tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73105616395479719222024-03-13T09:17:24.521+10:30roslyn ross - small stones and other poemsRoslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.comBlogger1536125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-49573362628590703082023-12-03T15:41:00.003+10:302023-12-03T15:41:48.809+10:30To commit genocide we must first demonise the enemy.<p> <span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Watch Israel's demonisation of Hamas get ever more hysterical as they try to justify their genocide of the Palestinian people. </span></p><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r3h8:" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There will be hostages cooked and canned before they are finished. All designed to distract the gullible from the reality of what is happening.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Demonise the enemy is an ancient rule of war. But NOTHING will ever justify Israel's genocide against Palestine for more than 75 years beginning with the Jewish terrorist gangs, Irgun and Stern before 1947, and <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>the slaughter and dispossession from 1947 onwards. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Israelis consider the Palestinians to be subhuman. Of course they must because how could they live with themselves treating other humans in the evil ways that they do and have done for so long?</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The irony in this age is that people become outraged if animals are treated badly and no doubt the Israelis treat animals far better than they do the Palestinians whom they crush under occupation. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">So, the enemy, which is the native people of the land Israel has stolen, must not only be subhuman they must be evil beyond measure so that no compassion can be allowed. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">None of it is new of course and all of it is the true evil. To rid Palestine of every non-Jew which has always been the goal since Zionism was invented in the 1890's, requires Israelis, their supporters and as many of those they can gather in the world, to believe the Palestinians are not to be treated like real humans, or even helpless animals, but represent an evil threat which must be exterminated.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There are signs up in Tel Aviv calling for their extermination so that is the word which applies to Israel's genocide.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">One would think, surely, who could believe such shocking things about a people crushed under the most venal and longest military colonial occupation in modern history. You would be surprised, I would say. I know I have been at how many seemingly intelligenct people have swallowed whole the Israeli propaganda and who would quietly rejoice if every last Palestinian was dead. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It is a pity, they might say to themselves that so many Palestinian Christians had to die, but a price which must be paid to rid the world of the evil of Muslims and to teach those uppity Arabs a lesson.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Bigotry toward Arabs also plays a part in this genocidal onslaught although ironically, being Jewish can eradicate that taint because in 1947 Israel gave immediate citizenship to all Arab Palestinian Jews, thereby demonstrating even an Arab can be accepted as human if they follow the right religion.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">After all they console themselves and their withered conscience, Islam is going to take over the entire world if we don't get rid of the Palestinians. Never let facts or logic get in the way of propaganda. Brain function is always diminished in the fear-driven haters of anything.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The supporters of genocide also wince a bit at so many children killed, but, for some it is a necessary price to prevent them growing up and becoming evil subhuman, Untermenschen adults. Hang on, where have we heard that before? </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">So, Israel's evil war against Palestine is a mirror to our own evil and we can only hope that most people will recognise that ghastly image and stand up for what is right.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Just in case you do not recognise them, below are the faces of evil subhumans. They are only young but still dangerous. They need to be exterminated apparently.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Quote:</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">In his powerful study of the First World War, Paul Fussell elaborated upon the logic that seemed to underwrite a soldier’s ability or willingness to kill his fellow man. Fussell pointed to what he called “gross dichotomizing,” which he identified as “a persisting imaginative habit of modern times, traceable, it would seem, to the actualities of the Great War.” </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As he explained,</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">“We” are all here on this side; “the enemy” is over there. “We” are individuals with names and personal identities; “he” is a mere collective identity. We are visible; he is invisible. We are normal; he is grotesque. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Our appurtenances are natural; his, bizarre. He is not as good as we are. Indeed, he may be like “the Turk” on the Gallipoli Peninsula, characterized by a staff officer before the British landings there as “an enemy who has never shown himself as good a fighter as the white man.” Nevertheless, he threatens us and must be destroyed, or, if not destroyed, contained and disarmed.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(Fussell 1975, p. 75)</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The racial distinction, of course, is part of the demonization of the enemy as well—Fussell’s quotation of the British officer comes from Robert Rhodes James’s 1965 book, Gallipoli (James 1965, p. 86)—but racial difference explains little about the gross dichotomizing Fussell identifies, particularly as the “sides” in question were equally “white,” that is, British and German. (It is well worth recalling that the British Royal Family itself was German, and during the war, in June 1917 specifically, King Georg V cannily opted to change the family’s ancestral moniker from the rather Teutonic-sounding House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha [i.e., Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha] to a more English-like House of Windsor, owing to quite understandable anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom at the time.)</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> Fussell goes on to quote British soldiers apparently in awe of the enemy’s “monstrous and grotesque” attributes. “Sometimes the shadowy enemy resembled the vilest animals,” with enemy soldiers being compared to water-rats scrambling into their holes or earwigs scattering under a rotten tree stump (Fussell 1975, p. 79). Fussell notes that descriptions of the German dead frequently mentioned the bodies’ porcine qualities. All of this contributes to the general idea that one’s wartime enemy is not entirely human.</div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" id=":r3h9:" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><a class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x2lwn1j xeuugli xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n2onr6 x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz x1lliihq x1pdlv7q" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159995666073565&set=a.71860998564&__cft__[0]=AZVVn_uEwAT3KGwh5KsWA90iO7W0kMfBjjt081YYyqynYwq8nWh5Kzhb3Sxsh4zYYkit1FHiedrCFOvv-GuxtMXokoiNlJWEUyKQd_cLNzZSk0QIAPex18t0GQdEdSrDJ9U&__tn__=EH-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; display: block; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0" waprocessedanchor="true"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x78zum5 xdt5ytf x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="align-items: center; background-color: #393937; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 500.012px;"><div style="font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 500px; width: calc((100vh + -325px) * 1.77812);"><div class="xqtp20y x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 281.192px; position: relative;"><div class="x10l6tqk x13vifvy" style="font-family: inherit; height: 281.192px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 500.012px;"><img alt="May be an image of 4 people" class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x5yr21d x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy xh8yej3 xl1xv1r" height="960" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://scontent.fadl4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/406544991_10159995666068565_4177755456080417649_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p960x960&_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=3635dc&_nc_ohc=8yfdqxbdFXoAX8RHh-l&_nc_ht=scontent.fadl4-1.fna&cb_e2o_trans=t&oh=00_AfBr5p-54ToQPkwhQKi6WenwVfV2z6FQ1Wlf82V4_DtOTA&oe=6570759A" style="border: 0px; height: 281.192px; inset: 0px; object-fit: cover; position: absolute; width: 500.012px;" width="1707" /></div></div></div></div><div class="xua58t2 xzg4506 x1ey2m1c xds687c x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy" style="border-bottom: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); border-top: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute;"></div><div class="x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1ey2m1c xds687c xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: inherit; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></a></div><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62" style="font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"></div></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="x168nmei x13lgxp2 x30kzoy x9jhf4c x6ikm8r x10wlt62" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="xq8finb x16n37ib" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: 12px; margin-right: 12px;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1qughib x1qjc9v5 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np x150jy0e x1e558r4 xjkvuk6 x1iorvi4 xwrv7xz x8182xy x4cne27 xifccgj" style="align-items: stretch; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; justify-content: space-between; margin: -6px -2px; padding: 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x193iq5w xeuugli x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xg83lxy x1h0ha7o x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 2px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div aria-label="Like" class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x2lwn1j xeuugli xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n2onr6 x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x3nfvp2 x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz x5ve5x3" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xeuugli xl56j7k x6s0dn4 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xn6708d x1ye3gou xexx8yu xcud41i x139jcc6 x4cne27 xifccgj xn3w4p2 xuxw1ft" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; height: 44px; justify-content: center; margin: -6px -4px; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 12px; padding-right: 12px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-wrap: nowrap; z-index: 0;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x150jy0e x1e558r4 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><span class="x3nfvp2" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit;"><i class="x1b0d499 x1d69dk1" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yM/r/wvRioxjYosD.png"); background-position: 0px -792px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 22px 1518px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 20px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 20px;"></i></span></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x150jy0e x1e558r4 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen x1s688f xi81zsa" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like</span></span></div></div><div class="x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1ey2m1c xds687c xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: inherit; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div><div aria-label="React" class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x2lwn1j xeuugli x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x3nfvp2 x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz x4r51d9 x1d0ri9u x4uap5 x1ug4tga xkhd6sd xnfr1j xzpqnlu x179tack x10l6tqk x5ve5x3" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: polygon(0px 0px, 0px 0px, 0px 0px, 0px 0px); clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 13px 0px; position: absolute; right: 6px; text-align: inherit; top: 1px; touch-action: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><i class="x1b0d499 x1d69dk1" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yZ/r/s-RSvl_jswJ.png"); background-position: -54px -128px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 190px 146px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 16px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 16px;"></i><div class="x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1ey2m1c xds687c xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: inherit; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x193iq5w xeuugli x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xg83lxy x1h0ha7o x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 2px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div aria-label="Leave a comment" class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x2lwn1j xeuugli xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n2onr6 x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x3nfvp2 x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xeuugli xl56j7k x6s0dn4 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xn6708d x1ye3gou xexx8yu xcud41i x139jcc6 x4cne27 xifccgj xn3w4p2 xuxw1ft" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; height: 44px; justify-content: center; margin: -6px -4px; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 12px; padding-right: 12px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-wrap: nowrap; z-index: 0;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x150jy0e x1e558r4 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><i class="x1b0d499 x1d69dk1" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yM/r/wvRioxjYosD.png"); background-position: 0px -572px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 22px 1518px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 20px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 20px;"></i></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x150jy0e x1e558r4 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen x1s688f xi81zsa" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">Comment</span></div></div><div class="x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1ey2m1c xds687c xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h x1wpzbip" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="background-color: var(--hover-overlay); border-radius: 4px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x193iq5w xeuugli x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xg83lxy x1h0ha7o x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 2px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div aria-label="Send this to friends or post it on your Timeline." class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x2lwn1j xeuugli xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n2onr6 x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x3nfvp2 x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xeuugli xl56j7k x6s0dn4 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xn6708d x1ye3gou xexx8yu xcud41i x139jcc6 x4cne27 xifccgj xn3w4p2 xuxw1ft" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; height: 44px; justify-content: center; margin: -6px -4px; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 12px; padding-right: 12px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-wrap: nowrap; z-index: 0;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x150jy0e x1e558r4 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><i class="x1b0d499 x1d69dk1" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yM/r/wvRioxjYosD.png"); background-position: 0px -946px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 22px 1518px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 20px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 20px;"></i></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x150jy0e x1e558r4 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen x1s688f xi81zsa" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">Share</span></div></div><div class="x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1ey2m1c xds687c xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: inherit; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="xzueoph" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"></div></div></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-65404184019090130942023-11-08T12:13:00.003+10:302023-11-08T12:13:30.426+10:30Palestine aches<p> </p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;"><br /></h3><div class="post-header" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10.8px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3211284280787280031" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 546px;"><p> </p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p><br /></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">The dead have silent teeth and empty throats,<br />they have no voice with which to speak, to cry<br />of all the horrors they have seen and been and<br />known; to call for justice, freedom from the<br /><br />power of those who kill to claim what is not<br />theirs, the land of others, who suffocate children<br />in waves of dust and shredded metal moments,<br />where blood and tears and destiny are driven<br /><br />deep into the waiting earth; dressing broken<br />fragments of their lives, their souls, their<br />hearts, that costuming of evil which war does<br />primp and posture into place, for those who<br /><br />are the victims, for those who cannot speak,<br />and for whom the only hope can be for others,<br />that their throats are not empty, their teeth<br />are not silent, their words are not crushed<br /><br />beneath the boot of evil and injustice and<br />military might, and that in the darkened<br />quietness of this awful, suppurating wound,<br />their only hope is that the voices of the living<br /><br />will be speaking out for those who lie strewn,<br />fleshed like scattered crops, in that harvest<br />which bleeds and grieves and slowly seeds<br />the fields of future justice in aching Palestine.</span></p></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-70728246583757899512023-09-13T14:50:00.003+09:302023-09-13T14:50:33.304+09:30THE MYTHS WHICH DAMN US ALL<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Logic and reason are mist against the stone of ideology and
that is the reality. Humans are more reluctant to give up dreams than realities
and too many of the stories of our aboriginal stone-age history, repeated today
are largely fantasy and have been for half a century.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The public has been immersed in the lies, now mythology,
since the 67 Referendum when the Yes case used outright lies to win the day.
The argument, and it was admitted at the time these were untruths, was that
Australians would not be able to understand what the Referendum was about - in
essence to transfer responsibility from State Governments to Federal for
aborigines who remained living in tribal/clan systems - and the means justified
the end. The means were the lies that aborigines were not citizens, did not
have the vote, were not counted in the census and had been classed as Flora and
Fauna, so not even human. <br />
<br />
A very good</span><a href="https://conreform.sydney.edu.au/2015/06/indigenous-recognition-and-constitutional-myths/"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> paper</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> was
written by Helen Irving, Sydney University, in 2015, Indigenous Recognition and
Constitutional Myths to counter this misinformation. Irving supports
constitutional recognition and in general takes the recent academic view of
aboriginal history, but, she clearly felt moved to correct the myths told
during the 67 Referendum which too many still believe. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Helen Irving was appointed Professor Emerita
at Sydney Law School in 2021. Her research includes Australian and United
States constitutional law and history; constitutional citizenship; comparative
constitutional design and gender; the use of history in constitutional
interpretation, and models of judicial review. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Unfortunately, as has been said, a lie repeated often
enough becomes a 'truth' and that is what has happened since 1967. And so,
today, most people, including those who should know better like teachers,
school principals and academics, believe the lies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The mist of reason does not make a dent against the stone
edifice of disinformation masquerading as gloriously dressed mythology.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<br />
1. That Australians <b>without</b> aboriginal ancestry owe recognition and
compensation to Australians with aboriginal ancestry because the British
colonised this land more than two centuries ago. <br />
<br />
This ignores the fact that everywhere on earth has been colonised as humans
migrated around the globe and that those many different peoples here in 1788,
called Aborigines by the British, had also colonised the land in different
waves of migration. Why is colonisation by stone-age hunter-gatherers, called
Aborigines, acceptable and colonisation by Anglo-Europeans is not? The only
reason there is an issue today is that the British were more enlightened than
stone-age hunter-gatherers and they did not wipe out those they found here, but
instead sought to preserve and protect them.<br />
<br />
2. That having Aboriginal ancestry, no matter how small and for most who
register as Indigenous it is minimal and for some non-existent, gives one
greater rights to this land and greater connection to the land including a
spiritual link which no human without aboriginal ancestry can possess. <br />
<br />
This ignores the fact that all humans were once stone-age hunter-gatherers and
connected to the land in order to survive. It also ignores the fact that no-one
has lived a true stone-age hunter-gatherer life in Australia for nearly two
centuries. When survival depends on what the land does and provides, then of
course the connection is powerful and we see this in farmers who are deeply
connected to their land because they depend upon it for survival. <br />
<br />
And it ignores the fact that if there were some spiritual links to the land and
some unique connection then Aboriginal communities would be other than what
they are – cesspits of filth and environmental vandalism and degradation. <br />
<br />
3. That having Aboriginal ancestry, no matter how small, means the rest of
society should respect and honour those with it, particularly anyone over the
age of fifty.<br />
<br />
Ignoring the fact that respect is earned and there was nothing to respect in
the stone-age hunter-gatherer lives found here in 1788 and there is nothing to
respect in the remnants of what is called traditional life, but which is a
dysfunctional Aboriginal/Anglo European hybrid found in Aboriginal communities.
