The Courage of Maria Ressa
Maria Ressa, founder of Philippine news website Rappler, and her former colleague, researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr, have been found guilty of “cyberlibel” for a story published in 2012 on the Rappler website. The judge released them on bail pending an appeal but, if they lose, they could spend up to seven years in prison.
In the words of the UK and Ireland’s National Union of Journalists, it was a “shamelessly manipulated charge”, and an “act of persecution by a bully government”.
Maria Ressa: “We are meant to be a cautionary tale. We are meant to make you afraid,” she said. “Don’t be afraid.”
In stark contrast to the madness of President Rodrigo Duterte, the corruption of Philippine democracy and the complicity of the Philippine judiciary, the courage of Ressa is a shinning light in that darkness.
Wherever you are, if you don’t demand decisions made consistent with reason, common-sense, evidence and fairness, if you don’t demand openness and accountability, you doom yourself to a hopeless future of ignorance and impotence.
Reclaim hope and the future. Reject the anti-reason, the fast-food thinking that is fed to us to keep us compliant and unquestioning.
Are we now the people of the feed-lot, whose fate is determined by others and their deceptions?
What is happening to democracy in the Philippines –the graft and corruption, the attacks on the rights and freedoms of the people, the obsession with control and manipulation– is occuring, to a greater or lesser extent, in ALL so-called democracies. Fact.
TIME . . . is running out.
I am middle-aged now.
I do not regret getting older. I understand aging is a terrifying prospect to some people (in particular the stupid, who see only negatives), and while there are physical changes (I don’t have the stamina of a 20yo, for example), there are nevertheless positives, there is something that is of worth.
When you are young, things happen to you for the first time; you have limited experience and little perspective, and often the wrong choices are made. And of course you do not listen to those more experienced, even those with your best interests at heart.
If you are smart or observant, you see repeating patterns in life and in people. You learn, and you can reliably predict. ‘Wisdom’ may be too great a stretch (old and ignorant are not mutually exclusive), but for me I appreciate the calmness and perspicuity. And indisputably, ‘like attracts like’: if you look around at your friends and you see bigots or the intolerant for example, you are looking at yourself.
Stupid people, often obsessed with ideology, often aggressively anti-reason, do not see the prison walls around them; they cannot understand that the myriad possibilities of existence –of learning and understanding, of shared experiences and a future in common– are not available to them. It is their baseless fears that define them. For these people, stupidity and fear is their life sentence without parole, to which they are blissfully unaware.
I have met, or listened to, many people, some of high office or considerable wealth, who are clearly of such limited intellectual capacity that, young or old, they are unlikely to attain any degree of perspective or comprehension. If they could understand what I am saying: the unexamined life, especially that which is desired to be imposed on others, is not worth living. A blinkered horse would see more of what is around them than these people (and perhaps also understand more too).
And Trolls are no longer confined to under bridges, but wander the world, unable to rid themselves of the foul taste of loathing. There can never be an epiphany for the truly stupid, ignorant, or callous; the universe will long be cold and dark and silent before this occurred, but do not let their incapacity dissuade you from action. You can change the world.
There may be more than 7 billion people on the planet, but there are only a few dozen of different human personality types.
And without an act of will or deliberate intention, a personality type expressed in the individual persists for that individual.
A leopard can’t change its spots, so to speak.
The bigot remains a bigot, for example. More than that, the bigot is often a racist, or misogynist, or an Islamophobe, or the like. The leopard has many spots, and those spots make it a leopard.
But as a human being change is possible, we must allow for this to be possible, tho always subject to the desire to change, and a courage of their convictions.
The slave owner who decides to free his slaves, and not have slaves anymore, which most likely in a slave-owning society would have been an illegal act, is an example. There should be statues to such as them, not to royalty or politicians.
Totalitarian societies, like China, Russia, or Saudi Arabia, are clearly authoritarian and anti-citizen, but we live in a time where it is obvious that decision-making in the parliamentary so-called democracies has been high-jacked by vested interests, and there is little doubt that vested interests now control an unreformable ‘democratic’ process.
It is the Deep State indeed.
