Friday 11 September 2020

First World Problems

 

                                                                          Pic courtesy Buzzfeed

It's been fascinating to read some of the *Glibertarian nonsense being currently floated in the media about our government's response to the virus.

First up, we have the meme that this virus is a risk only to old people and those with existing co-morbidities. The proponents of this notion conveniently forget that a very large slice of the population meet both these descriptions, including the 5% accepted as having life altering disabilities. Is this group (and the over 65s who constitute 15% of our population) disposable? Clinton talked about the “deplorables”. Now as far as the Glibertarians are concerned, we have the “dispensables”.

Another emerging meme is that only the private sector is affected.

The fact is, everyone has been affected. It’s just the Glibertarians who moan about it. They are completely unable to consider anyone’s interests except their own. No wonder they applauded Thatcher when she denied the existence of society.

Spare a thought for staff in special schools who work daily in close proximity to children with severe impairments who have no concept of “social distancing” – the same children with co-morbidities for whom infection could mean death.

Spare a thought for aged care workers, many casuals, who have no option but to work for meagre wages across a number of different locations. This situation, which has been brought about by the privatisation of the industry forcing corners to be cut in terms of staff training, wages and qualifications, is largely responsible for the proportionally large number of deaths in what used to be called “Nursing homes”.

There is a bitter irony in that nomenclature, given that there are very few registered nurses working in these institutions. The value of the lives of our seniors, who have contributed throughout their lifetimes has been happily sacrificed on the altar of investment return in the aged care sector.

One whinge that I find more than preposterous is that everyone has now been reduced to a relatively primitive standard of living.

Poor petals. As far as I know, they have beds to sleep in, and they don’t get wet when it rains. I’m afraid I can’t get too sympathetic when I remember government dictat forcing me to live in the scrub for months on end in Vietnam, eating out of tins, and bathing, if I was lucky, once in a nine week operation. Those "privileges" were available to a select few, when the vast majority of young Australians were living comfortable lives back home. Apparently we were all in it together back then as well.

We hear that well-paying jobs are disappearing.

That’s nothing new. Well-paying jobs have been disappearing for a very long time, and it has nothing to do with the pandemic. The gig economy and an increasingly casualised workforce was trending long before Covid 19. The usual suspects (those with the money and power) will come out of it better off in the end, if the GFC is anything to go by.

There are bitter complaints that social lives are being disrupted. I'm sure they are, but I'm afraid I can't feel too sympathetic. The social lives thousands of conscripts was fairly successfully destroyed back in 1965 - 1972. For about 200 of them, actual life was destroyed, and for thousands of others, was never the same again as a consequence of both physical and moral injury. At least this time, there is a real threat.

Back then, the threat was manufactured to keep a time-expired coalition in power.

Some are complaining that the lockdowns will result in a loss of a year of their lives.

In the case of Nashos, it was two years. That was for the unlucky 12% who had their birthdates drawn. Everybody else continued pretty much as normal.  

Then there are the complaints that the politicians don't know what they're doing, even though they are listening to medical advice, in this country at least.

The government of the time that committed us to Vietnam certainly didn't know what it was doing, in a strategic sense, even if their decisions were politically expedient at the time. History has well and truly confirmed that. Back then their ignorance was killing young people. In this crisis, lives are being saved because governments are listening to people who know what they’re talking about. That wasn’t the case in the sixties when it came to defence strategy.

Back then, a false sense of crisis was created. It was all about the bogey of Communism based on the discredited Domino theory. Remember how that worked out? At that time the disruption was caused to about 12% of the male population of 20 year olds. This time it’s everybody. Surely that’s progress.

There are complaints that the media is feeding the sense of crisis. During the war in Vietnam, the media nightly exposed the reality, which led eventually to a withdrawal. It came too late for 57000 Americans, 500 Australians, and millions of Vietnamese. People who distrust the mainstream media are those who can’t abide the reporting of the reality when it interferes with their lives.

Perhaps when this crisis is over, we may emerge with a more compassionate polity as a consequence of lessons learned. Somehow, with the benefit of observing local politics for 50 plus years, I doubt it. 

Our system has an unstoppable tendency to revert to type by preserving the power imbalances which underpin our uniquely Australian form of crony capitalism.

*Glib Libertarians

Comments closed.


