Man, I only watched the second half of the Superbowl this year, but it was probably the most exciting bit of sports-spectating I’ve enjoyed since the Tall Blacks came 4th at the ’02 basketball worlds. If I’d been a partisan of either team it would probably have topped that experience. What an incredible game it was.
I think I first watched the Superbowl in ’91? Or ’92? Can’t remember for sure. Somewhere in that early-90s run when Buffalo lost four Superbowls in a row. It’s always been a fun diversion, particularly with some buddies who are really into it, but today was just a hell of a good contest between two great teams.
Awesome.
See also disappointed Jarratt.
Comment Error
Something is up with comments. Hmm. Will investigate.
EDIT: the wonderful Mr Ritchie has done some monkeywrenching behind the scenes. Hopefully things are in order now. If errors are encountered, please to be emailing to me.
Big Picture Thinking
We just aren’t very good at it, are we? Humans, I mean. As Karen put it in comments to the previous post, we “like simple solutions. and simple solutions don’t exist in complex systems.”
Stuff’s “Have your say” on John key’s boot camp proposal is instructive. It is full of just what you’d expect, but nestled among the nonsense is this revealing comment by a “Dave Smith”: “This hippie flower-power Nanny State the Labour and Greens have produced just does not work – We have given it a try for long enough.”
And this from “Amanda”: “the next few years we will start to see the effects of the disrespectful, mouthy, selfish little savages bleating about “rights” that the Labour government has created!”
Labour came into (coalition) government at the end of 1999. That’s eight years of labour governance so far. Is eight years really enough for society to be changed so utterly? Especially following the neo-liberal economic changes pursued in an unbroken chain from 1984 through to the end of 1999? We are still, as a nation, discovering the effect of those changes (which are in some ways perpetuated by the current government).
I have a notion that politics – left and right, conservative and liberal, however you choose to frame it – are not really about different kinds of governance. I think they are about different perceptions of people, and different perceptions of how systems work.
Many rightish ideologies (and particularly the libertarian strain) at their core view people as fully capable of being masters of their own destinies, and somehow immune to context and systemic influence or pressure.
Many leftish ideologies at their core view people as structured by the systems in which they inhabit. Behaviour can be explained, and some would say excused, by systemic pressures. Also, cleverly designed systems can encourage socially beneficial behaviours.
So, the kinds of political views that make sense to you emerge from your understanding of human behaviour.
These are of course very rough sketches. (They’re not even necessarily contradictory views, if you’re willing to interpret them both just so.) In a sense, these are folk-politics that exist in the community in relationship with politics-as-she-is-done in the big house of government. (Lakoff enthusiasts can compare his family-metaphors to the above – I think Lakoff’s right, but I think that his level of explanation is wrong – his metaphors emerge from these ideas.)
Here’s the kick, though: I think they’re unequal. Rightish ideologies are just simpler at their core than leftish ones. More than that: rightish ideologies, at their core, are just wrong. They’re wrong about us and about society and they’re wrong about themselves. They don’t understand what it is to be human. (Libertarianism, I’m pointing at you for the most explicit incidence of this.)
Systems are complex. Change takes time. The picture is always bigger than you think. Leftish ideologies, for all their many flaws and weaknesses, tend to have a much better grasp on that than rightish ones; and that in itself makes them vulnerable.
—
It is left as an exercise for the reader* how my notion above is not undermined by the fact that capitalism, a system founded on profoundly rightish notions of how humans and systems act, works so much more effectively than any form of socialism I’ve heard of.
* i.e. I’m not sure myself
Tagging Is Evil
I fear the kids.
A 50-year-old businessman was today charged with the murder of a teenage boy.
Emery was charged over the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Pihema Clifford Cameron in Southview Place, Manurewa, on Saturday night. The stabbing allegedly occurred during an argument that arose after Pihema was about to tag a fence on a property and was chased. (full article)
The Mayor of Manukau City, which has been the scene of two murders since Friday, says minor offending such as tagging is the starting point for youngsters to go on to commit more serious crimes. Len Brown was commenting after the murders in Manurewa, including one in which a 50-year-old man is alleged to have killed a 15-year-old boy he caught tagging a fence in Southview Place. (full article)
A 50-year-old man charged with the murder of a teenage tagger in Manukau should be allowed to “get away with it”, Christchurch City councillor Barry Corbett says. “If I was on the jury, I would let him get away with it, but that is just me,” Corbett said. “Everyone is feeling sorry for the kid and his family, but if the kid was not tagging, he would still be alive.” (full article)
Violent youth crime is at an all-time high. Young criminals are graduating from petty crime to more serious crime; unexploded time-bombs on a fast-track to Paremoremo. The victims are people like you and me. – John Key’s speech to start the National party’s election campaign*
Looks like a white man lost it when he discovered a tagger. These days you can’t even protect your own property. South Auckland has been tagged into some huge coloured cesspool. With no support from police and others – I guess retreat is the only option.- Guy on the Stormfront (white power) messageboard
Especially the brown kids.
* For those who don’t hear the dogwhistle, look at this quote from the same speech: “The staggering discovery of a lost tribe of 6,000 children who are not enrolled at any school.” A lost tribe, huh?
