Australia Day / Invasion Day etc

This argument seems to come up every year.

Firstly, some background facts.  No offence to the indigenous Australians, but they were not the first people here.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mungo_remains The remains at Lake Mungo, identified as the 'earliest human remains' are described as 'gracile' meaning of slender build and features. as opposed to the very robust features of what is condisered a modern aboriginal male.

Also, there are extremely large differences in cave painting style found in the Kimberlies http://www.futurity.org/rock-art-clarifies-demise-of-pre-aboriginal-culture/ of which is suggestive of a different set of cultures in this country, pre dating modern indigenous Australians.

So what happened to these people?  Well, they're not here anymore, and the current indigenous Australian pride themselves as great warriors.   Most likely, given that all homo sapiens is a species of war, they wiped out these people.  Genocide.

Genocide when done correctly is unpunishable.  When there is nobody left to point out the crime, then there is no crime, it seems.  Nobody talks about these earlier inhabitants, and even to mention them draws cries from groups.

Every year on Australia day there are calls to return the country to it's original owners.  If by 'owner' we mean the original inhabitants, they are not here anymore, modern indigenous Australians wiped them out.

Every year on Australia day I hear protests about 'why are we celebrating invasion day/genocide day'.    Genocide is a term that means to wipe out or nearly completely wipe out a race.  Such as mine.  When such events happen, what is left is such a small minority that they have no power at all.  Indigenous Australians have land rights, separate laws, special inclusions and support for health, housing, welfare, education, shit, even buying of cars.  Thats anything but powerless to be in a position to negotiate all of that.

I'm so sick of walking past Redfern station and being told by a protester 'go back to your own country you white cunt'.  I'm not white for starters.  I can't go back to my country.  All record of my family living there was wiped out.  All paperwork is destroyed, and all elders that knew where my land was are dead.  There are no protectionisms in place for my race, because we were basically eliminated apart from a few disapora across the globe.  This is what genocide is.  We are not significant enough to start any noticeable movement.  We would rather just get on with life and not create a fuss.

Anyway.

The moral is, you create your own suffering.  When my country of origin celebrates it's inauguration day, so be it.  I don't focus on that, I focus on where I am going with my life.  I don't choose to feed my own suffering.  This invasion day bullshit happened hundreds of years ago, nobody cares anymore.  My genocide was 80 years ago, and everyone's already forgotten.  Modern Indigenous have a plethora of opportunity available to them, should they decide to take it, but it seems a lot are just focussed on the past.  From my perspective, you're still here, your family are still here, your culture is still here.  Thats a lot more than what a lot of people have, including myself.

You create your own suffering.

Balance

Its all about balance isn't it?

Every day is a day full of new things, experiences, memories, learning, teaching, enriching this whole experience of living.

Every day we lose 24 hours of life, walk a little further away from the innocence of our youth, and take another step towards death.


Its all a part of how everything maintains a balance in one way or another.

I've a mixed view of youth.  One part of me misses the wide eyed approach to life I used to have.  Another part of me knows full well that I couldn't go through it all again.  Not for fear, but sheer boredom of having to live the experience again.

What makes an experience just that is the unexpected, and how we react to it.  Change and new things define us as who we are, enrich us as people and teach us more than any of our professors.

When we stop looking for these experiences is when we start to die as evolving, learning, humans.

Wake up tomorrow.  Do something different.  Know that by the end of the day, you will be closer to death, that your youth has faded just that much, and that those wrinkles are from smiling.

The unstoppable media machine

I can be quite a negative person. 
I stand by my post of three emotions.  That is all I have.  In order to function normally as a member of society, I construe all other emotions in order to make it look as if I am normal.
Its necessary.  I've already learned how difficult life can be if you are 'different', and it's not worth it.  To be passed over in job interviews just because the secretary who is screening the initial applicants 'got a weird vibe from you'.  To miss out on opportunities just because you couldn't make friends with the business owner.

