Respect has to be earned, Mr Morrison
When I was growing up – in the olden days! – children respected their elders, who were expected to set a good example and act as role models.
Clearly not always successful!
People who were not well acquainted were much more formal than is now the case, and while an adult would call a child by its first name, a stranger was addressed formally.
Very different now!
The hierarchical nature of relationships extended beyond family. There was a degree of respect expected by those who were further up the tree, and politicians, who held the strings of power within a country, were expected to be statesmanlike in their behaviour.
That was a lifetime ago and expectations were not always met!
Change is not always for the good and today’s informality, with its implied equality, hides a level of contempt by many of those in authority for those lower down the tree.
There are always variations with different cultures and there are few cultures where women have been fully accepted as different but equal.
Clearly the ability to give birth ensures that many women will have different life experiences than do men, and acceptance of the science which tells us that human sexuality is not binary is far from complete.
Possibly, if we all had some common moral compass which required us to treat all life forms with respect, most of our societal problems would disappear like magic.
Many people wonder, at some stage in life, why the universe was created and what is the purpose of life. The world’s various religions have their own allegories – again, formed in even older days – to attempt to answer questions which will probably never be answered in their lifetime.
Similarly, most cultures have had past leaders, visionaries, priests, shamans, prophets who have contributed to establishing some sort of moral code. The details of the codes have many points in common and variations seem to relate to the culture which was current when the code was formulated.
We are currently facing a global, moral, existential challenge.
Some of the world leaders are accepting of the scientific predictions that generally refer to the climate emergency or anthropogenic climate change.
Some leaders dismiss the science, others are reluctant to accept the concomitant need for urgent policy formulation to limit the damage resulting from the emissions of greenhouse gases, while the industries responsible for providing the sources of the emissions have worked very hard – and often too successfully – to persuade people not to accept the science.
If we are to reduce emissions sufficiently and quickly enough to avoid extreme temperature increases which will render parts of Planet Earth unlivable, we need to be acting now.
The concern is not only the rising temperatures, but the effect they have on local weather patterns. Australia and other parts of the world are on fire because continuing rising temperatures and accompanying droughts have dried out vegetation to the point where the merest spark triggers a conflagration.
Changing weather patterns have made it impossible for normal land care practices to reduce the amount of combustible material to be cleared in time, because the windows of opportunity to do so have also decreased.
In recent weeks, lives have been lost, property has also been destroyed and the damage is not yet over. Further financial damage is also inevitable because insurance premiums will increase and many will be unable to afford them.
These changes were predicted and they are now happening even more quickly than was expected – mainly because too little effort has been made to date.
Fire has not been the only climate change related hazard. Storms of all kinds are becoming increasingly intense and unpredictable and before long the melting polar ice will be significantly affecting ocean levels, inundating low lying islands and invading cities in coastal areas.
Forewarned should mean forearmed – but when politicians refuse to accept the science and pretend their current actions are sufficient, we have a major problem.
A tiny ray of hope stems from the fact that, while our Commonwealth government is blatantly denying the facts of life, State and Territory governments – and, to their credit, many corporations – are responding by moving away from fossil fuels. We can only hope it is not too little, too late.
Of course, it will affect every aspect of life. We need to reduce all pollution, we need to create new industries, retrain those displaced by the changes, learn to go without many conveniences in order to reduce demands on power and some limited resources.
Agriculture in Australia will need to make significant changes – we cannot afford to grow water-hungry crops – and water will become a serious issue as well.
The planning is decades behind schedule and we really must get stuck in – NOW!
I know that the Extinction Rebellion around the world has not been well received in many places.
I am sure the French Rebellion upset a lot of people too!
But then, as now, the violent upheaval was greater than it would have been if those in power had acted sooner in accepting the need for change.
I am normally a law-abiding person because I know that most laws are there to help life run smoothly.
At present, my level of frustration at the ignorance of Scott Morrison and his cronies – and the reluctance of the ALP to speak out more boldly for action – leaves me wanting to be involved in action that will force the politicians to act before it is too late.
I do not care for myself. I have had a good life and only have a few years left.
But youngsters like Greta Thunberg have their whole lives ahead of them and the prospect of having an easy, comfortable existence is being denied them by the stupidity and selfishness of most of the world leaders.
I do not have a skerrick of respect left for any of the world leaders who have so far failed to not only recognise the need for action, but actually got stuck into a really effective plan to minimise the impact of undeniable global warming.
You know all this.
You have heard it all before.
Why do you go on ignoring it?
We need to force our leaders to do what is desperately needed – ACT NOW!
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8 comments
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Phil Pryor -
James Mason -
Matters Not -
c -
Rosemary J36 -
Vikingduk -
Ill fares the land -
Yeah Right
Return to home pageWho should respect ignorant people, liars, incompetents, swindlers, thieves, deliberate betrayers, double crossers?? This rotten filthy government of conservative turds is all of that and more, deliberately bending over, fellatio friendly, to corporate will which raids, ruins, ransacks, rorts, robs and wrecks. Grossly swollen with self righteous shit, feeling saved, glorified, chosen and biblical, Morrison blathers any shit to fit, and lies to coerce, manipulate, bend. It is anti social, non civilised, totally unscientific, indecent, immoral, unethical, ruinous self fixated and damaging. But these political perverts and superstitious fools care not, not for us.
We we we we… need to do something about it ??????