Does the opinion and lobbying of Rupert Murdoch for example, who controls most of the media in Australia, and promotes conservative-only views, and whose name and phone number is in the contacts list of ‘important’ politicians in Australia, government and opposition, hold more sway to those politicians than reason, common-sense and evidence, even what is right and proper, even the majority view of all Australians? Yes!! We all either suspect or know this to be true.
The political class, the police, and the courts, are the enablers of inequity, the often brutal defenders of a status quo that will lead us to ruin.
And yet we don’t act?? It is a laughable proposition to say we can rely on the corrupt to reform a system they were complicit in corrupting, that, even though they have always done wrong, this time they will act with honour? Really??
Racism in America or Australia for example, is a demonstrable fact, a proposition provable by evidence and experience, yet it persists. It persists because it is not a priority to the vested interests, and it is the vested interests that direct the political class. When you control the political class it does not matter which particular political party is in office –elections are a phony war.
Critical thinking, reason, evidence, fairness, honesty, and true respect for individual rights and freedoms should be mandatory; instead we have graft and corruption; unaccountability, lies, secrecy and deception, ideology and prejudice. The stupidity of the protesting conservative and right-wing is writ large in their ignorance of the real threat.
We have here in Australia manifestly draconian hyper-legislation and surveillance in the name of anti-terrorism/national security, legislation inconceivable in scope and pace only a few decades ago, yet effective action on racism not realized (deaths in custody, arrest and imprisonment rates, police violence, life expectancy etc). Or effective action on homelessness; or the hundreds of thousands of people on public housing waiting lists; or the beggar-level of the unemployment benefit; or students in sub-standard school buildings; or patients dying on hospital waiting lists, waiting for an operation; or people dying waiting for an ambulance, which they may or may not be able to afford; or children in care, some sexually abused, most neglected and denied a future; or the elderly and handicapped in homes, malnourished and mistreated or ignored; or an environment so polluted it makes us sick and shortens our lives, and each and every year fauna and flora is made extinct; or a sickening suicide rate, especially amongst young people, who see no future with them in it; or effective action on climate change; or an indentured slavery where work means being only just able to pay the bills; or jobs used as a stick or carrot to threaten or bribe. Or, or, or . . . .
In amidst Covid-19, some elected public officials have said certain people should be allowed to, or encouraged to, die for the sake of the economy! Which is the say: some people (tho presumably not the rich) should die to support an-already massively wealth-unequal society. Really?? We’d like them to be martyrs, but we will sacrifice them if necessary! The trickle-down economic theory was widely discredited (Wikipedia: A 2012 study by the Tax Justice Network indicates that wealth of the super-rich does not trickle down to improve the economy, but it instead tends to be amassed and sheltered in tax havens with a negative effect on the tax bases of the home economy), but has re-surfaced of late as the argument that allowing the rich to pay much less tax than is proportionately due, means the economy benefits by more investment by the rich. Both major political parties here in Australia supported these tax cuts for the rich at the last federal budget. But it too, I am certain, will be a discredited argument. And then a similar pseudo-argument will arise, only to be discredited. There is no evidence to support their argument, historically or now, and indeed, if the argument had any substance there would never have been a French Revolution! And on, and on.
You are under attack!
The vested interests gave the political class a justifying ideology: neoliberalism. So without discussion with the wider community, let alone evidence, or approval or consent for the action, the political class enforced the ideology that the over-riding role of government is to further the opportunities for the vested interests (and of course thereby entrenching privilege).
In this era of a feudal capitalism of increasingly inherited wealth, this so-called democracy is no different to any other dictatorship: it is all about control and money, and tho they profess legitimacy from the people, the people are merely the means to end.
The original democracy in ancient Athens was Sortition, where public officials were drawn randomly by lot, from those citizens who had indicated a willingness to be appointed. Deliberations were public, decisions were public, assisted by experts, and there was a regular public evaluation of decisions. Tho the Athenian elites desired control of the process, because the selection process was random, and there was public justification and accountability for the decision-makers, potential corruption was minimized. This is not the case today –party parliamentary democracy is a travesty.
