Sunday, January 26, 2014

Invasion/Survival/Australia Day 2014

Hello Brazil, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and Russia and welcome to the blog...and again profuse apologies for yesterday's post...it was a bit disjointed and patchy and there were a couple of glaring omissions, namely...

1) That state Liberal candidate Troy Bell was present Friday 24th at the Penola Fracking protest but declined to speak...it is for Mr Bell himself to explain exactly why, but I believe that he felt uneasy about appropriating the situation for his own advantage...(and Member for Barker Tony Pasin mentioned him enough anyway-Ed)...true...and I personally feel that the 'Labor bashing' that proceeded him, meant that anything he said would have been in that context.

(So you're suggesting that the rank 'Labor bashing/Liberal spruiking' completely compromised his position to the extent that he was effectively blocked from talking by his own party-Ed)...pretty much...if he said anything other than completely agree with that already stated he was effectively contradicting his senior party colleagues...(tricky-Ed)...quite...particularly when the state Liberal Party support Fracking...(well quite-Ed).      

And further credit to Mr Bell in that he knows I'm poison as far as politics is concerned, to both parties, yet he still acknowledges and converses with me in clear public view...(I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or a sign of insanity-Ed)...steady on, I call it a basic mark of respect for someone whom he recognises is not half as mad and/or bad as often identified...(more like 4/5ths-Ed)...hilarious...and a clear indicator that he's more than capable of thinking for himself.

I took the opportunity to explain to him the Independent Commission Against Corruption 'findings' in completely exonerating Mt Gambier City Council re basically everything (previous posts)...and like every other person I've discussed it with, he was openly shocked...but whilst he accepted what I was saying as accurate, I'm not sure that there's anything he can do about it right now or even if he becomes the next Member for Mt Gambier.  

2) Former ABC presenter Alan Richardson was MC for the day, and after all the speeches, he too came up to me and the person I was talking to, and said hello...as part of that conversation I explained to Alan what had happened at the ABC office on the previous Tuesday when Stuart Stansfield threw me out...and it wasn't anything Alan said particularly that I took as a compliment, it was that he accepted as truth what I claimed to have happened...

(Well that's just because he's had extensive dealings with you for over a decade across a number of often highly emotive issues...)...he's talking about St Martins...(...so he's seen how you roll and he also knows that for all your faults and failings, you're not half the bastard that some would have it believed, and therefore has a modicum of begrudging respect-Ed)..."a modicum of begrudging" eh?..don't want to over do it or rush into anything...(quite-Ed).

All jesting aside, I don't think Alan does 'begrudging' as such...to my experience he's more straight up and down than that, more genuine as it were...certainly more so than any number of other individuals I've dealt with...and that therefore makes that genuine respect...(a modicum of genu-Ed)...yeah, yeah, a modicum of genuine respect...but that's still respect and it's still genuine...(fair enough-Ed)...

And obviously Alan is now also aware of the ICAC stuff because I briefly explained it to him as part of the whole "Who Let That Bloody Hippy In Here?' incident at the ABC on Tuesday 21st January 2014...(dude, it's almost like that 'can't look away from a train wreck' thing...these people must know by now what sort of crap is going to come outta' your mouth, but they keep on talking to ya'-Ed).

ISA Day: I openly acknowledge my deep cynicism about many aspects of 'Australian Society' and am therefore perhaps not the best person to clinically, objectively dis-assemble Australia Day into it's component parts and/or motivations, but I am still capable of recognising other opinions, and hence the title.

I'm not getting into a debate about what's Australian or un-Australian...at this point in time my blog is my creed and belief, or at least fairly close, and what I have to say about the society that I'm sort of a part of, is literally writ there-in...(well 'literally' means written actually-Ed)...shhh...

Today's post, if not actually today itself, is about the other 2 realities of the title, Invasion Day and Survival Day. As a non-Aboriginal first generation white Australian it is not my place to tell anyone what they do or don't think about these titles, but I recognise the broad premise of each and support them both as I do the title of Australia Day.

If a person chose to call today Invasion Day then I accept that they have a very strong argument to support that choice...(because it's true-Ed)...because it's true, and there is truly nothing that sounds more confronting than the truth...on this day in 1788 the people living here were invaded by a foreign power.

If a person were to call today Survival Day then again I accept that truth and that it is a living truth, a current truth, a truth that should not be...and so an attempt at nomenclaturistic conciliation conceived to work around the confrontational implications of 'Invasion', is actually more damning...(whaaa?-Ed)...the term Survival Day is used in part to not alienate those who resent being blamed for said 'Invasion'...(yeah-Ed)...and in part to deny the deniers who say said 'Invasion' wasn't my fault therefore not my problem, etc...(and in part therefore also makes said deniers accountable for what is a continuing situation stemming from the 'Invasion'...that's brilliant-Ed).

I absolutely agree...if that's all happened purely by chance, then the Universe truly is a wondrous place...it is a wonderful piece of perfectly appropriate passive aggression that makes everybody, myself included, absolutely accountable...and a seething indictment of a fundamental part of Australian society...(oi oi oi-Ed)...indeed.

Of course a person may also choose Survival Day as a recognition and celebration of the resilience and hopes that they have experienced in their own lives and/or in those around them...(which is still in many ways an indictment-Ed)...indeed...it cuts deeply both ways...if I may speak in the third person for the purpose of this explanation...'we have survived, but why have we had to?'

I'll finish here for today...still feeling a bit like somethin' the cat dragged in...but,

Tomorrow: More Slagging Off The ICAC

(Ah, come on, really?...aren't you sick of that yet?-Ed)...nope...alright, and maybe some other stuff...about hats...(what?-Ed)...people aren't wearing enough...(what?-Ed)...more tomorrow....(Hang on-Ed)... 

I am Nick Fletcher...(Oi!-Ed)...and this is my blog...(Oi!-Ed)...cheers and laters...Oiiiii....

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