There are of course many Australians with Aboriginal ancestry whose efforts are
deserving of respect but that is because it has been earned. If we were to
respect people from the past then surely, we would have even greater respect
for the settlers who created this modern nation out of nothing?<br />
<br />
4. That aboriginality and its myths, traditions and cultures can be invented
without any substance in facts and that Australians must accept it all without
question. For example, the British practice of children calling adults who were
not family members, Uncle or Auntie, has now been co-opted by the aboriginal
brigade for any man or woman with some aboriginal ancestry who does or says
anything. This honorific has no source in any of the hundreds of different Aboriginal
clan traditions and is insulting because adults are being asked to use the
terms. These people are not our Auntie or Uncle and in fact they are not even
Auntie or Uncle to most Australians with aboriginal ancestry given the rigidity
still of tribal/clan divides. <br />
<br />
5. That nothing negative can ever be said about the brutal reality, well documented,
of stone-age hunter-gatherer aboriginal lives where topics like cannibalism,
infanticide, child marriage, violence toward women are censored and condemned
and where even academics rewrite history to pretend that the world of stone-age
Australia was a Utopia destroyed by colonialism.<br />
<br />
6. That reconciliation is needed between Australians with Aboriginal ancestry,
around 900,000, most of them minimal in such ancestry, and those without it,
more than 25 million Australians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This ignores the fact that the reason why so many are more
Anglo European than they are aboriginal is because we have had high levels of
intermarriage for more than two centuries. Indeed, today, most Australians with
aboriginal ancestry are in mixed marriages. There is no greater reconciliation
and acceptance than intermarriage and no greater testament to the lack of
racism in most Australians over centuries.<br />
<br />
7. That Australians with Aboriginal ancestry are owed ‘rent’ because the
settlers created this nation on land where their ancestors lived. Ignoring the
fact that the gift of this modern democracy, one of the best places in the
world to live, is something for which they should be grateful. <br />
<br />
8. That Australians without Aboriginal ancestry are to blame for any
dysfunction in Aboriginal communities because it would never have happened if
they had not been colonised. <br />
<br />
Ignoring the fact that most Australians with Aboriginal ancestry are doing fine
with the same sorts of lives and outcomes as anyone else, sometimes better, and
that those struggling are generally in communities which, unlike the majority,
are not assimilated into the modern world but remain trapped in backward and
violent tribal/clan systems. Most people talk about indigenous Australians as
if they were one with the same sorts of lives and outcomes when of course they
are not. The Linda Burney, Stan Grant, Ken Wyatt, Lidia Thorpe brigade, to name
just a few of many, have nothing in common with the few who continue to
struggle. <br />
<br />
It also ignores the fact that all humans are descended from the persecuted,
abused, traumatised and colonised and most do not live lives of dysfunction
today because of ancestral suffering. If the claims of inter-generational
trauma had any substance, then everyone would suffer from it, particularly
those with some Aboriginal ancestry and they do not.<br />
<br />
9. That Aboriginal tribal beliefs, practices, lore should be supported and
encouraged regardless of how violent and backward they might be. <br />
<br />
Ignoring the fact that civil law exists to protect all of us and goes beyond
tribe, clan, community or culture for that very reason. Which stone-age
practices should be restored? Cannibalism, child marriage, infanticide, women
as slaves, brutal initiation practices to boys and girls which often killed
them or left them sterile? <br />
<br />
10. That longevity of ancestry should give one greater rights as a citizen and
greater power over Government. <br />
<br />
This is the premise of the voice which wants to single out Australians with Aboriginal
ancestry for greater rights and power. Ignoring the fact that our democratic
systems have been hard won and evolved in order that tribal systems could be
discarded and every citizen would be treated equally as a citizen and where we
all had the same voice, the vote. To give one group more voice is to betray our
democracy.<br />
<br />
These lies have become mythology over the past few decades and the only
positive thing about the voice is that it is making more people question them
and this racist division of our nation which has been stealing its way into
power for too long. Never underestimate the power of a myth for it is a lie
dressed in appealing form and too easily mistaken as a truth. <br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-89048048550537104442023-07-17T13:39:00.001+09:302023-07-17T13:39:35.520+09:30Falling<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black;"><v:shape alt="image.png" id="_x0000_i1025" style="height: 24pt; width: 24pt;" type="#_x0000_t75"></v:shape></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYxEzgwraxxIVT9Xjh0qNYeXFi_FVFCC1ADVIh7qVL6JpoFpU9ydYUGp2_R4gZZmnY9hLW2VXtMIF7md1HqUDIUjH_MyVa0zMfDR-UPfTdZo48nHleFlh7u3S8npUxji3U3qs4EsAnyZoo6dgbeoN0LoXm4FrJkR8_QyKhg9ubjLS1KaHprFhGAq5sbJU/s480/bondi%20beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="480" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYxEzgwraxxIVT9Xjh0qNYeXFi_FVFCC1ADVIh7qVL6JpoFpU9ydYUGp2_R4gZZmnY9hLW2VXtMIF7md1HqUDIUjH_MyVa0zMfDR-UPfTdZo48nHleFlh7u3S8npUxji3U3qs4EsAnyZoo6dgbeoN0LoXm4FrJkR8_QyKhg9ubjLS1KaHprFhGAq5sbJU/s320/bondi%20beach.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black;"><br /><span style="background: white;"><br /><br />Falling into
being ...<o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">Did I trip, or was I pushed,
perhaps<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">a jump, unconscious but
intended. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-53604386952869715712023-06-26T10:04:00.003+09:302023-06-26T10:04:14.560+09:30 The sex that dare not speak its name<p><br /></p><div class="" dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r363:" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Roslyn Ross</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">26 June 2023</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Who <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>would have thought there would come a time in human history when educated adults could not answer a simple question: What is a woman?</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Between the silences and stammers, languishes the simple answer – a woman is an adult human female.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">What is astonishing is that so many cannot, or rather, will not, provide this answer.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It is as if there is a force at work within society to diminish, downgrade, and even extinguish women as a sex. What purpose could that serve? To me, it represents a vicious and evil misogyny. While women continue to protest against discrimination, many support the greatest discrimination of all – a movement that seeks to eradicate the concept of woman as female from our language and our social lexicon. Everything unique about the feminine, the female, and womanhood is being debased in service of this goal.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The claim is that society is seeking the concept of inclusion, where a tiny minority of men who wish to identify as women should be described and treated as though they really are women, even though biology disagrees. But why should the world (and sanity) be turned upside down supporting something that is still considered a tragic mental illness.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">True gender dysphoria remains rare (that is, clinically diagnosed dysphoria). Up until very recently, those suffering were not affirmed in their dysphoric beliefs. There are other illness that doctors treat rather than affirm, including conditions such as the Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), where an individual desires the amputation of one or more healthy limbs or, who desires to be made a paraplegic. Doctors do not humour patients with amputations for the latter, and yet there is a growing (and lucrative) industry offering exactly that for the former.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Children, in particular, have a propensity to believe fantasies about themselves, such as being able to fly like their favourite heroes. We do not encourage children in this delusion, because it could be dangerous, but we are doing it with children who believe they are the opposite sex. The most vocal part of this movement appears to come from males wanting to be female, hence the accompanying campaign against the rights of biological women.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The general public should know better than to choke on the word woman, but today they seem desperate to apply it correctly in social agenda terms. Companies do the same thing, leading to insanities like men with evident equipment modelling women’s bathing suits or insisting we normalise the bulge; men using female toilets, even in the presence of young girls; and men participating as women on the sporting field and being acclaimed for winning with their clear biological and physiological advantage!</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Sure there is a backlash to such things, but there is no sign of it slowing down in Australia. One Australian academic and medical institution has attempted to eradicate women from language completely as part of their glossary of LGBQT+ terms. While a gay man attracted to other men remains a man, a gay woman is described as a non-man attracted to non-men. If they cannot define a woman, why can they define a man?</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">If reducing women to non-men is not a putdown, I don’t know what is. Yes, this glossary has caused a firestorm of criticism and rightly so, but how did it ever come to be in the first place? Who thought it was a good idea to call women non-men as if the only biological reality is male? Surely it carries shades of centuries past when women were perceived to be mentally inferior to men and deemed as such by God.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The anti-female sentiment has continued apace. In 2019, The Guardian ran an article suggesting that periods offered little if any benefit to health and that it was a good idea to use synthetic contraception to stop them altogether. It was merely one of many such pieces of commentary on the topic of female fertility.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Women have had a hard time in patriarchal societies coming to terms with their gift of menstruation, and it is a gift, for without it there is no future for the human race. Just as we started reaching a point where advertisements for sanitary napkins were brave enough to use red ink and not blue, we now have moves to encourage women to reject their menstrual cycle to the point of cancelling it altogether.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Instead of encouraging girls and women to embrace their bodies, there are, it seems, moves to encourage them to deny their femininity by artificially intervening. How can there be ‘no health benefit’, children aside, to such a biological reality for females?</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Surely telling women it is fine to prevent menstruation is like telling someone it is fine to never urinate or defecate again? The clinical lead for Women’s Health at the Royal College of GPs says there is no health benefit to them: ‘99 percent of women don’t need to bleed.’</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">A professor of sexual and reproductive health at University College London says the same. ‘In some ways, it seems like one of God’s great design faults… It is not helpful to have these periods.’</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Wow, you know the hubris level has ratcheted up a few notches when medicos say God got it wrong. Millions of years of human evolution and clear biological realities and necessities have been wrong, according to so-called experts.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There has long been evidence that a hysterectomy in women under 50 increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, so why would there not be negative effects from artificially preventing menstruation? But hey, no periods and you save money…</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">However, it would seem not even God is on the side of women anymore with the Church of England refusing to define the word ‘woman’.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The Church of England declined to offer a definition of a woman, arguing that recent developments required ‘additional care’ when attempting to define the word.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">‘There is no official definition, which reflects the fact that until fairly recently definitions of this kind were thought to be self-evident, as reflected in the marriage liturgy,’ Senior Bishop Rt Rev Robert Innes said, when asked to define the word, according to reporting from GB News.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The remarks came in response to a question posed by lay member during the General Synod, who asked: ‘What is the Church of England’s definition of a woman?’</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The Bishop argued that the definition of a woman used to be ‘self-evident’ but no longer had a simple answer. Well, it does have a simple answer, a woman is an adult human female as established in Matt Walsh’s documentary released in June 2022, titled, What is a Woman?</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As Matt Walsh, author and filmmaker said: ‘People are too afraid to just say what they actually think about this. It is our empathy being used against us but it is being used against us in such a way that this lie, this insanity has taken over our culture.’ Walsh says the issue has split across political divides, and no doubt in an age when only the clicks count, it is not surprising that few are brave enough to challenge the concept that a man can be a woman, or that a woman can be called a non-man, or that boys who want to be girls can be surgically and chemically altered in pursuit of that end.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Why and how have religions, governments, and medical institutions bought into this insanity?</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And why are so many feminists not taking a stand against a movement, an agenda, that not only disenfranchises women, but seeks to eradicate them as an entity… As Walsh says, in recent years they have invented this sex/gender distinction and even more recently they have collapsed the distinction completely.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">We now have a situation where a man, complete with penis, can say he is a woman and be encouraged in that belief. We have chestfeeding not breastfeeding and a litany of terms that insult pregnant, birthing, and breastfeeding women. Why does any woman allow such abuse of her nature, her being, and her womanhood?</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Is it a case of the clicks where people are motivated in this age of ever-present technology to ‘behave’ in accordance with social agendas, regardless of what they may personally believe? Or is there something more devious at work? Whatever the answer, one thing is certain, women need to stand up and take back their unique identity as biological females, able to do things no man can ever do, and a precious sex which creates and gives birth to life.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Some radical and fringe elements of gender theory have decided to parody all that is female and feminine, while mocking the glory of womanhood. Never have some men been more dangerous.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">NB: And the madness continues with womb transplants into men, the womb likely to be coming from some young girl or woman who believes she is a man and wants to rid herself of the equipment nature gave her as a woman. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1fey0fg" href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/the-god-delusion-men-seeking-womb-transplants/?fbclid=IwAR2B9j9H423Kvqumb25BpT9m3nZngMDUnbHnuv_EJBMYRdqw0hqpvZvkL8k" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://www.spectator.com.au/.../the-god-delusion-men.../</a></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1fey0fg" href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/06/the-sex-that-dare-not-speak-its-name/?fbclid=IwAR3vrpcytMV74QI6mQ1VvtIbBd8lkX6ofNlFJTA1hBfVHvUuggdyxjUtZys" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://www.spectator.com.au/.../the-sex-that-dare-not.../</a></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" id=":r364:" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; position: relative;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1n2onr6" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="x78zum5 x14ju556 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz x1heor9g xt0b8zv x5yr21d xh8yej3" href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/06/the-sex-that-dare-not-speak-its-name/?fbclid=IwAR306NV8AyzmrnS88QTItZLNvENDA0aPJXsHX67HH_ACPokoJbuyhtukk84" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; height: 260.995px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; width: 500.012px;" tabindex="0" target="_blank"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x78zum5 xdt5ytf x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="align-items: center; background-color: var(--card-background); display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 500.012px;"><div style="font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 500px; width: calc((100vh + -325px) * 1.91571);"><div class="xqtp20y x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 260.995px; position: relative;"><div class="x10l6tqk x13vifvy" style="font-family: inherit; height: 260.995px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 500.012px;"><img alt="The sex that dare not speak its name | The Spectator Australia" class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x5yr21d x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy xh8yej3 xl1xv1r" height="261" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://external.fadl4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/2700148452928870702?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spectator.com.au%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F01%2FGettyImages_662116864.jpg&fb_obo=1&utld=spectator.com.au&stp=c0.5000x0.5000f_dst-jpg_flffffff_p500x261_q75&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AbEzx7Fz0MGEbfJfZyV6piI69Re0Gs6C2GvikUk4TDx2Ug&oe=649A96FB&_nc_sid=5d3fc2" style="border: 0px; height: 260.995px; inset: 0px; object-fit: cover; position: absolute; width: 500.012px;" width="500" /></div></div></div></div><div class="xua58t2 xzg4506 x1ey2m1c x9f619 xds687c x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy" style="border-bottom: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); border-top: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute;"></div></a></div></div></div><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62" style="font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz x1heor9g x1lliihq x1lku1pv" href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/06/the-sex-that-dare-not-speak-its-name/?fbclid=IwAR2j54kcSBuNjbbxK84naGkShoPNILM0yQBtvJFZQWOEyK1UKMuME-MoeUs" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank"><div class="xmjcpbm xdppsyt x1n2onr6 x1lku1pv" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); border-bottom: 1px solid var(--divider); font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1qughib x6s0dn4 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xykv574 xbmpl8g xsag5q8 x1pi30zi x1swvt13 xz9dl7a" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; justify-content: space-between; margin-left: -6px; margin-right: -6px; padding: 12px 16px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x193iq5w xeuugli x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xsyo7zv x16hj40l" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="x1e56ztr xtvhhri" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 8px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x3x7a5m x1nxh6w3 x1sibtaa xo1l8bm xi81zsa" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.2308; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xlyipyv xuxw1ft x1j85h84" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 1px; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;">SPECTATOR.COM.AU</span></span></div><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x9f619 x1lkfr7t x4vbgl9 x1rdy4ex xjkvuk6 x1iorvi4 xly2ba0" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; margin-bottom: -4px; margin-top: -4px; max-height: calc(2.35294em); overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x1lkfr7t x1lbecb7 x1s688f xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.1765; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 x1j85h84" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; display: -webkit-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 1px; position: relative;"><span dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The sex that dare not speak its name | The Spectator Australia</span></span></span></div><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xi81zsa x1yc453h" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xlyipyv xuxw1ft" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who would have thought there would come a ti</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></a></div></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-7148314192691120062023-06-23T12:55:00.001+09:302023-06-23T12:55:07.827+09:30CERTAINTY<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOtY5yveWqkuK_T64OA3785OJnUdy5JHpu9GYMMhYRV9ta88tQ8UEy4Rp7nGys7ikdxPJiDzXFnDpO0QLSDm9YtYMxNPnBFhzjPOWcmYEQzqaqj5srlw2thcevKJn-iIXGRICU6n5ocvMaQtfeUpzU2p6BSoSzArUawC_Zt7Kt9lIO17oU9lkmbo2vIE/s1125/storm%20lightning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1112" data-original-width="1125" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOtY5yveWqkuK_T64OA3785OJnUdy5JHpu9GYMMhYRV9ta88tQ8UEy4Rp7nGys7ikdxPJiDzXFnDpO0QLSDm9YtYMxNPnBFhzjPOWcmYEQzqaqj5srlw2thcevKJn-iIXGRICU6n5ocvMaQtfeUpzU2p6BSoSzArUawC_Zt7Kt9lIO17oU9lkmbo2vIE/s320/storm%20lightning.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">For
certainty was never born<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
never lived, to die;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">For
certainty is phantom- <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
world's best and greatest lie!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So know
it for illusion<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And call
it by its name,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">For
certainty can never rid<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">You, or
life, of pain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It's
nothing and it knows it,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It
answers to your call,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But has
no truth in being,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Illusion
… that is all!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Certainty,
that shadowed thing,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A light
both brief and clear,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It
flashes, teases, disappears<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
promises to be<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A
presence, sure and lasting,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A solid
place to be,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And then
it cries 'illusion' <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Destroys
the hope of dream.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It
dresses ever prettily,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It
primps, and pouts with glee<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It
dances on my hopes and then<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It skips
away from me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This
darkling, fairy being<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Is no
more certain now,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Will no
more keep its promise<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Than
life allowed it should.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-38609501905146220442023-06-13T17:10:00.003+09:302023-06-13T17:10:34.663+09:30WHEN WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE DON’T KNOW<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">If one thing is
certain in terms of the voice, most Australians do not really understand what
it means, how it will work and how it will be set up. You could be forgiven for
thinking that neither do those promoting a Yes vote. The reason for that is
because the Government which is pushing the voice has not explained in clear
and coherent detail such critical factors. <br />
<br />
<i>When has trust me, I’m from the Government ever worked?</i> Who would buy
anything on the basis of<i>, don’t you worry about how it’s going to work?</i><br />
<br />
Neither is the Government presenting Yes and No positions as it is required to
do under regulations pertaining to a Referendum.<br />
<br />
<b>Section 11 of the </b></span><a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2223/Quick_Guides/ConstitutionalReferendumsAustralia"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Act</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> requires the Australian Electoral
Commission (AEC) to distribute a pamphlet with a written argument for and
against the passage of the referendum. This pamphlet should be received by each
household with an enrolled elector not later than 14 days before polling day.
These written arguments (no more than 2,000 words each) are to be authorised by
a majority of parliamentary members who voted for or against the Referendum
Bill, respectively.<br />
<br />
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Now, clearly the
Government still has time to create and distribute said pamphlet, after
battering Australians with the guilt-waddy for months, and playing the
emotional card which was used, along with a lot of lies, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>now called </span><a href="https://conreform.sydney.edu.au/2015/06/indigenous-recognition-and-constitutional-myths/"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">myths</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">, to win the 1967 Referendum. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Advertisements promoting a Yes vote are now
being used by the Federal Government. Then again, the Act is hardly what it
once was, where previously, “it allowed the Commonwealth to only spend money in
relation to preparing and distributing the pamphlets and prohibits any
Government-funded referendum education campaign or advertising. However, in
1999 the Government legislated to allow additional expenditure, such as for
advertising, in relation to that specific referendum, and the recent history of
public funding of referendum campaigns has been relatively ad hoc.”<br />
<br />
So, the public is presented with a pro-Yes campaign from the Federal Government
in the months leading up to the Referendum, which hardly seems right, let alone
fair. And that leads most people to rely on what the media offers. Unfortunately,
in the realm of mainstream media, with some noble exceptions, there is more
promoting a Yes vote than making a case for a No vote. <br />
<br />
And given the lack of clarity on the voice and its structure, function and powers,
there is little basis for the average Australian to gain perspective. From what
is presented we have a suggested position that the voice is going to resolve
the problems in aboriginal communities, which it seems dozens if not hundreds
of groups and consultations, billions of dollars and decades of time and
attention have failed to do. <br />
<br />
How many live in such communities? A small minority. <br />
<br />
<i>Based on</i></span><a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/profile-of-indigenous-australians"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> projections</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> for 2022, among Indigenous Australians:
38% (344,800) live in Major cities. 44% (395,900) live in Inner and outer
regional areas. 17% (155,600) live in Remote and very remote areas combined
(Figure 2, ABS 2019b).<br />
<br />
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">So, a small minority
live in the troubled communities and the guess of how many are fully Aboriginal
in ancestry is around 1%. The data is hard to find because one presumes in this
age it is a no-no to enquire into such ancestry percentages, given the prevailing
view that Aboriginality is something spiritual and there is no relevance
between 100% of such spiritual ancestry or less than 1%. <br />
<br />
But, the most common presenting position suggests that Australians owe those
with Aboriginal ancestry special treatment because, they have been here a very
long time, 40,000 years, pick a figure onwards and upwards. Or rather, they
believe they can trace back their ancestry furthest and that makes them unique
and deserving of special treatment and what amounts to a louder and extra voice
and in essence, their own chamber in Parliament and an additional vote. <br />
<br />
How is any of that fair, constitutional, democratic or <b>not</b> racist? The
basic premise with longevity ancestry is that the further back someone can
trace some of their ancestry, the superior they are as a citizen, i.e. they
deserve special rights. This means that someone with 100% Aboriginal ancestry
is top of the ranking, although we don’t actually know if any of those here in
1788 were descended from the first Homo Sapiens to arrive on this land, and
someone who became a citizen last week is bottom. None of that is democratic
and all of it is an insult to Australians in general and migrants in
particular. <br />
<br />
We also have the insanity that someone like Senator Jacinta Price, if the voice
gets up, is a superior citizen along with her mother and her sons, and her
father and husband are inferior citizens, despite the fact they all live the
same sorts of lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would a Yes vote
mean that in divorce situations the parent with some Aboriginal ancestry gets
greater rights over any children? It could, because nothing has been spelled
out. And it is an important question because most Australians with aboriginal
ancestry are in mixed marriages. In fact, we have more than two centuries of
intermarriage which is why most Australians with Aboriginal ancestry are more
Anglo-European than anything else. This fact alone is a testament to the lack
of racism in Australia.<br />
<br />
<i>Analysis of the 2006 census reveals that 52% of Aboriginal men and 55% of
Aboriginal women were married to non-Aboriginal Australians. In Australia's
larger east coast cities, the intermarriage rate was well above 70%; in Sydney,
as many as nine out of 10 university-educated Aborigines had a non-indigenous
partner.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br />
But, with the shocking dysfunction and violence in Aboriginal communities, that
position also raises the question, since the entire group is deemed to be in
need of this voice, of whether or not any amount of Aboriginal ancestry
predisposes to serious dysfunction or inferior function at best. We know that
is not the case because the majority of Australians with aboriginal ancestry,
now numbering around 900,000 because we allow people to register as ‘native’
even with truly trivial amounts of Aboriginal ancestry, are doing fine. They
have the same sorts of lives and outcomes as other Australians, experience no
Gap and are as successful as the average and often more so. We see it in the
fact that with the inflated numbers for Aboriginality, those with such ancestry
make up around 3% of the population and yet are</span><a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/Quick_Guides/IndigenousParliamentarians"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> represented</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> in State and Federal Parliaments at
nearly 5%. These are the minimals who are fully assimilated into the modern
world and broader community and who have been for generations in most cases.<br />
<br />
They have absolutely nothing in common with those struggling in tribal/clan
communities for the simple and tragic fact, they are the least assimilated into
the modern world, and instead remain trapped in backward and violent aboriginal
tribal clan systems. This group of urban elites do not speak as one because
they are descended from different tribal/clan groups. In fact their only
capacity to speak as one is in English as Australians. Neither do they speak as
one in communities, riven as they are by familial and tribal/clan divisions. As
far as many in tribal communities are concerned, these Aborigine Lites are
whitefellas. Anyone who thinks that Linda Burnie, Marcia Langton, Ken Wyatt,
Lidia Thorpe or Noel Pearson live the same sorts of lives as those in
Aboriginal communities needs to think again. <br />
<br />
So, we do not have one voice among those who have been elected to Parliament
despite them all having some Aboriginal ancestry. We do not have one voice in
each Aboriginal community and we certainly do not have one voice from all
communities, let alone from every single Australian who has registered
themselves as native. And yet we are being asked to change our constitution,
betray our democracy and introduce racism into our society by voting for a
voice which does not exist and which will never exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
How could it? In 1788 there were between 350-500 different groups, most not
even big enough to be tribes, but instead, family clans, without a common
language and generally at war with each other. They were descended from waves
of migration across 40,000 years with the most recent thought to be the arrival
of colonists from southern India, who brought their native dog with them which
became the Dingo. Did those stone-age peoples eradicate anyone they found in
their path, apart perhaps from a few useful females? Probably, for that was the
way of it in the times. In a modern democracy 40,000 or 4,000 years are no more
important than 40 years or 4 weeks, for that is the nature of the system. <br />
<br />
In Aboriginal communities the clans are still at war with each other and as
Noel Pearson recently demonstrated with his </span><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/noel-pearson-attacks-fellow-indigenous-leader-over-voice-20230519-p5d9mi.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">attack</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> on Mick Gooda, there is infighting even with the elites. If
the urban Aborigine Lites are at war with each other what hope is there of a
voice even from this mob?<br />
<br />
And there are many notable Australians with Aboriginal ancestry like Senator
Jacinta Price, Anthony Dillon and Warren Mundine who are firmly in the No camp.
