06-23-2014, 04:42 AM
It's good to get it out Steve :wink: ,
So, I'll see your vent and raise you one.
I probably wouldn't lay the blame for the nation's ills at the feet of unions alone, although I'm hearing you when you criticize the reported tactics of some unions.
Australians involved in work, whether as employers, employees or the protective bodies (i.e., associations, unions) of both these groups seem to fall first into two basic groups: the "we-minded" and the "me-minded". I'd assert that the "we-minded" - those who conceive of a good greater than their own well-being - are unlikely (except when desperate and misguided) to use coercion to overwhelm an opponent whose actions aren't unreasonable or criminal. I'd assert, correspondingly, that the "me-minded" are very likely to use any and all means to achieve their ends. I think we can agree we find "me-" and "we-minded" persons in all four groups of the working world.
But sadly, in this day and age, it seems the "me-minded" are the majority.
This is a terrible situation, as the logical outcome of a system based on adversaries seeking to mortally wound each other for advantage is that loser groups (of course) vanish and winner groups split into adversarial components slashing away at each other in repeated cycles until the system, such as it is, eventually collapses. Hence the saying that there won't be true peace on earth until one of the last two humans kills the other.
The system of government we have in Australia is essentially the same in every country with pretensions to democracy. The people of the nation elect representatives entrusted to carry the opinions and desires of the populace into a process of discussion and decision from which come wise laws. It is these laws which are meant to form the basis of "government" - that is "government" in the sense of regulating, of restraining the excesses of those who might seek advantage for themselves to the peril of their fellow citizens.
It is a simplistic, childish model and it doesn't work for one simple reason. Some humans are self-aggrandising b******s who find themselves blessed with sufficient imagination, courage and indifference to the impacts of their actions on others to carry their plans through. Other humans are nice enough but sit back and do nothing to advance their cause - basically because they aren't blessed with imagination and courage together. Christians can also add they have been assured that the meek will (somehow) inherit the earth. Pit a not-very-bright and uncourageous sheep against a tack-sharp, well-motivated wolf and what's the outcome?
And so we get back to education. Those who learn they have a past may come to believe they have a future (I don't know who said that but I love it). More down-to-earth, knowledge really is empowering. If the "we-minded" of Australia (and b****r the world, say I, it can look after itself) can take back a decent model of education, the worm may turn.
Ooooh. That fair sent a tremor through me trellis.
Howard / SPC
So, I'll see your vent and raise you one.
I probably wouldn't lay the blame for the nation's ills at the feet of unions alone, although I'm hearing you when you criticize the reported tactics of some unions.
Australians involved in work, whether as employers, employees or the protective bodies (i.e., associations, unions) of both these groups seem to fall first into two basic groups: the "we-minded" and the "me-minded". I'd assert that the "we-minded" - those who conceive of a good greater than their own well-being - are unlikely (except when desperate and misguided) to use coercion to overwhelm an opponent whose actions aren't unreasonable or criminal. I'd assert, correspondingly, that the "me-minded" are very likely to use any and all means to achieve their ends. I think we can agree we find "me-" and "we-minded" persons in all four groups of the working world.
But sadly, in this day and age, it seems the "me-minded" are the majority.
This is a terrible situation, as the logical outcome of a system based on adversaries seeking to mortally wound each other for advantage is that loser groups (of course) vanish and winner groups split into adversarial components slashing away at each other in repeated cycles until the system, such as it is, eventually collapses. Hence the saying that there won't be true peace on earth until one of the last two humans kills the other.
The system of government we have in Australia is essentially the same in every country with pretensions to democracy. The people of the nation elect representatives entrusted to carry the opinions and desires of the populace into a process of discussion and decision from which come wise laws. It is these laws which are meant to form the basis of "government" - that is "government" in the sense of regulating, of restraining the excesses of those who might seek advantage for themselves to the peril of their fellow citizens.
It is a simplistic, childish model and it doesn't work for one simple reason. Some humans are self-aggrandising b******s who find themselves blessed with sufficient imagination, courage and indifference to the impacts of their actions on others to carry their plans through. Other humans are nice enough but sit back and do nothing to advance their cause - basically because they aren't blessed with imagination and courage together. Christians can also add they have been assured that the meek will (somehow) inherit the earth. Pit a not-very-bright and uncourageous sheep against a tack-sharp, well-motivated wolf and what's the outcome?
And so we get back to education. Those who learn they have a past may come to believe they have a future (I don't know who said that but I love it). More down-to-earth, knowledge really is empowering. If the "we-minded" of Australia (and b****r the world, say I, it can look after itself) can take back a decent model of education, the worm may turn.
Ooooh. That fair sent a tremor through me trellis.
Howard / SPC
Spurius Papirius Cursor (Howard Russell)
"Life is still worthwhile if you just smile."
(Turner, Parsons, Chaplin)
"Life is still worthwhile if you just smile."
(Turner, Parsons, Chaplin)