46 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great work, blogger.
Only you could link today's Chinese Flu with your experience in the Vietnam war.
Your obsession with a painful moment for you 50 years ago is sad to observe.
Get help. Or move on.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"1735099 is wiping the floor with you, John Grey. I don't know why you bother.
Ex-digger."
Your very subjective opinion is not reflected in the blogger's closing down of the previous post when my comments get too close to the truth.
His propaganda is easy to cut down so he stops comments.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"First up, we have the meme that this virus is a risk only to old people and those with existing co-morbidities"
Yet another lie from the serial liar. (unless he is using the word meme incorrectly in which case I will switch from calling him a liar to calling him stupid)
The actual truth is that the Wuhan Flu has a greater chance of killing the elderly, those with co-morbidities, and those in old aged homes. That fact is not challenged by intelligent readers of the international statistics. Of course the blogger is not one of those intelligent readers.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"No wonder they applauded Thatcher when she denied the existence of society."
Another lie from the blogger.
He knows full well that one of the most misunderstood comments Margaret Thatcher ever made was her comment, “There is no such thing as society.” This is often taken to be a denial that individuals have any obligations to others. In context, what she meant was more nearly the reverse: that we do not emphasize those obligations enough, and use the word “society” in a way that obscures them. Thus people sometimes act as though some abstract “society,” rather than individual taxpayers, pays for government benefits, or blame “society” rather than parents for the abuse and neglect of children. If Thatcher had not been prime minister, it would have been a fine use of aphorism to summarise a point.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"the discredited Domino theory"
Incorrect, yet again.
The dominos didn't fall fast enough or cheaply enough.
The communists stopped because they wasted so much of their money and manpower for little gain.
The fall of Saigon was a Phyrric victory for the communists and no more dominos fell thanks to the US and Australian commitment to the Vietnam war.
I guess the blogger is feeling guilty that he helped stop his ideological heroes.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

A First World Solution.
On Thursday, President Trump thanked the American public and White House officials for their efforts during the pandemic. On Thursday, he asserted his belief that the country is rounding the corner.

The President highlighted the nation’s progress and stated everyone has done a phenomenal job. He noted more than 10 million jobs have been added over the past four months.

He went on to say the nation is seeing its fastest ever labor market recovery from an economic crisis.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"Spare a thought for staff in special schools who work"
Key word being WORK, unlike those without jobs.
Australia is officially in its first recession for almost three decades, with the June quarter GDP numbers showing the economy went backwards by 7 per cent — the worst fall on record and slightly worse than most economists had predicted.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

Downplaying the effect on the private sector is standard boilerplate from a life-long public servant who coasted along on the wages paid by the productive sector.
The blogger Ignors the dire numbers (ha ha) which have been released on the back of Treasury estimates that the strict lockdown measures are costing the economy $4 billion every week.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released data this morning showing that almost one million people are now out of work due to COVID-19, with countless businesses impacted by bans and restrictions to help with social distancing.

One million out of work, and the blogger dismisses that tragedy. Poor, very poor.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the national economy is forecast to contract by 10 to 12 per cent by June, equivalent to $50 billion.
On current estimates, the lockdown measures in place are costing the economy $4 billion every week.

The vanity blogger would have his 3 readers believe that the private sector is affected as much as others. He is so wrong it is laughable.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

You write "His propaganda is easy to cut down so he stops comments."
You are getting more than a fair go.
If I was the blog owner I would delete all your posts because they are repetitious and boring.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who thinks, like the blogger, that the current situation is just a first world problem is guilty of severe understatement.
The modelling on which our policymakers based their early decision-making has been revealed by James Cook University academics to have been wildly flawed; exaggerating infection spread by a factor of four. Yet our lockdown fetishists continue unabated, encouraged by many in politics, the media and, it must be said, the community.

So statistical errors led to the current economic disaster.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"If I was the blog owner I would delete all your posts because they are repetitious and boring."
Looks like I'm right over the target.
The blogger is in an invidious position - to allow my posts to continue, or censor them even more harshly than at present and be guilty of totalitarian over-reach.
John Grey.

1735099 said...

The communists stopped because they wasted so much of their money and manpower for little gain.
Define "stopped", and explain why the people I fought in Vietnam were third generation guerillas.
Ever consider that they might have wanted the foreigners out and to have the ability to govern themselves?

1735099 said...

The blogger is in an invidious position - to allow my posts to continue, or censor them even more harshly than at present and be guilty of totalitarian over-reach.
You have an over-inflated perception of your own relevance.
The only comments I "censor" are those posted after comments are closed.
It's strange that you haven't noticed that.
Or given the obsessional one-track train of thought reflected by your comments, perhaps it isn't.
Situational awareness is not your strength.
Thank the good Lord you weren't in my rifle section.