There is no unity even among those who are well educated and highly successful
in Australian society. And yet we are being told that Australians with
aboriginal ancestry, codename indigenous, need to speak with one voice and this
needs to be written into our Constitution, a document which is meant to
represent each of us equally. It would not even represent Australians with
aboriginal ancestry equally because there is no unity and there is no one
voice. Never was, never will be. <br />
<br />
Meanwhile, with nothing clarified or spelled out in terms of this voice,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Australians can only sift through the
propaganda and snippets of information, apply common sense and try to avoid
making a serious error of judgement which our children and grandchildren will
inherit to their terrible cost. <br />
<br />
On something as important as our Constitution and our democracy, <b>‘she’ll be
right mate, </b>’just doesn’t cut it. When you don’t know then vote NO.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-19703932665000231022023-06-07T15:37:00.001+09:302023-06-07T15:38:19.544+09:30The quality of being<p> Being is so hard to find,</p><p>because it hides in dim</p><p>places, where time and</p><p>mind muddle to make </p><p>real, to create that sense</p><p>which holds us in sure</p><p>ground; guides, protects</p><p>and binds us to self.</p><p><br /><br />Being does not know </p><p>itself unless we draw</p><p>a shape, smooth the </p><p>edges, tidy the frayed</p><p>parts of soul, and call</p><p>upon our inner spirit</p><p>to know the truth of </p><p>who and what it is.</p><p><br /><br />Being cannot be led</p><p>or directed, but only </p><p>enticed once we can</p><p>recognise that it exists,</p><p>beyond the ghostly </p><p>dregs and dross of who</p><p>and what we are, for </p><p>in those shaded realms</p><p>we are drawn into the </p><p>lap of endless being. <br /><br /><a href="https://dversepoets.com/2023/06/06/poetics-quality-poems/">Poetics: Quality Poems | dVerse (dversepoets.com)</a></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-69393943980940145622023-06-01T15:57:00.004+09:302023-11-08T12:12:51.543+10:30PALESTINE ACHES<p> </p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;"><br /></h3><div class="post-header" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10.8px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3211284280787280031" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 546px;"><p> </p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p><br /></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">The dead have silent teeth and empty throats,<br />they have no voice with which to speak, to cry<br />of all the horrors they have seen and been and<br />known; to call for justice, freedom from the<br /><br />power of those who kill to claim what is not<br />theirs, the land of others, who suffocate children<br />in waves of dust and shredded metal moments,<br />where blood and tears and destiny are driven<br /><br />deep into the waiting earth; dressing broken<br />fragments of their lives, their souls, their<br />hearts, that costuming of evil which war does<br />primp and posture into place, for those who<br /><br />are the victims, for those who cannot speak,<br />and for whom the only hope can be for others,<br />that their throats are not empty, their teeth<br />are not silent, their words are not crushed<br /><br />beneath the boot of evil and injustice and<br />military might, and that in the darkened<br />quietness of this awful, suppurating wound,<br />their only hope is that the voices of the living<br /><br />will be speaking out for those who lie strewn,<br />fleshed like scattered crops, in that harvest<br />which bleeds and grieves and slowly seeds<br />the fields of future justice in aching Palestine.<br /></span></p></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-47495829619254563052023-03-12T17:04:00.003+10:302023-03-12T17:04:24.322+10:30Why doctors can no longer be trusted<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that younger
generations of doctors are poorly trained and that an intelligent individual
researching for themselves, is often better informed than the GP that they see.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I read somewhere that the only thing medical students are
taught about vaccines are schedules and that few if any would take the time to
find out, how they are made, what they contain and what they are designed to
do. The word vaccine is in allopathic medicine today, the equivalent of the
Holy Wafer, something to be accepted without question as a matter of blind
faith.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This blind obsession with vaccines rides on the back of
materialist reductionist mechanistic science and the deluded belief that health
resides in some magic pill, potion or needle and Death and Disease can be
thwarted through chemical means and the manipulations of mere mortals.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Doctors today work under the Rumsfeld doctrine - they don't
know what they don't know and they don't know that they don't know. On the
subject of vaccines they are brainwashed and the vaccine industry is a cult.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Reading the histories of infectious diseases and the massive
changes made by improved living conditions provides perspective no longer
taught in medical schools.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In 1977, Boston University epidemiologists John and Sonja
McKinlay published a seminal work on the role vaccines (and other medical
interventions) played in the massive decline in mortality seen in the twentieth
century.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The McKinlay’s study was titled, “The Questionable
Contribution of Medical Measures to the Decline of Mortality in the United
States in the Twentieth Century.” Their data showed:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>“that the introduction of specific medical measures
and/or the expansion of medical services are generally not responsible for most
of the modern decline in mortality.”</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In 1970, Dr Edward H. Kass, of Harvard, gave a speech to the
annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, of which he was
then President. He warned his colleagues that drawing false conclusions about
why mortality rates had declined so much could cause them to focus on the wrong
things. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He said:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“…we had accepted some half truths and had stopped searching
for the whole truths.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The principal half truths were that medical research had
stamped out the great killers of the past —tuberculosis, diphtheria, pneumonia,
puerperal sepsis, etc. —and that medical research and our superior system of
medical care were major factors extending life expectancy, thus providing the
American people with the highest level of health available in the world. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That these are half truths is known but is perhaps not as
well known as it should be.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Macfarlane Burnet, Nobel Prize laureate for immunology,
suggested over half a century ago that genetics, nutrition, psychological and
environmental factors (ecological medicine) may play a more important role in
resistance to disease than the assumed benefits of artificial immunity induced
by vaccination procedures (Burnet 1952 p106). </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He suggested that in years to come society may have to
reassess the belief scientists were placing in vaccination. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He considered that genetic deterioration of the population
may be a consequence of universal mass vaccination campaigns and he postulated
that ‘some of our modern successes in preventative and curative medicine may on
the longest view be against the best interests of the state’ (Burnet 1952
p107). Burnet (1952) believed that genetic constitution was the most important
hidden variable in disease statistics.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Early in the last century, measles killed millions
of people a year. Then, bit by bit in countries of the developed world, the
death rate dropped, by the 1960s by 98% or more. In the U.K., it dropped by an
astounding 99.96%. And then, the measles vaccine entered the market.</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://financialpost.com/opinion/lawrence-solomon-the-untold-story-of-measles">https://financialpost.com/opinion/lawrence-solomon-the-untold-story-of-measles</a><o:p></o:p></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-14565284004650941082023-03-05T13:38:00.002+10:302023-03-05T13:38:06.231+10:30 ACT OF LOVE<p><br /></p>
<p class="MsoHeader" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US">The fruit falls swiftly from the tree,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">the bulls stand silent in the lake,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">the figure crucified is seen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">upon the framework of the dream.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">With arms spread wide and silent eyes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">they lift her high upon the boughs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">and turn her face towards the south<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">where white-flanked cows raise shining knives<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">above the meek and pious brows.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">With sure and steady strokes they strip<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">pink flesh from each initiate,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">to bathe in sacred waters then<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">the raw-bled truth of god and men.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">The wise man watches, monkey-faced<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">and clasps each paw in full embrace<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">around the pierced and bleeding feet<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">of Woman, raised … her Self to meet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">Then gathered in small, blackened arms<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">the corpse is carried to the edge<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">of water, sanctified and deep<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">wherein the Goddess counsel keeps.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">To lie beneath the water’s chill<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">and watch through full and empty eyes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-US">the blood-washed sacrifice above<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">has been her greatest act of love. </span>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-92124222608413591732023-01-22T16:26:00.002+10:302023-01-22T16:26:40.413+10:30PULL<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pull yourself together,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">they said.</span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As if I were yarn,</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>loose-stretched, ragged</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">at the edges;</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">a shapeless form</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">on life's hard block.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">But the tears had knitted</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">in my soul, with needles</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">piercing deep;</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">a shimmering sheet</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">of memories</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">to shawl my troubled sleep.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Pull yourself together,</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">they said.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As if I could take</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">the strands, taut-tattered,</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">tired and torn,</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and thread them through</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">again, on life's hard block -</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">so I did.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">83 (c)</div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-91176598961743940372022-11-14T14:51:00.000+10:302022-11-14T14:51:05.433+10:30Madness rules when there are no boundaries<p> </p><div class="article-header clearfix no-author-avatar" style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 3px solid rgb(90, 82, 83); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; position: relative;"><div class="article-header__text" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: bottom; width: 780px;"><h1 class="article-header__title" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Bold_1120138, Cambria, Georgia, "Times News Roman", serif; font-size: 42px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1; margin: 10px 0px 3px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">A society without boundaries is madness</h1><div class="article-header__author" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Futura BT W01 Bold", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 6px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/author/roslyn-ross/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #d30d1d; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Posts by Roslyn Ross">Roslyn Ross</a></div></div></div><div class="featured-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; z-index: 2;"><div class="featured-image__scaled-wrapper" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 550px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"><img alt="" class="featured-image__img wp-post-image" data-img-id="10751248" height="550" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" src="https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2022/11/god2.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=820&h=550" srcset="https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2022/11/god2.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=300&h=200 300w, https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2022/11/god2.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=820&h=550 820w, https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2022/11/god2.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=410&h=275 410w" style="border: none; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-style: italic; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: auto;" width="820" /></div><div class="featured-image__caption" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(237, 234, 234); box-sizing: inherit; color: #5a5253; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 6px 0px;">Getty Images</div></div><div class="article-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="margin-menu" style="box-sizing: inherit; float: right; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 160px;"><div class="floatyWrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 264px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="float-container floatyFloaty" style="box-sizing: inherit; left: 681.667px; margin: 0px 0px 54px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; position: fixed; top: 90px; width: 160px;"><div class="meta-box" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(90, 82, 83); border-top: 1px solid rgb(90, 82, 83); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 12px 0px; position: relative; width: 160px;"><p class="meta-box__byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Futura BT W01 Bold", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin: 10px 0px 6px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/author/roslyn-ross/" rel="author" style="border-top: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #d30d1d; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Posts by Roslyn Ross">Roslyn Ross</a></p><p class="meta-box__date" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Ital, Cambria, Georgia, "Times News Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;">13 November 2022</p><p class="meta-box__time" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma, Cambria, Georgia, "Times News Roman", serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;">5:08 PM</p></div><div class="sharing" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"><ul class="sharing__list" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; font-size: 0px; justify-content: space-between; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="sharing__item" style="background: rgb(237, 234, 234); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(221, 217, 217); box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-family: "Futura BT W01 Bold", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 36px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; width: 36px;"><a class="sharing__link sharing__link--twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/11/a-society-without-boundaries-is-madness/&text=A%20society%20without%20boundaries%20is%20madness" style="border: 1px solid rgb(237, 234, 234); box-sizing: inherit; color: #262222; display: block; height: 36px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; width: 36px;" target="_blank"></a></li><li class="sharing__item" style="background: rgb(237, 234, 234); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(221, 217, 217); box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-family: "Futura BT W01 Bold", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 36px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; width: 36px;"><a class="sharing__link sharing__link--facebook" href="https://facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/11/a-society-without-boundaries-is-madness/" style="border: 1px solid rgb(237, 234, 234); box-sizing: inherit; color: #262222; display: block; height: 36px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; width: 36px;" target="_blank"></a></li><li class="sharing__item" style="background: rgb(237, 234, 234); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(221, 217, 217); box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-family: "Futura BT W01 Bold", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 36px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; width: 36px;"><a class="sharing__link sharing__link--linkedin" href="https://linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/11/a-society-without-boundaries-is-madness/" style="border: 1px solid rgb(237, 234, 234); box-sizing: inherit; color: #262222; display: block; height: 36px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; width: 36px;" target="_blank"></a></li><li class="sharing__item" style="background: rgb(237, 234, 234); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(221, 217, 217); box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-family: "Futura BT W01 Bold", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 36px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; width: 36px;"><a class="sharing__link sharing__link--mail" href="mailto:?subject=A%20society%20without%20boundaries%20is%20madness&body=Read%20A%20society%20without%20boundaries%20is%20madness%20-%20https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/11/a-society-without-boundaries-is-madness/" style="border: 1px solid rgb(237, 234, 234); box-sizing: inherit; color: #262222; display: block; height: 36px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; width: 36px;"></a></li></ul></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body article-text article-text--post" style="box-sizing: inherit; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 220px);"><div class="advert-slot" id="test-ad-slot" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">Until we know the shape of something, we cannot begin to understand what it might be or what it might mean. It is in the boundaries, the borders, and the identity of something that we find meaning, purpose, and structure. When the mind has no such boundaries the result is madness. The same applies to societies.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">We know that children, particularly teenagers – despite huge resistance – require boundaries in order to feel safe enough to explore the process of their becoming. Societies, systems, and nations are the same because without the basis of order nothing is certain and in the madness of all things being possible, things become impossible.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">This is not to say that boundaries (which are our beliefs, traditions, practices) should not change or be redrawn, but that removing them quickly is disorienting and dangerous. Where do we fall when there is nothing to fall against? What stops us from tumbling into some abyss when there is no defined border?</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">The famous poem by Yeats touches upon the need for the centre to hold. Yeats reminds us why it is important that some things hold fast in order to retain a semblance of order, without which there is chaos. The poem reflects our age where we are tearing down the structures of the past at a sickening pace, leaving individuals and society vulnerable, like some crab that has discarded its shell and now creeps, soft, weak, piteously defenceless until a new carapace can be grown; until a defined, protective border is in place.</p><hr style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><blockquote style="border-left: none; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 24px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 18px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;">Turning and turning in the widening gyre</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;">The falcon cannot hear the falconer;</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;">Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;">Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;">The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;">The ceremony of innocence is drowned;</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;">The best lack all conviction, while the worst</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">Are full of passionate intensity.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">The Second Coming – William Butler Yeats</p><hr style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><div class="middle-promo" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 30px 0px 21px;"><div class="sub-content-promo big-bottom" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"></p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">We may not value many things which we have inherited from the past, but we should recognise that the fact they have been handed down means they are important in ways we do not understand.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">In every act of destruction of the past, whether statues, gender roles, political systems, traditions, we are removing the borders which have helped keep our world in place. Defined beliefs like armour which preserve and protect, and which can be removed slowly, in small steps. But, where if too much is discarded too quickly, we risk everything.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">And when we tinker with things we do not understand we unleash demons beyond imagining and believe that anything can and should be possible, or acceptable then we open ourselves and our world to much we may not have imagined. As the maxim has it – be careful what you wish for.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">‘<em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds’</em> are the words from ancient Hindu scripture, which Robert Oppenheimer quoted when he realised what had been created. There are more ways to create an atomic bomb than the literal.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">The pace of change in the Western world, in particular over the past century, has been faster than ever before. We humans have evolved over many thousands of years with certain beliefs that have underpinned our societies. While there can and should be variations on those themes, there are basics that form the glue holding society together. One of which is that there are males and females and they come together in committed unions and create life so humanity may endure. Another is that there is more to this world than the merely material and that we have spiritual needs which demand attention. The Ten Commandments, not surprisingly, reflect the basic rules which have enabled humans to not just survive but to thrive.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">A healthy society respects and preserves at least half of these rules for life – honour your father and mother; do not kill but protect life; honour the sacrament of marriage; do not steal; do not lie and do not envy others and covet what they have.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">The first four rules pertain to religion and in the past century, at least in the Western world, religion has declined and been demonised and mocked, by the new Mammon which is Science. We no longer believe in honouring our parents and certainly do not honour the sacrament of marriage between a man and a woman. Even telling lies is not condemned in this age, but at times, applauded. As to coveting what others have- all too often that is deemed to be a requirement and not a failing.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">So, out of the ten rules for life, or commandments as they have been called, we really only still hold to two – do not kill and do not steal. Although even here, the bed in which they lie is rotting because we do kill with abortion and euthanasia, and even stealing can be justified it seems. The Greens recently<a href="https://www.3aw.com.au/greens-councillor-defends-student-magazine-encouraging-shoplifting/" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #bb0c1a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> defended</a> an article that argued it was justifiable for people on low incomes to steal from supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles. No more of this transported to the colonies for stealing a sandwich stuff.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">This means the protective shell of such traditions which have held for millennia is pretty much in tatters. Which also means that ‘anything goes’ and that means absolutely anything. We already have people talking publicly in support of adults having sexual relationships with children; of men becoming women and vice-versa; of children being chemically and surgically altered; of sperm, egg, and womb being purchased so two men or two women can have a child – anything is possible, everything is accepted, and there are no rules to hold society together.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 21px; padding: 0px;">Not only does the centre not hold but nothing is held in place, in shape, in form and we barely conceive of the monster we have created, so well described by Yeats:</p><blockquote style="border-left: none; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 24px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 18px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, </em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it </em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. </em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The darkness drops again; but now I know </em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">That twenty centuries of stony sleep</em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, </em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 21px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, </em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: GoudyOldStyleBTW01-Roma; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?</em></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/11/a-society-without-boundaries-is-madness/</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></p></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-20291287541819239202022-08-30T12:18:00.002+09:302022-08-30T12:18:31.332+09:30The theory behind conspiracy<p><br /></p><div class="" dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="d2hqwtrz r227ecj6 ez8dtbzv gt60zsk1" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_4c6" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="alzwoclg cqf1kptm siwo0mpr gu5uzgus" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="jroqu855 nthtkgg5" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="gvxzyvdx aeinzg81 t7p7dqev gh25dzvf exr7barw b6ax4al1 gem102v4 ncib64c9 mrvwc6qr sx8pxkcf f597kf1v cpcgwwas m2nijcs8 hxfwr5lz k1z55t6l oog5qr5w tes86rjd pbevjfx6 ztn2w49o" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="m8h3af8h l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Roslyn Ross</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">30 August 2022</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>There is a lot of talk about fake news and conspiracy theories which, in the past, we would have called ‘rumours’. This is where the art of ‘cherry-picking’ becomes useful, because in rumours or conspiracy theories the ‘cherries’ are the fruit you must find.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There have always been rumours in the news cycle. They are stories that generally come to life because someone who ‘knows something’ says something to someone else – and on and on it goes. The jungle drums begin beating. It has ever been thus for humans. Social media is simply the modern version that has replaced pub gossip and chatting over the neighbour’s fence. The medium is as old as humanity.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Rumours also tap into that great human survival mechanism, intuition. Humans are connected beyond mere words. We communicate with each other at unseen and generally unacknowledged levels. Like bees in a hive, humans know things because other humans know something… That is why ‘word spreads’ so easily.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Word of mouth is not necessarily reliable, but that doesn’t mean it is completely wrong either. There are often elements of fact, truth, and reality scattered noisily between these whispers.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Social media works very hard to censor the ‘drums’ and limit the rapid exchange of information, rumour, and what we now call ‘conspiracy theories’. They have even created a new label for it: Fake News.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There are plenty of conspiracy theories running around – some more believable than others.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">A few crowd-pleasing favourites that will almost certainly get you dragged off by the fact-checking police include:</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Covid is a bioweapon.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">A cabal of powerful people want to reset the world.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There is a shadowy plot to solve over-population.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Microchips in vaccines to track society.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Covid vaccines, in one way or another, alter human DNA.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There are probably more, but let us consider which, if any, hold a grain of truth.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The idea of vaccines as a bioweapon is one of the top trending conspiracies in 2022 riding off the Covid pandemic. It is the subject of endless videos on unrestricted sites and has spawned a whole sub-class of conspiracies.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There is no doubt that controversial ‘gain of function’ research into viruses goes on in various labs around the world. While it is claimed that gain of function research is done with the best of intentions, any student of history knows that the ‘best of intentions’ can lead to the worst possible outcomes. It occupies the same space as ‘for the greater good’, ‘a better world’, ‘for your own sake’, and ‘no good deed goes unpunished’.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Gain of function research is dangerous. It involves deliberately adding functionality to a virus or organism. It is both a natural and artificial process. For example, scientists have sought to modify E. coli to covert plastic waste to tackle environmental problems.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Could it be used as a bioweapon? Absolutely. Even more likely are the dangerous unintended consequences, which is why the subject remains controversial. Given it is widely believed that Covid escaped from the Wuhan viral lab, the next question is, does China pursue bioweapon technology? Almost certainly, despite denials. The fact is, many nations pursue bioweapon technology, and deny it.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">However, it does not follow that Covid is a bioweapon.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">To quote Thomas Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins:</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">‘I haven’t seen any of the vaccine companies say that they need to do this work in order to make vaccines.’ He pointed out. ‘I have not seen evidence that the information people are pursuing could be put into widespread use in the field.’</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">‘Gain of function’ research could certainly be part of the development process in a bioweapon. Is the belief, rumour, or conspiracy theory therefore so silly? Not at all.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There is plenty of room for speculation, particularly when Covid centres around the highly secretive Chinese communist regime which locked the world out from conducting a proper and legal investigation for nearly a year. What they were up to, we may never know – although the answer will likely be ‘an accident’. At the same time, it could simply be another pandemic wave the likes of which humanity has experienced every century.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As a conspiracy, ‘Great Reset’ has an advantage over the others in that it is backed by the largest and most powerful closed-door lobbying group in the world – the World Economic Forum.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">How logical or sensible is it for people to believe that a powerful group wishes to re-organise the world, reset societies, make massive changes to how we live?</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Actually, it’s perfectly valid. The difference here is not ‘denial’, it’s an open debate about whether this proposed great reset – done for the ‘sake of the environment’ – is good or terrifying. It is a question of ethics, not existence.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There remains a great deal of scepticism, particularly in the press, regarding the ability of these global institutions to enact their printed wish to initiate a great reset (most news organisations have given up denying its existence). However, World Economic Forum’s projects continue to end up as domestic policy and so, like it or not, governments are falling under the influence of this organisation.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Is it by force? Probably not. This seems to be a genuine choice made by our leaders who are using the excuse of the Covid pandemic to enact Great Reset goals centred around the rise of militant environmentalism. It is a foolish act by politicians, given the soul of the Great Reset is the desire to end capitalist democracies and replace them with ‘more sustainable’ socialist states controlled by a mixture of bureaucrats and businesses.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The most powerful ideas are those proclaiming to have good intentions. It is easier to drag people along if you can convince them and yourself that this is in the best interests of everyone and that ultimately it is for the greater good.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">According to Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of WEF:</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">‘The pandemic represents a rare but narrow opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world.’</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Is the Great Reset a conspiracy or international policy? It is probably leaning toward the latter.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Population reduction holds the bizarre twin existence as both a demand from concerned eco-groups and a conspiracy by their opposition. It begins with the question, would the world benefit from reduced population? For the Climate Change alarmists (and their more rational environmental predecessors) there might be some gristle in this one. Too many humans, like too much of anything, creates a strain on global resources.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As for whether anyone is ‘actively doing something about it’, that’s where the conspiracy runs thin – unless it was coming from a secretive consortium of funeral parlours.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">If not killing humans, is anyone stopping them from reproducing? Overwhelmingly the answer is ‘the cost of living’. This is not so much of a plot as a natural reaction to changing circumstance.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Global populations are at their highest point in history, so it is unsurprising that even in China and India, there has been a shift. Both have fallen below replacement level (which is normal, considering eternal growth is not possible or advisable for any species). Access to contraceptives will naturally reduce population levels, but the conspiracy goes much further to claim it is part of some plot by the elites. It is the perfect example of an observable fact being co-opted into a grand conspiracy that doesn’t exist.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The fear over microchip implants is a logical fear given the rise (and celebration) of transhumanism (which is not a conspiracy). There are companies in Sweden that already microchip their staff as part of an experiment in augmented reality and during Covid, it was discussed whether governments should look at adding vaccine passports to these chips for ‘ease’.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Microchips in vaccines can easily be dismissed as nonsense, but the underlying fear of surgical implants linked to government systems is a genuine ethical debate – so it’s no wonder the conspiracy gained traction.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">This conspiracy theory might be fiction right now, but it hasn’t been ruled out as a probable future.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Lastly, if you really want to get yourself banned from social media, casually suggest that Covid vaccines ‘change your DNA’.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Interestingly, this conspiracy hinges on definitions. It is this confusion that is expanded on to turn a grain of truth into something more sinister. mRNA vaccines do manipulate the human body into producing the Spike protein to trigger an immune response. Whether this is a good thing or not remains in question, but what the vaccine does not do is permanently alter human DNA in a manner that gets passed down through the generations – which is the suggestion of most conspiracies.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The conspiracy is given extra weight when the question is changed to, can human DNA be altered? Yes. It was only a few years ago that a Chinese scientist went to jail for splicing the DNA of children (who were born) in an attempt to make them immune to certain diseases.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Could a new genetic treatment change your DNA in some way? Yes, it could. Is it likely? We don’t know. Is it possible? Yes, it is. Are the scientific answers offered to this fear a bit fluffy? Yes.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As evidenced by this selection of conspiracy theories, most revolve around a grain of truth. In essence, the most sensible thing to do in the face of what is called a ‘conspiracy theory’ is to not summarily reject it, but do a bit of work and have a good, long, hard think about whether or not it is possible, if it is likely, and decide whether these outcomes are something you would support and defend.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">One thing is certain, the human capacity to be suspicious, to exercise scepticism, and to communicate feelings, thoughts, theories, doubts, fears, hopes, facts is what has enabled us to survive and generally thrive for millennia.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There is also such a thing as gut instinct and we need to remember that. Humans lie and never more so than when they have powerful vested agendas. They lie even more when there are profits at risk and when they know they can ‘sell their story’ to the public in the name of good intentions. These realities are recorded throughout our human history and we ignore and forget their truths at our peril.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">When we stop asking questions, stop thinking for ourselves, and censor those who try, we are betraying the freedoms for which so many fought and died and squandering the future and hopes of our children.</div></div><div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Scepticism is needed more than ever in times like this. Not cynicism, but healthy, questioning, open-minded, clear-headed scepticism. Your government does not have your best interests at heart. It has its own. Become a questioner. Carpe Diem!
