Ah "silent T' you're the man for me!

[carbonhed]

I will own up to that - I do regard myself as "hard left" - and I regard our current misnamed Labour Party as further right than the original Liberals ...




I can understand how you might think that - I try not to be. I do try to have an impact on the lives of the people who walk into my classroom, by preparing them to get a job as best I can ... I try to teach them how to think - and I avoid teaching them what to think .. I give top marks to the students who disagree with me .. to do that well, they have to understand what I am saying, analysis and think about what I am saying - if they can disagree with me then they have learnt what I want them to. So I'm not a left-wing propagandist in the classroom ... ( well, maybe just a little - the students always know where I stand on any issue - but they don't have to agree with me - we are talking adults here, not sensitive young and growing minds)

I do try to have an impact on Academia by trying to force them to have the same impact on the lives of their students - bastards are usually happy to be drones and don't care about their students ...

I probably share your assessment of academia in general ..




The ONLY way to get students to think and to argue is to declare my bias. And if you've ever been in my classroom, that's the first thing I tell students - here's my bias .. I don't expect you to agree with me, and I am not a neutral person - I am open about my bias .. it's up to you to take that into account ..,. I don't believe in this bullshit about objectivity - there is no such thing ... So I declare my bias ..



Sorry I don't get the "astroturfer" reference .. (Oh .. ok .. I googled it .. there are several possibilities .. interesting uses of the word ... do you mean fake identity claims ? If yes, then No .. but I like my privacy ... so I am reluctant to put stuff here (or anywhere) that can identify the actual person ... I'm pretty protective of my privacy at all times)



I fail to see how such a middle class arsehole can claim to represent working people .. and I fail to see how the dumb fucking party thought that working people would put up with a fool ... are they so condescending that they thinking working people would not see he's a fool !!!

And just so we are really clear .. I think to lose this year's election John Key would have to be caught having sex with Len Browne on the Speaker's Chair in Parliament's debating chamber .. and, like, that's ever going to happen ! (Doesn't mean I have to like it ..)

Ah ok. I've judged you too harshly. Sorry about that. When you were defending Len Brown's conduct as being a personal matter between consenting adults, which in minor part it was, I was half convinced you must be a Labour Party activist masquerading as the voice of reason.

I think the election will be horrendously tight and the prospect of the Greens being anywhere near the levers of power fills me with dread. Never mind Winston fucking Peters. If ever there was somebody more deserving of the most extreme form of censorship... I hope they got it.

[Ocean1]

middle class arsehole

You must be a deeply unhappy fella. What, with all the rich pricks still littering the landscape too.

[carbonhed]

You must be a deeply unhappy fella. What, with all the rich pricks still littering the landscape too.

Left wing academics eh. They hate everybody but need the proletariat to feed and clothe them.

[puddytat]

You're going to love this......
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/19...ours-collapse/

[Ocean1]

You're going to love this......
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/19...ours-collapse/

The left migrating to the greens? Pretty much how it's been happening off shore I hear.

In the US, in particular the extreme left has long since jumped to the global warming ship.

A natural shift I guess, one dysfunctional ideology for another...

[puddytat]

I agree....but its happening on the left & the right....& is it because of politics or a growing sense of doom & frustration at a system that's crumbling & an ecosystem that's collapsing ?
And is it because we all have this predisposition to blame others before we look at ourselves?
I don't have the fucking answers. I don't think anyone has. Its all selfish bias.

[Ocean1]

I agree....but its happening on the left & the right

Don't see anywhere near the same drift from the right. Don't think the two are as compatible.

....& is it because of politics or a growing sense of doom & frustration at a system that's crumbling & an ecosystem that's collapsing ?

That's the result any time reality doesn't match expectation.

So which is at fault?

And is it because we all have this predisposition to blame others before we look at ourselves?

Possibly. Some of us know that, though, accept it and correct the windage to suit.

[carbonhed]

You're going to love this......
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/19...ours-collapse/

Chris Trotter? Two of his more staggering insights this year are that Krim.Con's new party would steal votes from National and that Winston Peters was actually a pretty cool guy... shortly before Winston was seen stealing away from Krim.Con's palatial mansion clutching a sign that said... "NO".

If ever there was a boomer that desperately needed the arse card the human host of Josef Stalin's mustache is it.

