I couldn't agree more with your argument. I especially think you make a strong and logical point regarding the lack of relation between human physiology and animal physiology. Surely the differences between species makes any test results inaccurate, redundant and therefore pointless. A Fascinating Read.
Abortion seems to be an issue with much complexity. With debatable points on both sides that can raise further questions regarding contraception/birth control, vasectomies, rape, adoption. An interesting topic, I look forward to reading more.
An interesting choice of topic which raises many questions. Like Should fast food giants like McDonalds and Burger King be obliged to help combat childhood obesity? Should there be more education in schools regarding healthy eating? Does the responsibility fall completely on the parents? Are the ethical standards within the advertising industry strong enough and clear enough?
Yes, a very original topic. Will be interesting to see what evidence there is to support this argument, and also if perhaps the same depression is evident across all social media or just Facebook.
This is a great clip, cleverly bringing to our attention the kind of obsessive and addictive effects social media can have. Often our virtual lives appear to be overtaking the real ones.
“The form of law which I propose would be as follows: In a state which is desirous of being saved from the greatest of all plagues—not faction, but rather distraction—there should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor, again, excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil ... Now the legislator should determine what is to be the limit of poverty or of wealth.”
The Early Days While growing up, New
Zealand gave the impression that it had a moral and honest society, and its people seemed to have a reputation
for being innovative, laid back and most importantly fair- we even
had, and still do have, a consumer rights show called 'Fair Go'. It appears that during
my 28 years, the problems that our society face both economically and
socially, have gradually gotten worse. Many have found that our social and economic problems are linked with the levels of inequality in our
country and the failure of Neo-liberalism.
Establishing
In 2011 a report by
Bill Rosenberg- Policy Director and Economist for the New Zealand
Council of Trade Unions, came out, titled: "Inequality in New Zealand - How Bad? Does it matter? What can we do about it?”.
This report included evidence that New Zealand is one of the most
unequal countries in the high income world.
ONE
OF THE MOST UNEQUAL COUNTRIES IN THE HIGH INCOME WORLD
Gini
coefficient – measure of inequality
0
= Everyone equal, 100 = One persone has all the income
This graph in Rosenburg's report, which he obtained from the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), shows
that New Zealand had the fastest rising income inequality in the OECD
in the 1980s and 1990s. The report also went on to claim that currently, New Zealand has around the 10th
highest income inequality out of 34 countries in the OECD.
These alarming statistics show that inequality is at a high level in New Zealand, especially compared with fellow OECD countries. Going Backwards To be able to understand why New Zealand has such a high level of inequality, it is essential to identify when the gap between the rich and poor, began to grow at such a rapid rate and considering the above statistical graph, it is fair to say this rapid rate took off in the 1980's. In 1984, The David Lange led Labour Government introduced major changes to NZ's economic and social policies as a result of the large government debt, which had been accumulated under the previous Government, that being Robert Muldoon's National Party. These changes could be identified as neo-liberal policies. Policies that could at the same time, be seen in the United States under Ronald Regan, and in United Kingdom under Margaret Thatcher . These changes were, er..."sold" by treasury through a report to the then Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas who resultingly became the face of Neo-liberalism in NZ. These radical changes became forever known as "Rogernomics". Changes included free market reforms, the corporatising many government departments with a look towards privatising them, the removing of farming subsidies, and the selling of state assets, such as 'Air New Zealand', while dramatically reducing the Governments role and size. As a result of these changes the stock market soared and property speculation rose. While the implementing of neo-liberal ideas such as privatisation, deregulation and trickle-down admittedly did bring prosperity for the rich, the rest, that being the majority, found themselves floundering. Large rises in unemployment occured and also the shrinking of the size, impact and influence of the state, saw many lose their livelihoods.
"The
rich run a global system that allows them to accumulate capital and
pay the lowest possible price for labour. The freedom that results
applies only to them. The many simply have to work harder, in
conditions that grow ever more insecure, to enrich the few.
Democratic politics, which purports to enrich the many, is actually
in the pocket of those bankers, media barons and other moguls who run
and own everything".
― Charles Moore (English journalist and authorised biographer of Margaret Thatcher).
Health
An article by John Minto, titledInequality linked to social problems, refers to a Victoria University held forum on inequality and social problems, where they examined and investigated the thesis of a book called 'The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better' by English academics Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. During this forum, Otago University’s public health Professor, Philippa Howden-Chapman spoke of how the infant mortality rate in New Zealand before the mid-1980s was at a similar level to Denmark, but was now, almost twice as high as the Scandinavian country. She also said : "the period when our income inequality started to rise very rapidly ... [has] ...a strong association with the way this terrible disease took off in New Zealand. It should not occur in a developed country."
The article also says "(Howden-Chapman) suggested the rise was due to families becoming poorer and moving into smaller and more crowded housing where infectious diseases such as meningococcal spread more rapidly".