https://spectator.com.au/2022/08/the-theory-behind-conspiracy/
</div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="om3e55n1" id="jsc_c_4c7" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; position: relative;"><div class="om3e55n1" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="kgnml90y om3e55n1" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="alzwoclg lisst02g lq84ybu9 hf30pyar om3e55n1" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><a class="qi72231t nu7423ey n3hqoq4p r86q59rh b3qcqh3k fq87ekyn bdao358l fsf7x5fv rse6dlih s5oniofx m8h3af8h l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk srn514ro oxkhqvkx rl78xhln nch0832m cr00lzj9 rn8ck1ys s3jn8y49 icdlwmnq jxuftiz4 cxfqmxzd pytsy3co mfclru0v" fg_scanned="1" href="https://spectator.com.au/2022/08/the-theory-behind-conspiracy/?fbclid=IwAR2D-CEigo69R6tQfDXDj4iPco0syFepQIZETS9SFV91Z98bKWJvvLUCQEA" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; height: 260.984px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; width: 499.988px;" tabindex="0" target="_blank"><div class="i85zmo3j k0kqjr44 alzwoclg cqf1kptm lq84ybu9 hf30pyar om3e55n1 mfclru0v" style="align-items: center; background-color: var(--card-background); display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div style="font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 500px; width: calc((100vh + -325px) * 1.91571);"><div class="nuz1ool1 lq84ybu9 hf30pyar om3e55n1" style="font-family: inherit; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 260.984px; position: relative;"><div class="s8sjc6am ekq1a7f9" style="font-family: inherit; height: 260.984px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 499.988px;"><img alt="The theory behind conspiracy | The Spectator Australia" class="z6erz7xo on4d8346 pytsy3co s8sjc6am myo4itp8 ekq1a7f9 mfclru0v p9wrh9lq" height="261" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://external.fadl5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/17724583594139640348?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspectatorau.imgix.net%2Fcontent%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F08%2Fbill-gates.jpg%3Fauto%3Dcompress%2Cenhance%2Cformat%26crop%3Dfaces%2Centropy%2Cedges%26fit%3Dcrop%26w%3D730%26h%3D486&fb_obo=1&utld=imgix.net&stp=c0.5000x0.5000f_dst-jpg_flffffff_p500x261_q75&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AaqWaAUL3AMpITbjERyJyasulJOPY9T34yYlafQDcQk0ng&oe=630F1D31&_nc_sid=c504da" style="border: 0px; height: 260.984px; inset: 0px; object-fit: cover; position: absolute; width: 499.988px;" width="500" /></div></div></div></div></a></div></div></div></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-53843706933603872522022-07-13T11:32:00.000+09:302022-07-13T11:32:00.896+09:30Breaking <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">We are breaking into pieces,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">without Soul’s backbone,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">to hold it all together.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Crumbling into sad, small bits<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">of almost being, where we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">can no longer identify the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">shape of who we are, let<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">alone who we should be in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">this pockmarked form of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">creation without Self.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Where S</span><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">pirit weeps dark </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">tears, at the soft mound of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">shredded becoming and we</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">wait, to touch, the outstretched</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">hand of love which is forever</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">held in offering to firm Spirit,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #414042; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">as eternal connectedness. <br /><br /></span></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-61927836995192366802022-05-25T15:48:00.004+09:302022-05-25T15:55:30.461+09:30Living with uncertainty<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">A
SPIRITUAL LIFE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt: 15.6pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;"><a name="2289581295489930259"></a><b><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><a href="http://rosross.blogspot.com/2010/04/earth-sky-sea.html"><span style="color: #473624;">The meaning of the Word</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The earth, the sky, the sea..</span></i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">the bird, the ant, the you, the me...</span></i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">the rock, the fruit, the tree..</span></i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">it's all God....</span></i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">it's called to Be.</span></i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I use the word Spiritual a lot. I
define myself as seeking to live a spiritual life.</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">By that I mean a life where I have a
lot of time for God and little or no time for religion. </span><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Religion can of course be spiritual
but often it is not. And spirituality can be religious but it does not need to
be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">For me reacting to life from a
spiritual perspective means that I see everything, and I mean everything, as
having purpose and meaning as part of my spiritual growth. Nothing happens by
chance and good can come out of everything. It is of course far more complex
than that. And yet, at the same time, incredibly simple. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Having explored many religions in my
life I finally decided to stick with God and stay away from religion. Hence I
began to use the word spiritual a lot. So what do I mean? I have started to ask
myself that question.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">We need to understand what we mean
when we use words to describe who we are or how we live. We need to understand
what we are saying for our own sake.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The dictionary definition of
spiritual includes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">·</span><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">
religious: concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church; religious
texts; a member of a religious order; lords temporal and ... (<b>Yes, I am
concerned with sacred matters but not religion)</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">·</span><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">
apparitional: resembling or characteristic of a phantom; a ghostly face at the
window; a phantasmal presence in the room; spectral emanations; spiritual
tappings at a seance <b>(this is a part of what is defined as spiritual but not
an important part for me. These are effects not substance.)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Everyone
is different, every journey is different, every Soul is unique and that is why
each and every spiritual journey is unique. We may learn from the experiences
of others but we must always walk the spiritual path alone. Perhaps that is why
spirituality and religion make such odd bed-fellows. A religious life demands
that we obey rules, that we believe what others tell us, that we conform. While
a spiritual life demands that we live by our own inner rules; that we question
everything we are told by others and that we are guided by our own truth... a
truth which emerges from our intuitive relationship with God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">With
religion God is given to us - handed out on a patriarchal platter in the main.
With a spiritual life we are called to search for God in every moment of our
being. Religion hands God out in defined shapes and forms; spirituality offers
God without shape or form. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">A
religious life is bounded and hounded by rules; a spiritual life has no
boundaries and no urgency. A religious God is made in the image of man (mostly
men with female support staff) while a spiritual God is in any and every image
and yet without image for it is the source and being of all things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It's
interesting trying to define what one means by the use of a word and it makes
me realise how inadequate words are to describe such things. No wonder the
ancients decided that God was beyond words. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Carl
Jung said, 'symbol is the lost language of the Soul,' and the spiritual journey
is always symbolic. Within those images we find God without turning God into an
image. It is not an easy journey because so much of it is solitary and their
are no rules, except for the ones that you discover upon the way. But within
that place of terror where you realise that at the end of the day, it is between
you and God and your job is to do the hard work, there is freedom. When you
depend upon others and the beliefs of others you remain dependent; when you
depend upon yourself and your relationship with God, only then are you truly
free. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">And
the beauty of the spiritual path is that you can find God in your own way. It
requires a commitment to walk with open eyes ... most of the time anyway ...
and to remain open to all that is, knowing that within any 'death' there is
always 'rebirth.'<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">And
there will be many 'deaths' along the path. It can be no other way. And that is
why so few choose to walk the Spiritual Path for, as W.H. Auden so succintly
wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">We
would rather be ruined than changed.</span></i></b><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">We
would rather die in our dread</span></i></b><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">than
climb the cross of the moment</span></i></b><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">and
let our illusions die. </span></i></b><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">This
is actually the only quote I remember and I am sure there is a reason for that
as well. Perhaps as a reminder of how hard it is to let our illusions die. And
the most powerful illusion that we have and which most of us refuse to let die,
is certainty. For it is such a comfortable illusion that we never cease
striving to attain it. But illusion it is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Living
with uncertainty is the First Lesson on the Spiritual Path.</span></b><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-65896743606477788432022-05-04T14:04:00.002+09:302022-05-04T14:04:28.099+09:30We need religion and religion needs us<p> </p><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t buofh1pr l9j0dhe7" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; position: relative;"><div class="o6r2urh6 buofh1pr datstx6m l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm" role="presentation" style="cursor: text; flex-grow: 1; font-family: inherit; height: 1091.37px; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div class="k4urcfbm l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y l9j0dhe7 iyyx5f41 a8s20v7p" style="align-items: inherit; display: inherit; flex-direction: inherit; flex-grow: inherit; flex-shrink: inherit; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; max-height: inherit; max-width: inherit; min-height: inherit; min-width: inherit; place-content: inherit; position: relative; width: inherit;"><div class="rq0escxv buofh1pr df2bnetk dati1w0a l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm du4w35lb ftjopcgk" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 1; font-family: inherit; height: fit-content; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 36px; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div class="taijpn5t j83agx80" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; justify-content: center;"><div class="gcieejh5 bn081pho humdl8nn izx4hr6d rq0escxv oo9gr5id t5a262vz b1v8xokw datstx6m lzcic4wl ecm0bbzt rz4wbd8a sj5x9vvc a8nywdso k4urcfbm o8yuz56k jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v" style="border-color: initial; border-style: none; border-width: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--primary-text); cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; height: 1091.37px; line-height: 1.3333; outline: none; padding: 4px 0px 8px; width: 447.998px;"><div class="rq0escxv a8c37x1j datstx6m k4urcfbm" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; height: 1079.38px; width: 447.998px;"><div class="_5rp7" style="font-family: inherit; height: inherit; position: relative; text-align: initial; z-index: 0;"><div class="_5rpb" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: inherit; height: inherit; position: relative; text-align: initial; z-index: 1;"><div aria-label="What's on your mind, Roslyn?" class="notranslate _5rpu" contenteditable="true" role="textbox" spellcheck="true" style="-webkit-user-modify: read-write-plaintext-only; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: initial; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;" tabindex="0"><div data-contents="true" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="dot5f-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dot5f-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dot5f-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Religions offered structures to contain we mere mortals and despite some 'bad choices' generally they were systems which counselled integrity, honesty, charity and the nobler virtues we can find in ourselves, if we dig deep enough and commit to such a search with intent.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="c453o-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c453o-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="c453o-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="d9u8e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d9u8e-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="d9u8e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Without religion people will invest their faith, which from what I can see is an instinct and need, hardwired into humans, into some other structure or system which offers boundaries, i.e. some semblance of certainty, or at least the illusion of certainty, for a very uncertain world. Certainty is only ever an illusion but it is a very comfortable one.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="1m2as-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1m2as-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1m2as-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="9uhg6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9uhg6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9uhg6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">In this age science and its creation, allopathic medicine have become the new religions, carrying along with them a variety of cult forms for those with a tendency to excess, such as vaccination and climate change, to name just two. And both science and medicine, in a modern system which is materialist reductionist and mechanistic, are atheistic and devoid of ethics, integrity and the nobler virtues of mere mortals, despite their claims to the opposite. Given their material 'power' this makes them both very dangerous, despite the positive benefits they can offer. </span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="binv4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="binv4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="binv4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="220ns-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="220ns-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="220ns-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">We humans need a vehicle for our faith and our fear. Religions despite their flaws, were and are, safer receptacles for such often irrational and very needy faith, than the scientific system of enquiry or a medical system which promotes and requires fear to further its agendas. </span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="bbq3e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bbq3e-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bbq3e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="235n1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="235n1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="235n1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The decline of religion, and particularly Christianity, which, in its myriad forms, stands as the most ethical of all religions, has put us on a dangerous path. Why is Christianity more ethical than other religions? Because it does have a theology which calls on followers to care for others, all others, including those beyond the religion. Most religions have teachings and systems to care for their own, but Christianity stands out in history as a religion which sought to care for everyone, regardless. </span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="68bmr-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="68bmr-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="68bmr-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="fe9dn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fe9dn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fe9dn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And yes, certainly, at times that was part of a process to gather in converts, but often it was not! The call to care for others regardless of who they were tracks across time and history from looking after Lepers to ending slavery. It is Christian ethics and values which underpin the best of our modern Western world and we dismiss that at our peril.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="2b0hd-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2b0hd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2b0hd-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="4cu25-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4cu25-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4cu25-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Let us hope that modern science can be remade and that the physicists can lead the way:</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="f6ts5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f6ts5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="f6ts5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="b2j1c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b2j1c-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="b2j1c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Werner Heisenberg, German theoretical physicist and one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="9dlv1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9dlv1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9dlv1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="bom5f-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bom5f-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bom5f-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">“The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you."</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4fa86" data-offset-key="9j4db-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9j4db-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9j4db-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="rq0escxv du4w35lb j83agx80 pfnyh3mw i1fnvgqd gs1a9yip owycx6da btwxx1t3 i09qtzwb qpd6qd77 pmk7jnqg" style="align-items: stretch; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; justify-content: space-between; position: absolute; right: 9px; z-index: 0;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="kgtf8isp" style="font-family: inherit; opacity: 0.7;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41" style="align-items: inherit; align-self: inherit; display: inherit; flex-direction: inherit; flex: inherit; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; max-height: inherit; max-width: inherit; min-height: inherit; min-width: inherit; place-content: inherit; width: inherit;"><div aria-label="Emoji" class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz esuyzwwr f1sip0of n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql pq6dq46d btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl dwo3fsh8 g5ia77u1 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h du4w35lb" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; appearance: none; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="tv7at329 l9j0dhe7 thwo4zme s45kfl79 emlxlaya bkmhp75w spb7xbtv" style="border-radius: 50%; font-family: inherit; height: 36px; position: relative; width: 36px;"><div class="iyyx5f41 l9j0dhe7 cebpdrjk bipmatt0 k5wvi7nf a8s20v7p k77z8yql qs9ysxi8 arfg74bv n00je7tq a6sixzi8 tojvnm2t" style="align-items: inherit; border-radius: inherit; display: inherit; flex-direction: inherit; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; place-content: inherit; position: relative; width: inherit;"><div class="bp9cbjyn j83agx80 taijpn5t l9j0dhe7 datstx6m k4urcfbm" style="align-items: center; display: flex; font-family: inherit; height: 35.9954px; justify-content: center; position: relative; width: 35.9954px;"><i class="hu5pjgll bixrwtb6" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yD/r/YDaIX3GtHe8.png"); background-position: 0px -138px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 34px 596px; display: inline-block; height: 24px; object-fit: cover; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 24px;"></i></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="scb9dxdr qt6c0cv9 dflh9lhu jb3vyjys" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 0px 8px;"><div class="bp9cbjyn dwg5866k ccnbzhu1 eip75gnj tr4kgdav ue3kfks5 pw54ja7n uo3d90p7 l82x9zwi j83agx80 taijpn5t bcvklqu9 oi9244e8 bi6gxh9e h676nmdw ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="align-items: center; border-bottom: solid 1px var(--divider); border-left: solid 1px var(--divider); border-radius: 8px; border-right: solid 1px var(--divider); border-top: solid 1px var(--divider); display: flex; font-family: inherit; justify-content: center; margin: 32px 8px 8px; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><div class="k4urcfbm datstx6m qt6c0cv9" style="font-family: inherit; height: 338.958px; padding-bottom: 0px; width: 466.007px;"><div class=" l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="hzruof5a" style="font-family: inherit; pointer-events: none;"><div class="b3i9ofy5 l9j0dhe7" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="j83agx80 soycq5t1 ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gmql0nx0 gpro0wi8 datstx6m k4urcfbm" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spectator.com.au%2F2022%2F05%2Fbring-back-christianity%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR09zQdfOX7N7BW8y8QJB7aNvdbfQyYn9uxuxf5G0HAMpdvtN5G_Nii1_PA&h=AT3ccpX167rB10EEkEKDK6syx8LW3yDNxxol-xYx5DzI-1-dqgqy3uSmAf1CsbKy3BmS56l-7qceBK9UmNTsr0EgSykKr3WAB5gL5bO6jQ0k1JNeBSVPzZIfy8e_TgzVPAfLgvFJEuoiw2JzKw" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; height: 260.984px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; width: 466.007px;" tabindex="0" target="_blank"><div class="bp9cbjyn cwj9ozl2 j83agx80 cbu4d94t ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm" style="align-items: center; background-color: var(--card-background); display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 466.007px;"><div style="font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 500px; width: calc((100vh + -325px) * 1.91571);"><div class="do00u71z ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 260.984px; position: relative;"><div class="pmk7jnqg kr520xx4" style="font-family: inherit; height: 260.984px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 499.988px;"><img alt="Bring back Christianity | The Spectator Australia" class="i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 datstx6m pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 k4urcfbm bixrwtb6" height="261" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://external.fadl5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?w=500&h=261&url=https%3A%2F%2Fspectatorau.imgix.net%2Fcontent%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F05%2FFaith.jpg%3Fauto%3Dcompress%2Cenhance%2Cformat%26crop%3Dfaces%2Centropy%2Cedges%26fit%3Dcrop%26w%3D730%26h%3D486&cfs=1&ext=jpg&_nc_oe=7008f&_nc_sid=06c271&_nc_o2e=1&ccb=3-6&_nc_hash=AQEO68UAaoDU71sc" style="border: 0px; height: 260.984px; inset: 0px; object-fit: cover; position: absolute; width: 499.988px;" width="500" /></div></div></div></div><div class="linmgsc8 opwvks06 i09qtzwb rq0escxv n7fi1qx3 hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4" style="border-bottom: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); border-top: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute;"></div></a></div></div></div><div class="hzruof5a" style="font-family: inherit; pointer-events: none;"><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4" style="font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gmql0nx0 a8c37x1j p8dawk7l" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spectator.com.au%2F2022%2F05%2Fbring-back-christianity%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3ZKxML0KGuILsDGKsls_7VJpX4CCKuRK3VrRhJ6Kg22WVnfqkwd1fNGYA&h=AT3ccpX167rB10EEkEKDK6syx8LW3yDNxxol-xYx5DzI-1-dqgqy3uSmAf1CsbKy3BmS56l-7qceBK9UmNTsr0EgSykKr3WAB5gL5bO6jQ0k1JNeBSVPzZIfy8e_TgzVPAfLgvFJEuoiw2JzKw&__tn__=%2Cm" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank"><div class="b3i9ofy5 s1tcr66n l9j0dhe7 p8dawk7l" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); border-bottom: 1px solid var(--divider); font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 pfnyh3mw i1fnvgqd bp9cbjyn owycx6da btwxx1t3 b5q2rw42 lq239pai f10w8fjw hv4rvrfc dati1w0a pybr56ya" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; justify-content: space-between; margin-left: -6px; margin-right: -6px; padding: 12px 16px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u p8fzw8mz pcp91wgn" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="bi6gxh9e sqxagodl" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 8px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn iv3no6db e9vueds3 j5wam9gi b1v8xokw m9osqain" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.2308; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span class="a8c37x1j ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7 ltmttdrg g0qnabr5 ojkyduve" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 1px; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">SPECTATOR.COM.AU</span></span></div><div class="ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs rq0escxv a5q79mjw enqfppq2 muag1w35 e5nlhep0 ecm0bbzt r9c01rrb" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; margin-bottom: -4px; margin-top: -4px; max-height: calc(2.35294em); overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db a5q79mjw g1cxx5fr lrazzd5p oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.1765; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span class="a8c37x1j ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7 ojkyduve" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; display: -webkit-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 1px; position: relative;"><span dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Bring back Christianity | The Spectator Australia</span></span></span></div><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw m9osqain hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span class="a8c37x1j ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7 ltmttdrg g0qnabr5" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Around 5,000 years ago, humans mastered writing. This marked the transition from prehistory to history. It’s a fraught calculation, but there have been around 80 billion individuals in this historical…</span></span></span></div></div></div></div><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz p8fzw8mz pcp91wgn" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"></div></div></div></a></div></div></div></div></div><div class="datstx6m pmk7jnqg k4urcfbm rsx06lma pedkr2u6" style="background-color: var(--media-hover); font-family: inherit; height: 338.958px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; width: 466.007px;"><div class="j83agx80 pmk7jnqg feor4xix" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; left: 6px; position: absolute;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div aria-label="Change preview" class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of du4w35lb n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql pq6dq46d btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="bp9cbjyn hn33210v qrtewk5h j83agx80 fv0vnmcu qjjbsfad fdg1wqfs jxrgncrl ae35evdt qnrpqo6b s45kfl79 emlxlaya bkmhp75w spb7xbtv" style="align-items: center; background-color: var(--popover-background); border-radius: 50%; color: var(--primary-text-on-media); display: flex; font-family: inherit; margin-right: 6px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 5px;"><div class="sn2oo62a" style="font-family: inherit; transform: scale(0.8) translateY(0.2px) translateX(0.2px);"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yi/r/edB0rox25SM.png"); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 22px 66px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 20px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 20px;"></i></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div aria-label="Remove all" class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of du4w35lb n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql pq6dq46d btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="bp9cbjyn hn33210v qrtewk5h j83agx80 fv0vnmcu qjjbsfad fdg1wqfs jxrgncrl ae35evdt qnrpqo6b s45kfl79 emlxlaya bkmhp75w spb7xbtv" style="align-items: center; background-color: var(--popover-background); border-radius: 50%; color: var(--primary-text-on-media); display: flex; font-family: inherit; margin-right: 6px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 5px;"><div class="sn2oo62a" style="font-family: inherit; transform: scale(0.8) translateY(0.2px) translateX(0.2px);"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yi/r/edB0rox25SM.png"); background-position: 0px -44px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 22px 66px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 20px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 20px;"></i></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="pmk7jnqg jk2qo03r lthxh50u bk00n993" style="font-family: inherit; position: absolute; right: 2px; top: 2px; transform: scale(0.8);"><div aria-label="Remove Post Attachment" class="oajrlxb2 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz nhd2j8a9 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl bp9cbjyn s45kfl79 emlxlaya bkmhp75w spb7xbtv rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv j83agx80 taijpn5t jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 tv7at329 thwo4zme hn33210v m7msyxje m9osqain" role="button" style="--t68779821: 0 0 0 1px var(--shadow-1); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: center; background-color: var(--popover-background); border-color: initial; border-radius: 50%; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px var(--shadow-1); box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--secondary-text); cursor: pointer; display: flex; font-family: inherit; height: 36px; justify-content: center; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; width: 36px;" tabindex="0"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yE/r/oLCIjFQ_ypo.png"); background-position: -132px -74px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 190px 150px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 20px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 20px;"></i><div class="i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 b5wmifdl hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 c5ndavph art1omkt ot9fgl3s s45kfl79 emlxlaya bkmhp75w spb7xbtv" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: 50%; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div></div></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-56970946368254259372022-04-27T13:32:00.001+09:302022-04-27T13:32:15.228+09:30Tyranny<p> Tyranny of self is barely known,</p><p>ignored, dismissed, denied, and </p><p>yet so real in rustling through the</p><p>undergrowth of mind, sliding in</p><p>abandoned silence, fangs bared</p><p>and waiting for the helpless fall</p><p>of self, into darkness; so we</p><p>live and breathe in our own sub</p><p>jugation......