1735099 said...

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the national economy is forecast to contract by 10 to 12 per cent by June, equivalent to $50 billion.
On current estimates, the lockdown measures in place are costing the economy $4 billion every week.

Based on treasury modelling.
Apparently modelling is only to be believed if it aligns with your opinions.
Maybe Josh (and Treasury) are out by a factor of four as well.
What does JCU think of that?

Anonymous said...

"The only comments I "censor" are those posted after comments are closed." Now you and I both know that is a lie, 1735069. I have commented a number of times on what appears to be forbidden material. At the time of posting comments were open and when not published I reiterated the the same information in a more recent posting to ensure closure of comments was not the reason for censorship. I do not expect this to be published either, by the way. I am sure you never had a beer with Aldy.
Not John Grey.

1735099 said...

Keep posting, so everyone can note how you’re censored.
And I’ve never had a beer with Duncan.

Anonymous said...

In developing First World Solutions, Bahrain joined the United Arab Emirates in agreeing to normalise relations with Israel on Friday.
Yet another nomination of President Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"Keep posting, so everyone can note how you’re censored.
And I’ve never had a beer with Duncan."
Simplistic, childish, and illogical.
I'm not surprised at the blogger's attempt to downplay his bitterness.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"The only comments I "censor" are those posted after comments are closed.
It's strange that you haven't noticed that." Rubbish, blogger.
You tell the most outrageous lies in the hope that repeating them will propagandise people into believing them
You get rid of my comments first and close comments down second, not the other way around.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"Thank the good Lord you weren't in my rifle section."
Yes indeed.
Having a very unwilling soldier beside me would have sent shivers of fear up my spine.
I'd be more worried about you than the enemy.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

Silence is consent.
The blogger's silence on the anniversary of Islamic terrorism destroying the lives of 3,000 people in America speaks loudly about his political stance.
Publishing "First World Problems" on that date shows his priorities are not with Western Civilisation.
John Grey.

1735099 said...

Silence is consent.
List of atrocities John Grey has not commented on -
My Lai massacre.
Christchurch massacre.
El Paso shootings.
Sandy Hook shootings.
Las Vegas massacre.
Clearly, applying his impeccable logic, he supports the perpetrators in each and every case.

1735099 said...

You tell the most outrageous lies in the hope that repeating them will propagandise people into believing them
Show me one "lie" I've posted on this blog.
You get rid of my comments first and close comments down second, not the other way around.
I close comments routinely on Friday morning. It's not problem that you don't know what day it is. Buy a calendar.
In fact if you ask nicely at the pharmacy, they might give you one for free.

Anonymous said...

"I close comments routinely on Friday morning".......without publishing the comments posted on Wednesday and Thursday.
Trying to hide behind policies and procedures is so Chairmen Dan-ish.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"First up, we have the meme that this virus is a risk only to old people and those with existing co-morbidities. The proponents of this notion conveniently forget that a very large slice of the population meet both these descriptions"

Typical bullshit debating technique; set up a straw man argument as it's the only one the blogger can cut down.
Those who CORRECTLY point out the high risk of Wuhan Flu harming old people and those with existing co-morbidities do NOT conveniently forget those groups.
Increased care and attention for those people is what the commentators are calling for, not forgetting.
Allowing younger, lower risk people back to work is also called for.

It's a shame when the blogger's bitterness spills over into issues we could actually agree on if he wasn't so blind to reality.
Just because he was conscripted to fight in Vietnam he thinks all elected governments are on the nose and he'd rather be in China or Russia.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"1735099 said...

Show me one "lie" I've posted on this blog."

Can't you read? I summarised three (thats 3) at the top of the comments section.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"1735099 said...

List of atrocities John Grey has not commented on"

Ummmmm - you are the one with a vanity blog that highlights your obsessions.
I comment on your inconsistencies, myths and bullshit.
Quite accurately too.
John Grey

Anonymous said...

"Well-paying jobs have been disappearing for a very long time"
Statistical proof please blogger, or it didn't happen.
John Grey.

1735099 said...

Just because he was conscripted to fight in Vietnam he thinks all elected governments are on the nose and he'd rather be in China or Russia.
Last time I looked the Russian federation was a democracy.
It may be authoritarian, but then so is the Trump administration.
At least Putin, unlike Trump, seems to have the backing of the majority of his people, if election results are anything to go by.

1735099 said...

