taxes could be a good idea and that we could combine substantial income tax cuts and flattening of income tax with an inheritance tax but now I wonder why bother? Just aim higher in cutting both taxes and spending.
xi) Who are your political heroes?
Assuming that they have to be people who have had some involvement in politics either as politicians or government advisors or in political activism I'd say John Stuart Mill and Milton Friedman,
xii) If you could effect one major policy change in Australia, what would it be?
Sort out our mess of a federal system so that with the exception of some national public goods (like interstate highways) the States are basically responsible for raising their own revenues for whatever spending programmes they want to pursue and they can do this through an income tax (create a greater degree of jurisdictional competition and tax competition in particular).
xiii) If you could have any three dinner guests, who would they be?
Friedrich Hayek, Miles Davis and David Deutsch.
xiv) Do you have any prejudices?
None that I'm aware of.
Sometimes Tragic Accidents Just Happen
A headteacher of “impeccable character” faces an unlimited fine and further civil action after being convicted over the death of a three-year-old pupil who fell from playground steps while pretending to be Batman.
Kian Williams wandered into the out-of-bounds area of the school in Bangor, Gwynedd, and jumped down the steps, tripping on the last one and landing on his head. He suffered swelling of the brain and died in hospital from pneumonia five weeks later. James Porter, 66, the owner and head of the private school where it happened, was charged with breaching health and safety regulations by failing to ensure the children’s safety.
A jury convicted him after five and a half hours of deliberation on a majority of 11-1.
His real crime?
Being unaware of the latest Health & Safety guidelines and speaking the truth.
Porter, who has run the school with his wife, Sylvia, 61, for over 30 years with an exemplary safety record, had said children should not be “wrapped in cotton wool”.
"They need to learn how to move in any given situation in a way that will protect them from injury.Children are designed to protect themselves, so if they stumble they will protect themselves. If they don’t have that facility, if we simply wrap them in cotton wool, they will never learn that lesson.”
Catherine Leech, the Williams’ solicitor, had this chilling message,“We hope other schools learn this lesson from this."
Err, what lessons are these, Catherine? That playtime is too dangerous? That ignoring stupid bureaucratic regulations are punishable by career death? This is a tragedy, but it is also a tragic accident.
via Samizdata
A New Australian Political Party
Australia now has a political party that represents the wishes of those who seek a free economy, less government interference (nannying) in their lives and personal freedom.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is to advertise its intention to register the LDP today. Barring any valid objections, the party will be federally registered in early September.
However, the LDP is no longer the Liberal Democratic Party. It is now the Liberty and Democracy Party. This change became necessary because the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) would not register the party under its old name.
Under S129(1)(da) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 the AEC is not permitted to register a party if its name:
..is one that a reasonable person would think suggests that a connection or relationship exists between the party and a registered party if that connection or relationship does not in fact exist
The AEC said that it believed “a reasonable person might think that Liberal Democrats have some affiliation with the Liberal Party of Australia.”
You can find more information about the party here.Friday, July 27, 2007
BP Profiles; Ruthie Zaftig
Described by Crushed as 'earnest and thoughtful - someone I could see myself sitting in a cafe with discussing the Bush administration', here is Ruthie's profile. She blogs here.
I was born and raised in New York, but I've lived in Minnesota for several years, where I attend a state university. My major is journalism, my minor is philosophy. I'm a senior in college, I'm in the midst of applying to grad schools, and I hope to end up back on the east coast within the next few years. I'm a single mother to a two-year-old son. I'm 22 years old.
Why do you blog?
For many of the same reasons that I chose to pursue writing as a career: I enjoy it, I think it's worthwhile, and it's cathartic. I like the (relative) anonymity of this medium, and the fact that I can inject my posts with my own opinion, something I try to avoid in news writing.
Why did you join BlogPower?
I joined blogpower primarily because James asked me to. But it grew into a great way to connect and network with other small bloggers around the world... I've discovered some wonderful blogs and formed some great friendships via blogpower. It was definitely worth it.
How do you find the time to work, raise Little C and blog?
I don't sleep. I sleep about five hours a night, sometimes slightly more or less, but it's always been that way, even before I was a mother. During the school year, my most productive hours are usually between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., when Little C is asleep and I can (theoretically) get lots of work done. Often, too, I blog because I enjoy it more than the work I should be doing, like balancing my checkbook or studying for an exam.
What is your best and worst blogging experience?
I wrote an open letter to NBC after the Virginia Tech shootings that someone linked to from the NBC message boards. Suddenly, I was getting thousands of hits in the span of a couple of hours. A lot of people emailed me about it. Some of them were nasty, but most people had positive things to say, along the lines of, 'thanks for writing this, NBC's producers should read this-- they were out of line.' It suddenly felt like I was writing for the benefit of other people, instead of just for my own indulgence.