</p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-63818714549081853722022-04-02T13:03:00.002+10:302022-04-02T13:03:28.632+10:30KNOW THYSELF OR KNOW NOTHING<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkkQ8p9HH1o571c6XFt6YNpZ8sEBW35RgB94lGP32ayZXg4ZrUKXASizltVxcTPPXhQeZeBTAA6dcBeDJrxuvxgPRnJ3_juxnIFSIsSbqP3K5zcKco5RGXODHrALuXGosyzE3ySxjoqane3QgzNG3q2FKeL8d428CcbGwOAtrJIdELKnzximWJ5g1y" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="102" data-original-width="495" height="66" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkkQ8p9HH1o571c6XFt6YNpZ8sEBW35RgB94lGP32ayZXg4ZrUKXASizltVxcTPPXhQeZeBTAA6dcBeDJrxuvxgPRnJ3_juxnIFSIsSbqP3K5zcKco5RGXODHrALuXGosyzE3ySxjoqane3QgzNG3q2FKeL8d428CcbGwOAtrJIdELKnzximWJ5g1y" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The last two years have reminded me and no doubt many others, of how easily people will 'fall into line' and support an official narrative, largely without question. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And that includes highly intelligent and well educated people and I am not saying intelligence and education necessarily go together for they do not. Someone with a string of PhD's may not be particularly intelligent and someone who left school at 12 may be exceptionally intelligent. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">However, we tend to think that a good education and/or intelligence will make people more curious, more sceptical, more questioning but that is also not a given it seems. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The desire to 'run with the herd' without asking questions is no doubt hardwired into our primitive 'reptilian' human brain because it was, for aeons a matter of survival that we remained a part of the tribe, the group, the clan given the difficulties if not impossibilities of surviving alone. The age of individualism, in which we live and which is barely a century old, does not take account of human biological, physiological and psychological realities and that is why so much can go so wrong, so easily. And it does, consistently. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The best laid plans of mice and men - did not arise in a vacuum.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Whether it is the success of bullying in getting people to comply to fascistic regulations and medical treatments in the name of Covid, or the desire so many seem to have in regard to the Russia/Ukraine war to be a matter of good versus evil or bad guy/good guy in absolute terms, there is no doubt that we humans can be herded into compliance and complacency very easily. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Covid was never a threat to the vast majority but most people believed that it was because officials told them it was, even though there was a wealth of information to counter what they were being told. Not only did most line up and hold out their arms for the genetic experiment, they had their children line up and hold out their arms for a poorly tested, unapproved and dangerous experiment. Why? Because being 'outside the herd' was just too terrifying. The evidence was there to be easily seen which countered the official narrative but most people dismissed, denied or ignored it. There had to be a Why for the What to my mind.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Ditto for the easily whipped up hatred of Russia for a war which was largely of US/Nato/Ukraine's making. Of course Russia is to be condemned but so are the Americans, Europeans and Ukrainians who acted in ways which made such a war inevitable. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">But do people want balance and an understanding of why this is happening? No, most want to hate one side or the other and split it into a very simple issue of right and wrong, good and bad. Why? Because taking sides in such a way projects evil outside of our group, herd, tribe and self. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Why would more people not want to understand why something is happening and ask the questions to find out? Because for thousands of years such a path for most meant alienation and death. Banished, ostracised, shunned are words which litter human experience across millions of years. And this inevitably lead to death. Although even isolation and the lack of connectedness with other humans is a trauma few can bear. We are hardwired to connect, to belong to a group, to relate to other humans. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Cultures of all kinds had various ways, means and methods to punish those who challenged the rules of the group and this must be 'written' into our genes in some way, or passed down consciously, unconsciously, emotionally through millennia. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It takes someone very brave or very foolish to challenge such rules. Perhaps it is why in some societies, the fool, halfwit, mentally inadequate member was honoured. The fool could say things and do things which the society would not generally tolerate. The dance of madness could serve a purpose. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Shocking things could be whispered, nay, shouted by the Fool who expressed what others dare not say. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And yet without questions, without some brave, mad fool asking questions humanity would not have evolved and the scientific system of enquiry would never have appeared. The 'rules' could be broken a little in the arts, in music, theatre, painting, writing, but humans learned that when it came to survival it was most important to follow the crowd, remain acceptable to the group and to be obedient and a 'good' citizen.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The adult desires the warm glow which comes from 'being good' as much as the child. Perhaps even more so because few of us believe we are truly good and most would never feel good enough. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It is interesting how often that phrase has been used 'doing the right thing' in regard to participation in the genetic experiment called a vaccine, for Covid. In truth, doing the right, sensible and logical thing would be to refuse the treatment given that it is all risk and no gain as any thorough research of both Covid and the Jabs easily reveals.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">But what people really mean when they say 'doing the right thing' is doing that which will gain approval from the group, the herd, the society, i.e. doing that which will allow you to be retained within the society and not banished into the borderlands where your survival is unlikely.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Look how easily some have turned against the Unjabbed as if they had committed some terrible evil, instead of simply refusing to participate in a genetic experiment which provided no gain. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And look how easy it has been to get most people to jump on the Evil Russia/Saintly Ukraine bandwagon? </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">So, for many people, thinking is just too dangerous and questions are not worth the risk they carry. Survival is all that matters, even if it kills you literally. Rejection or banishment from the group is the greatest fear of all. To be thrown out of the 'cave' into the darkness alone, is as terrifying to a human mind today as it was a million years ago. Not all human minds, but many, probably most. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It is this disconnect between what we may wish, what we may choose to believe, and our very human natures which creates so many problems and destroys some very good ideas with noble goals, like religion, democracy and the scientific system of enquiry. We ignore our nature at our peril. It is our unconscious nature, that which has been learned over millions of years, which will triumph over any conscious belief. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">This is why truly excellent ideas end up shattered at the feet of history. No more than dangerous shards of what they might have been. The great divide between what we think or believe and what we are hardwired to feel, think and believe can and does consume anything, including the greatest and potentially most noble concepts. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Take liberal democracy for instance. A great idea in concept but almost doomed to fail like the rest because human nature will decide the outcome far more powerfully than any belief. As it is, the war in Ukraine exists because the United States believes, at least during the time of a unipolar world, that it has the right and the power to impose liberal democracy on any country in the world.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Who would not support such a ‘good’ cause? Probably anyone who understands human nature, global dynamics, social and political realities and common sense. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There is the idea and there is the reality and unless the two can walk together, there will be failure and often terrible, ghastly, deadly, shocking failure. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I read a book many years ago about the difference between transformation and reformation which made the point that Reformers often create more harm than any intended good because they demand that their beliefs, ideas, concepts be projected and imposed on the individual regardless, all the while demanding a perfect expression of their concept.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">While Transformers, work with individuals to bring as much ‘good’ as possible out of their human realities accepting imperfection and understanding that each person is uniquely different and will transform in their own way. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">But, the key factor at work with humans is that we are social animals and that need will always speak with a louder voice than any system of belief. Particularly when we have consigned that reality to the darkness where it drip-feeds on ignorance and fear.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Know Thyself was carved into the sign over the gate which led to the Eleusinian Mysteries in ancient Greece and those two words hold the key to being the best that we can be as individuals or as members of any group. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Without the courage to ask questions we can know nothing, least of all ourselves.</div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-24192642908313535812022-03-28T15:09:00.007+10:302022-03-28T15:14:51.160+10:30Beware good intentions<p> <span color="var(--primary-text)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is nothing more dangerous than good intentions which become entrenched in a mechanistic system.</span></p><div data-pagelet="FeedUnit_0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="du4w35lb k4urcfbm l9j0dhe7 sjgh65i0" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div class="du4w35lb l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div aria-describedby="jsc_c_2kp jsc_c_2kq jsc_c_2kr jsc_c_2kt jsc_c_2ks" aria-labelledby="jsc_c_2ko" aria-posinset="1" class="lzcic4wl" role="article" style="font-family: inherit; outline: none;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="j83agx80 l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb hybvsw6c io0zqebd m5lcvass fbipl8qg nwvqtn77 k4urcfbm ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs sbcfpzgs" style="--t68779821: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); border-radius: max(0px, min(8px, ((100vw - 4px) - 100%) * 9999)) / 8px; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc dati1w0a e5nlhep0" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_2kq" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And that is because, human nature means the best of intentions will become compromised and often, dangerously and destructively so. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Take IVF as an example. The 'good intention' was modern science-medicine finding a way to help a couple become pregnant when they could not, or rather, had not, done it naturally. The gift of a child was the goal and who could quibble with that gift? Well, the children might when they grow up but let us stick with the presenting position of good intentions.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">What happened to IVF? It became a business, an industry a commodity where human lives were sold and bartered like ice-cream with no thought given to the humans created by the process and no thought given to the impact on society of procreation being made a profitable industry. We now have humans created from donated sperm, eggs, wombs with no connection in some cases to any of the donors and a total denial of their human and biological rights. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">We have gay couples buying the required sperm, eggs or womb and creating human life with the intention, of preventing the child and the adult from ever knowing their biological connections. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">We have women in Third World countries hiring out their wombs to be seeded with the end result of a stranger's sperm and another stranger's egg. These surrogate 'mothers' or foetus carriers, are poor and it is one way to earn money. What it might do to the 'carriers' or the resulting child is irrelevant it seems.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">So, what seemed like a good idea has been corrupted by the lure of money, which is generally what happens with human beings. This is not to say that IVF has not, in some cases, been managed with consideration, ethics and care but to point out that the industry has become something it was never intended to be, with costs which were never assessed because no-one thought through what might happen. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">When money talks, ethics, laws, regulations and common sense go out of the window. When you reduce human life to something akin to cooking up margarine in a laboratory you reduce human life and humanity fullstop. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And that is exactly what the outcome would be with legalising euthanasia. No matter how many promises of regulations, legalities, safeguards, once the Pandora's box of legal murder is opened, who knows where it will go. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, it is terrible to watch people suffer but is murder the only option? Surely there are other, more humane ways, to walk the last part of a path from life to death? Are we humans so lacking in innovation and creativity that we cannot find some other way to help those who are suffering at the end? </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">One thing is certain, good intentions will never be enough to ward off the evils which arise when we sacrifice our humanity, our integrity and our common sense in the name of a 'quick answer' to a problem.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">QUOTE:</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The liberal, humanist case against assisted dying</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The assisted-dying campaign is not as reasonable or humane as it appears.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">KEVIN YUILL</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">25th March 2022</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The campaign to legalise assisted dying appears reasonable and compassionate. Its advocates claim it would allow us to legally put an end to the unnecessary suffering of those who want to die. As Baroness Meacher – the sponsor of the Assisted Dying Bill currently making its way through the House of Lords – said of helping a friend arrange an assisted death in Switzerland: ‘I was motivated purely by compassion. But in the eyes of the law, my acts made me a criminal.’</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Although it looks reasonable and humane, this campaign to legalise assisted dying is anything but. As I will set out below, it is primarily based on fear-mongering; it would undermine the idea of moral equality that regards the killing of an 86-year-old as just as wicked as the killing of a 24-year-old; and rather than liberate the individual, it would destroy his freedom.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Moreover, as the history of the euthanasia movement shows, the undoubtedly genuine compassion of today’s assisted-dying campaigners conceals the disturbing utilitarian and technical view of humanity on which their campaign is ultimately based.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The language of assisted dying</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">If we are to understand assisted dying beyond the emotive case now made for it, we must pin down the modern terms. Euthanasia – literally ‘good death’ – is where the doctor acts to end life. It can be voluntary or involuntary. Passive euthanasia is death by omission – when doctors, either of their own volition or at the request of the patient, purposefully end treatment, knowing it will lead to death. Passive euthanasia might also include a patient refusing food and drink but still being kept comfortable by medical attendants. Such acts are legal almost everywhere. Assisted suicide is when the doctor provides the means but the patient takes the final action. ‘Assisted dying’, or ‘Medical assistance in death’ (MAiD), appears to be a compendium term that might or might not include some of the above.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Indeed, the terminology shifts according to timespan and geography. Little wonder, the terms du jour, ‘assisted dying’ and MAiD become blurrier the closer you look at them. MAiD implies assisted suicide in the United States but in Canada all but a handful of MAiD deaths are euthanasia rather than assisted suicide. The Netherlands, where both euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal, has no qualms about using the term suicide – which is considered offensive in the Anglosphere – in order to distinguish them.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Does the term ‘assisted dying’ help public understanding? No, it doesn’t. In a UK poll conducted in 2021, when asked ‘What do you understand by the term “assisted dying”?’, 42 per cent of Brits polled thought it meant ‘Giving people who are dying the right to stop life-prolonging treatment’ – a right that they already have. When considering that the majority of Brits support the legalisation of ‘assisted dying’, it is useful to remember that much of what they support is already legal.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">A fear-mongering campaign</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The campaign to legalise assisted dying often plays on people’s fears of how they and their relatives might die. Hence a typical campaigning video by Dignity in Dying, a leading UK-based assisted-dying campaign group, will feature a person dying painfully in hospital, begging the doctor to make it stop. He or she will be surrounded by relatives, who tearfully plead with hospital staff to end it. Many watching such short films will recall the death of a loved one and are genuinely horrified at the prospect that anyone else should have to suffer like that.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The liberal, humanist case against assisted dying</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">But how true is this scenario? Not very. In 2019, the CEO of Hospice UK, a charity that works with those experiencing death, dying and bereavement, publicly chastised Dignity in Dying for the ‘sensationalist and inaccurate’ portrayal of death in a video to accompany its ‘The Inescapable Truth’ campaign.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Dignity in Dying eventually removed that particular video but it is persisting with its scare tactics. It continues to claim that 17 people will suffer as they die every day. What it does not say is that an estimated 1,700 people die every day in the UK. That means, according to Dignity in Dying’s own statistics, that less than one per cent of the population will suffer as they die.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Besides, the focus on averting pain is misleading. In fact, pain does not feature in the top five reasons why people opt for death in nations and states where assisted suicide is legal.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The freedom to die?</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Is there not a case for justifying assisted dying on grounds of individual freedom and the right to choose? Surely assisted dying is a case of volenti non fit injuria (to one who volunteers, no harm is done)? As Article 4 of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789) had it: ‘Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else.’</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">John Stuart Mill addressed a similar argument, in relation to the freedom to sell oneself into slavery, in On Liberty. The reasons for doing so, as with asking to be killed, might be entirely virtuous, he argued. For example, someone might wish to sacrifice his freedom for that of his children and be promised remuneration for selling himself into slavery. But, as Mill explains: ‘The reason for not interfering, unless for the sake of others, with a person’s voluntary acts, is consideration for his liberty… But by selling himself for a slave, he abdicates his liberty… The principle of freedom cannot require that he should be free not to be free. It is not freedom, to be allowed to alienate his freedom.’ (1)</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Suicide, assisted or otherwise, can be seen in the same light, as an alienation of an individual’s freedom. Indeed, death is absolutely destructive of freedom. As Mill would have it, it is not freedom to be allowed to destroy one’s freedom. If we are to regard each individual human life as a good, as something to be valued in and of itself, then we must oppose the destruction of an individual life. To be free to die is no freedom at all.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Lives worth living</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Assisted-dying campaigners often try to separate those who should have the right to die from those who should not. Dignity in Dying, for instance, draws an imaginary line between the ‘dying’ and those who are not dying imminently. According to Dignity in Dying, the ‘dying’ are those who are about to die soon and therefore should be allowed to kill themselves, whereas those with more than six months to live should have no right to kill themselves and strenuous efforts must be made to prevent them from doing so.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The charity, Humanists UK, however, argues that ‘we do not think that there is a strong moral case to limit assistance to terminally ill people alone…’. And campaign group My Death, My Decision also rejects restricting assisted suicide to the terminally ill. Yet even these organisations refrain from campaigning for the right of all competent adults who want to die to be assisted in their suicides. They just draw different lines between those whose lives are worth living and those whose are not.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Moreover, virtually all assisted-dying advocates argue that doctors should ultimately be in charge of the process of deciding who is entitled to an assisted death. Even in Switzerland, where assisting a suicide is legal so long as there is no monetary interest involved, doctors are expected to facilitate suicides.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">This is a serious problem. The decision as to whose life is no longer deemed worth living effectively rests with medical authorities or other representatives of the state. It is up to them to decide who should live and who should die.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">That is what legalising assisted death means in practice – a declaration that some people, placed in certain categories, lead lives that are less worth living than others. The implications are not only frightening, they also point to the grim past of the euthanasia movement.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">A dark history</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">‘Euthanasia’ is a very modern concept. The word, literally meaning ‘good death’, existed in Ancient Greece, but it referred principally to the idea of living well before death.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Circulating in English from the 17th century onwards, euthanasia acquired its contemporary ‘mercy killing’ sense in the late 19th century. In a paper given to the Birmingham Speculative Club in 1869, someone called Samuel D Williams was one of the first to give it its modern meaning. ‘Why, it must be asked again’, he said, ‘should all this unnecessary suffering be endured? The patient desires to die; his life can no longer be of use to others…’ (2)</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Some freethinkers did indeed think there was a right to die. The famous secularist Robert Ingersoll, who published a pamphlet in 1894 entitled Is Suicide a Sin?, answered with his own question with a resounding ‘no’: ‘So I insist that the man being eaten by… cancer – a burden to himself and others, useless in every way – has the right to end his pain and pass through happy sleep to dreamless rest.’ (3)</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Yet Williams, Ingersoll or anyone else at the time never imagined that suicide – a solitary act – should be assisted.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Only in the early part of the 20th century did euthanasia proper come to the fore. In the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany, there were several unsuccessful attempts to legalise euthanasia. This pro-euthanasia campaign emerged against a political background increasingly dominated by eugenics. While ‘Social Darwinism’ implied that the fittest would survive if nature weeded out society’s losers, eugenics favoured active intervention to assist natural selection. As the German zoologist Robby Kossmann put it at the end of the 19th century, the state ‘must reach an even higher state of perfection, if the possibility exists in it, through the destruction of the less well-endowed individual… The state only has an interest in preserving the more excellent life at the expense of the less excellent.’ (4)</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">In 1913 Roland Gerkan, who was dying from tuberculosis at the time, petitioned the German parliament, asking for those in his situation to be allowed to be dispatched by a physician. He insisted that it be voluntary but insisted ‘examining doctors’ should determine whether or not ‘the patient would recover permanent ability to work’. He further noted that euthanasia should be ‘equally applicable to the elderly and crippled’ (5).</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">In 1920 Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche published the pamphlet, Permitting the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Living. They argued that ‘there are indeed human lives in whose continued preservation all rational interest has permanently vanished’ (6). Psychiatrist and neurologist Robert Gaupp – remembered for his principled defence of a man with Jewish associations in opposition to the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 – was referring to mentally disabled people when he said that it was time to remove ‘the burden of the parasites’ (7).</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Such views reached their grim culmination in the Nazis’ infamous T4 Aktion programme – an involuntary euthasia project responsible for an estimated 300,000 deaths of mentally and physically disabled patients between 1939 and 1945. Of course, no one should infer that these brutal killers bear any relation to today’s assisted-dying campaigners – who are, in general, sincerely compassionate in their motivations. But nor should we view the T4 Aktion programme as entirely distinct from the wider euthanasia movement.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">These sentiments were not restricted to Germany. In the US, supporters of euthanasia were equally vocal. ‘Our puny sentimentalism has caused us to forget that a human life is sacred only when it may be of some use to itself and to the world’, said the famous deaf, dumb and blind woman, Helen Keller. In the early years of the 20th century, Dr Ella K Dearborn cheerfully called for ‘euthanasia for the incurably ill, insane, criminals and degenerates’ (<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;"> And in the UK in 1931, Sir James Purves-Stewart, a physician at Westminster Hospital and future member of the Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation Society – the forerunner of Dignity in Dying – called on his countrymen to give euthanasia ‘most serious consideration’ because of ‘a grave menace to the future of the state’ and ‘race’. Another prominent ELS member, the psychiatrist and eugenicist, AF Tredgold, told the British Medical Journal that euthanasia should ‘also be extended to include incurable low-grade defectives. It is true that these would be incapable of consent, but their inclusion would appear to be a logical sequence of the proposal.’ (9)</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Against assisted dying</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">After the Second World War, and the horrors of the Nazism, the word if not the meaning of euthanasia fell into a certain disrepute. In 1950 a euthanasia proponent writing in the New Republic called for a new terminology: ‘If we call these situations “assisted suicide” rather than “mercy killing”, the moral content would be considerably changed.’ (10) Assisted suicide, though, had to wait until the 1980s to enter common parlance.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Today, of course, the campaign for assisted dying is very different to that for euthanasia before the Second World War. But some of the same utilitarian concerns about certain people being a burden and a drain on resources persist just below the surface of today’s assisted-dying discourse. For example, in the Netherlands, where euthanasia and assisted suicide have been legal since 2001, mainstream political parties have expressed support for the Completed Life Initiative. Based on a 2010 campaign that boasted 117,000 supporters, the CLI promises euthanasia for those over the age of 74 who are ‘tired of life’. That this age group is also deemed the least productive in society should worry us all.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Then there is the widespread use of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), a measure of a person’s ability to carry out daily activities, free from pain and mental disturbance. This measure allows states to rationalise resources, especially medical resources, according to the ‘quality’ of the years a person might have left. Proponents of assisted suicide often employ QALY measurements to assert that the lives of people with certain conditions are not worth living. As two researchers argue, ‘denying access to assisted dying means that patients remain alive (against their wishes), and this can often necessitate considerable consumption of resources’ (12).</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Legalising assisted dying should not be regarded as a simple step to bring relief to a very few. It is a huge step that will lead to some people’s lives – on physical, or sometimes mental grounds – being deemed not worth living. That is a dire and dangerous situation. There is wisdom yet in the famous old Christian precept, thou shalt not kill.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Kevin Yuill teaches American studies at the University of Sunderland.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(1) On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill, Norton, 1975, p95.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(2) ‘Euthanasia’, by Samuel D Williams, in Essays of the Birmingham Speculative Club, William Morley, 1874, pp210-237.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(3) The Works of Robert Ingersoll, by Robert Ingersoll, Dresden Publishing Co, 1900, Vol 4, p389.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(4) Cited in ‘Darwinism and Death: Devaluing Human Life in Germany 1859-1920’, by Richard Weikart, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol 63, No 2 (April, 2002), pp323-344, 330.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(5) Death and Deliverance: ‘Euthanasia’ in Germany, 1900-1945, by Michael Burleigh, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp13-14.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(6) ‘Die Freigabe der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens: Ihr Maß und ihre Form’, by Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche, (tr Thomas Dunlop), in Spurensuche: Eugenik, Sterilisation, Patientenmorde und die v. Bodelschwinghschen Anstalten Bethel 1929-1945, edited by Matthias Benad in conjunction with Wolf Kätzner and Eberhad Warns, Bethel-Verlag, 1997, pp179-86.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(7) Death and Deliverance: ‘Euthanasia’ in Germany, 1900-1945, by Michael Burleigh, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp13-14.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;">‘Would slay criminals, insane, incurably ill, and degenerates: For the good of Society: famous women physicians offer some startling ideas’, Seattle Star, 24 Aug 1905.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(9) ‘A Prey on Normal People: C Killick Millard and the Euthanasia Movement in Great Britain, 1930-55’, by Ian Dowbiggin, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol 36, No 1 (2001) pp59-85, 69, 70.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(10) Cited in ‘Euthanasia and Modern Morality: Their Moral Implications’, by Thomas Q Martin, The Jurist Vol X (January-October, 1950), pp437-464, 460, fn73.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">(11) ‘Counting the Cost of Denying Assisted Dying’, by David Shaw and Alec Morton, Clinical Ethics, 10 March 2020.</div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-41005768025615823612022-03-27T15:24:00.002+10:302022-03-27T15:24:32.139+10:30This world<p> <span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">We live on a sphere which we call Planet Earth, which is always turning in a circle and at the same time circling around the Sun.</span></p><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="du4w35lb k4urcfbm l9j0dhe7 sjgh65i0" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div class="du4w35lb l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div aria-describedby="jsc_c_1uc jsc_c_1ud jsc_c_1ue jsc_c_1ug jsc_c_1uf" aria-labelledby="jsc_c_1ub" aria-posinset="1" class="lzcic4wl" role="article" style="font-family: inherit; outline: none;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="j83agx80 l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb hybvsw6c io0zqebd m5lcvass fbipl8qg nwvqtn77 k4urcfbm ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs sbcfpzgs" style="--t68779821: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); border-radius: max(0px, min(8px, ((100vw - 4px) - 100%) * 9999)) / 8px; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_1ud" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Our world appears flat and still, with no sense of the sphere or the circling. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">This planet is finely tuned for life: so finely tuned that the slightest tiny change would have made life impossible. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And yet there are those, particularly in the realms of science, who would have us believe that this miraculous reality is the result of pure, random chance.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">How can such perfection and such beauty be without meaning and purpose? Common sense, reason and logic would say the evidence for design is so overwhelming, that it could not be without purpose or meaning.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">We may not know why we are here or why this world exists so perfectly for us, but we can be certain that we and the world exist for a purpose. Honouring that purpose and finding meaning in all that exists is a noble cause.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There is nothing so small, so seemingly insignificant which is not a part of this marvellous, miraculous, perfect plan.</div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEid-ymyqrluu1o80GhSdazVzg8LhBduzARa4XPhC4jUEL1YaFSwaK9I3pRsJFNYBpInDNiueooFnqk9F_YW9zcfG1E822I4Q2307lZ2pLaaF8FpcEnt-56wDTHGG0FrFiGHy6cICg-OBqdOdO-tjMvvn3jjTwxNWB7VHuYchCzwfXnxw3ptcU2Yjyaa" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEid-ymyqrluu1o80GhSdazVzg8LhBduzARa4XPhC4jUEL1YaFSwaK9I3pRsJFNYBpInDNiueooFnqk9F_YW9zcfG1E822I4Q2307lZ2pLaaF8FpcEnt-56wDTHGG0FrFiGHy6cICg-OBqdOdO-tjMvvn3jjTwxNWB7VHuYchCzwfXnxw3ptcU2Yjyaa" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="du4w35lb k4urcfbm l9j0dhe7 sjgh65i0" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div class="du4w35lb l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div aria-describedby="jsc_c_1xa jsc_c_1xb jsc_c_1xc jsc_c_1xe jsc_c_1xd" aria-labelledby="jsc_c_1x9" aria-posinset="3" class="lzcic4wl" role="article" style="font-family: inherit; outline: none;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="j83agx80 l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb hybvsw6c io0zqebd m5lcvass fbipl8qg nwvqtn77 k4urcfbm ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs sbcfpzgs" style="--t68779821: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); border-radius: max(0px, min(8px, ((100vw - 4px) - 100%) * 9999)) / 8px; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="cwj9ozl2 qbxu24ho bxzzcbxg lxuwth05 h2mp5456 ue3kfks5 pw54ja7n uo3d90p7 l82x9zwi goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 frvqaej8 ed0hlay0 afxsp9o4 jcgfde61 tvfksri0 ozuftl9m" style="border-bottom-color: var(--divider); border-left-color: var(--divider); border-radius: 8px; border-right-color: var(--divider); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--divider); border-width: 1px; font-family: inherit; margin-left: 12px; margin-right: 12px;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="hqeojc4l" style="font-family: inherit; margin-top: -1px;"><div class="dati1w0a hv4rvrfc osnr6wyh" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px;"><div class="btwxx1t3 j83agx80 cwj9ozl2" style="background-color: var(--card-background); display: flex; flex-direction: row; font-family: inherit;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><br /><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><h3 class="gmql0nx0 l94mrbxd p1ri9a11 lzcic4wl aahdfvyu hzawbc8m" style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><div class="jq4qci2q ekzkrbhg a3bd9o3v" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333;"></div></h3></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-56057280725872439492022-03-07T11:57:00.001+10:302022-03-07T11:57:15.480+10:30Letter from Russia Two<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Letter
from </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;" w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> - 2006</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It
was fried eggs and bread fried in butter for breakfast at our guesthouse, The
Prophylactoria, in Malaysheva where we have come to visit an emerald mine. The
butter came from our supplies, purchased on the way down from Ekaterinburg
airport, and was used lavishly until Elena, our translator, saw fit to rescue large dollops from the pan
and demanded discipline in the kitchen. Toast seems not to be a Russian dish
although it can be found in the major hotels that cater for foreigners. But here, on the flanks of the Urals, where
Europe meets <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place>, it appears, when requested,
as small slices of baguette browned on either side in a buttery pan.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
white-coated ladies also rustled up
blinis (pancakes) filled with cottage cheese and we made our own tea and coffee.
On the first morning I made a feeble attempt to get some hot water but with
non-existent language beyond, <b>spaseeba</b> (thankyou) and <b>dobra
outro</b> (good morning), which doesn’t get you far and faced with a natural
Russian tendency to respond aggressively in the face of confusion, or any
possibility of a mistake being made, I
soon made a tactical retreat and scuttled back to my side of the
servery to wait for Elena to appear.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It
is something I will notice often in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>, the nervousness and
embarrassment which becomes impatience and even anger when people fear they may
be wrong or in danger of making a mistake. It is different to the importance of
‘face’ that is found in Asia and perhaps has more to do with the fact that for
so long in Russia, to be ‘wrong’ was at best dangerous and at worst, deadly. No
doubt there is also an element of pride involved, even more so now that people
feel they have less of which they can be proud.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But
beyond the confusion and frustrations that people seem to reveal when there is
not a common language, resides a warmth and easy humour. Sign language is what
draws us together and which readily brings smiles, even from the most stern-jawed
babuschka. I am finding though, despite the stereotypical portrayals of the
large-breasted guardians of the many portals,
which has been so long depicted in various writings, that it is the men who are
severe and humourless and the women who are warm and ever-ready to laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
hot water situation is ultimately resolved
by borrowing an electric kettle from the mine manager’s office which we carry
down each morning along with our teapot, coffee plunger, Vegemite and
marmalade. The marmalade goes particularly well with the blinis and even Elena
decides this is a good combination. She has less interest in the Vegemite and
agrees that it is an ‘acquired taste’ and, on reflection, one that she has no
desire to acquire.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">After
breakfast we head outside to make phone calls. Our mobiles barely function
inside the building and usually only work on one particular side if they work
at all. But even in the carpark we are called upon to perform the ‘signal
dance’ in order to find the right ‘spot’ where a connection can be made. The
mornings are crisp even at the end of summer, following in the footsteps of
cool, fresh nights. Every now and again, a breeze passes, rustling like shaken
sellophane through the branches of the trees; whispering of winter despite the
warmth of the sun. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> Within weeks, we are told, the temperature
will drop and the freeze will begin. It can get to minus 30 around here without
even trying. The pipes that run, head
height, along the road, rising higher above driveways, twisting around
obstacles, will carry heating through the winter, for as long as the municipal
source is operating. It’s probably a better bet than the Prophylactoria boiler
which has condemned residents to cold showers more than once. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
gardens surrounding the Prophylactoria are lush, green and littered. It is not
filthy litter but paper, bottles and cans dropped, no doubt, by the locals who
use the area for picnics in the evening. They say that once all of this was
immaculate. Now the roads are rutted, the footpaths broken, the fences sagging
and the buildings stained and mouldering.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But
the people walking along the street look healthy and well dressed and the cows
that graze in the overgrown gardens are
fatly content. There is an air of poverty but it is more the poverty of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Portugal</st1:country-region> than Africa or <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>, although one is reminded of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Zambia</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
copper belt where the same sort of decay has dribbled slowly but surely over
decades, from the cup of former glory.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">When
we drive to the office which is just around the corner, we pass the local
supermarket where the babuschkas (grandmothers) sit in the car park behind
piles of large, scarlet, home-grown tomatoes, chatting contentedly with each
other while keeping a weather eye out for the small children playing in front
of them. No doubt the mothers are at work and the State-run daycare centres have
long since closed their doors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Visiting
the mine at Malaysheva is like entering a Soviet time-warp. Reality taps loudly
on the scene with an all pervading sense of shabbiness and decay. We drive past
the huge red hammer and sickle sculpture by the front gate and rattle down the
long driveway, flanked on either side by unkempt vegetation. One of the first tasks that the mine manager,
Jimmie, undertakes is to tidy all this up, and, when he does restore it to order, the old ladies return to sit on the
park benches, nodding their heads in satisfaction and saying: ”This is how it
used to be. This is how it is meant to be.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
mine was built in the 1970’s but has a distinctly fifties feel. It’s a world of vinyl and veneer run to seed,
which is saying a lot given that it wasn’t particularly tasteful to start with.
The language of the glory days was florid and loud, from the now rusting Soviet symbol at the
front gate to the huge stainless steel human figure in front of the office
building. This gigantic metal sculpture seems to have weathered the years far
better than the decorative concrete pillars in the forecourt and the colourful
mosaic by the sagging front door; now broken symbols of broken dreams. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
sculptures and the mosaics, there is another one on the inner stairway, are
designed to immortalize the proletariat and glorify the worker and yet the
Soviet era saw those who ruled living as
elites, separated by power and privilege from the ordinary people. The Soviets
created no more than a variation on the theme of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s eternal divide between
aristocrat and serf. There may have been greater opportunity and justice for
those at the bottom but there was not equality. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
the Soviet era, says Elena, it was all about power not money. She says this in a way that suggests somehow
it was more honourable to grasp simply for power. These days it is clearly
about both; the twin fires of human ambition sourced, as always, in fear.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
boardroom looks for all the world as if someone quietly closed the door one day
and walked away. Which is in a way what happened, and which is what continues
to happen whenever management leaves the mine. But someone has been here for there is not a
speck of dust on the faded red of the upholstered chairs, the brown veneer table
or the piles of yellowing notepaper, curling gently at the corners, waiting
only to be useful. Nothing is out of place. Everything has been dusted over the
empty weeks since the last visit and replaced exactly where it was; even down
to a paperclip. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Many
of the doors still have their sealing thread to show that the rooms have not
been entered since the last visit. Everything has been kept safe; no-one can be
faulted. The system works. It is a mindset that will need to change as <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
opens up to a world of individual responsibility, trust between employee and
employer and all of the uncertainties that exist in a non-Soviet and less
regulated era. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We
are served instant coffee, black, there is no milk, and plates of sweet
biscuits. People are friendly, reserved
and attentive. They may prefer that management were Russian, but mostly they
just want things to work again. They are probably both pleased and nervous
that, this time, the mine manager is here to stay. The yellowing notepaper will
probably be one of the first things to go.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">There
are three stars that can be seen rising high above the mine shafts at
Malaysheva. In the good years they shone through the days and the nights, but their light has long been extinguished.
What the people at the mine and the people of the town want more than anything
is for those lights to shine once more. It’s a worthy goal in a world where
time has stopped and chairs are more likely to be missing one arm or both and
where people are missing a level of certainty upon which they too can rest.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">When
it comes time to leave Malaysheva for the highlights of Ekaterinburg there are
few regrets. A grudging agreement has been reached between body and the sullen
bulge of mattress but it has a limit of
days, not weeks. At least we have made Nellie smile. The guardian at our gate,
was, at the beginning, a past master at Soviet-style ‘grim’, but even she has a
sense of humour that can be prodded into being by ridiculous foreigners. With a
name like Nellie, and given the remnants of titian hair that remain upon her
authoritarian head, it’s a sure bet that some Scottish ancestor was drawn to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
for work, as so many have been, over the centuries. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It’s
well worth spending just over an hour making the long, crazy drive to Ekat, just
to swap the Prophylactoria for the Hotel Octoberskeya and a real bed and a real
shower and telephones that work, and internet access, and mobile phone access,
and restaurants and a sense of bustling efficiency. I use the word ‘sense’
reservedly, as I do the word ‘efficiency.’ But all things are relative. I had also hoped to leave behind the all
pervading smell of bleach, it being the cleanser, I thought, of necessity in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
only to find it must be the cleanser of choice. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Not
that I was so convinced about it being
an extremely worthwhile drive while we rattled along worn roads, choked with
traffic where dirty rattling cars and
dirty rattling trucks weaved
their erratic way around potholes at terrifying speed. I am probably
more aware of speed since we had a car accident in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zambia</st1:place></st1:country-region> a year ago, where experience
gave substance to mere belief that ‘Speed kills.’ I know now that it does make a
difference. You would think after so
many years in less ordered worlds I would be more fatalistic. Or maybe I just
need to drink more vodka.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">At
least our driver, Valery, seemed able to drive at a sensible speed, his large
hands, and incredibly long and angular thumbs, wrapped firmly around the steering
wheel. But perhaps it was because the suspension had still not been fixed, and
with every turn, we axle-scraped our way into position. His forehead would
furrow slightly at such times, as if waiting for something more serious to
happen that would propel us into the vehicular insanity which roared past on
either side. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Unlike
the provinces Ekat has real restaurants and good ones too although the
restaurant where we planned to eat had,
we discovered, burned down since the last visit. Amidst whisperings of mafia involvement and
the like we set off for a second choice.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Taxis
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
are few and far between at the best of times and hardly to be found in
Ekaterinburg. The way the locals get around, so Elena informs us, as she stakes
her place at the side of the road, is to hail a car and ask if they will take
us where we want to go …. for a price of course. It’s a lower price than you
would pay for a taxi but no doubt a reasonable income boost for the driver. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And
yes, says Elena, as we all cram into a very small car, young women do this
alone and it is perfectly safe. Later I
will read it is not so safe, particularly for young women, but they do it all
the same. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
restaurant is large, mostly a mix of marble
and terrazzo, constructed in the epic
style with garishly coloured paintings on the walls and lights which are much
too bright. Flash and trash are words that come to mind when confronted with
much of the Eastern European style of décor; there is no concept of less is
more in some of the provincial restaurants. Curls and twirls, and loops, and
tassels, and synthetic silks and artificial flowers are de rigeur. The restaurant has a café section off to one side where a band plays loud
cheerful music to an audience that amounts to no more than the bartender and
the odd, wafting waitress. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Beyond
the smoked fish served as a starter, the food, in the main is awful. Luckily
there is some compensation in the cognac, which is served not by the glass but
by the decanter, and a more than passable Italian red. But it’s downhill from
there. My main course is quail which has the consistency of leather. Tougher
teeth than mine are needed here. It is
served, corpse-like, dry legs pitifully
extended only to receive the ignominy of an olive impaled on each end. The plate is decorated with cranberries, orange
segments, potato slices, decoratively sliced leaf of some kind and drizzles of
chocolate sauce. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Another
dish of crumbed chops arrives dripping in fat which smells absolutely rank and
is more inedible than the shrivelled quail.
