The Marketing of Outrage

Australia Day aftermath. Pic courtesy Courier Mail

Unless you've been under a rock for the last few days you've been hearing, gentle reader, about the controversy regarding Australia Day merchandise and a couple of our leading retailers.

Let's look at what's actually happened, and then examine the blowback.

Woolworths published this statement which was picked up by Channel Seven -

There has been a gradual decline in demand for Australia Day merchandise from our stores over recent years. At the same time there’s been broader discussion about 26 January and what it means to different parts of the community.

We know many people like to use this day as a time to get together and we offer a huge variety of products to help customers mark the day as they choose.

Woolworths and BIG W celebrate the best of Australia every day, and we’re proud to support the farmers, producers, and suppliers who work with us.

When you drill down, they're saying two different things. One is that there has been a decrease in demand for Australia Day merchandise recently, and the other is that the day means different things to different parts of the community.

I can't understand why those statements are controversial. They both reflect reality, and any large retailer that ignores measurable trends affecting their business will rapidly become a small retailer.

Then there's Aldi. 

They're reported as announcing they won't stock special Australia Day merchandise, but you won't find any mention of that on their website.

As you might expect, they're talking about what they are selling, rather than what they're not selling.

The irony is, if you walk into a Woolworths or Aldi store, you'll find Australian flags stocked, it's simply that they're not promoted. Strange but true.

So what is the media outrage all about? Marketing, of course. The various online and print media organisations are marketing the story.

It attracts clicks and sells papers. Outrage always does.

And the politicians extracting every ounce of attention by commenting are generally those who regard the market as sacred.

Two Tragedies

 

Pic courtesy CNN

The two tragedies I'm referring to, gentle reader, are the war in Gaza and the media's response to it.

Every war is a tragedy, a failure of rationality, and an exploitation of what is evil in the minds of men.

The current Middle East conflicts (and there are many) provide a textbook example of human tragedy. Daily, civilians are dying, and whether they are "innocent" or not makes no difference.

I learned in Vietnam fifty years ago that the military will always classify a dead civilian as "enemy" and by that definition not innocent and deserving of death. Much the same is happening in Gaza at the moment. Maybe Gazans support Hamas and maybe not, but I doubt a child can be a true supporter of any ideology.

To begin to explore the reasons for the current conflict is a can of worms, and depends to an extent on what version of history you accept. I won't go there, except to say it's embedded in the religions and culture in that part of the world. 

What is abundantly clear is that media takes sides based on their biases, and discerning the facts from the reporting is all but impossible.

Social media is worse, because it lacks the filter of what passes as journalism these days.

To see people in Sydney and other state capitals waving flags, both of Palestine and Israel, is complete idiocy in Australia. 

The only cause worth the action of taking to the streets is the cause of peace, and nobody seems to be prepared to support it.

We live in strange and remarkably irrational times...

 

A Sweet Use of Adversity

My recently-completed thesis is no longer available on USQ's thesis repository.

This is a problem, as I need quick and easy reference online.  

My efforts at publishing it in messy bits and pieces, gentle reader, was an abject failure. 

An IT-savvy friend has suggested I post it as a link using Google Docs. I had to learn how to do this, but it's not difficult. 

To access the whole document, click on this link.

Chickenman Remembered

One of the very few entertaining aspects of serving in Vietnam was the opportunity to listen to episodes of Chickenman broadcast on American Forces Radio.

They were universally funny and a send-up of the genre of radio serials that had been popular both in the US and Australia throughout the fifties and sixties.

By the time I was in country, this genre of programming was no longer popular back home in both countries, but they enjoyed a resurgence amongst service personnel during the war. They were at the same time a reminder of home, and a bizarre diversion.

There was also an Australian radio station set up by members based in Vung Tau, which supplied news, sporting broadcasts and other reports from home. From memory, it didn't broadcast around the clock as the American station did, and was bereft of the "commercials" which punctuated the American broadcasts, which reminded GIs to fasten their buttons, take their anti-malarials, and secure parked vehicles, amongst other things. 

This broadcast coincidentally was made on the day I arrived in country aboard HMAS Sydney. 

You're probably familiar, gentle reader, with Robin Williams' Good Morning Vietnam.

We used to listen through earphones to AFN on transistors secreted in our basic pouches. It was tolerated, but not encouraged by our commanders. Listening without earphones was  a chargeable offence, as was listening (with earphones) on picquet.

The Americans were prone to playing radios at all times, even when patrolling in the case of some units.

 

"Jellybeans" in Hindsight

About thirteen years ago, I finished putting together a series of blog posts and converted them into a memoir, had them printed by USQ press, and published it.

1000 copies were printed. There are about 80 left.

Looking back on the experience is interesting.

I wrote it because it was something I'd always wanted to do. The story was in my memory and had been for years. I had also been back to Vietnam a couple of times, and those trips had put a lot of things in perspective.

The school I had retired from in my last principalship was happy to organise a book release as a fundraiser, and I undertook to provide a percentage of the proceeds to the P & C.