The political class have torn up the Social Contract. The question is: what do we do? Tear it down and rebuild with intelligence and purpose I say. Reform of party parliamentary democracy is not possible because the construct itself can only lead to corruption and unaccountability. Political parties are not necessary to democracy for example; capitalism is not necessary to technological innovation for example. A propaganda apparatus would no doubt rail against the ‘danger’ of a more just and equitable society. But all we have to fear is fear itself. We can make no better a decision than that which is consistent with reason, common-sense, evidence, and fairness, and it is proper to trust in that.
Tear it down. And rebuild. Demand change. Force change.
We need to take back control of our lives from the corrupt and illegitimate state. Because it is not amenable to reason or evidence –decisions are bought or ideological, but never reasonable– because it is not amenable to basic concepts like fairness or openness –year after year wealth is concentrating in fewer people, and no plan to address what is likely to become a country of mainly worker-slaves– history shows that in these situations violence is the only alternative. If this does come to pass, the responsibility for it rests solely with the corrupt and illegitimate state.
Australian police ‘guarding’ statues around the clock!
Over 98% of the statues in public parks in Australia are of the British monarchy (Queen Victoria being the most popular), of politicians, of Cook who ‘discovered’ Australia, and of mostly hopeless white ‘explorers’ of this land.
These statues mean nothing to most Australians, being as they are of a hereditary and privileged monarchy, of politicians who almost without exception lie with every breath, of a man whose appearance lead to the servitude of a people, and of white men who mostly perished in vainglorious incompetence.
There is no statue of, or any recognition of, the First Australians.
There is no statue, or any recognition of, Australia as the first place in the industrialized world to have an 8 hour working day.
There is no statue, or any recognition of, Australia as the first place in the industrialized and so-called democratic world where women could vote.
There is no statue, or any recognition of, Australia as the first place in the world to have secret ballots.
Why would any Australian, in possession of reason, common-sense, and a sense of fairness, want to defend these statues?
But politicians do, but police do, but the right-wing, nationalistic and conservatives do, and the courts will compliantly enforce any hyper-penalty legislated.
If you care to think about it, there is your answer!
What must be remembered is that history shows reforms normally have to be fought for, that protest, struggle and civil disobedience succeed where reason, common-sense, evidence, and fairness, did not, and could never.
Female enfranchisement? No, women as a gender are inherently irrational and shouldn’t be given the right the vote! An 8 hour working day? No, the country can’t afford it!
What will the future say about the people whose priority is to defend the anachronisms that have no place in an Australia for all Australians?
And police were observed to give white power hand signals, and to mock protesters. No race training, no de-escalation training, will ever work with these thugs and bullies. Oh dear . . .
Australian prime minister SmugMo is a Trump disciple.
Consistent with the ongoing conservative strategy that ‘Australia is not like America, so there should be no anti-racism protests here’, Australian prime minister Morrison stated today that “there was no slavery in Australia.’
This statement is incorrect.
Although slavery was never legal in Australia, in practice convicts, Indigenous Australians and Pacific Islanders were all victims of forced labour. Slavery was never legal, but it was in widespread practice, denied by the politicians, enforced by the police, and ignored by the judiciary.
The nonsense ‘logic’ of SmugMo’s argument reminds me of the claim that Australia was never, and could not be, invaded and occupied by whites, because the land was terra nullius (It was a principle sometimes used in international law to justify claims that territory had no local occupiers and may be acquired by a state’s occupation of it).
Despite the fact that indigenous people could be seen. Of course!
Er, but so not terra nullius!
Why would SmugMo make such a ridiculous claim??
There are two broad reasons for it:
Either SmugMo is ill-informed, uneducated, or ignorant (not aware of the facts),
Or he is being intentionally deceptive, perhaps driven by ideology, he is aware of the truth, the facts, but rejects it, and seeks to re-write history with a narrative consistent with his ideological views.
In either case, we are talking about the prime minister of Australia.
And he is either ignorant and uninformed, a fool, or an ideologue and a cynical manipulator.
God help us.
He rails against Fake News. Yet he speaks Fake News.
Today, the only difference between a cop and robber is that one has a badge.
Around the world, various police forces have demonstrated unjustified violence against peaceful anti-racism protesters.
Why is this so? To me, it reflects a behavioural predilection, and an expectation of unaccountability, but also a sense or expectation of permissibility.
