A thread on politics- have some balls and post


It's easier to tell you who hasn't. Two major events a century apart with the suffix "... of Nanking" barely scratch the surface of the wounds to Chinese sovereignty and their psyche.
 
Soft power? China has invaded four of its neighbours since WWII, routinely sends army units over the border with India and is engaging in gunboat diplomacy in the South China Sea. China is no stranger to the hard stuff and will use it if weaker nations stand in their way.

That's fair, I probably minimise their hard power usage since it's regional rather than global - and like the Balkans it'ss a region with a long complex history that I will never fully understand. I do feel like we are at a crossroads where the little red book might be fully discarded for full-blown Han-supremacy and Chinese mysticism and a hard right turn to fascism - but the idealist in me says they still have transition to full communism by 2050 in their party plans and we just don't understand the Chinese long-game because of cultural incompatibility. I'm largely amused by the "what about the farmers?" crowd turning into the "stuff the farmers, they gotta take one for the team so we can impotently attempt to stick it up China" crowd overnight - and if I didn't muse out loud about the absurdity of it all I'd probably end up killing myself. Anyway, I'm off to read the Myth of Sysiphus for the 500th time this year.
 

Johnny Bananas

Premiership Player Hater
Sep 10, 2010
12,674
17,002
Next door
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
I do, but I don't care for the labels or the idea that I am hanging out over on privilege island, everyone is the same to me if they are having a crack
Privilege is all about recognising challenges that you don't have to face that other people do. I don't think there's any point in shaming people for their privilege, and I feel sorry for you if you've been subject to that previously, but the problems Hollow Knight mentioned all exist, and aren't going away anytime soon, so it's important to discuss them.
 

Johnny Bananas

Premiership Player Hater
Sep 10, 2010
12,674
17,002
Next door
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
I do feel like we are at a crossroads where the little red book might be fully discarded for full-blown Han-supremacy and Chinese mysticism and a hard right turn to fascism - but the idealist in me says they still have transition to full communism by 2050 in their party plans and we just don't understand the Chinese long-game because of cultural incompatibility.
I'm not so sure. Nationalism is incompatible with communism, and nationalism can very swiftly turn into ethnic nationalism. Can't say I've ever been to China but I'm guessing they aren't pushing the class solidarity line much anymore.
 
May 3, 2005
96,313
106,197
Brisbane
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Scuderia Ferrari, Dallas Cowboys
On behalf of my privileged demographic (white, employed on average wage) I'd just like to let you know that I don't give a flying frangipani tree about all of 'that sh*t'

Ah, 2020. The year of saying the quiet part loud.

I appreciate your honesty.
 

X AE A12

universalmagnetic
Jun 13, 2020
844
1,318
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Privilege is all about recognising challenges that you don't have to face that other people do. I don't think there's any point in shaming people for their privilege, and I feel sorry for you if you've been subject to that previously, but the problems Hollow Knight mentioned all exist, and aren't going away anytime soon, so it's important to discuss them.
Shaming people for their privilege is about as functional towards a united society as shaming people for inaction on climate change is functional towards reducing environmental pollution, overconsumption, and restoring and protecting biodiversity
 
Last edited:
May 3, 2005
96,313
106,197
Brisbane
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Scuderia Ferrari, Dallas Cowboys
Acknowledging the privilege isn’t the same as shaming. You shouldn’t necessarily feel ashamed for something that you didn’t actively choose.

Often what is perceived as external shame might actually be veiled subconscious discomfort.

As a first step, it’s actually okay to just sit with that discomfort rather than positively acting on it or negatively misprojecting it as something else (ra ra PC nonsense etc etc).
 

Dylan12

Brownlow Medallist
Sep 7, 2007
22,114
23,297
Melbourne
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Chelsea, Boston Red Sox
It honestly feels as though white almost need to apologise for being white.

Much the same way as white people are the only racists despite it being ok for numerous ethnicities and people of varying colours openly being racist towards white people without any condemnation, yet the moment a white person does anything, they are slammed for it.
 

Johnny Bananas

Premiership Player Hater
Sep 10, 2010
12,674
17,002
Next door
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
It honestly feels as though white almost need to apologise for being white.
Absolutely nobody is asking you for that.

Much the same way as white people are the only racists
Who said that? Whoever it was, they were wrong. Racism exists in every country.

despite it being ok for numerous ethnicities and people of varying colours openly being racist towards white people without any condemnation, yet the moment a white person does anything, they are slammed for it.
Some statements made about white people are not racist, whereas the same thing said about other races could be racist. This is because of the power structure that exists in people's minds across the world. Even today, in much of Asia, Africa and South America, whiteness is seen as a standard of beauty, white people's opinions are often taken more seriously and darker-skinned people are viewed as inferior in many respects. Some people in the West hold similar values. That's not something you have to feel bad for, you didn't choose for the world to be this way, but people aren't asking you to feel bad. They just want you to acknowledge there's an imbalance, and because of that, not everything can be taken in a race-blind way.

I'll agree that in a couple of societies white people aren't treated with any importance or respected more than someone of a different colour, but these are very few and far between.
 
May 3, 2005
96,313
106,197
Brisbane
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Scuderia Ferrari, Dallas Cowboys
It honestly feels as though white almost need to apologise for being white.

Much the same way as white people are the only racists despite it being ok for numerous ethnicities and people of varying colours openly being racist towards white people without any condemnation, yet the moment a white person does anything, they are slammed for it.

Nah, reading that nonsense just confirms my suspicion that a whole bunch of white people just want to have a turn at claiming to be oppressed and victims of discrimination. We can’t even let the minorities have that.
 