It was marketed through word of mouth, a couple of radio interviews, a website, advertisements on a couple of websites, and most recently in DVA's Vetaffairs newsletter. 

I travelled to the USA in 2018, and established contacts with Vietnam veterans across the Pacific to help sell the eBook version. Selling hard copy overseas was never a possibility because of mailing costs. It was reviewed by Marc Leepson in 2018.

It has been stocked in a couple of Dymocks bookstores.

Since release, about 900 copies have been sold, and quite a few (I haven't counted) given away, mostly to fellow Nashos.

Apart from the experience of writing it, it has been a reliable minor earner, and helped keep me in coffee and beer money since released. The P & C also did OK. 

I've given a few author talks at libraries. What surprised me at these functions was the deep ignorance of our Vietnam commitment demonstrated by audience members. Where these author talks were conducted with veteran groups, as a few were, the acceptance of some toxic myths surprised me.  

This was substantially what motivated me to commit to further research about National Service Conscription at USQ. 

It's still available, by the way. 

I have no regrets, gentle reader, everybody should write a book. Have a go....

 

Covid Continues

 

It's finally caught up with me - the dreaded Covid.

It's probably my own fault because I wasn't up to date with the vaccine. I was lulled into a false sense of security, as much as anything else because the issue has been completely ignored by the media.

I had made a booking to get the most recent version of the vaccine but had come down with mild respiratory symptoms on the day of the booking, and when I turned up at the surgery was banished to the carpark.

My GP sent me off for testing, and sure enough I was positive. He was apologetic for not seeing me in the surgery, but explained (from about three metres away on the passenger's side of the car) that he'd had so many bad experiences with himself and staff going down with the bug that he was being very cautious.

What I found confusing was that the pathologist wasn't masked or gowned. I hope she doesn't contract it.

One the positive diagnosis was sent by text, I was booked for a telemedicine appointment which resulted in a course of antivirals. The guidelines were pretty clear, so I've been isolating since diagnosis, which is a greater inconvenience than the virus itself. I have a few days to go.

Mind you, the first few days weren't pretty (burning eyes, sinus headaches, and sandpaper throat). I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. That only lasted a day or two, and has cleared up. The antivirals seem to have worked for me. They have side effects, but in my case minor - a metallic taste which persists.

So far, my bride seems to have escaped, so fingers crossed.

As to how I caught it - who knows. I did venture unmasked to a large shopping centre congested by the Christmas rush a few days before onset of symptoms, so perhaps that's where it originated. The fact is, the virus is still rampant, even if mainstream media has decided to ignore it.

I's no linger a story that sells papers or attracts clics, I guess.

The statistics speak for themselves in terms of how it was handled in Australia, but the wingnuts across the Pacific (which has a death rate four times ours), and a few here, continue to make a big noise. 

What remains unmentioned is that 135840 cases have been reported in Queensland this year, and weekly averages are around 1500 weekly. When you consider that many cases go unreported, it's likely that the real incidence rate is much higher.

Wear a mask in congested areas, gentle reader, and ignore the outrage merchants who really don't have anything to complain about.

  

Hysteria in Politics

                        Image courtesy The Guardian

No doubt, gentle reader, you're acquainted with the recent media about the High Court decision releasing detainees from indefinite detention.

In summary, that decision ordered the release of stateless detainees as it ruled that politicians don't have the constitutional power to punish. The High Court found that punishment is the role of the courts, not parliament.

That principle is nothing new, but as a consequence of political decisions (supported by both major parties) hundreds of these people were in indefinite detention. Whether or not indefinite detention can be supported morally or legally is not the issue. The High Court found that it was illegal, and for what it's worth, I regard it as morally indefensible. In any event, they had to be released, and they were.

The people caught up in this were stateless, and the reason they remained in detention was that no country would accept them. Some of them had committed serious crimes, and all of those had served sentences as a consequence. Some had committed no crime, but they were deemed to be of poor character. Those who had been convicted of serious offences had served their time. If they had been Australian citizens, and not stateless, they would have been released into the community, just as thousands of other ex-prisioners are annually.

The opposition has lapsed into hysteria around this issue, in an attempt to make political capital, as fear of refugees has always been a politically powerful meme, and has worked well in the past.

They seem to have forgotten that the legislation that the High Court deemed unconstitutional was strongly supported historically by the Coalition, and that it had been introduced for political reasons which were, as it turns out, found to be in breach of the Australian constitution. 

Nevertheless, Dutton and fellow shadow ministers have been doing the rounds whipping up hysteria. The irony, of course, is that it was legislation introduced by the Keating government, and amended in 2001 by Howard's cabinet at the height of the Tampa incident. A further irony relates to the fact that Dutton has always been prominent at exploiting law and order issues for political capital. 

It will be interesting to see if the Coalition cooperate with Labor in instituting new legislation that puts these non-citizens back in detention.   

Whether they do or not makes no difference to the fact that indefinite detention, as a concept in a civilised society, is morally bankrupt.