The Armenian cognac and Italian wine are however excellent as I
mentioned, but not up to making the food edible even should they be consumed in
reckless quantity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
can tell that Elena is embarrassed because the food is not good, even though we
say it is not important. The Russians have long cared, more than they might
admit, about what others think of them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> There are many things which embarrass Russians
and Boris Yeltsin and his drunken antics was yet another in a long list of
mortifications, Elena tells us. It is
all tied in with the sense that Russians have of not so much losing face, but in
not having pride in themselves at both an individual and national level. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Elena
is an outspoken, attractive Russian woman who looks younger than her age, which
I guess to be around forty. By ordinary
Russian standards she is ‘rich,’ and by any other, financially comfortable and
yet she too is angry with Gorbachev and the part he played in the dissolution
of the <st1:place w:st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place>. Like so many she yearns
for certainty even when that certainty may mean a loss of freedom. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Partly
it is because she believes Putin can return <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place> to its rightful place as a
world power, and partly it is because in a more certain world there is greater
security. I suspect it is also because
freedom, in many ways, is something that we learn to appreciate and we can only
do that when we have it for long periods. Freedom is a very new word for
Russians and in some ways, a yet to be understood concept.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It
is a basic human instinct to desire a secure job and a living wage. It’s what
all of us want and while poverty levels have improved in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>, salaries are sadly lacking.
The minimum wage is 800 rubles ($A37) a month and many pensions are as low as
600 rubles ($A27). A senior teacher gets
6,720 rubles ($A313) a month while a young teacher gets 1,430 rubles ($A66); a
senior doctor gets 5,000 rubles ($A233)and a junior doctor gets 2,000 rubles($A93) with average
utility costs in Moscow taking
1,200 rubles ($A55) of that. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">While
there are cheaper food sources, the cost of living in <st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city>,
is, in the main, akin to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city></st1:place>
which makes life something of a desperate struggle for the locals. In the
better restaurants in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city></st1:place>
you are looking around $A100 a head. Things are certainly cheaper out in the
provinces but not THAT much cheaper.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Given
the phenomenal wealth available to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place> because of its oil and gas
deposits one can only hope that President Putin holds to his promise of
spending an additional $4billion on social programmes, including wages, over
the next few years. The Government has promised to increase public sector wages
by 8 percent in March; by an additional 4.5percent in May and another
6.5percent in September. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
driver who agrees to take us home from
the restaurant, after answering Elena’s solicitation is soon in a state of
utter confusion. He is in his late sixties by the look of him and clearly has
absolutely no idea where we want to go, despite the fact that we are now
crammed into his small car and hurtling down one of Ekat’s wide streets. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
more Elena tries to explain which direction he should take, the more confused he becomes and the more
aggressive. It is obvious that he is mightily embarrassed and with arms waving
wildly, attached to hands that I would prefer to see clenched around the
wheel, and his head turning from side to side, I am wondering if we will soon
be deposited by the side of the road and
instructed to ‘find another driver’. Then again, given the level of his
agitation, it would be better than being deposited into the oncoming traffic,
which is likely to happen if he doesn’t calm down.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But
Elena is patient and he soon begins to relax and find his way. When she gets him heading in the right direction he
lowers his voice, attaches his hands firmly to the wheel and begins to
apologise. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
ask Elena if he is embarrassed, because this is what I sense. And she says yes.
He is saying that he is ashamed that we know his city better than he does. But
the closer we get to our destination the happier he becomes and he is positively jolly by the time we pull up
outside the hotel. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As
he leaves he waves cheerfully through the window, delighted no doubt by the
extra roubles in his pocket, but even
more thrilled to have actually gotten us where we wanted to go without having
to admit defeat or error.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It’s
the same sort of attitude that I suspect has made the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Chechnya</st1:country-region></st1:place> conflict so impossible to resolve. The
Chechens, says Elena, are not native to the area and are not really
occupied because they don’t really have a right to be there. It’s the same line
that many Israelis take about the Palestinians and no doubt one the Chinese
would sell about the Tibetans if they could. In all cases the occupying nation
works hard to ‘re-seed’ the disputed land with their own people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
don’t know much about <st1:country-region w:st="on">Chechnya</st1:country-region>
except that it is occupied by <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in rather brutal fashion, and so I am curious enough to do some research. It’s
soon clear, that, just as with the Palestinians, what the occupiers believe,
while clearly convenient, is not
necessarily backed up by historical
evidence. But then it is the victors who write history as we know. The trouble
with <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Chechnya</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
and other such situations, is that it is harder to be victorious in this day
and age. Without resorting to effective genocide, it is impossible to win a war
of occupation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
Chechens, the largest ethnic group in the <st1:place w:st="on">North Caucasus</st1:place>,
see themselves as one of the world’s most ancient cultures. And they’re not orphans in that which is why
there are so many conflicts in the world. But I digress. Derived from assorted
nomadic peoples, their language belongs to the Iberian-Caucasian family. Their
history, like so many, is seen as one of almost permanent struggle against
invaders. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">According to
historical records, and maybe not the ones that Russians use, the ancestors of
the Chechen people settled in the mountains of the northern Caucasus
around circa 1000 B.C, but their land of
origin is yet unknown.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">You might
say, strictly speaking, the Russians are right, they did come from somewhere
else, but it was a long, long, long time ago and the fact is, so did the
Russians, and so do most of us. But back to the Chechens. It seems they were
part of the multiethnic Alan state from the 8th century until its destruction
by the Mongols in the 13th century. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> Between the 4<sup>th</sup> and 12<sup>th</sup>
centuries they fought back against a succession of enemies including the
Romans, the Sasanids from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iran</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
the Arabs and the Khazar Kaganate. Centuries of struggle militarized them and
created a sense of Statehood. A mountain-dwelling people organized in clans,
the Chechens first descended to the plains in the 15th and 16th centuries.
There they both fought against and traded with the Russians and the Georgians.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As
you can see, lots of fighting mixed up with a bit of trading. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
Chechens and Russians go back a long way and the relationship has pretty much
always been one of conflict. The Chechens were recognized as a distinct people
in the 17<sup>th</sup> century and were the most active opponents of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>’s conquest of the <st1:place w:st="on">Caucasus</st1:place>
(1818 – 1917). A bitter war was fought following an unsuccessful rebellion in
the 1850’s. The Bolsheviks took firm control of the region in 1918 only to lose
it to rebels a year later. But Chechen
victory was shortlived and by 1921 the area was included in the Mountain
People’s Republic. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
Chechen Autonomous Region was created in 1922 and in 1934 it became part of the
Chechen-Ingush Region which was made a republic in 1936. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">So
why are they still fighting one might ask? Well, not being ones to forgive past
wrongs, a fairly common trait in human beings, the Chechen and Ingush units
collaborated with the invading Germans during World War 11 and many Chechens
ended up in <st1:place w:st="on">Siberia</st1:place> as soon as the Russians
got their hands on them. Deportees were repatriated in 1956 and the republic
was re-established in 1957 with a high level of Soviet domination.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">With
the breakup of the <st1:place w:st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place> in 1991 the
Chechens declared independence, which brought, within a couple of years,
Russian troops into the area bent on crushing resistance. By 1995 the Russian forces had regained
control of many areas but no control of the rebels, who continued to fight
back. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
Russians have engaged upon a dance of retreat and return with all the
destruction, slaughter and misery that entails; the rebels have engaged upon a
dance of retreat and fight back, using terrorist tactics in the very heart of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
as and when they can. Both sides have been accused of brutality and terrorizing
noncombatants. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
2003 voters approved a new constitution for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Chechnya</st1:country-region></st1:place>, and Akhmad Kadyrov was
subsequently elected president, but the election was generally regarded as
neither free nor fair with both the constitution and president seen as puppets
of the Russian Government. A year later Kadyrov was assassinated. His successor,
Alu Alkhanov, considered to be a moderate Chechen rebel leader, was killed by
Russian forces in 2005.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And
so it goes in such dances of death, where the occupier is unable to admit to
its occupation and the occupied is unable to accept the occupation. It is a
frequently overlooked reality that nothing is likely to change until we
ourselves change; or at least, until we are prepared to change what we believe.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Logic,
a much under-utilised human capacity,
suggests that the occupier, who has the greatest power, is the one with
the greatest ability to instigate change or initiate resolution,
notwithstanding issues of justice and the fact that human beings are very good
at dedicating decades, if not centuries to a fight for freedom. I am sure
though, my new Russian friends would say: ”Talk is cheap.” And there is a capacity for objectivity in the outsider observation
that the local experience does not provide. All true, but you would think after centuries
of this someone might have twigged to the fact that perhaps a new approach was
needed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Ekaterinburgh,
or Yekaterinburg or Jekaterinburg ….take your pick, is a gracious city of grand
buildings, public parks and wide, tree-lined streets. And, just as in <st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city>, the skyline is dotted with cranes as <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
continues on its building boom. It is
also a city of trams, usually with women drivers and most often than not, with
the cab festooned with café curtains. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">There
is a park next door to the hotel and at lunchtime it is full of people;
walking, sitting, eating, talking, or watching children play. The park benches
are full. Young men and women stand with bottles of beer in their hands; old
women read books, or knit and young couples push prams holding fat-cheeked
babies. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
paths meander down avenues, lined on either side with firs or elms. Some of the
elm trees seem to have diseased or damaged leaves, possibly from the pollution
that is still so much a problem in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>. At the end of the main path
is a lake where children watch toy boats bob amidst a sad litter of plastic
bottles and paper. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
city is dusty in summer and made even more so by the amount of traffic. I am
serenaded on my way back to the hotel by the horn, tyre and engine symphony of
the traffic as it weaves and scatters its way along potholed roads. Most of the office buildings that I pass have
gardens out the front. Most of them are neat and flowered but others have run
to weed and wildflower; giant sorrel draping long leaves over a spread of tiny
white and yellow daisies. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">An
old man, army medals dancing on his chest, pushes his wheelchair down the gutter
of the road; a grey-haired Rasputin with flowing beard and hair pulled into a
ponytail. His sharp eyes are fixed on the traffic. Walking on the footpath nearby
is a plump, pink-cheeked woman of similar age.
She looks much more cheerful,
from the colourful scarf that wraps around her head, the bright floral pattern of her dress, to the
half smile that plays across her lips
and the warm eyes that watch him, not the traffic. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">My
experience so far is that while Russian women, despite a brief but initial
reserve or severity, are generally warm and welcoming while Russian men tend to
range in manner from mildly grumpy to actively rude all of the time. It is the
way they are brought up I am told. Life is hard for men and so Russian mothers
train their sons to be hard. Sadly it is a quality that tends to make life
hard, if not violent for Russian women. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It
is also a quality that has well suited the machine of State, whether Tzarist or
Soviet. In 1839 Astolphe de Custine wrote on arrival in St Petersburg: “A
multitude of little superfluous precautions engender here a population of
deputies and sub-officials, each of whom acquits himself with an air of
importance and a rigorous precision, which seems to say, though everything is
done with much silence; ”Make way, I am one of the members of the grand machine
of state.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It
is a quality that will become increasingly out of place in an increasingly
modernized <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
and perhaps already has, accounting no doubt for the troubled look that one
sees so often upon the faces of men here. The women look much happier with the
way that things are changing but for them the future can only bring greater
power, while for Russian men it means a loss of power and all the uncertainties
and frustrations that that entails. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Russian
society is not only dipping its frozen toes into the waters of democracy but
into the whirlpool of gender equality; a more terrifying prospect for men in
general and Russian men in particular. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And
talking of toes, Russian men, almost like a uniform, opt for shoes with pointed
toes which may well account for their pointed expressions and pinched smiles.
I’m told that when men meet they look first at each other’s feet. If the shoe has
a pointed toe it is a sign the wearer is Russian. I gather this is also a signal
to ratchet up the rudeness factor, it being a matter of necessity to be even
ruder to another Russian man than you would be to a foreigner.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Well,
enough for now. I shall write more later. We are back in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city></st1:place> and will be here for a few more weeks.
The Russian adventure continues.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Love,
Ros.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p><p>
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-A1Hw7IBqI3i0M_mWMo2s0Rg4CWIteSM6gH5tTLL6U0hXOtwuRSbSU_uCtvBCZQvgI_JOmNeTtrHkKEbLmITyAvSBeZ2if-yoZX3uYF9b0BB0mqLCzQLzZsXpRHrUvuGrRLRs1q8ZdlmKDDuLZ2-Xe4pIomLBrje1xbi9UOnvRCjmKNb8KqLC0mrf" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="800" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-A1Hw7IBqI3i0M_mWMo2s0Rg4CWIteSM6gH5tTLL6U0hXOtwuRSbSU_uCtvBCZQvgI_JOmNeTtrHkKEbLmITyAvSBeZ2if-yoZX3uYF9b0BB0mqLCzQLzZsXpRHrUvuGrRLRs1q8ZdlmKDDuLZ2-Xe4pIomLBrje1xbi9UOnvRCjmKNb8KqLC0mrf" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-60401208100341272612022-03-06T14:52:00.001+10:302022-03-06T14:52:11.652+10:30The Russia Letters<p> <span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having spent some time in Russia some 16 years ago I thought I would revisit what I wrote during that time. If only to humanise a people who are now being demonised in the general and social media. </span></p><div data-pagelet="FeedUnit_0" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="du4w35lb k4urcfbm l9j0dhe7 sjgh65i0" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div class="du4w35lb l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div aria-describedby="jsc_c_cd7 jsc_c_cd8 jsc_c_cd9 jsc_c_cdb jsc_c_cda" aria-labelledby="jsc_c_cd6" aria-posinset="1" class="lzcic4wl" role="article" style="font-family: inherit; outline: none;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="j83agx80 l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb hybvsw6c io0zqebd m5lcvass fbipl8qg nwvqtn77 k4urcfbm ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs sbcfpzgs" style="--t68779821: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); border-radius: max(0px, min(8px, ((100vw - 4px) - 100%) * 9999)) / 8px; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_cd8" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The Russia Letters - One</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Having had a fascination with Russia since immersing myself in my early teens in such melancholic writers as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Sholokhov it came as something of a surprise to find that my first impression of Moscow was of sunshine, butterflies and thistledown. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">But then it is summer and even in Russia things have changed. Moscow, the old city, is gorgeous and no photograph compares to the theological confections of spire and dome that comprise the Kremlin and St Basil’s in Red Square and which rise in unexpected blossomings from more mediocre streets. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The churches are being rebuilt in Russia, rising in flowing lines of faith and fantasy; billowing in brilliant colour amongst the grey-spirit solidity of Soviet architecture. There’s a split here that could be defined as Soul and Spirit; mellifluous soul amidst rigid spirit. The battle between head and heart; left brain and right brain; reason and feeling. It is Soul that builds the churches and the almost ‘gingerbread style’ traditional houses and Spirit that took unforgiving Soviet form and constructed the square, the immense, and the frequently bland. But duality is not new for Russians, standing as they have through the centuries with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">“The Soviet era was an experiment,” says our translator, Elena. Even as she dismisses those bleak decades she yearns for the order and sense of national pride that they offered. It was bad, she would add, but not all bad. But then nothing ever is and you can only understand why so many Russians look back when you can appreciate what they have lost. At this point in time the most dangerous duality is that between what they were and what they might become. Or is it between what they believed they were and what they wish they were now? All of the above, mixed in with the loss of a dream, something that we find harder to lose than any reality. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There’s almost a sense of shock here which comes from having believed they were one thing, and then, when Russia was opened to the world and the world was opened to Russia, discovering they were something else entirely. They may have gained freedom but they lost in an instant security, certainty and their sense of achievement. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">They had believed their society to be the most advanced in the world and when the borders opened and they went out into the world they discovered it was not. For all that was and is First World about Russia, there was more that was Third. It was and remains, I suspect, a shock. They had been lied to; or had they lied to themselves? No doubt both because that is the way of human nature.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Ironically they have something in common with their old enemy and new friend, America, whose people also suffered a similar shock to the collective belief system with 9/11. The American belief was in their safety, their invulnerability and their goodness. They discovered they were neither safe, nor invulnerable and possibly not as good as they believed themselves to be for some people seemed to hate them. Sometimes the greatest distance is between what we believe ourselves to be and what we really are, whether as individual or as nation. Such inconsistency is a part of us all and not particular to Americans or Russians, but is surely more profound in societies that are closed for security reasons, like Russia, or insular for lack of interest or perceived need, like America. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Russians were also deeply shocked to discover that they had been feared by others and they were terrified to find that they were vulnerable. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Interestingly the French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, in his Democracy in America, published in 1836 had compared the two nations:</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">“There are on earth today two great peoples who, having started from different points, seem to be advancing towards the same end; they are the Russians and the Anglo-Americans. They both grew up in darkness; and whilst Europeans were busy elsewhere, they suddenly placed themselves in the forefront of nations, and the world learned at almost the same time of their births and their greatness. </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">“All other nations seem, more or less, to have reached the limits nature has assigned to them and within which they now need only to remain, but those two are still growing … America is struggling against obstacles of nature; Russia against men ….. The principle means of action for the one is liberty; for the other servitude.”</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Tocqueville believed reluctantly in the inevitable victory of the American model, although, some 170 years later, while no-one can deny that he was right, the two nations may well have more in common than they know. It’s a psychological maxim that we tend to condemn most passionately that which we deny in ourselves. Not that Russians these days seem to have any animosity toward America in particular or the West in general. They just want to feel proud of themselves again which hardly makes them much different to anyone else. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And given how powerful an impact the relationship between America and Russia had upon us all during the Cold War years, particularly for my generation which grew up during that time, it is not surprising to find myself pondering it now that I have spent time in both countries. When you look at what we were told, at what we believed and at what we feared, it is almost bizarre to be somewhere so ordinary and so normal. They always were of course, normal, at the individual level, just as those in the West were. It was government and ideology that turned us all into enemies. And then, just as easily, we were friends. No doubt we could all just as easily be enemies again, but I wonder. Enemies are more easily made in ignorance and none of us are as ignorant nor as innocent as we were. And, in a world of instant communication it only becomes harder to be so. Communication, as ever, is the key to understanding.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Listening to my first Russian lesson I am struck by how many of the words are the same as English. And, like English they seem happy to ‘steal’ or ‘borrow’ words as needed. I also find French, Portugese and Italian words which mark it out as another Latinate language. The big difference is the Cyrillic alphabet and that is only a matter of memorizing. Language is everything and particularly in Russia where, unlike much of Europe there is little English spoken by anyone older than thirty. But that too is changing.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Summer in Moscow is delightful with warm, clear days and mild evenings. The blankets that sit in piles in the restaurants are most likely destined for the shoulders of skimpily clad young women should the nights turn cool but are available to all if needed. The young women here are gorgeous; tall, slender and brightly dressed, they hover on impossibly high and potentially deadly heels. More often than not they are at the side of older men; loose of jowl, pot of belly and plump of wallet. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The Russians seem to agonise about this ‘informal’, if not formal, prostitution but a brief study of the nation’s literary classics suggests it is not at all new. Protecting Russian womanhood may be a cry that comes from right-wing youths but it is no more than a convenient peg upon which to hang the ‘hat’ of disappointment and disaffection. It’s a ‘one size fits all hat’ in a way when you see the old men and women begging in the streets. Many of the men walk with heavily medaled chests; the army it seems does not look after its own in Russia. The women have no such medals to display but they seem to smile more. In a country where repression has been a way of life for centuries it is uplifting and perhaps not surprising, to find that women, the most repressed of all, have found a way to smile through the worst times. There are more round-faced cheerful babushkas than stern-browed Soviet-style martinets. But perhaps that too was propaganda. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">We are staying at the Hotel Budapest; assigned a room in the far reaches of its corridored depths that is bigger and more tastelessly decorated than I expected. We have two rooms in fact; the sort of space that begs instant forgiveness for just about everything else. The bedroom is circular with a print of Nefertiri hanging over the bed and another of the boy-king, Tutankhamen, facing us. The windows are high and hung with elaborate curtains whose Napoleonic style is brought smartly down to earth by the use of cheap, synthetic gold fabric. With more cheap gold fabric on the bed, a somewhat obese couch and desk chair in brown leather and a fake tree by the door we have the scene set to satisfy a variety of tastes, or perhaps none.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The tree, as I will come to discover, is a symbol of the Russian love for pot plants. It is fake because it must be, but elsewhere, on countless window sills and cupboard tops and in numerous stair wells, foyers, offices and rooms, no matter how derelict the surroundings, will be found veritable jungles of pot plants, carefully watered and trimmed; a promise, no doubt, through the brief white days and long dark nights of winter that there is life, there is growth, there is green.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Here at the Hotel Budapest there is no restaurant and so breakfast is delivered to the room on a tray. A breakfast list is agreed to upon checking in and that is what we get, day in and day out. We have a clear plastic box containing slices of cheese and ham or salami, depending upon one’s choice of meat, and on top sit two slices of very dry white bread. Toast is not really a Russian concept it seems although of course it is available in the big hotels. Elsewhere we will find that if we order toast we will get bread fried in butter. It’s nice enough but not quite the same. Along with our dry bread we get a jam-filled croissant, which, according to the package, will last for seven days. One small bite is enough; it tastes seven months old as it is. We have a kettle and have brought our own tea and Vegemite so breakfast at the Budapest generally runs to a cup of tea and one slice of dry bread and Vegemite. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">This is probably the worst food I will experience in Russia and generally restaurants in Moscow are excellent. They run to London prices but the food is generally better and most places have Australian wine; good Australian wine too, not the lolly-water that is sold in much of Europe and the US because, so they say, it has been developed to meet local ‘tastes.’</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">One of our favourite restaurants while we are here is The Gallery, which is on the roof of the Hotel Ararat and which affords a fabulous view of Moscow, particularly at night. At this time of year it gets dark about ten. On my first night in Moscow we are sitting outside at 11.30 having a late, and for me, somewhat jetlagged, but delightful supper. It is interesting to look down on the buildings either side, most of which have ornate ‘fences’ surrounding the roof; no doubt to hold the snow in place so it does not make a deadly fall into the street below. Imagining a snow covered Moscow in minus 40 is harder to do on this almost tropical night.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Beyond the Hotel Budapest, which falls into the roomy but quaint category, there are some fabulous hotels in Moscow. This is a vibrant city which, with its architectural beauty and energy is set to become one of the world’s best. There is class here. It may have been buried for decades but it did not take long to re-emerge. Perhaps, as the Russians themselves say, they are patient. The Soviet era was a time of waiting. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The Kremlin, which we visit on Sunday, appears smaller than I expected and has none of the malevolence in reality that clung to it through the perceptions, and fantasies, of the Cold War years. The word ‘kremlin’ simply means ‘fortification’ or ‘citadel’ in Russian and many cities in Russia have their own kremlins. The word is thought to derive from either the ancient Greek word Kremn or kremnos, meaning a steep hill above a ravine, or the Slavonic term kremnik, meaning thick coniferous forest. This latter explanation has substance given that this was the material from which the original forts were constructed. Well, it was the material from which pretty much everything was constructed and a lot still is given the amount of timber in this country. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As well as being home to the Russian president and the seat of his administration, the Kremlin is the historical and spiritual heart of Moscow. You can feel that. There are plenty of overseas tourists but lots of Russian tourists as well. The Kremlin stands on Borovitsky Hill, where the Moscow and Neglinaya Rivers meet. The Hill is named after the pine forests (bor in Russian) that used to cover it and which still stretch across so much of this vast land.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There’s a legend that while hunting in the forest a group of boyars, Russian nobles, saw a huge two-headed bird swoop down on a boar and carry it off to the top of what was to become Borovitsky Hill. That night the boyars, no doubt after a few nightcaps of vodka, dreamt of a city of tents, spires and golden domes and resolved upon awakening to build a town upon the hill. I’m beginning to wonder how much of the almost fantasy architecture, which is so quintessentially Russian, is vodka induced but given how whimsically wonderful it is, one can hardly care how it was brought into being.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The historical view is much less colourful and claims that the Kremlin was founded by Prince Yury Dolgoruky, who built the first wooden fort on the hill in 1147AD, although archeologists now believe the site may have been inhabited as long ago as 500BC.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">But more than anything this is a place of worship. Christians have prayed here for more than eight centuries and no doubt the pagans were here before then. The early stone churches built here were demolished in the 1470’s to construct what we see today. It is impressive for its beauty if small in its nature. There is an intimacy to these chapels though, each one intricately decorated and painted within an inch of its life and always with a super-size Jesus looking down from the ceiling. Most interesting though are the ‘mandalas,’ celtic-like decorations, painted at floor level, that are, the guide says, drawn from the pre-christian era; the goddess is at base, supporting the high-flying patriarchal religion. It was ever thus.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Out in the courtyard soldiers walk past carrying birds of prey; hawks, falcons, even an eagle. But, unlike the newly instituted changing of the guard, this is not for mere show. It seems the freshly painted gold domes were too much of an attraction for the pigeons. When attempts to dissuade them by mildly ‘electrifying’ the domes proved fruitless(in fact, adaptable as pigeons clearly are, they seemed to grow to like the buzz ), the powers that be, and there are lots of them in the Kremlin, decided to resort to more traditional methods. Most birds, pigeons included, while prepared to engage in a battle of wills with electrics, will not come within cooee of a bird of prey. The Kremlin domes therefore are now pristine! No shitting from a great height on this place!</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">But back to the changing of the guard. Almost 90 years after it was killed off, along with the Romanov dynasty and the country’s last Tsar, Moscow has its changing of the guard back. There’s one story that this was the idea of tourism heavies in Moscow and another that President Putin, having seen such spectacles in London and Washington, was determined that Russia could do as well if not better. Personally I find such things a tad boring and would have liked to have seen a few colourful Cossacks thrown into the phalanx of infantrymen and cavalrymen. But in this new world, Ukraine, from whence the Cossacks pretty much came, is another country and they longer have a place here. But it’s all harmless and sure beats missile parades in Red Square. </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">And Red Square, huge as it is, also seems smaller than I expected. But I was growing up through the scariest bits of the Cold war, and tend to be impressionable and prone to flights of imagination at the best of times, so perhaps my impressions and perceptions were not mature. The smaller we are the bigger the world looks; the more fearful we are (or are encouraged to be) the greater the danger appears. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">St Basil’s looks almost doll-like sitting as it does at the far end as one enters through the tower gates. But today Red Square is closed off. Not that anything seems to be happening; it is just closed. Perhaps a whim, someone important visiting Lenin’s Tomb or St Basil’s…. who knows. The barriers are up and so we go to have lunch in an Italian restaurant in the Gum Gallery which overlooks Red Square. It’s blinis and caviar, Italian style. The blini comes as a crepe but I learn later that blini just means pancake, whatever size it may be. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Gum is the old State Department Store, with its fabulous ornate neo-Russian façade, it stretches almost the entire length of the eastern side of the Square. Built between 1890 and 1893 by Alexander Pomerantsev, it’s an interesting combination of elements of what is called Russian medieval ecclesiastical architecture and an elegant steel framework and glass roof. It’s the sort of thing that one sees in the great turn of the century train stations of Paris and London. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It’s a very stylish shopping gallery and while it is not one that is of much use to your average Russian, for the moment anyway, it is a sign of where Russia is heading. Despite the unemployment and unpaid salaries there are no longer queues for food in Moscow and no sign of the ubiquitous string bag which was carried at all times in case there was something to buy. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">After four days in Moscow I am climbing into the belly of a Ural Airlines plane. These former military planes have been done over and re-fitted for passenger use and because they don’t carry cargo you climb up steps into what would be the cargo hold, deposit your hand luggage and then climb more steps into the cabin. It’s a one class airline but in this case it is a spacious economy, made even more so by the fact that it is half empty.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It’s my first time in a Tupolev and as it rises lightly into the sky, it reminds me of the fat, grey birds in the park outside the Kremlin. . It takes an hour for the stewards to come through with water or juice and another twenty minutes before lunch and something more interesting to drink. The lunch, by airline standards is actually not bad. Things happen slowly in Russia, as they do in much of the world. It is a reminder of one of the greatest strengths of the West; people are motivated by self interest and good salaries and job satisfaction give both purpose and meaning, two things that work toward efficiency and high standards.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Next stop Yekaterinburg, some two hours east from Moscow on the Asian side of the Ural Mountains. And from there a one and a half hour drive to the mine at Malaysheva.</div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="l9j0dhe7" id="jsc_c_cd9" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of du4w35lb n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl a8c37x1j tm8avpzi" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10158802909983565&set=a.71860998564&__cft__[0]=AZUbtjWkGHBzNK0op5JIuDHzFh5nLNvfeVdhm9wdpdLt9pr9z9gYdTylptzLJ2hnAfjMZjhKJEqmybSEorFoVvXMly7zkXrPBuf6GyxJTWRHNXI0K9h-zrvrcFrGmKbRXNQ&__tn__=EH-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; display: block; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="bp9cbjyn cwj9ozl2 j83agx80 cbu4d94t ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm" style="align-items: center; background-color: #a25d72; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div style="font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 500px; width: calc((100vh + -325px) * 1.33333);"><div class="do00u71z ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 374.988px; position: relative;"><div class="pmk7jnqg kr520xx4" style="font-family: inherit; height: 374.988px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 499.988px;"><img alt="May be an image of 9 people, bird and outdoors" class="i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 datstx6m pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 k4urcfbm bixrwtb6" height="768" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://scontent.fadl5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/275357453_10158802909973565_696981624711767980_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=fFc0b9yJakAAX-A5xVo&_nc_ht=scontent.fadl5-1.fna&oh=00_AT-jg7ciqLFxi0U8clisJZyxhRyreNdyFmqEiBK_138W4g&oe=6229B3A9" style="border: 0px; height: 374.988px; inset: 0px; object-fit: cover; position: absolute; width: 499.988px;" width="1024" /></div></div></div></div><div class="linmgsc8 opwvks06 i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4" style="border-bottom: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); border-top: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute;"></div><div class="n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 b5wmifdl hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 c5ndavph art1omkt ot9fgl3s" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: inherit; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></a></div></div><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4" style="font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"></div></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4 l82x9zwi uo3d90p7 h905i5nu monazrh9" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="tvfksri0 ozuftl9m" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: 12px; margin-right: 12px;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 pfnyh3mw i1fnvgqd gs1a9yip owycx6da btwxx1t3 ph5uu5jm b3onmgus e5nlhep0 ecm0bbzt nkwizq5d roh60bw9 mysgfdmx hddg9phg" style="align-items: stretch; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; justify-content: space-between; margin: -6px -2px; padding: 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u n8tt0mok hyh9befq iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 2px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div aria-label="Like" class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr du4w35lb n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql pq6dq46d btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl gokke00a" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u hpfvmrgz taijpn5t bp9cbjyn owycx6da btwxx1t3 d1544ag0 tw6a2znq jb3vyjys dlv3wnog rl04r1d5 mysgfdmx hddg9phg qu8okrzs g0qnabr5" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; height: 44px; justify-content: center; margin: -6px -4px; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 12px; padding-right: 12px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 0;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz ph5uu5jm b3onmgus iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><span class=" pq6dq46d" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit;"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yn/r/xoBUMyyOdFT.png"); background-position: 0px -258px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 26px 688px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 18px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 18px;"></i></span></div><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz ph5uu5jm b3onmgus iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v lrazzd5p m9osqain" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like</span></span></div></div><div class="n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 b5wmifdl hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 c5ndavph art1omkt ot9fgl3s" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: 4px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div><div aria-label="React" class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr du4w35lb n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql pq6dq46d btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl pphx12oy b4ylihy8 rz4wbd8a b40mr0ww a8nywdso hmalg0qr q45zohi1 g0aa4cga pmk7jnqg gokke00a" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: polygon(0px 0px, 0px 0px, 0px 0px, 0px 0px); clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 13px 0px; position: absolute; right: 6px; text-align: inherit; top: 1px; touch-action: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/y4/r/sgtiGauwCtP.png"); background-position: -90px -114px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 190px 146px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 16px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 16px;"></i><div class="n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 b5wmifdl hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 c5ndavph art1omkt ot9fgl3s" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: inherit; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u n8tt0mok hyh9befq iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 2px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div aria-label="Leave a comment" class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of du4w35lb n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql pq6dq46d btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u hpfvmrgz taijpn5t bp9cbjyn owycx6da btwxx1t3 d1544ag0 tw6a2znq jb3vyjys dlv3wnog rl04r1d5 mysgfdmx hddg9phg qu8okrzs g0qnabr5" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; height: 44px; justify-content: center; margin: -6px -4px; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 12px; padding-right: 12px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 0;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz ph5uu5jm b3onmgus iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yn/r/xoBUMyyOdFT.png"); background-position: 0px -218px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 26px 688px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 18px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 18px;"></i></div><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz ph5uu5jm b3onmgus iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v lrazzd5p m9osqain" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">Comment</span></div></div><div class="n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 b5wmifdl hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 c5ndavph art1omkt ot9fgl3s" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: 4px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u n8tt0mok hyh9befq iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 2px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div aria-label="Send this to friends or post it on your Timeline." class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of du4w35lb n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql pq6dq46d btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u hpfvmrgz taijpn5t bp9cbjyn owycx6da btwxx1t3 d1544ag0 tw6a2znq jb3vyjys dlv3wnog rl04r1d5 mysgfdmx hddg9phg qu8okrzs g0qnabr5" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; height: 44px; justify-content: center; margin: -6px -4px; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 12px; padding-right: 12px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 0;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz ph5uu5jm b3onmgus iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yn/r/xoBUMyyOdFT.png"); background-position: 0px -278px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 26px 688px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 18px; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 18px;"></i></div><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz ph5uu5jm b3onmgus iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v lrazzd5p m9osqain" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">Share</span></div></div><div class="n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 b5wmifdl hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 c5ndavph art1omkt ot9fgl3s rnr61an3" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: 4px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div data-pagelet="FeedUnit_1" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="du4w35lb k4urcfbm l9j0dhe7 sjgh65i0" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div class="du4w35lb l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"><div aria-describedby="jsc_c_cdm jsc_c_cdn jsc_c_cdo jsc_c_cdq jsc_c_cdp" aria-labelledby="jsc_c_cdl" aria-posinset="2" class="lzcic4wl" role="article" style="font-family: inherit; outline: none;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="j83agx80 l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; position: relative; width: 499.988px;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb hybvsw6c io0zqebd m5lcvass fbipl8qg nwvqtn77 k4urcfbm ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs sbcfpzgs" style="--t68779821: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); border-radius: max(0px, min(8px, ((100vw - 4px) - 100%) * 9999)) / 8px; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 499.988px; z-index: 0;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="ll8tlv6m j83agx80 btwxx1t3 n851cfcs hv4rvrfc dati1w0a pybr56ya" style="align-items: flex-start; display: flex; flex-direction: row; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 12px;"><div class="oi9244e8 do00u71z j83agx80" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: flex; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 0px; margin-right: 8px;"><span class="nc684nl6" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><a aria-hidden="true" class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 oo9gr5id" href="https://www.facebook.com/Asking-Australia-582198312296926/?__cft__[0]=AZXG_IdjEnFHhnCWQmWDqHFESUJZuQ0_VHirsnORagOYOw5c-m7wMExLG1gprpMJrEKASIVHUCksvO38IGfBPEfNBD66EiR0O0C2pqPgnHxkHag8r4wB28LcIdP1EgxDwdqGaBUdJNtusLBGzHDgOKxTDBtLwwWd7eWP6fggoON2QklT8XpgyrAPP_HmL1gn6Dt9dkZKFGnBtaZpNfkKV9njMLeCQaQ4h2GtFMXZWux3fYwgBcJBgv5JUQepkT5QZMg&__tn__=%3C%2CP-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="-1"></a><div class="q676j6op qypqp5cg" style="font-family: inherit; height: 40px; width: 40px;"><a aria-hidden="true" class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 oo9gr5id" href="https://www.facebook.com/Asking-Australia-582198312296926/?__cft__[0]=AZXG_IdjEnFHhnCWQmWDqHFESUJZuQ0_VHirsnORagOYOw5c-m7wMExLG1gprpMJrEKASIVHUCksvO38IGfBPEfNBD66EiR0O0C2pqPgnHxkHag8r4wB28LcIdP1EgxDwdqGaBUdJNtusLBGzHDgOKxTDBtLwwWd7eWP6fggoON2QklT8XpgyrAPP_HmL1gn6Dt9dkZKFGnBtaZpNfkKV9njMLeCQaQ4h2GtFMXZWux3fYwgBcJBgv5JUQepkT5QZMg&__tn__=%3C%2CP-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="-1"></a><a aria-label="Asking Australia" class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 mg4g778l pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of du4w35lb n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql btwxx1t3 abiwlrkh p8dawk7l lzcic4wl oo9gr5id q9uorilb" href="https://www.facebook.com/Asking-Australia-582198312296926/?__cft__[0]=AZXG_IdjEnFHhnCWQmWDqHFESUJZuQ0_VHirsnORagOYOw5c-m7wMExLG1gprpMJrEKASIVHUCksvO38IGfBPEfNBD66EiR0O0C2pqPgnHxkHag8r4wB28LcIdP1EgxDwdqGaBUdJNtusLBGzHDgOKxTDBtLwwWd7eWP6fggoON2QklT8XpgyrAPP_HmL1gn6Dt9dkZKFGnBtaZpNfkKV9njMLeCQaQ4h2GtFMXZWux3fYwgBcJBgv5JUQepkT5QZMg&__tn__=%3C%3C%2CP-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="q9uorilb l9j0dhe7 pzggbiyp du4w35lb" style="display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; position: relative; vertical-align: bottom; z-index: 0;"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="pzggbiyp" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" role="none" style="height: 40px; width: 40px;"><mask id="jsc_c_cdr"><circle cx="20" cy="20" fill="white" r="20"></circle></mask><g mask="url(#jsc_c_cdr)"><image height="100%" preserveaspectratio="xMidYMid slice" style="height: 40px; width: 40px;" width="100%" x="0" xlink:href="https://scontent.fadl5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-1/257798372_1277573299426087_6222732461600205675_n.png?stp=cp0_dst-png_p60x60&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=1eb0c7&_nc_ohc=H6xx3Sh3-rIAX9mHPXT&_nc_ht=scontent.fadl5-1.fna&oh=00_AT9v8iqceZa_SAfx6DJZFolvA3SOgRrdniWR5-M6p6nNTg&oe=6229E118" y="0"></image><circle class="mlqo0dh0 georvekb s6kb5r3f" cx="20" cy="20" r="20"></circle></g></svg></div></a></div><div class="buofh1pr" style="flex-grow: 1;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw m9osqain hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: var(--secondary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"></span></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-17753347899188357272022-02-25T11:03:00.002+10:302022-02-25T11:03:38.421+10:30Let the breeze<p> Let the breeze blow through me,</p><p>teasing at the edges, diaphanous</p><p>skin song; searching, sifting, so</p><p>slowly exploring each awaiting</p><p>cell presented, remembering in</p><p>timeless understanding, how the</p><p>gentle wind heals and settles.</p>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7310561639547971922.post-82122422364978804472022-02-22T17:05:00.008+10:302022-02-22T17:05:36.426+10:30Call to courage<p><br /></p><div class="date-outer" style="background-color: #c0a154; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12.88px;"><div class="date-posts"><div class="post-outer" style="background: url("https://resources.blogblog.com/blogblog/data/1kt/watermark/post_background_birds.png") left top repeat scroll transparent; border: 1px dotted rgb(204, 187, 153); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 15px 20px;"><div class="post hentry uncustomized-post-template" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting" style="min-height: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="post-header" style="color: #997755; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8838100087119217259" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 13.524px; line-height: 1.5; position: relative; width: 568px;"><p>The call to courage is not loud,</p><p>and so most easily missed, for </p><p>it lingers in those places where</p><p>hope has gone, and whispers</p><p>through the cowl of fear; small</p><p>breath woven through words</p><p>and time, reminding us of </p><p>who we might be, what we</p><p>might claim, when we choose</p><p>to be brave against all odds.</p></div></div></div></div></div>Roslyn Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15700960108357035957noreply@blogger.com0