Hi Michael, Bob and Sadhana, you sound like people as equally disenchanted
with the misdirected charade of public life as I am.
Your notes at first prompted me to respond in kind just to yourselves, but
then I thought, it's the others out there who need the message more than
you, so here is an open response.
I have on occasion put up similar blasts about our ridiculous economic
management policies, only to find just a FEW respondents game enough to
agree or to follow on in similar vein.
And that is symptomatic of the whole society. As a group we are all just
too lazy, too complacent, too caught up with where our next pay packet will
come from, combined with a lack of concern for anything other than short
term looking after number one ( and the burden of family), to pop up and
air some of the lies, deceit, insincerity,etc. which runs our "lucky country".
As I said above, only a few have been brave enough to agree publicly with
me. So where are the rest of the fervent conservationists, the
ornithologists, the frog counters, the native vegetation managers, the
herpetologists, the park rangers, the friends of the earth? What is it
that in the overall picture makes them so ineffectual? I think they're all
too scared. They're all keeping their heads down in their cosy government
jobs ( this includes universities and the education system at large),
afraid to let their bosses or department managers be aware of their
opposition to current policies; after all, they might be in line for that
promotional opportunity should it arise; after all, who is it to be
fingered when the next round of cutbacks occur. Not me mate, I've been a
good girl ( or boy I suppose). Have your views, but keep your nose clean is
their MO, because they are too scared for their own welfare. Isn't that the
oldest trick in the book?, isn't that how the masses have been controlled
by those in power since time began? Freedom of speech and behaviour? Oh
yes, sounds good, but we all recognise that's just a complete charade put
in place to mollify the anger of the population.
The whole government system pays only lip service to government employees'
alleged roles, and this is dictated by the political style above them. We
all understand that the majority of politicians are only such because they
have failed in other areas of endeavour. We get the dregs of the industrial
scrapheap as volunteers for political roles, and given that these people
have few skills other than getting old ladies at shopping centres to vote
for them, it's little wonder that they come to the job with no hope of
comprehending the disastrous impacts of industrial development. For them,
being successful means slavishly doing what the party requires to stay in
office, and if that involves destroying the environment so that a few more
jobs can be created or a few more export dollars can be earned ( because
that's how you get votes next time around )then so be it. They are in it
for themselves, not for the good of the world , and certainly not for the
human populations of the future. I'm convinced that most of them have the
goal of staying there just long enough to qualify for their superannuation
so they can then sit back, leave their lack of contribution to someone
else, and enjoy their own financial security at society's expense.
Why do we vote for them? I guess we just unthinkingly do what mum and dad
did before us, while the insidious bit about abstaining is that, by design,
the system then allows someone else's unthinking vote to win the day. We
can't handle that.
Does anyone read the monthly "New Internationalist"? Well, you should if
you want to get a clear view of what money making industrialism is doing to
the world. It should be compulsory reading from year 10 upwards, that is,
where there ARE schools. Of course the pollies wouldn't understand it, but
there might then be enough people around able to explain it to them.
I'm not sure how to end this little tirade. Maybe I'll just stop there and
see if any of you are game enough to be at least equally outspoken. Let's
hear from those of you who agree ( but do it on the open net, not just back
to me personally); let's hear from those who are so steeped in the present
quagmire that they cannot see the truth of what we are saying and think we
are wrong.
What can we do? Something that will really make a diffence! Something that
may lead to the saving of at least some of what little there is left?
Over to you, people.
Happy birding. Tony.
Tony Russell,
Adelaide, South Australia
Ph: 08 8337 5959
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