M Malice

Hall of Famer
Aug 31, 2015
31,433
72,024
By the Gabba.
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Valleys. Chelsea.
I read this on the SRP board, I was so impressed by it thought I would plagiarize it(I did ask permission) many thanks to Taylor > "The dark thoughts of Taylor Black". Great philosophical piece of writing IMO.
______________________________________________________________________________

When nothing really matters it makes it easier to stomach that you don't matter. When you're living in the moment you're tuned out to the voice in your head suggesting that your dreams and hopes have passed you by and your pursuit of material things to fill a void of meaning and status of your life has left you somehow full of nothings.

The world is full of people ready to fight for a cause they don't know they need, they don't even know that is why they are drawn to collective groups and validating social behaviours. We are a generation that has never known suffering, has never had to climb out of any hole. We haven't triumphed over anything. We haven't beaten down the great evil over the hill. We haven't made a great leap forward and sacrificed for the next generation to enjoy.

We stand on the shoulders of giants and think we are flying, as they say.

We fill our lives attaching ourselves to causes we know nothing about because they are socially validated. We hold opinions about things we know nothing about because they are the dogma of the validation. We desperately need to belong to something so we can make getting up for another week of work exactly like the last, paying the rent again and avoid having to wake up to the reality that the alarm in the morning signals our own meaningless groundhog day in which we don't wake up to ourselves and learn an instrument.
 

X AE A12

universalmagnetic
Jun 13, 2020
844
1,318
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Acknowledging the privilege isn’t the same as shaming. You shouldn’t necessarily feel ashamed for something that you didn’t actively choose.

Often what is perceived as external shame might actually be veiled subconscious discomfort.

As a first step, it’s actually okay to just sit with that discomfort rather than positively acting on it or negatively misprojecting it as something else (ra ra PC nonsense etc etc).
I will never not be uncomfortable about Australia's dark history, but when I sit with the invention of the term privilege I don't feel as though I'm negatively misprojecting when I voice my opinion that it has done nothing but alienate and impugn good people and the great examples set in recent history, without distinction. It actually divides and creates equally base righteous groups who are carrying out their own form of cultural destruction with malicious intent and whom should be objected to. We either have an evolved society, or we don't. If we are assuming that our society possesses the capability to contemplate these questions then we should not also assume they lack the ability to contemplate their premise and historical founding. More thought is occurring than the woke would suppose
 
Sep 14, 2012
14,716
15,185
Broadbeach
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
I have been very diligent trying to boycott any Chinese products......nearly impossible!

I knew a lot of things were made there, but had no idea it is at saturation point.

From clothing to kitchen utensils etc.

We seriously need to back off from our reliance on them. They are quietly bit by bit strangling the world with ownership in numerous countries, borrowings by countries from them (good one Dan!) for infastructure...the list goes on.

Wake up world!
I work on some Foreign Investment Review Board assessments for Treasury as a consult for my Department and we have been notified assess anything Chinese without explicitly stating Chinese as more or less an automatic Low identified risk rating.

In saying that, all the media going off earlier in the year about the Chinese coming in and buying discounted Aussie businesses impacted by COVID never eventuated. They've reduced investment in Australia a lot over the past 2-3 years which isn't a great thing for our economy TBH.
 

Johnny Bananas

Premiership Player Hater
Sep 10, 2010
12,674
17,002
Next door
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
I will never not be uncomfortable about Australia's dark history, but when I sit with the invention of the term privilege I don't feel as though I'm negatively misprojecting when I voice my opinion that it has done nothing but alienate and impugn good people and the great examples set in recent history, without distinction.
And others have different opinions. There are many white people, and men, and straight people, who have understood that privilege isn't something to feel ashamed for, but something to be aware of so we can understand the inequalities in how society treats people, and work towards a more egalitarian world.

We either have an evolved society, or we don't.
That's an incredibly black and white view of things. Society is composed of individuals, some of whom will think through those things, and some who won't. You might, but why do you assume most are like you?
 

X AE A12

universalmagnetic
Jun 13, 2020
844
1,318
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
And others have different opinions. There are many white people, and men, and straight people, who have understood that privilege isn't something to feel ashamed for, but something to be aware of so we can understand the inequalities in how society treats people, and work towards a more egalitarian world.

But that's my point, we have been doing perfectly fine at understanding inequalities without using the concept of privilege as a driver, it's a completely unhelpful and divisive concept. Why don't we just say, "let's all remember to work together to address inequality towards a more egalitarian world?"
That's an incredibly black and white view of things. Society is composed of individuals, some of whom will think through those things, and some who won't. You might, but why do you assume most are like you?
I don't, but my point is the people who can contemplate it already get it, and the aggressive way in which inequalities are currently being sought to be addressed is resulting in division. Not least of which in the cohorts that don't think through things, from any side
 

X AE A12

universalmagnetic
Jun 13, 2020
844
1,318
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Have we? I don't think so.
I am certain I would agree with you and hollow knight on the existence of all deficiencies in addressing inequality, but I don't think the modern paradigm of aggressive progressive activism is optimal towards lasting outcomes and unity.
 

Johnny Bananas

Premiership Player Hater
Sep 10, 2010
12,674
17,002
Next door
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
I am certain I would agree with you and hollow knight on the existence of all deficiencies in addressing inequality, but I don't think the modern paradigm of aggressive progressive activism is optimal towards lasting outcomes and unity.
Could it be that you just have a lot of negative association with the term "privilege"? It isn't an inherently aggressive word, nor is a reminder of it a personal attack in most instances.
 

X AE A12

universalmagnetic
Jun 13, 2020
844
1,318
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Could it be that you just have a lot of negative association with the term "privilege"? It isn't an inherently aggressive word, nor is a reminder of it a personal attack in most instances.
Possibly, anyway I'm very mindful I haven't always put my views forward in the best way, or translated my dry sense of humour to text, I shall be keeping to views in support of the Lions this year
 
Back