I haven't had a particularly bad blogging experience yet. Every so often someone (usually anonymous commenters) will leave a profane or nasty comment, or email me something inappropriate, but that rarely happens. It isn't enough of a problem that I've felt the need to enable comment moderation yet, anyway.
Who are your favourite small bloggers?
I'm not sure what constitutes small, but I enjoy Crushed by Ingsoc, Thunderdragon, Sinclair's Musings. I think Westminster Wisdom is a consistently well-thought-out and clever blog, even when I disagree with its author. I've also recently discovered a blog called Rethink which is easily one of the best blogs I've ever read. (ed - Sinclair's Musings and Rethink are new ones on me - others enjoy them?).
Which sites do you visit every day?
I check my university email, Facebook and NPR's website. I don't always have time to get around to all the blogs I like, which is unfortunate. That process can take up to an hour and a half, because I get absorbed in it.
Why are there so few female bloggers?
Female bloggers have a big share in the market of celebrity/entertainment blogs and then there's the whole 'mommy blogger' phenomenon. Every so often I think my blog dips into that territory. But there seem to be far fewer female bloggers with political, theological, philosophical, or academic blogs.
I think there are so few female political bloggers for a couple of reasons:
1. Women, on the whole, aren't as interested in politics as men are. This isn't true of all women, of course, but anecdotal evidence would suggest that many women find politics simultaneously unsavory and boring, especially women who have their hands full raising families.
2. The blogosphere sometimes nurtures a sort of petty, argumentative culture that many women find off-putting. Women tend to avoid confrontation more than men.
Why Rudy 2008?
When I was a little girl, New York was filthy and dangerous. Now it's visibly cleaner, safer and more vibrant than I ever remembered it. My support of Rudy has very little to do with 9/11, although his leadership during that crisis was something to be proud of. He cut the legs out from under the mafia, nearly single-handedly. He wasn't afraid of the Gambinos or the corrupt unions. Murder rates dropped in half. He's blunt. He's Italian. He's a New Yorker. He reminds me of my grandfather.
Are you an Italian-American or an American?
I'm an American of Italian descent. My family has been in the U.S. for three generations, counting mine, and the fact that we're still so close to our immigrant roots has had a great deal to do with my upbringing and the person I became, but ultimately I'm an American before all else.
What is your favourite post?
I think it would be 'The Postmodern College Student,' which I wrote after reading a couple of books by Francis Schaeffer.
Generation Y; self-indulgent loafers or those with their priorities right?
For the most part, as much as I hate to say it, my generation often disappoints me. I don't know if I'd put it as strongly as 'self-indulgent loafers', not necessarily vaguely principled, but taking the path of least resistance. I read a study a few months ago that concluded that my generation is more narcissistic than any that came before us. That does not surprise me.
What are your favourite three books?
I don't think I could pick three. I've read and re-read Pablo Neruda's 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair' more times than I can count. 'The Elements of Journalism', (by Kovach and Rosenstiel) is a great book about journalism, easy to read, highly enlightening and totally useful to anyone in my line of work. Anything by C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, Tolkien, Isabel Allende, P.J. O'Rourke, Ignazio Silone.
I read the 'No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series to my grandfather before he passed away. I would come to visit a couple of times a week and read to him by his bedside, one chapter at a time. So Alexander McCall Smith's books will always have special meaning and fond memories for me too.
What was the last good film you saw?
Stranger than Fiction. I was really surprised by the depth of Will Ferrell's character, and the departure from his usual goofy, one-dimensional frat-boy role. I also liked that all the characters were named for mathematicians, and that one of the characters was a watch.
Which film character do you most relate to?
Miss Kenton in 'The Remains of the Day.'
What major political issue have you changed your mind on?
The death penalty. I've come to the conclusion that I can't be simultaneously pro-life and pro-death penalty. Besides, the system isn't reliable enough for me to feel comfortable allowing a person's life to be ended or saved by it. Better a guilty man live than an innocent man die.
Who are your political heroes?
I'm a big fan of Abraham Lincoln, because he was (somehow) a principled pragmatist. Cesar Chavez, who was a Mexican-American version of Martin Luther King Jr and I'll also say Nelson Mandela.
If you could have any three dinner guests, who would they be?
Jesus, the theologian Francis Schaeffer (he died the year before I was born, and even though I know his wife I've always wanted to meet him), and my late grandfather.
What would be your 5 Desert Island albums?
James Morrison: Undiscovered
Nek: Una Parte di Me
Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Maroon 5: Songs About Jane
Maroon 5: It Won't Be Soon Before Long