Statistical proof please blogger, or it didn't happen. Happily - ahttps://theconversation.com/theres-an-obvious-reason-wages-arent-growing-but-you-wont-hear-it-from-treasury-or-the-reserve-bank-122041#:~:text=Wages%20growth%20for%20Australian%20workers,and%20a%20supposedly%20strong%20economy.

Anonymous said...

"(Russia) may be authoritarian, but then so is the Trump administration"
Blogger, I understand your ideological attraction to the communist state, but even for you that comment is ridiculous.

Following the constitutional crisis of 1993, a new constitution was adopted and Russia has been governed as a federal semi-presidential republic. Vladimir Putin became acting president on 31 December 1999 after Boris Yeltsin resigned and was elected president in March 2000. Since then, he has dominated Russia's political system as either president or prime minister. His government has been accused by non-governmental organisations of numerous human rights abuses, authoritarianism and corruption. (Wiki)

You apparently haven't heard about "checks and balances" in the good old USA.
John Grey

Anonymous said...

"One whinge that I find more than preposterous is that everyone has now been reduced to a relatively primitive standard of living."
Another reason to read the blogger's posts - his unsurpassed use of hyperbole and made-up bullshit.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

Seriously, you are using the biased 'The Conversation: as a source?
Give it a break. They are a left wing conspiracy joint.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"our uniquely Australian form of crony capitalism."
The blogger is sounding more and more like a dyed-in-the-wool Catallaxy poster.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

"Last time I looked the Russian federation was a democracy."
You didn't look very hard. Deliberately.

Russia is a democracy in disguise and exhibits policies that resemble its communist past rather than traditionally recognized western democracies. (Slawson 1991)
John Grey

Anonymous said...

"Our system has an unstoppable tendency to revert to type by preserving the power imbalances which underpin our uniquely Australian form of crony capitalism."
You have accurately described the totalitarian actions of Dan Andrews and your own Premier.
Looks like you are turning away from the dark side.
John Grey

1735099 said...

Russia is a democracy in disguise and exhibits policies that resemble its communist past rather than traditionally recognized western democracies.

At the last presidential elections, Putin's United Russia achieved 63.60% of votes cast. Apparently Russian voters support his policies. Those policies may resemble those that were in place when the USSR was a Communist dictatorship, but they are the product of a popular vote.
You have a very simplistic binary view and obviously can't tell the difference between political philosophy and electoral arrangements. That's common amongst those on the hard Right who are generally able to understand no more than one concept at a time.

1735099 said...

You have accurately described the totalitarian actions of Dan Andrews and your own Premier.
Which are apparently working.
Some revealing statistics -
Victoria
Population - 6.65 million
Cases - 19000
Deaths - 716
Massachusetts
Population - 6.89 million
Cases - 125000
Deaths - 9200
Queensland has 1149 cases.
Alabama, with a similar population, has 139000.

Anonymous said...

"Apparently Russian voters support his policies."
Of course they do.
If the Opposition leader can be poisoned and nearly die, the average voter will be in fear of their own lives if they oppose Putin.
At least 10 opponents of Putin have died violently.
The blogger's glib support of Russia highlights his communist roots.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

Stand aside "Hanoi Jane" and welcome "Moscow Blogger".
John Grey.

1735099 said...

The blogger's glib support of Russia highlights his communist roots.
So accurately describing the electoral system in the Russian Federation "highlights" my communist roots?
Putin is a thug with links to KGB assassins running a corrupt authoritarian regime.
He is about as "Communist" as my Blue Heeler, but he was elected by a majority of Russian voters.
You have the cognitive capacity of a below average ten year old.

Anonymous said...

John Grey, you call 1735099 a communist because you disagree with him. There must be lots of communists running around, according to you.
You are a dunce.
Maree

Anonymous said...

Maree, a dunce I may be but a soft supporter of Russia I am not.
The blogger minimises communist influence in Russia, pretends that democracy exists there, ignores the deaths of Putin's opponents and mistakenly writes that political philosophy does not influence electoral arrangements.
He laughingly says there is no democracy in the USA but it does exist in Russia.
In short, he has communism as his guiding philosophy.
Change my mind.
John Grey.

Anonymous said...

Maree, it is a known fact that the Greens attracted many members of the now defunct Communist Party of Australia, so there is a good chance there are lots of communists running around along with the socialists that deny they are communists of another colour. Guess who 1735099 votes for. Yep Greens as previously admitted.

Anonymous said...

I can't see anything in the blogger's posts about Russia that would make any sane reader think he is a soft supporter of Russia. You either have a thing about communism or are not sane or both.
Maree

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