Posts by Joe Wylie
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Up Front: Giving Me Grief, in reply to Emma Hart,
You’d’ve liked your funeral.
My mother's was only a few weeks ago. I sent pictures to someone who couldn't make it, someone who'd long ago lost both of her parents, and who has a habitually interesting take on most things. When we next caught up she said "That was terrible what that funeral director did, making you carry your Momma's coffin! You could report them for that."
I explained that it was a privilege that we'd requested, and that we'd been offered the option of having the coffin wheeled out. More than anything though I wished that I could have told Mum, it would have really cracked her up.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
. . . the dreaded Interior Ministry
Pity there's no picture.
Wonder if they're anything like these dreaded amphibians. -
Hard News: Floating the idea, in reply to Russell Brown,
Couple more 1920s pics of the Chev, because they buzz me out.
The Dixieland cabaret from the sea. Calling Chris Bourke!
And people taking camping holidays there.
Both links seem to bring up the camping pic.
Looks spookily like Freddie Krueger standing at back row centre. -
Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to andin,
I would like to be able to make that decision when it suits me, and not have medical staff trying to keep me alive in whatever state until my body gives up.
Having been with someone at their end this last November, I now realise how common it must be to have these decisions made for you, when you're no longer capable. As long as someone's able to be spoon-fed pureed food in the times they regain consciousness, care staff are very encouraging to family members who are willing to stick around and help out. It didn't register at first when they asked if I'd like the patient to be woken in order to be fed. I found myself saying, "Well, you're the experts," and "It seems a pity, they look so peaceful".
Of course it was seeking informed consent from the next of kin, and in my case it happened so casually and gently that I didn't initially twig to its significance. When someone's been diagnosed with a slow degenerative condition and has no quality of life left, such things as intravenous feeding seem pretty grotesque. It's then that you remember their wishes, the things they'd said back when they had their full faculties, like how they'd like to go when they're ready to go.
There are no secrets of awareness, different dimensions where all is revealed. I dont mean to sound harsh, but we have to trim back on the fantasy realms it makes for mental flab.
Go mentally buffed and toned into that great night? We should all be so lucky.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to BenWilson,
– the fact that baby boomers are copping so much crap recently is a sign that their hold on power if slipping.
That's an interesting take Ben. Blame aside, they (we?) have had a rather longer run at the top than previous generations, and possibly those now taking their places. In the mid 80s the Listener ran a cover story about the generational takeover of top positions, making a case that the low birthrates of the depression era meant that there simply wasn't enough mature talent to fill top positions. Beverley Wakem headed Radio NZ before she'd turned 40. While David Lange wasn't technically a "baby boomer", at 41 he was NZ's youngest 20th century PM.
BTW the worst thing that could happen here in the near future would be a resurgent Grey Power. Dog forbid.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
I've never made an argument for generational shaming, and indeed have umpteen times denied making it. If you could stop painting me with that brush and use the things that I actually say...
Bullshit Kyle. You simply lack the wit or the courage to own the moral implications of your highly loaded weaseling. I'm really rather past caring which it might be. No amount of intellectual vanity can grant anyone the right to have their opinions taken as unvarnished gospel.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to andin,
R.I.P. Keith MoonI would say get rid of the straight boring turncoat boomers and bring back the alternate boomers.
C’mom andin, just having survived this long is selling out. Even with substance-induced brain damage.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
Again, please point out where I caricatured baby boomers as greedy, not caring about others, or indeed being opposed to paying taxes.
Kyle, I'm driven to state the obvious here, but we live in a democracy. As "baby boomers" represent a substantial voting block they presumably endorse the government policy that brought about the changes you mention. If you want to believe that it's all due to some kind of process independent of the political will then you've rather lost me. "Breaking the social contract" implies endorsing narrow and selfish policies to benefit the majority at the expense of the vulnerable. In some cases this has happened, and the changes remain. In others, namely health and aged care, they've been reversed.
Again, feel free to quote what I actually said. Not ‘dependents’ (ie, my parents) but ‘elders’ – ie, the whole generation older than them.
I’ve already done so upthread. The implication you made was plain that these people were going without because of the selfishness of their offspring. Feel free to split hairs, I’ll pass.
There was a sequence of elderly people who were having to sell homes that they’d lived in all their life over several years. It was a major election promise of Winston Peters in 1996 and part of the coalition agreement that year, but one that never got resolved properly under that government.
Like most of the historical running down of the health system that was reversed during the Clark years this isn’t even remotely a current issue. It was an underhanded political trick that was roundly rejected by the electorate. Hardly evidence for some kind of generational shaming. Of course National may well try it again in their second term, but right now, like much of Clark’s legacy, they don’t dare touch it.
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Jimmy S:
The last rise in GST was sold as an attempt to meet the decline in income tax by moving the overall take to consumption. While it doesn't suit me personally as I don't earn a lot these days, in principle it seems a fair response.Islander:
Having lost an elderly relative a few weeks back, and spending a lot of time as a visitor through their slow terminal decline, I couldn't fault the standard of palliative care they received. In terms of pain relief they certainly needed it. It was pretty moving when a couple of the rest home staff came to the funeral in their own time, of their own volition, simply because they'd developed a genuine personal attachment.All of this was funded by the state.
Around half of the carers these days seem to be from somewhere other than NZ. -
Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Sacha,
Individual boomers may not have made those decisions about their own grandparents. But all voters and other civic actors share responsiblity for what’s done in our name. And the relative loudness of our voices are affected by factors like wealth, social capital and access to influence and organising ability. Demographic trends affect that too.
Nicely said Sacha, but the claim of widespread incidents of older dependents of callous “boomers” needing to sell their homes in order to pay for life-saving medical treatment is unsubstantiated, and in the context of the argument it’s been invoked to support, downright risible.
I believe that we in NZ can take a certain amount of pride in how our elderly are currently treated, though I’m not placing any faith in Tony Ryall. Certainly we’re doing a lot better than Australia, where the kind of means testing introduced under Howard, in collusion with the age care industry, is downright shameful. Experiencing the older generation pass away is a rite of passage at this stage of life, and provides ample opportunity for reflection on the looming problem of my own generation’s impending decrepitude. I’d be delighted to engage in a constructive discussion about this, but disinformation, deliberately provocative or otherwise, is the last thing we need.