I'm forgetting my point.
Subsequently, a lot of my behaviour needs to be derived from my surroundings.  From people I associate with, I listen to the way they speak, I watch with interest the facial expressions of those whom have lots of friends, I notice how humans interact with each other.  Through analysis and remembering, I function well now as a normal human being.  By turning on certain traits, I can charm almost anybody.  I can be your best friend in 10 minutes if I want to.  Its an incredible skill to have, tricky, but out of all the education I have, its this that gets me the most work.

As a consequence of assimilation of all these traits, I am basically blotting paper.  I absorb all that is around me, whether I like to or not.
I used to be a very negative person. Over the past 2 months, I've cut all common media out of my life.  I'm no longer so negative.  I'm no longer absorbing the rubbish, the lies, the twisted truths, the hyperbolism and the hype that comes from modern media.

I've realised that most of the stories on the news are unnecessary to live a modern life.  I've learnt that most of the stories on the media are only half the actual truth, and that if one digs deeper you will find there is a rational explanation for why.  I've learnt that instead of a lot of bad in this world, that in fact there is a lot of balance.

Know that there are always two sides to every story.  No one is inherently evil.  The world can be a better place if you look out for your common man/woman.

That violent sociopath whom is about to go on a killing spree might just change his mind if you hold the door open for him instead of letting it slam in his face.

Sometimes good deeds, random good deeds such as giving a stranger your parking ticket when it has a few hours left, can make someone's day.

Do things because you want to be a better person, not because the fear of the wrath of god is with you.

Get your news by asking your neighbor how they are, not from the advertising driven idiot box.  Its funny how I know about the war in Iraq but I don't know what my neighbors name is.

All the hate directed towards Allyn John Slater

This past week we've seen three tragedies:
The murdering of an innocent girl, Trinity Bates.
The prosecution and very public incarceration of a less than sound person, Allyn John Slater.
The amount of hate in our society becoming apparent and flooding the internet in the form of Facebook hate pages directed against the latter.
Here's something controversial: people like Allyn John Slater aren't born that way.  They are spawned from hate.  We are all born innocent, just like that girl was, but if along the way we are subject to hate, misery, persecution, lack of love, then a monster like Allyn John Slater we can become.

Hate made Allyn John Slater, and now we see more hate directed towards him, and the cycle continues.
I'm not defending him.  I'm just saying setting up or contributing to the amount of hate that is already there is not constructive.  Hate doesn't go away, it stays there, like rubbish, until someone does something about it.  Writing up a Facebook page dedicated to 'the Chemical Castration of Allyn John Slater' just fuels hate, which then continues on its cycle.
You might think its harmless, that you are just venting, but if you 'vent' like that every day, eventually it becomes a habit, then it becomes part of you, just like smokers whom start on 1 cigarette a week become addicts.  Hate is addictive.  It doesn't go away if you blurt it out online, it just manifests itself.  The only way to get rid of it is to understand its source, and extinguish it.

If we apply more of this logic to people like Allyn John Slater, and help them extinguish their hate, then we would have a lot less of these terrible, terrible crimes in our great country.

Workplace Enthusiasm

I went to a xmas party over the weekend.  I'm no social butterfly and meeting new people takes a lot out of me, mainly cause I have to try so hard to look interested and maintain banal conversation.

These outings are however a necessary part of living in society, and so I put my best effort in most times.  

I find that the best way to maintain conversation is to actively ask the other person a whole heap of questions about themselves.  People tend to love talking about themselves, and will think that you are an interesting person, even if you don't say a word but listen.

I met one chap whom at 34 years had worked only one job in his entire life.  He proceeded to tell me that his place of work (a financial services firm) was the best place ever to work.  I continued to ask him why, and I received a 10 minute soliloquy about about the company culture, how some people 'just don't fit', how he'd never leave, how he feels so great to be part of something as its being built, how he started at the bottom, and how he's so well looked after.

Firstly I was happy for the bloke, but then after a while it felt like I was talking to a religious nutjob, except his religion was company culture.  Its so sad that at his age he hasn't yet realised that every job you work, no matter what company, in what country, or what position, that you are only there to make the company money and keep it alive.

