'The Australian' Readers' blog
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Monday, August 29, 2005
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
I have now ceased working on this blog. You can find my further thoughts here:
http://homepage.mac.com/s_starr/iblog/B515943294/index.html
Sid
Saturday, June 28, 2003
Ever wondered how and why the USA has a naval base on Cuban territory? For answers and an excellent example -- IMHO -- of journalism, check out: In the Land of Guantanamo By TED CONOVER, New York Times Magazine - pub. date 29 June 2003 at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/magazine/29GUANTANAMO.html?pagewanted=1.
I'm noticing some writing, in The Oz and elsewhere, related to the ABC's 'Cambridge Spies' program. I haven't seen much of the show, but I expect you, like me, might be considering the notions of patriotism, treachery, allegiance when you think of Kilby, Burgess, MacLean and Blount. Christopher Pearson coins a new word and puts it all in -- conservative -- context in the WE Oz's Inquirer. I am now looking for certain things in certain 'spots', getting stability and certainty from The Oz.
Today, I compared the front pages of the WE Oz and the Melbourne Age, via the web. The former covers: sailors behaving badly (depending on POV); an investigation into the Child Support Agency; great photos of our Gold Coast beaches [slight bias creeps in here]; the visa-gate affair (no, not love on a credit card, but how one might 'fund' an application for entry/residency); an enquiry into sex trafficking; and a visionary -- as opposed to a 'divisionary' -- interview with NSW Labor Premier, Bob Carr. In contrast the Age goes for: our 'double burden' debt crisis (household debt and slump in share prices); the Moran gangland killing; and how the Telstra sale might be tied into a double-dissolution. [HP fans will know that he undergoes a 'Disillusionment Charm' in the latest book, and I note, playfully, that dissolution and disillusion sound a bit similar, and may resonate with older, left-leaning voters in Australia at the moment]. I figure that The Oz is applying the Murdoch theories of paper-selling with its selection of front page issues -- sex sells; we're all likely to focus on fears around children; and the Carr interview can add to the speculation around who will lead the ALP to next year's defeat. The Age is doing what it does best: pointing out that the system is crap. Oh, and its Fairfax cousin, the SMH, leads with a story about a global peace/police force. [Is it just me, or is Plato's 'Republic' getting a good run through the neo-con agenda? Read about Plato's 'Guardians' if you've got a spare week or two.]
Each morning I surf (or should it be serf -- it's hard work?) around a dozen news sites on the web. Hence the plug for the NYT at the top. If you'd like all your news batched up and labelled, check out www.news.google.com. Very comprehensive and a great time-saver, something that is quite a commodity, eh?
A reminder to anyone that would like to join us, the email address is up at the top-left.
Friday, June 27, 2003
The Evatt Foundation has an article about blogging here:
http://evatt.labor.net.au/news/230.html
Memes are self-replicating clusters of ideas. Richard Dawkins coined the term to link the notion of the transmission of ideas with how he saw the replication of DNA in his book, The Selfish Gene. I perceive the Harry Potter novels to be highly successful examples of memes. The latest was pure pleasure, accessible and lots of fun. JKR is astute and opens the minds of her readers -- young and older -- to an incredible world of diversity. There are many parallels with the 'real' world and I fear that the symbol of control and stability in the wizarding world, Professor Dumbledore, may get sacrificed in the next (HP6) or last (HP7) of the novels. Anyway, I can't wait to read how it all ends; or begins.
Back to The Oz and Australia; and America. Interesting that very little coverage was given to the various preambles that are circulating through the auspices of the ARM. Only Christopher Pearson mentioned them. And while I'm at it, I invite comments upon the American Pledge of Allegiance. How great a part does it -- and veneration for the flag -- play in the strength of the USA?
This is it: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." How would it be if we all pledged an oath of allegiance to something far more significant, and tangible -- this planet. As a life-long anti-nationalist, I appreciate the power of patriotism.
What about veneration of a great literary icon? Was it only Luke Slattery and Philip Adams who paid tribute to the anniversary of Eric Blair's death?
The Inquirer is becoming my favourite bit of the W/E Oz. Paul Kelly and Matt Price on the back page are gradually getting around to having a go at the 'D' word. Duplicity: something that has categorised our own government for the past few years. What fascinates me is that the electorate doesn't seem to care. the most powerful issue in Australian politics is, and will remain, mortgage rates. The polity is so cynical that you have to apply those electric shock thingies to their hip-pocket nerve and shout, "Clear" for anyone to take notice.
