Up Front: Five
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Joe Wylie, in reply to
my photos from the We've Had Enough rally on Sunday.
Thank you. I see that the City Council had a special Sunday team turn up once the rally was over to remove any traces of chalk messages, making everything pristine for yesterday's "proper" event. Presumably the weeds sprouting from the cracks between the pavers in the fenced-off area in front of the former Stabucks (ex-post office) continue to flourish unmolested.
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I don't understand how people who are not affected lack empathy for those who are. Even Joe Bennett on the RNZ Panel yesterday was very dismissive. His attitude was that most Christchurch people aren't or weren't affected, and that a tiny minority of people are still making a fuss about nothing much.
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Emma Hart, in reply to
I don’t understand how people who are not affected lack empathy for those who are. Even Joe Bennett on the RNZ Panel yesterday was very dismissive. His attitude was that most Christchurch people aren’t or weren’t affected, and that a tiny minority of people are still making a fuss about nothing much.
I've recently worked out that it's classic victim-blaming. People are treating the victims of the quakes the same way they treat victims of domestic violence. You don't really want to do anything, you don't want to feel bad about yourself from not doing anything, you just want to get on and pretend it hasn't happened. So you minimise the damage. It's not as bad as they're making it out to be. And if it is, why don't they do something about it? Why don't they just leave? Why didn't they get geotech reports before they built their houses? Why are they so angry and rude all the time? How could they choose to put their kids through this?
You avoid feeling sympathy by making these people into people who don't deserve your sympathy.
(The other way to do it is to turn them into people who are 'strong' and 'resilient', and therefore don't need help.)
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as above, so below...
Just in case anyone was wondering what happened to Warwick Isaacs (he who led the CCDU for the Government) he left on a high after overseeing a 100 day blueprint for the city to 'run' Stonewood Homes - who you'd think would be on to a good thing in Chchch, at least - not so...Stonewood Homes New Zealand Limited is in receivership at the request of the companies' director, KordaMentha says.
Grant Graham and Neale Jackson of KordaMentha have been appointed as receivers to the company , and sister companies Stonewood Homes Ltd and Sterling Homes (Christchurch) Ltd.
Stonewood Homes NZ is the master franchisor for the Stonewood Homes network.
Stonewood Homes Ltd holds the Stonewood franchise for Christchurch. It is one of Canterbury's biggest home builders.
Stonewood's Hamilton franchise went into liquidation on January 13, owing $1.46 million to creditors. The company's Marlborough branch went into liquidation last year owing more than $1m.So I guess he ran Stonewood as well as he ran the CCDU...
It appears we have a city where you can't even make hay when the sun shines!
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Hilary Stace, in reply to
Yes, that makes sense. Also applies to refugees. When they finally get here we tell them they are brave and resilient and then don't have to do anything to help.
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Joe Wylie, in reply to
Just in case anyone was wondering what happened to Warwick Isaacs (he who led the CCDU for the Government)
I remember. CERA scored Wokka from Timaru, at around the time that Gerry was calling His Bobness a clown. Strange days, still stranger...
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
You avoid feeling sympathy by making these people into people who don’t deserve your sympathy.
We call that "Othering" and it is the the mark of a Right Wing mind.
"Why should we care about starving children when their scumbag parents spend our hard earned taxes on cigarettes, booze, big screen TVs and the pokies"
"The unemployed are just lazy"
"They have too many children"
And so on and so on.
And by the way, the people that try to shine a light on the plight of the poor are "Smelly, dirty, ignorant rent a crowd losers"
And don't get me started on those crims on a holiday island off Australia.... And those greedy refugees coming to steal out jobs and women......
What a caring country we are becoming under the enlightened leadership of the wonderful John, bloody, Key and pals. -
Joe Wylie, in reply to
What a caring country we are becoming under the enlightened leadership of the wonderful John, bloody, Key and pals.
Even the sainted Andrew's instincts seem to have led to his siding with the political class over earthquake victims. He appears to have learnt nothing from Labour's disastrous Christchurch results at the last election (Hint - don't presume to judge or talk down to people who may have experienced something you plainly didn't).
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
Little was responding, at the time with no background information and correctly said...
"Totally unacceptable, this is a community occasion where we commemorate and reflect on a great tragedy,"
If it had been a "rent a crowd anti TPP" type "scumbag" then yes... unacceptable.
Had Mr. Little known the man's circumstances I think his response would have been different.
So...(Hint – don’t presume to judge or talk down to people who may have experienced something you plainly didn’t).
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Tess Rooney, in reply to
People are treating the victims of the quakes the same way they treat victims of domestic violence. You don’t really want to do anything, you don’t want to feel bad about yourself from not doing anything, you just want to get on and pretend it hasn’t happened. So you minimise the damage.
Reading The Press about the Pike miners I saw the exact same attitude towards the families who lost someone.
"It's time to move on."
"They need to let go."
"It's too expensive."
"But it's a lovely place to be buried."
"People who die at sea don't get their bodies back to be buried."How can anyone tell a grieving person - it's time to move on, you have to let go? Who are they to tell someone how to grieve and what to feel? Not because they want the other person to feel better either, but because they wanted the activism to shut up and drop it. They were sick of reading it in the paper and seeing it on the news.
