Well here we are. So it’s a big HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all. We at The AIMN extend to you our best wishes and also our thanks for the years you have shared with us.
As I reflect (which is something we all tend to do at this time of year) I can’t help but recall the words of many great people who have themselves reflected that they “wanted to leave the world a better place than when they entered it.” You may have even said it yourself. I know that I have.
But events in 2018 – both global and local – have shattered many hopes for a better world. We no longer have a lifetime at our disposal to make the world a better place. If 2018 taught us one thing: 2019 is the time to act.
I don’t wish to sour everyone’s mood on what should be a joyous day, besides, regular readers of The AIMN will attest that we’ve lamented the ills of the world in our daily writings, so I’ll leave them there. However, four issues demand our attention:
- The prospect of another arm’s race;
- The global refugee crisis;
- The growing inequality between rich and poor (encouraged by the policies of many Western governments); and
- Our dying planet (and the creatures who dwell upon it).
Left unchecked and without being held to account – our own government (and that of the USA) – will do nothing to address these serious issues. In 2019, more than ever … they must!
But my fear is that they won’t.
So we need to make sure they do. Telling them at the ballot box is never enough. We need to make ourselves heard not just on that one day every three years, but every day.
While we have a voice … we have hope. But unless we turn our voices into action … they’ll remain deaf to us. This is the year we’ll throw down the gauntlet.
Again, happy New Year to you all. This is our year. We’ll leave the world a better place in 2019 than was given to us in 2018.
To hear or read a happy voice of truth. To be able to interact with people that are NOT influenced by pre determined opinion and looking for confirmation of their own bias. Thank you, and a happy new year. Oh if someone picks me up about my spelling whilst not commenting about the content tells me a lot about their state of their STUPID AND SIMPLE mind. If they did not have a calculator they could not tell you what two plus two is and even then they would need help working it.
Happy New Christmas to the AIMN team and their many well informed posters.
Looking forward to a 2019 year of excellent articles as Australia and NSW head into elections that voters can use to rid us of two of the worst and most inept misgovernments only serving the interests of multi-millionaires rather than building common wealth and public infrastructure projects in regional population centres.
So many songs of hope …
Thought I’d go with Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds
Sometimes, you just gotta chill
Thank you one and all – writers, AIMN staff, commentators/readers – best wishes and a hearty three cheers.
The WEF Global Risks Report 2018 makes for interesting reading. For the short version, look at Appendix A for brief Descriptions of Global Risks and Trends 2018.
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GRR18_Report.pdf
We know what the problems are. We know the consequences of ignoring them. And yet we still have people like Peter Dutton thinking he should be a world leader because….errrr….help me out here. Has anyone ever heard Dutton suggest a viable solution for a real problem?
2018 saw the passing of Larry Pickering (19/11).
Pickering, a convicted conman, infamously distributed drawings of our female PM wearing a strap-on dildo, then went on to publicly praise the Daesh for murdering poofters.
A vocal climate denier, he also disputed the scientific link between cigarettes and cancer.
Dick-drawing, chain-smoking Pickering died of lung cancer.
May this year claim Rupert Murdoch.
Seasons greetings to all at AIMN – Staff, Writers and Readers!
i come to the AIMN most days for my daily dose of (mostly) sensible, in a world that feel like it is flling apart.
Together we can make a difference in the opinions of our families, friends, acquaintances and colleagues. And, indeed I can see the tide of public opinion turning – climate change IS an issue, inequality of wealth, corruption in government – these need to be addressed and now.
corvus, a few years ago one of our writers (Roswell) wrote a post that exposed Pickering’s lies about people on the Disability Support Pension. It was an awesome piece.
Sadly, it is the only post we have ever had to remove due to the barrage of abusive comments.
Michael Taylor: Can we not bring back that piece about Pickering’s lies (possibly with editing to ensure no legal ramifications). It might be a good reminder about things and it could live in the archives somewhere.
totaram, we could as we’ve archived it. So it still lives!
Almost all of the abuse was directed at the author (Roswell), and I’m fairly certain that he wouldn’t bother with taking legal action against anybody. Besides, it would be difficult for him to do so unless he could be identified. But as it is, his identity remains unknown (except to a few of us).
But … there’s always a but … do I want to republish it again when it is about a deceased person? It’s just me … that’s the way I am. Roswell might think differently.
When the post was originally removed we had not yet installed the ‘plugin’ that allowed us to close comments.
Anyhoo … let me think about it.
Michael,
Firstly, my profound personal thanks to both you and Carol for your selfless generosity in providing this community platform.
Often we who take appreciative turns on this hub can also take it for granted.
Verse providing, this year I’ll try to send you some lodgings to make up for the last few years of squatting.
Meantime, my sincere appreciation for your continued hospitality.
Go raibh mile maith agat, mo chara
I only mention the mortal departure of Leisure-suit Larry as a way of informationally expunging an unpleasant gobbet from the depths, not as a call to arms to exhume and desicrate Pickering’s buried carcass.
As for my misanthropic sentiments in expressing enthusiasm for the demise of dear old uncle Rupert, that would be because i believe/surmise that Murdoch, in his role as the founding patriarch of a global media empire devoted to an agenda of sowing disinformational propaganda in order to breed societal ignorance, division and extremism, is the most singularly malignant cancer existing on the body of the planet at this moment in time.
Sobeit said full-knowing potential karmic consequence.
.
My thanks to the people at AIMN, & to all the contributers who have provided yet another year of fine articles, often with a touch of humor too!