Minto goes on to say that the man administering the forum was Victoria University’s Head of Policy Jonathan Boston and Minto quotes him saying: "My personal view is that we can have some confidence that more equal societies - other things being equal - have better social outcomes across a range of measures. It may not be absolutely conclusive, but I think it's reasonably persuasive."
The essence of Johnathan Boston's conclusion, that being: more equal societies have better social outcomes, echos the soul of Wilkinson and Pickett's book, where the above graph comes from, and this echo is growing louder too. The stream flows up
I recently saw a new documentary made by the award-winning Bryan Bruce, the man behind 2011's 'Inside Child Poverty' documentary. Bruce's new 'INSIDE NEW ZEALAND' documentary 'MIND THE GAP - A SPECIAL REPORT ON INEQUALITY' aired on tv3 in New Zealand in August 2013. It identified, not just that New Zealand had a large level of inequality, but that greater equality makes societies stronger. The documentary also showed how the large level of inequality in NZ affects not just both ends of the financial spectrum, the rich and the poor, but everyone in between too. One Neo-liberalist idea that has caused such high inequality in New Zealand is the concept of "Trickle Down". Intended to make things better for all of us, "Trickle Down" simply hasn't worked out that way. Instead of tax breaks to the wealthy eventually trickling down to everyone else, through investing and creating more jobs, the opposite ("Trickle Up") seems to have happened. The video below is an excerpt from 'MIND THE GAP', where documentarian Bryan Bruce interviews three professors on "Trickle down": Prof. John Quiggan from the University of Queensland, Prof. Ha-Joon Chang from Cambridge University, and Prof. Robert Wade from the London School of Economics.
The Neo-liberal policies in New Zealand which began with "Rogernomics" in the 80's, are still in force today. With levels of inequality continuing to rise because of them, so do our social and economic problems. Even David Lange, the Prime Minister that oversaw the implementing of Neo-liberal policies, later reflected on them in 1996. He said: "For people who don't want the government in their lives, Rogernomics has been a bonanza, but for people who are disabled, limited, resource-less, uneducated, it has been a tragedy". It is clear different ideas are needed to combat such problems. Possible solutions such as theRobin Hood Tax, Capital Gains Tax and also Co-Operative Businesses are positive and proactive suggestions that could give us all a chance to be better off. “The greatest country, the richest country, is not that which has the most capitalists, monopolists, immense grabbings, vast fortunes, with its sad, sad soil of extreme, degrading, damning poverty, but the land in which there are the most homesteads, freeholds — where wealth does not show such contrasts high and low, where all men have enough — a modest living— and no man is made possessor beyond the sane and beautiful necessities.”
(Opinion blog entry/article) Karl du Fresne and The Passionless People by LJ Holden http://www.republic.org.nz/blog/karl-du-fresne-and-passionless-people (Blog entry discussing Gordon McLauchlan's The Passionless People Revisited: New Zealanders in the 21st Century and Karl du Fresne's The current system works - end of story).
(Web info) Drinking patterns and social impacts http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/alcohol/page-5 (looks at the social impact of alcohol in NZ along with binge culture and action taken).
(Book) Phillips, Jock. A man’s country?: the image of the pakeha male, a history. Auckland: Penguin, 1996. (trace the history and shifts of how New Zealanders believe their white male members should act and think).
by Liam Fernandez.
Rick was woken by the call of a crow. A call that rattled his weary
bones. His first thoughts were of those who had become his friends. Good friends. Friends who hadn't
made it off the farm. Jimmy. Patricia. Both
gone. Andrea too. After refocusing to where he and the rest of the
group were, he lifted his heavy head to see Daryl patrolling the area.
Checking the
surroundings. Rick headed over to him.
'You should have woken me.' said Rick, rubbing the back of his neck. 'Looked like'ya needed the rest'. Daryl responded with his eyes
still fixed on the narrow highway, then the dense forest that
surrounded their makeshift camp. 'Yesterday was a long day for all of us. Even you Rick'. Rick changed the conversation. 'Well, we're low on fuel. Food and ammo too'. 'You wanna make a run?' 'That's what I'm thinkin'. The two of them started back to the group.
Rick
saw the rest of the survivors, now awake, were dusting the forest floor
off themselves. He told them of the plan he had just mentioned to
Daryl, and Glen kindly offered to join their search for supplies. Without
further delay, the three of them jumped in one of the cars and headed off. After
half an hour of so of driving, the highway they were on ended where
another crossed
it, forming a capital T. At the top of that T was a long-abandoned
truck-stop gas
station.
Once Rick and Glen had checked their pistols and
Daryl - loaded his
crossbow, they tactically and methodically checked the inside of the
dirt washed concrete station, like they had done on so many supply runs before.
All clear. After a thorough search they were only able to scavenge
three small bags of Jolly Rancher hard candy, two cans of coke and one
packet of Ritz crackers. No ammo. No fuel. Rick concluded this place
must have been raided previously.
Maybe a few times. Daryl and Glen agreed.