[puddytat]

Chris Trotter? Two of his more staggering insights this year are that Krim.Con's new party would steal votes from National and that Winston Peters was actually a pretty cool guy... shortly before Winston was seen stealing away from Krim.Con's palatial mansion clutching a sign that said... "NO".

If ever there was a boomer that desperately needed the arse card the human host of Josef Stalin's mustache is it.

[puddytat]

Don't see anywhere near the same drift from the right. Don't think the two are as compatible.



That's the result any time reality doesn't match expectation.

So which is at fault?



Possibly. Some of us know that, though, accept it and correct the windage to suit.

Maybe not in NZ yet, but its happening in other lands.. Colin Craig is not whom Im alluding to as you probably know.

As to which is at fault, I'd say its both.

Some of us see it alright but instead try to to see what its like in anothers shoes & understand why...purely to avoid coming into contact with them & making the same mistakes or learn to not become so one eyed.
There but for the Grace of God, go I...

[MisterD]

It looks like it's time for anyone vaguely right-of-centre to get the popcorn in: http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2014/02/th..._are_back.html

I have no time at all for Thumbhead Cunliffe, but FFS if the Labour party don't dispose of the dead wood like Mallard and King, they're doomed. It's a superficially attractive situation, but if it means that the Ginga Aussie tw@ gets more power then...

[Banditbandit]

You must be a deeply unhappy fella. What, with all the rich pricks still littering the landscape too.

... no ... the two ideas are not related in my mind as you think .. yes, he's middle class .. and yes he is an arsehole ... but middle class does not automatically mean arsehole - just as rich does not necessarily mean arsehole ... Silent T is both middle class AND an arsehole ... He's one of the middle class who see that his future really lies with the ruling class (where he wants to belong) rather than with the workers - the workers that he claims to represent ... which is what makes him an arsehole in my book ...

Left wing academics eh. They hate everybody

Yeah - that's pretty true - but not the case here any longer - I gave up that idea many decades ago ... life is just too much fun to waste my energy hasting everyone ... I don't even hate arseholes ... it's not really their fault ...

but need the proletariat to feed and clothe them.

Not true for this old hunter gatherer either ... I can eat well off the land ... Clothes? Yeah - I can do that too .. it's just easier to go to the red shed ...

[Ocean1]

As to which is at fault, I'd say its both.

And both are pretty difficult to change eh?

Yet, often all that's required to feel OK about reality is a change in perspective. http://psychcentral.com/lib/in-depth...therapy/000907

But you already know that....

Some of us see it alright but instead try to to see what its like in anothers shoes & understand why...purely to avoid coming into contact with them & making the same mistakes or learn to not become so one eyed.
There but for the Grace of God, go I...

Doncha?

[Ocean1]

... no ... the two ideas are not related in my mind as you think .. yes, he's middle class .. and yes he is an arsehole ... but middle class does not automatically mean arsehole - just as rich does not necessarily mean arsehole ... Silent T is both middle class AND an arsehole ... He's one of the middle class who see that his future really lies with the ruling class (where he wants to belong) rather than with the workers - the workers that he claims to represent ... which is what makes him an arsehole in my book ...

OK.

Now take out "middle class", "workers", "ruling class" and you're left with "arsehole" or "not arsehole".

Which is where I live.

There is no such thing as "class", simply behavior I like, and behaviour I don't like.

[Banditbandit]

I'm sorry - I disagree.

There is clearly a ruling class in Godzone - the ones with the economic and therefore the political power

There are the middle classes - those employed by the ruling class to keep the workers under control ...

And there are the working class ...

One illusion which keeps Godzone ticking over the way it is and for the benefit of the ruling class is the illusion that there is no class in Godzone ... this illusion is perpetraed by the middle class at the behest of the ruling class - because it is a great way to keep the workers under control ... i.e. "There is no class - hard work will get you to the top and make you rich - so work harder ..."

The harder the workers work, the happier the ruling class is because they make more money - and the happier the middle class is because they are getting a few crumbs dropped from the top table, a nice pat on the back, and the illusion that soon they too will be ruling class (but NEVER HAPPEN)

Roger Douglas an the Labour Government of the 1980s smashed the workers then turned their attention on the middle class - it was a ruling class push - and guess who won? Now the ruling class are vacumming up al the money and the gap between top and bottom in our society is growing at one of the fastest rates in the world ... it's a Capitalist economy all right - with the class structure alive and well ... and becoming more obvious ..