Hello Malaysia, France, Italy, and Canada...apologies for late blog, but in a nice segue from yesterday's 'Candidate' post, I proudly present "Me blaming the Interweb for Not Making Itself Available"...and of course I need the Interweb to post...I have to be on the blog to draft or use my other computer and print and scan, etc...very messy...
I'm not about to ramble on about the distinct possibility of having my computer hacked...(no, just going to mention it as though it were a fact-Ed)...I did say 'possibility'...it's always a 'possibility'...(fair enough-Ed)...
I am referring to the comments by candidate Mr Keough about the need for reasonable 'connectivity' to the aforementioned Interweb via the NBN (National Broadband Network) so that we can all go whizzy whizzy all over the world in the blink of mouse/touch pad/screen pencil/whatevs...(get on with it-Ed)...sorry...
Mr Keough is stating the bleedin' obvious in the way that someone from outside the electorate might, that is, without a genuine understanding of what the reality is on the ground.
I have previously posted about the 5-7 year waiting time for Mt Gambier to be connected to the NBN, and the issues that I regularly have with being unable to access the Web, eg, when 'blogging' in the early morning, you can tell as the Eastern states wake up and go online because you slowly get pushed literally off the edge of the web...
As the bandwidth gets taken up more and more, there is literally less and less available at the periphery, and so welcome to Mt Gambier...where the periphery becomes the irrelevent...(I thought this was going to be about you being wrong?-Ed)...yeah, yeah, I'm gettin' there...
As much as I metaphorically yell abuse at people via this here blog, I make no apology to those whom are offended, and if I have said previously that I try not to offend, and that I apologise, whatevs, then I retract, withdraw, and denounce said apologies in the following specific context...namely...
I genuinely believe, indeed I know, that there are plenty of people whom avail themselves of my blog and take no offence what-so-ever because they know it's not about them...the offence is taken most where the blow lands hard and rings true...
And because I metaphorically punch for the throat not the groin, and am prepared to hang myself out to dry in the process...(stop...mixing...metaphors...it's sooo annoying-Ed)...shoosh...people tend to allow me the 'unprofessionalism' of swearing, name calling, etc...and of course, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down...so much unpleasant truth demands a little comedic relief...(but why so little?-Ed)...hilarious...aaaaanyhoos...
Why I'm Wrong: There has been a couple of posts where I may have mentioned that I have certain 'Issues' with the Lutheran Church...and the Catholic Church...(and the Anglicans-Ed)...yeah, yeah, and I retract none of it...however...
A 'recent' conversation with an Aboriginal person whom identifies as a Catholic, offered me many opportunities to realise/remember that positive truths can exist alongside faults, and that you can still be very wrong even without malice.
In short, my response to this person put me in touch with my own bias and anger toward Catholicism in general, and their (the person I was talking to) own intelligence and disposition allowed me to apologise personally and learn so much in such a short time.
They were completely re-assuring in their surprise when I apologised for being so biased and upset, and that's because I was perfectly polite to them, but I didn't hear a word they said for the swearing in my head...well, not quite literally, but you know what I mean...
In short, it was put to me that there are examples of where the 'Catholic Missions' have done good work...and that's about all I can really say...it is just not my place to repeat things told in confidence...and it is not just the once that I have heard this 'recently'...
In this and other 'recent' conversations centred around NAIDOC Week and other similar events, several people have put to me examples of the good work that has been done with Indigenous/Aboriginal peoples by various religious organisations, eg, the Catholic missions...
Because of the personal nature of the information and that it may therefore tend to identify those involved, I choose to leave it at that very vague level...similarly I use the phrase 'recently' to mean a time frame of some several months so as not to identify people.
This is not a deceit or manipulation of you the reader, but a mechanism to allow me to distance others from accountability and potential official retribution for what they have told me privately and/or in good faith.
I try to check my facts and take absolute responsibility for anything on my blog...I am Nick Fletcher, and this is Blogageddon...(Blogageddon-Ed)...Blogageddon...and if I thought someone was lying to me about stuff so as to have me come a cropper I wouldn't put it up anyway...(don't look at me-Ed)...and if and when I'm wrong I apologise genuinely...it really is that simple...
So it is that I acknowledge what I have known for some time but failed to see in my anger...again recently I heard reference to the Lutheran Mission (I think on the Eyre Peninsula) and the missionary involved who recorded the local Indigenous Aboriginal language in the late 1800s or early1900s (?sorry) meaning that it is now being re-learned after nearly 'dying' and being lost forever.
This is being celebrated as a positive in that community, so my opinion of the Lutherans is irrelevent.
I have also heard reference to another language that is being 're-spoken' with a Scottish accent because the woman reading it was Scottish...and this from an Aboriginal person, so I'm taking them at their word...
However, it remains a reality that many Aboriginal people suffered terribly because of institutions like 'Missions', and again, it's just not for me to say...these truths are undeniable.
And it remains my general personal position that it is simply not my place to tell
Aboriginal people about their individual and collective
experiences...what I need to do is listen and learn...and so much to
learn...
On a tangent: I have heard and read accounts of local Aboriginal 'Cave art' being protected because there has been so much rubbish thrown down the caves or sinkholes, that people are unable to easily get in, and this has stopped vandalism and/or other degradation.
In conclusion, I do not withdraw anything I have said about my experience of the Lutherans, but there are other spheres of experience that it was wrong of me to not identify...
Tomorrow: Some Housekeeping
More bits and pieces from DeBelle Ends, Fishy Facts, and Turbine Tales...oh, and the offensive 'Parking Inspector' bollocks that Council is currently engaging in...(did some one say 'Reserved Parking right near your Workplace?-Ed)...no, but I was about to...
Have a wild guess at just how pissed off people are with Council for the above hypocrisy of reserved parking for Council provided cars, whilst hammering private citizens with massive multiple fines...(go on then-Ed)...pricks...(better?-Ed)...absolutely...
Apols for late blog...I am Nick Fletcher and I spent half the weekend in a swamp planting trees and talking to Eastern Grey kangaroos and Superb Blue Fairy Wrens...(bloody hippy-Ed)...thank you...and then I came home and did these posts...on this here my blog...cheers...
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