bullying and gardening
On reflection I don’t believe there’s much point in answering the above comments. An anecdote about Christ healing someone’s cancer, and a claim that belief in that particular god can’t be based on egoism because one or two, or for that matter all of the Bible’s writers speak of a need for humility (which completely misses my point), this seems very uninspiring matter for commentary. So, on to other issues.
Hurray to hear that on the radio this morning the refugee advocates are getting a hearing, re the long-term treatment of inmates of detention centres who don’t happen to be Aus citizens. Inmates themselves are asking for a widening of the terms of any inquiry into Ms Rau’s treatment. It’ll be resisted, probably successfully. But if this case of flagrant abuse doesn’t open the detention system up to public inquiry, what will?
I’ve never liked to label myself left-wing or right-wing, though no doubt those who read this blog (ho ho) will form their own opinion, but one thing that never fails to get my blood up is bullying. This is why the detention centre abuses (and there’s surely no doubt that there have been many), as well as those at camp x-ray and at Abu Ghraib, really really bug me. I mention these though because they’re currently in the news and in some sense close to home, not because I’m biased against supposedly democratic nations. The murdering of hostages in Iraq was pure bully-boy terror. Were I in the Sudan, or more exposed to reporting from that horror scene, I’d be bugged by very different images (or similar images, different protagonists). I’ve written in the past about the horrific bullying and torture within North Korean gulags, and of the long-term fucking-over of the West Papuan people. The abuse of more or less absolute power over the more or less absolutely powerless, that’s the most soul destroying situation to be forced to witness, and it’s happening everywhere, to a greater or lesser degree. At least in Australia, my Australian voice of protest has a chance of being heard – but it’s also more distressing to have to raise the issue in your own country, to know that your own democratically elected government is capable of such callousness.
A busy day in the garden and elsewhere, and having lopped off some lower branches of the biggish gum in Sarah’s front yard, to enable better car access in the driveway, I’ve filled my compost bin with gum leaves. It was already near half-full but I knew the balance wasn’t right, the experts say you should have 80% garden mulch and about 20% food scraps, so I was too light on with leaves and such. I wonder though if gum leaves make the best compost – I know some leaves, pine needles for example, seem to kill other vegetation off. I started this compost bin about two months ago, but now that it’s full I should call today (Feb 10) day zero, though I’ll no doubt keep adding to it as it subsides and densifies. Could take as long as two years to be ready. It’s certainly already the foulest smelling stuff imaginable, and I’ll have to change my clothes before dinner out tonight.
Hurray to hear that on the radio this morning the refugee advocates are getting a hearing, re the long-term treatment of inmates of detention centres who don’t happen to be Aus citizens. Inmates themselves are asking for a widening of the terms of any inquiry into Ms Rau’s treatment. It’ll be resisted, probably successfully. But if this case of flagrant abuse doesn’t open the detention system up to public inquiry, what will?
I’ve never liked to label myself left-wing or right-wing, though no doubt those who read this blog (ho ho) will form their own opinion, but one thing that never fails to get my blood up is bullying. This is why the detention centre abuses (and there’s surely no doubt that there have been many), as well as those at camp x-ray and at Abu Ghraib, really really bug me. I mention these though because they’re currently in the news and in some sense close to home, not because I’m biased against supposedly democratic nations. The murdering of hostages in Iraq was pure bully-boy terror. Were I in the Sudan, or more exposed to reporting from that horror scene, I’d be bugged by very different images (or similar images, different protagonists). I’ve written in the past about the horrific bullying and torture within North Korean gulags, and of the long-term fucking-over of the West Papuan people. The abuse of more or less absolute power over the more or less absolutely powerless, that’s the most soul destroying situation to be forced to witness, and it’s happening everywhere, to a greater or lesser degree. At least in Australia, my Australian voice of protest has a chance of being heard – but it’s also more distressing to have to raise the issue in your own country, to know that your own democratically elected government is capable of such callousness.
A busy day in the garden and elsewhere, and having lopped off some lower branches of the biggish gum in Sarah’s front yard, to enable better car access in the driveway, I’ve filled my compost bin with gum leaves. It was already near half-full but I knew the balance wasn’t right, the experts say you should have 80% garden mulch and about 20% food scraps, so I was too light on with leaves and such. I wonder though if gum leaves make the best compost – I know some leaves, pine needles for example, seem to kill other vegetation off. I started this compost bin about two months ago, but now that it’s full I should call today (Feb 10) day zero, though I’ll no doubt keep adding to it as it subsides and densifies. Could take as long as two years to be ready. It’s certainly already the foulest smelling stuff imaginable, and I’ll have to change my clothes before dinner out tonight.
posted by Stewart at 11:53 am
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