Some may argue that I'm just cynical, but I used to be like him, until I had my spirit broken by not one but three different firms.

You may argue that he is happy, albeit naieve.  When I thought about it, I concluded that no, actually it is me that is happier, as I am living in the reality that I know what the truth is, I have no loyalty to any company as no company has to me, and that I am only around as long as they keep paying me, and pay me well.  I finish on time, take a fat paycheck, all because I let my employers know exactly how much effort I put in, and that I'd quite happily go elsewhere if the money or hours suited.

I wish I could have told the guy the same.  Just quit, see what else is out there.  Inevitably one day you are going to have a irreconcilable difference with a new boss, or the company will take some policy change as determined by the board, and the place will be different.  Your loyalty over all those years will be forgotten in a heartbeat.  All the things you like about the place will be gone, and you will be left there, working 12 hours a day as expected, for a wage that you compromised yourself on because you fell in love with where you work.

Don't be afraid of selling out to the highest bidder people.  There's more to life than just work. 

 

I haven't sold out to the man.  I am the man.

Duality

I grew up on an isolated livestock farm in country New Zealand, and in my time there I learnt to be incredible frustrated with sheep.
Sheep are plain dumb fucking animals.  I've seen that many get stuck on fences, walk into ditches and not get out, follow each other round, all the stories you hear are true.  Cows and pigs are a lot smarter, horses have attitude problems, but I'm getting off my point.
We pride ourselves as individuals, but so many times we follow the crowd in a sheepish mentality.  We believe everything that happens on the news and get upset by it, when most of the stories are deliberately told one-sided to get you watching and the ratings up.  The other day in the train the carriage was full and I noticed everyone standing was facing one direction, and it wasn't the direction of the doors. 
The other day I saw a lady with pram waiting at the bottom of the stairs whilst a whole flock walked past her, none offering to help.  She was amazed when I offered.
Infinitely more disturbing are those stories where you hear about a person in dire straits, albeit a car accident or receiving a beating /mugging, even when there are plenty of other people around.  Other people all waiting for someone else to do something.

Which are you?  Would you react in a time of need or would you stand by dumbstruck, waiting for someone else to take the initiative?
I know which kind I am, and even though it gets me into trouble sometimes, I'm proud of it.  Someone once told me that life isn't a spectator sport, which I believe in full.
To all those sheep, those who don't help the elderly, to those that walked past the poor woman with the pram, to those that get upset by the rubbish touted as the news, I hate you all for not thinking, for not being, for not thinking for yourself.
But I would give my life for any of you in a heartbeat.

Its the duality I bear.

Three Emotions

One common theme of my life, and one that took me 25 years to realise, is that I have only three emotions:
Serenity
Depression
Rage
I don't know whats its like for the normal person, to have this wide scope of feelings, but its something thats caused me to be an outsider most of my life.
I remember when Grandad died when I was 5 and I was just mildly confused at what all the fuss was about.  I kinda knew the guy was pretty old so I figured it was only natural.
I got sent to a psychiatrist at 8 whom diagnosed me as depressed.  Isn't everybody depressed?
It was hard to make friends at school, the kids seem to want you to be empathetic towards them which I couldn't do.  I got beaten up every day for a year by this kid who loved WWF wrestling and used me as an involuntary wrestling partner.  I let it go as I figured he wasn't doing much harm.  One day he hit my head on a desk and I flipped out and strangled him until he passed out.  Kinda got in trouble for that.

Its been hard, especially trying to keep in control of that old rage thing.  Even now I still have problems sometimes trying to keep it in check, however from the outside I just seem like any other kind good natured individual.  I've got my poker face down to a T.  I just hope like shit that nobody will ever push me too far.
The hardest thing though, is being able to feign all these other emotions in order to be able to function as a person.  Its expected of us in order to be accepted into social groups to be able to listen, smile, and otherwise react appropriately to a given emotional input.
Anything else would mark us as an outsider to the tribe, an anomaly, an intruder.

Doing this all day every day sure as hell wears me out.  Small wonder I long for time by myself.