Most horrendous story for some time: video producers in El Cajon, California have been fined for paying homeless people to beat one another up for an online video program. Endless opportunities in the land of the free ...
Most appropriate title of a play for this blog: 'Myth Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America.' Just kidding about it being appropriate, the neo-cons do have a point, you couldn't run that title outside our 'free' world. Currently showing in Sydney or Melbourne. Comments and contra-opinions to the email address on the left.
Happy meme spreading ...
Sunday, June 22, 2003
Oh! the week that was. Maybe our Ozzie politicians aside (muggles all of them) can learn a lot from our Harry and JK Rowlings menagerie of fantastic characters and her gift of the imaginary. There's more poltics and religion going on in a JK Rowling book than meets the eye. As there hidden parts to all of us. Yes! FGS Starr is a HUGE HP fan, Jean, I can vouch for that. And yes, I did pick up my copy of the new book yesterday, albeit not in the early morning rush, but in the more subdued laidback afternoon meander through Target. And yes, I did begin reading it as soon as my toosh hit a chair in the nearby coffee lounge.
My dilemma this rather cool and brisk Sunday afternoon,after saying goodbye to family, was would I take Harry to bed with me for an afternoon read and nap or would I, catch up on my weeks reading of the OZ. The Oz won! Although I had an inkling that inside would be a feast of words about our Harry. Fantasy books (maybe they are more true to life than life itself) are becoming the new opium of masses.
A week's worth of The Australian revealed to me that politics like the GG are soon forgotten and if we take note of Matt Price's article this weekend, words that come out of polticians mouths are often rather empty indeed. In the meantime, was it only this time last week when we were all held at knife's edge over who would be the next opposition leader? An article, cannot remember which day, tried to convince us that the Big Brother TV show (I need to read George Orwell more closely) tells us more about what it means to be human than any philosophical treatise can. And then in a world that seems to have gone mad (nothing new here) I read in Monday June 16 edition that Homer Simpson is the greatest, and on top his top dog rating, he's a "exemplary" baby boomer to boot. Dysfunctional he is, but maybe that's why he and his family continue to cross the generational divide and amuse us baby boomers, our kids of the X generation and our grandkids of the net generation. And my final thought for this blog is: Maybe The Oz tells us more about ourselves and our place in this funny world, which we claim as our own, than we care to imagine. Am looking forward to a great week of reading (the Oz and HP). Nirvana all the way!
Saturday, June 21, 2003
I never picked you for a Harry Potter fan, Sid. The TV descriptions of the first sales was bordering on the scary - or would that be spooky!
I do think, although I am not guilty of reading Harry Potter (except to my youngest grandson a couple of years ago) I do feel we need fantasy in our lives. You know the old saying even if you aren't religious - "man cannot live by bread alone". There is little enough in our lives these days to take our minds off the horrible and inescapable. Harry can only help.
Mind you, I don't think "The Australian" needed to devote as much space throughout the paper to JKR as it did. We know she's a woman and she's attractive and she is happy (and certainly not a pauper) but apart from being told that "the book is out and lots of people want to buy it" I don't really think their spiel added much to my understanding of Australian or world affairs.
I was more interested in the fantastical goings-on in parliament this week as recorded away from the front page!
Jean in Oz.
OK, I've cheated. I downloaded the front page of The W/e Oz. It mirrors my mindspace a little -- the majority is an homage to JKR of HP fame. Aficionados know that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hits the shelves today. [My own copy -- the first thing I've ever pre-ordered -- is waiting at my local Queensland Book Depot until I have done some work: this; and an analysis of the Queensland Greens 'electability'.] The rest of the front page covers: more TV channels; Cathy Freeman; and divorced fathers.
So, back to my mindspace -- I notice that I am concerned that I will be enjoying a great work of fantasy whilst there is so much poverty and conflict on our tiny planet. And waste: we could probably feed the world with what McDonalds throws out each day; we could alleviate poverty with what CEOs and celebrities fritter away on lifestyle choices. That's why I retreat into fantasy -- and why I enjoyed 140+ emails from HP fans around the world this morning -- but it is also why I keep writing, because we (cosmopolitans) have to change the imbalance and injustice with whatever means we have. The meek (or the gentle) will inherit the earth, but we have to stand up for it first.