Fearless Leader Auntie Helen also had a lot to say about youth in her big speech, but the fear-pandering was much less obvious.
Big Day Out: The Screen
All through the day, the main stages were accompanied by a giant screen showing closeups of the band on stage. Above the screen was one of those scrolling text banners. People in the crowd could text messages to the screen and they’d show up on the banner.
Some of this was predictable: teenage girls saying “Liam is sexy lolz” and random maroons saying “Raaaaaaaage” and so on. What took me by surprise was the full-on uprising of the geeks. Serious geek chatter dominated the banner. There were countless references to Chuck Norris, to WoW, to LOLCats, to NomNomNom, etc. Above all else, there was Trogdor the Burninator. Trogdor’s name appeared on the banner literally hundreds of times throughout the day.
My question, then: was this geek hijack of the text banner (at a huge rock gig) unusual? Or am I just so old and crusty that I don’t realise this is what such banners are like everywhere?
Bother.
What kind of place?
What kind of place is Wellington, that it deserves a section of its own in my sidebar?
Why, Wellington is the kind of place where the police are moved to ban the Borat swimsuit because too many men are keen to wear it.
That’s just how we roll.
Wellington By Blog
Recently arrived on the blogging scene: Poneke, a journo writing about NZ as a whole and Wellington in particular. It’s good stuff, well-researched and smart and breaking new stories now and then. I’ve had an eyebrow raised at the climate change coverage but almost everything else there has been top-notch.
When Poneke turned up it felt like there was the satisfying clunk of a final piece falling into place in the Wgtn-focus blogosphere. With events-and-chatter mavens the Wellingtonista going strong and Tom guiding us through the changing physical environment at WellUrban, we had a strong trio of distinctive perspectives that covered a lot of ground. These three blogs, it seemed, would give you a pretty solid overview of DubTown.
Naturally, almost as soon as Poneke picked up steam, the turf changed. Tom has retired WellUrban to move into employment in the field of his enthusiastic interest. Luckily, there are good signs that the triangulated coverage of Wellington will continue, with newcomers Eye of the Fish pledging to carry on where Tom left off on the architecture-and-urbanism front.
So that’s the scene. Yes, Wellington is small enough that you can get a fair sense of it from just three blogs; but of course that’s only the general shape and size. There’s a whole lot more complexity to the city than that, and if anyone else steps up with their own Wgtn-focus blog, there’s definitely space for them. (They might already be out there – who am I missing?)
Anyway, I want to extend a cheer in Tom’s direction for his efforts on WellUrban. I’ve learned a lot from reading that blog, about my home, about how cities work and can work, and most importantly what “active edges” means. Thanks man.
Cloverfield – How I Would Have Done It
Saw Cloverfield last week, on its first day of release. Waited to post this until a bunch of other people have seen it too. I enjoyed it a lot, but I had lots of issues with it too. There’s actually another post in me on the subject, if I get around to it.
This post, though, is full of spoilers. Don’t read if you haven’t seen (unless you don’t care).
This is how I would have done Cloverfield.
Kim Stanley Robinson on facing massive change
Considering I’ve read precisely one book by the guy (the awesome Red Mars), I have a lot of affection for Kim Stanley Robinson. If I read more SF/F, he’d be up there in my reading list I’m sure.
Making Light linked to this KSR interview, which I found compelling reading. He’s written a lot on the subject of massive planetary changes – either human induced, as in the Mars books, or the 40/50/60 series describing the Earth undergoing significant climate change. In the interview he discusses some of the interface between psychology and change, and expresses quite succinctly how we are living, as a species, unsustainably:
I’m advocating a kind of alteration of our imagined relationship to the planet. I think it’d be more fun – and also more sustainable. We’re always thinking that we’re much more powerful than we are, because we’re boosted by technological powers that exert a really, really high cost on the environment – a cost that isn’t calculated and that isn’t put into the price of things. It’s exteriorized from our fake economy. And it’s very profitable for certain elements in our society for us to continue to wander around in this dream-state and be upset about everything.
I love that first bit – an ‘alteration of our imagined relationship to the planet’. That’s fascinating stuff. There’s a massive headshift needed so we see the planet and our dynamic interactions with it in a more comprehensive way. A whole new frame for “the environment” is kicking its way into discourse, slowly – for example, thanks in no small part to Al Gore, there is now widespread acceptance that planetary-scale systems can be sensitive and responsive to human activity, which is a massive change in perspective compared to pretty much all human history before now.
KSR also waxes lyrical about the value of low-impact pleasures such as walking in the park and having a drink with friends. His claim that the new high-impact diversions we’ve created for ourselves are fundamentally psychologically unsatisfying is dubious, but I’m fully on-board with the idea that low-impact pleasures should be celebrated. These pleasures often sink out of view in the consumer society – there’s no money in going for a walk in the park, so there’s no marketing of that form of recreation. (As an aside, part of my great affection for roleplaying games is that they are low-impact activities; essentially they’re a structured form of hanging out with friends. There’s some interesting politics to RPGs. But that’s another post for another time.)
Anyway, go read the whole interview. It’s great and full of insights and quotable bits, and there’s a neat photo of Jimmy Carter inaugurating the White House solar panels in ’79, among other cool visuals. If you’re interested in sustainability, KSR’s perspective is worth your time.