Thugs and bullies are attracted to police service, which is not to say that all police are so, but certainly some/many/most are. The thugs and bullies want to act this way –it is their nature– but with a degree of impunity –they do not want to be held to account for their behaviour– and they find this opportunity in the police force.
It is indicative of a failure in the selection process that the thugs and bullies are not identified and rejected. It is also an indication of the militarization of police services, in personnel, training, tactics, attitude, and equipment, and successful civilian policing –that which respects and is respected– is simply incompatible with a military approach.
I have had informal conversations with police officers, and with, for example, university philosophy and ethics lecturers, and while both groups spoke English, there the similarities ended. No good will come from putting a thug and bully in a uniform and not holding them accountable for their actions, and so the police whose actions led to the protests, unsurprisingly continue to use that same violence against peaceful protesters.
But the issue with police violence and unaccountability is a symptom of an underlying wrongness in our civil society, and at heart, the problem is a reflection of a failure of politics and political oversight. That is where the real responsibility lies.
The Gestapo did Hitler’s biding, and before them the brown shirts, and similarly the police everywhere work for the political system –totalitarian or so-called democratic, the police defend the political system, which is to say the status quo, illegally if necessary, and they expect with impunity– and whether Labor or Liberal, Republican or Democrat, Tory or Labour, in government or opposition, the police are the dogs that the State uses to do its dirty work, and even in so-called democracies it is recognized by the political parties, in government or opposition, that it is a benefit to be able to whistle for the dogs.
There is NO difference between American or Australian police assaulting a peaceful protester, or Chinese police assaulting a pro-democracy campaigner, or North Korean police assaulting those that criticize the regime, or apartheid South African police throwing Steve Biko off a roof, or Nazi police assaulting a Jew, or Russian police assaulting critics of Putin, or Saudi police assaulting protesters calling for equal female freedoms, or French police assaulting yellow vest protesters calling for economic justice, or Iraqi police killing anti-poverty protesters last year, or the assault and killing of G9 protester Ian Tomlinson by English police, or South Australian police assault of a homeless man, or any of the innumerable instances of violence committed by the police –then and now, all around the world, totalitarian or so-called democratic– against citizens in the name of law and order. To the police, everything –principals, ethics, equity, fairness, even accountability and responsibility, reason, common sense and evidence– all are secondary to the defense of the status quo.
Yes, we need to rid police forces of the thugs and bullies, the stupid, the unquestionably obedient, those that can’t think critically or act ethically, but attention needs also to focus on political systems, especially so-called democratic (as we profess higher ideals), where donations (bribes) and quid pro quo can buy decisions and outcomes, where secrecy is legally enforced, and where accountability for decisions and actions is deemed unnecessary.
Three of the rules of chivalry for knights:
- Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word.
- Thou shalt be generous, and give largesse to everyone.
- Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.
Is this your police force???
Probably not, the knights are gone and we have thugs and bullies now.
A photo that proves the prevailing absurdity of life now.
“Every believer I talked to certainly appreciates what the president did and the message he was sending,” said Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Dallas and a stalwart evangelical Trump supporter. “I think it will be one of those historic moments in his presidency, especially when set against the backdrop of nights of violence throughout our country.”
OR
Dr. Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention said: “More important than politics and optics is that all of us should be listening to what the Bible says — about the preciousness of human life, about the sins of racism and injustice, about the need for safety and calm and justice in the civil arena, all of it.”
Do you ever ask God for forgiveness President Trump?
No, why would I, I never do anything wrong (!!!!).
Former defense secretary and retired general Jim Mattis wrote that he has watched events this week “angry and appalled,” and said protesters are right to demand equal justice under the law.
“It is a wholesome and unifying demand — one that all of us should be able to get behind,” he wrote. “We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values — our values as people and our values as a nation.”
Mattis also took exception to events outside the White House on Monday night, when peaceful protesters were cleared from the area with non-lethal weapons by a force that included Secret Service, Park Police and National Guardsmen. That allowed Trump to walk to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church while flanked by a group that included Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” Mattis wrote. “Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside, ” wrote Mattis.
Which leads us to the photo, an indefatigable caricature of a racist, sexist and uncharitable narcissist, he who brandishes a bible in one hand, and with the other threatens a law and order that permits brutality, entrenches inequity, and rejects accountability.
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