And Slaters Go Plop

I live and work from home which means I don’t get out as often as is probably healthy. A lot of my view of the world is formed by the news I read and sometimes I find myself getting a little pessimistic.

I came across the following statistics last week while reading Freakonomics (thoroughly recommended) which helped put things into perspective. If you think humanity is going to hell in a handbasket I hope these figures help you as much as they did me:

*En = England, N+B = Netherlands and Belgium, Sc = Scandinavia, G+S = Germany and Swizerland, It = Italy

(Source: Manuel Eisner, “Violence and the Rise of Modern Society” Criminology in Cambridge, October 2003, pp 3-7)

Carl Sagan died eleven years ago today. His enthusiasm for the universe and everything in it was contagious and he is responsible for the sense of awe I and many, many others feel when we look up at the stars at night.

Our brains are not capable of comprehending the true vastness of space but Carl managed to help us expand our comprehension to the point of vertigo and, with it, and closer understanding of our true standing within the universe.

My thoughts are with his family and I, like many others, wish he was still here.

What are they?
They are a small political party (<1000 votes in the last election) in New Zealand based on Libertarian policies.

What’s their objective?

To establish a consititutional republic of New Freeland, not by deceit but by openly and vigorously promoting a libertarian form of government.

In a nutshell:

• Taxes = NO!
• Government = As little as possible
• Individual rights = YES!
• Homosexuality (or any other -sexuality) = Who cares, just don’t hurt anyone
• Drugs = Ditto the above
• Education = Privatised or community-run
• Business = Divorced from government
• Law = No victim, no crime
• Social welfare = Reliant on the charity of the well-off individuals and groups
• Immigration = Open the gates
• Self Defence = Everyone grab a gun Defend yourself with reasonable force
• National Defence = No foreign wars but build a good defence
• Smacking = Horay!

Find out more:

• Their website
• A snazzy animation about Libertarianism
• Ayn Rand and Objectivism

I am an absolute novice when it comes to politics so if you feel I’ve misrepresented the policies please let me know and I’ll make corrections.

Today the release of the new New Zealand Curriculum was announced and I have to say I’m very impressed.

Included in the new curriculum is a new section on values where our upcoming generations will be taught: (from the website)

Through their learning experiences, students will learn about:

• their own values and those of others
• different kinds of values, such as moral, social, cultural, aesthetic, and economic values
• the values on which New Zealand’s cultural and institutional traditions are based
• the values of other groups and cultures.

Through their learning experiences, students will develop their ability to:

• express their own values
• explore, with empathy, the values of others
• critically analyse values and actions based on them
• discuss disagreements that arise from differences in values and negotiate solutions
• make ethical decisions and act on them.

This is the best news I’ve heard for a long time. Just a couple of days ago I was discussing the education system with my brother-in-law who is a teacher and I expressed how I wished that kids were taught values and critical thinking.

I’m extremely happy and if this post is ever read by anyone who has been involved in the new curriculum I would like to pass on my personal thanks – you’ve restored my faith in our system.

I look forward to a new generation of critical thinkers!

A false dichotomy (also known as a false dilemma) is where you are asked to choose an option when there are, in fact, more options available.

An example of this would be where I may tell you that Bob claimed he got an email from Jane saying that she is a Librarian. Here I would then ask you if you believed that Jane was:

• A genuine Librarian
• A lair
• A lunatic

You are being made to choose from a selection of options that do not cover all the possibilities. What about:

• The email might have been spam that looked like Jane sent it
• Jane might not exist
• Jane might have misspelled “Libran”
• Bob might have been lying to me
• Bob might have misread “Libran”
• I might have been lying to you
• And so on

It’s important that when you are presented with a finite number of choices that you make sure that those are the only choices available before jumping on any bandwagons.

It’s always good to end on a quote from a great thinker:

“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. (Applause)”. – George Dubya Bush

Applause.

“In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.”

- Carl Sagan, 1987 CSICOP Keynote Address

I’m annoyed at the state of New Zealand journalism. It’s embarrassing. Some kids let off some bottle-bombs (probably the kind you see all over You Tube [the dry ice or mentos-in-coke kinds]) and the New Zealand media leaps on it like the attention-deprived inbreeds they are.

This is sensationalist reporting at its worst. Is it any wonder Muslims with issues resort to this kind of thing when you see the reaction they are guaranteed to receive courtesy of a media system that has no sense of balance, ethics or humour?

I can almost imagine them sitting there, failed traffic wardens that they are, just waiting for the opportunity to be just as important as all those savvy foreign journalists who get to wade around in blood and bring the big-hitting items to our TV screens.

When they were reporting the incident did we hear them address the issue that these were remarkably underwhelming ‘bombs’ and that they were really nothing but noise? Did we hear that they might, just possibly, be pranks but that the police had to make the fuss they did as a matter of routine?

If we ever have a real bombing in New Zealand I think we can thank not the idiots who made these bottle-bombs or our involvement in western politics for drawing the attention of undereducated, over enthusiastic fundamentalists. We should look to the organisations that, literally, ‘promote’ violence.

According to China’s demographics they’re going to have about 30,000,000 extremely edgy young males hanging around looking for something to do in the next ten years or so. What happens to young human males when they are unable to find a partner to mate with? There is a huge increase in aggression. What happens when you take 30,000,000 aggressive young males who, as part of their culture, don’t question authority and combine that with suggestions that the USA can’t afford to pay the debt they owe to China due to a generation of baby-boomers who are now going into retirement? I don’t know – it’s not really my area but it might be worth thinking about.

This is dangerous stuff. The combination of whatever political or economical interests that the US may have in the Middle East with the Religious Right’s beliefs that God wants a war against Iran.

If you want to be the next president of the ‘US and A’ you’ll want to have been an ex-military Christian. If you want to completely ruin your chances just say you don’t believe in God. If you are an atheist in America you are ranked below homosexuals, Muslims, ex-drug users, divorcees, smokers, the uneducated and the unfaithful.

Source: New York Times