WE that believe your article (and I concur with almost all of what has been written) feel the same frustration and anger at the recalcitrant and ignorant selfish sycophants that are currently in gov’t .. themselves ‘ruled/controlled’ by the corporate monies that promise them a return next elections and possibly more in their Cayman Is. accounts .. but handballing to us is not the answer …
The MAJOR issue is that there is no higher consciousness in those that follow the mantra of capitalism .. money money money … mine mine mine ..
Society MUST start aiming for ‘happiness/peace/fulfilment/ trust & respect for ALL living things ..
The only way that can occur is by raising our awareness/mindfulness also called consciousness .. Money won’t buy it, it can be taught but not by the education system as it is today in Oz..
Meditation, (not the fanciful ‘capitalist’ style, but the traditional) should be learned by ALL people to bring about this change in consciousness ..
Yes things are crook in Tallarook but not to worry because we live in a representative democracy where we can change our representative(s) every three or four years or so – provided we don’t get distracted by too many well-timed non-events such as a few asylum seekers faking illnesses, yellow arrows on a map, union thugs destroying mythical workplaces and the like.
So cheer up folks and as Peter Dutton would say Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Very FEARFUL New Year. And be very thankful to live in a democracy where the citizens rule.
Good article Rosemary.
Our mindless politicians should read it and have a good think.
Sadly that appears to be beyond them … and today’s Newspoll says …
“Coalition extends lead in latest Newspoll”
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/12/09/coalition-extends-lead-newspoll/?fbclid=IwAR2aGPD8qqr5I3KULej4jTXRVmxZB_PtY3Ung4uUtf5iigdDmq9gDcIMZaA
Seems that mindlessness is not restricted to politicians in this country.
Vikingduk: WE NEED TO BE OUT ON THE STREETS. BLOCKING TRAFFIC. CREATING MAYHEM OUTSIDE POLITICIANS’ OFFICES. DUMPING OUR UNRECYCLABLE WASTE ON THE DOORSTEPS OF WOOLWORTHS AND COLES AND THE OFFICES OF THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY. UNTIL OUR ANGER MAKES A VISIBLE IMPACT, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. OUR DEFENCE IS TRUTH. CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL, IT THREATENS THE LIVES OF EVERYONE, PARTICULARLY OUR YOUNG AND WE HAVE GOVERNMENTS WHICH SEEM INCAPABLE OF TAKING THE DOLLAR SIGNS OUT OF THEIR EYES AND DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE POLICIES. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IS THE LAST RESORT!
Perhaps civil disobedience is the only option remaining. Even now, the local paper, recently acquired by repulsive rupert, complete with the andy blot bullshit, has many committed ignorant readers, quite willing to put the boot in when discussing Greta Thunberg and anything to do with global warming. Hope fades and anger rises. Maybe the weight of numbers can change this reality of denialism and ignorance. At the moment, I think not.
Thanks for the reply, Rosemary, more passionate, hopeful and committed people such as yourself are what’s needed. Though, having witnessed the monster fires and the equally monstrous drought, I think we are in incredibly deep shit. I think the penny hasn’t dropped for many regarding the ongoing consequences of these ravenous monsters. A situation seeing many people blasé, unwilling to put brain into gear and have a good look and a good think. Rain will not eradicate this disaster, might put out some fires, the impact will remain as a permanent reminder that we have totally fcked up.
Remember, the planet doesn’t need us humans to survive. The way I see it now, the earth needs to survive, we don’t. Perhaps a scouring, a good clean by the planet to rid itself of us destructive parasites is where we are heading. The earth has had enough of being shit on.
I despair at the likely result of the UK election, which will see the election of yet another power-crazed buffoon into the seat of power in a western country, while the Labor or non-conservative side crawl up their own backsides and go to elections with a leader who is manifestly unpopular and, frankly, unelectable. The parallels with Trump and Morrison are disturbing and the dominos are falling – this is now happening globally.
It is the fault of the collective “us”, but the trend seems, for the moment, to be unstoppable. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s many countries were electing leaders who governed for their “people”, by which I mean the government looked out for the poor, but governed for all. But along came the US, the UK and Belgium (amongst others, but they were the worst), who feared the commercial implications of countries choosing socially democratic leaders and orchestrated coups or worse – arranged assassinations (e.g., Lugumba in the Congo, Pinochet overthrowing Allende in Chile). Since then, we seem to have experienced a steady decline in democracy, culminating in the rise of the crazed, boastful, sociopathic, if not psychotic, divisive, vindictive and power crazed strong man leaders. It has been happening for 30 years and building slowly, but we have now reached such a fever pitch of the masses for whom facts are irrelevant and the only thing that matters is their “opinion” and coalescing with others who share those opinions. Facts are simply to be ignored, or to be selectively mined in order to support our “opinions”.
Successful leaders and disturbingly, that now includes the US, UK and Australia, are able to craft a dialogue that is essentially puerile gibberish, but which achieves the aim of further shoring up their supporter base. That their supporters are able to completely disregard the blatant incompetence and corruption is a testimony to the power of our minds to rationalise support for any decision, regardless of how bad that decision is.
Morrison is not after respect, not in any traditional sense. What he is after is to build up a “cult of Quiet Australians” who are his “tribe” and who will support him regardless of what he and his government do. When the media asks penetrating questions and he swats them away with a lie or the claim that the topic is gossip or whatever, he will be the “victim”. When he relentlessly and deviously centralises power around himself and a narrower base of a**-kissers and embarks on a process of destroying the independence of the media or the judiciary or the bureaucracy, his supporters are doing what he wants – ignoring what is going on and seeing the criticisms as the ranting of the “looney left”. Democracy is disappearing at a faster rate than we think.
AUSTRALIA: Wake up now or you will not be able to fix it without a revolution or civil war.