We're the same with the babies and children killed by parents and caregivers. If we actually cared as a country we would vote in the party that promised they would give CYFS and other relevant agencies proper funding to save these children and help their parents/caregivers. I mean it's not like parents are waking up saying "Today I shall beat little Jane to death." It's often a reaction because a whole pile of terrible, horrible things have lined up to create that moment where they lash out. And we could stop that... if we cared enough... but we don't.
Do you think that this is what humans really are? I mean, as a Christian I read the Old Testament and people happily kill men, women and children with nary a thought. In fact it's joy that we won and they died. And it's not like Greek ancients were different. (Sorry, I'm pretty limited to Western ancient history so if someone knows of a culture that's different my bad.) Do you think we have some kind of modern veneer of empathy for others? Deep down as long as we are alive and thriving the other people can just go to hell?
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
Deep down as long as we are alive and thriving the other people can just go to hell?
I thought that was National's Policy.
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NB: The Art Of Recovery is on TV One tonight (Tuesday) at 9.30pm
Peter Young’s lively, beautifully illustrated documentary… leaves us hoping against hope that the new city can be infused with some measure of the resurgent spirit, creativity and pride of community ownership so lovingly documented in his film.
Bill Gosden, Director NZIFF -
Hebe,
NZ Institute of Professional Photographers members capture my hometown five years on. Lovely.
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Lilith __, in reply to
NB: The Art Of Recovery is on TV One tonight (Tuesday) at 9.30pm
Wow, that was really, really great. I hope lots of people watched. Bravo to all the awesome community leaders making creative things happen in Chch, and bravo to Young and his team for recording it.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Wow, that was really, really great.
One comment that got to me and summed up what's happening here was along the lines of: 'The Government didn't want temporary or transitional things in case we liked them too much!"
They have never cared about our mental health one jot...
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That documentary was so interesting because of the visuals and the people explaining. Although I have heard about it a lot, now I 'get' that thing about the vital role of collective community creativity of Gap Filler, Smash Palace etc. I want to go to the place with the burgers going through the pipes, and see all that street art.
Contrasted with the big capitalism top down thing. Led by a man who couldn't make a company which builds houses in Christchurch succeed? And another who drives around in a big flash car.
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
’The Government didn’t want temporary or transitional things'
You mean, like, Humans?.
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Lilith __, in reply to
A quote that spoke to me was,
“They’ve taken control of rebuilding our city. They’re like: 'We’ll tell you when it’s ready for you to use.'” -
Hebe, in reply to
A quote that spoke to me was,
“They’ve taken control of rebuilding our city. They’re like: ’We’ll tell you when it’s ready for you to use.’”That overt huh? Recorded it last night but was in no brainspace to watch.
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Sister Mary Gearchange, in reply to
>>Yes, that my fellow citizens have re-elected these patently-uncaring clowns twice both saddens and angers me. Where has our sense of right and wrong gone?<<
???
NZ was sold during the Lange Labour government. Everything since then has simply been a solidification and cultural embedding of corporate interests, part of which is making damn sure the average person is uninformed and uninterested. The NZ landscape is very much dominated by sheep. What most don't understand about themselves is that around 4 million of them have 2 legs and a whiney grating nasal accent.
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Sister Mary Gearchange, in reply to
>>How can anyone tell a grieving person – it’s time to move on, you have to let go? Who are they to tell someone how to grieve and what to feel? Not because they want the other person to feel better either, but because they wanted the activism to shut up and drop it. They were sick of reading it in the paper and seeing it on the news.<<
If you stand back and re-read that you get an insight into several centuries of internecine warfare and holier-than-thou ad hoc justification for anything you want. It's irrational, unhealthy bullshit and it deserves to simply be told "no".
There is a time and place to let go. Grieving forever, fostering the anger and helping it fester simply means you're emotionally dead.
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Joe Wylie, in reply to
There is a time and place to let go. Grieving forever, fostering the anger and helping it fester simply means you're emotionally dead.
No shit, Sigmund.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
If you stand back and re-read that you get an insight into several centuries of internecine warfare and holier-than-thou ad hoc justification for anything you want. It’s irrational, unhealthy bullshit and it deserves to simply be told “no”.
I think you forgot to mention the Nazis there.
There is a time and place to let go. Grieving forever, fostering the anger and helping it fester simply means you’re emotionally dead.
Call me crazy, but when people are still waiting for their insurance to be settled and the rebirth of the central city is on hold because central government can't make work the grand plan it imposed, and when the earth is still shaking, I think we're well within acceptable parameters for grieving.
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Yes, Christchurch folk don't need such sanctimonious advice from people like Sister Mary Whatever, I have a friend who has finally had enough, after the last shake, and selling up, to move back to Australia.
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It’s not clear whether SMG’s “holier-than-thou […] irrational, unhealthy bullshit” is intended to describe those declaring an end to others’ grief, or those grieving, or both. I've tried my hardest, but I can’t see how those comments cohere as an argument.
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