It was as
Rick was heading
back out front to their vehicle, when he heard a the distant rumbling of
metal. He halted to listen closely. As the curious noise
grew louder, and drew closer, Rick realised what was approaching.
Sharply turning, he scurried back inside the gas station. Bursting
through the door, he saw Daryl and Glen then barked somewhat under his
breath:
'GET DOWN NOW'! They both did without hesitation. 'Someone's coming?'
enquired Glen. Rick and Daryl both shushed him. The noise had now
reached the gas station and stopped. Peering out from behind the
counter, Rick, Daryl and Glen could now see two of three men
stepping out of a van which had stopped in the middle of the highway.
These intimidating two, both around six and a half feet tall, were
built
like professional athletes. Wearing identical overcast blue
jumpsuits and each had automatic rifles slung over their shoulders, and
were the kind of guys you wouldn't want to look directly in the eye.
Rick couldn't quite make
out what they were arguing over, until one blocking the open door to
the back-seat stepped away to show the third person. Everything in
Rick's chest sunk.
He could now see the third person was not a
comrade of the two armed men, but a prisoner of theirs. It was a young
girl in fact, sitting with her knees up to her chest and her back
against the far side door. Her hands, behind her back, were tied
together. Her feet, shoeless and bloody, were also bound. Her long
blonde hair, which once shone so brightly, was now drenched in sweat
and blood, dirt and fear. The very same kind that drenched the
blindfold which covered her eyes.
Seeing them arrive had made Rick uneasy, and seeing their cargo
had confirmed Rick's fears, while sending an sickening ache
through his veins. 'We have to help her!...Don't we?' said Glen. Rick, Daryl and Glen all peaked over the counter again. Now one of the man-mountains
was heading towards the gas station. Rick checked his weapon, to
count how many rounds he had left. 3. He could sense Daryl's anxiety
to “do something about these guys” was starting to get the better of him,
so he quickly darted his eyes towards Daryl's. Rick slowly shook his
head, while gesturing with his hand to his two allies as if to say:
“Wait, just let them pass”. Rick searched Daryl's face for a look
of consent but found none. Glen stole one more glance over the top
of the counter, and whispered the others an update.
'He's just checking the pumps... I don't think they're gonna come
inside...' whispered Glen. Daryl broke his silence. 'We have to take them out Rick!' 'They're not gonna find us here...' Rick sounded like he was
trying to convince himself as much as he was Daryl. '...and we can't
afford to use up the last of our ammo if we don't have to! Besides, the sound of the shots'll draw a hoard down on us!' 'Its not about the ammo any more! Or Walkers!' Daryl exclaimed. 'These guys
came from the opposite direction to us, right?'
'...What if they continue on?!' '... Down the way WE came from?!...'
'...You know what they'll find further down that highway!'
Rick
thought of his son Carl, his wife Lori, and their
little one growing inside her. For a moment he pictured the
events that would unfold if he wasn't there to protect them. He
pictured what would happen when the two evil monsters, that were
currently lurking on the highway and forecourt, came across his loved
ones. He
had, for a moment, let his fear get the better of him. Rick looked down and finally noticed he was gripping his gun so
tightly, that his hand was not just trembling, but shaking.
'These are all fucking drained!'
One of the behemoths had called
out to the other from the forecourt. It was now Rick's turn to glance over the counter. The brute had been rattling around in the forecourt, checking the pumps for
fuel, had found none and was now heading back to the van. Rick,
Daryl and Glen were all watching the giant fiend stomping back to his
vehicle, and could just make out the words printed on the back of his
jumpsuit.
WEST GEORGIA CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY
Daryl and Glen both looked to Rick. 'Its now or never!' claimed Daryl. Glen said nothing. The two convicts were now both in the van. 'RICK!' Daryl was trying not shout. The engine started. A moment of silence followed, which was only for a second but
seemed like a lifetime.
'They're not going to find them!' Rick finally said, sweating hard and
fidgeting with his weapon profusely. He couldn't stay still. The vans engine revved. Began edging forward.
'I HAVE TO BELIEVE THEIR NOT GOING TO FIND THEM!'
What
then materialised on Rick's face could only be described
as a look of pure relief. Unbridled. Intense. The van and its two demons
within, had
not continued on towards the rest of the group. They had turned around,
and were heading back towards the hell from where they had come. The
Hell which had shaped them so horribly.
Rick felt like someone had just turned his air back on, and it had never
felt so good to breath.
No one said a word on the way
back to the rest of the group. Rick
thought of the blonde girl, bound in the back of that van. That poor
girl had
come to know all too well the human horrors of this world. Then he
thought of Carl, Lori and their baby. Rick hoped he would never again be
forced to make the kind
of decision he did today. He hoped none of his friends would either. He Hoped.
But he also knew there's no telling what lengths people
will go to to protect the ones they love.
There's no telling what
lies further down the highway.
Liam FernandezSeptember 27, 2013 at 7:42 PM