Current Status: Holidays
351 Responses
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Paint on a monument? A little less so, IMO.
What does that comparison even mean? Shouldn't you rather ask yourself to what extent, if any, spilling red paint on the monument of a politician who was murdered for urging the signing of the Oslo piece accords does anything to advance the cause of peace?
My personal decision not to go on that march, which I'm in no way trying to glorify, was based on a suspicion: that we wouldn't close rank against something like this. Well, did we? Could somebody who was there tell us how it went? What were the slogans, what was written on the placards?
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3410:
I'd like to think that regardless of your politics or religious views, you don't desecrate houses of worship, graves or memorials to the dead.
If Gerald Burns doesn't understand that, then I suggest he should be sent on retreat for a refresher course in Catholic teaching on the subject. He might also want to reflect that priests are supposed to act as role models and leaders in the community of faith they serve.
If that's his idea of asserting the value of human life, and the importance of showing dignity and respect to all, he's got a very queer way of showing it.And I do have to note the irony that, despite what Lindsay Freer asserts, there are circumstances when priests most certainly are not "entitled to their individual views". Any priest who publicly expressed support for the ordination of women, same-sex marriage or abortion by desecrating a memorial or grave marker would be in very serious shit indeed.
But hey, as I said, a tasteless cartoon is worthy of unequivocal and immediate outrage. This, not so much...
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3410,
What does that comparison even mean? Shouldn't you rather ask yourself to what extent, if any, spilling red paint on the monument of a politician who was murdered for urging the signing of the Oslo piece accords does anything to advance the cause of peace?
The obvious confusion of the gesture has not escaped me. I'm only asking whether that gesture is really the thing most deserving of disgust.
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Seemed like a half-hearted gesture anyway - only one drop of blood. C'mon.
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I'm only asking whether that gesture is really the thing most deserving of disgust.
Oh, there's plenty of disgust to go around. Being angry at an idiot close to home does not render me unable of being angrier at armed criminals far from home. But even with that sense of proportion firmly in place, I do happen to think that how we demonstrate against this war is genuinely important, although you wouldn't know it by the fact I didn't bother to get involved. So I'll shut up.
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Paint on a monument? A little less so, IMO.
And now that I think of it, when mosques around Auckland were subjected to that kind of bullshit -- and worse -- in the wake of the London bombings it was taken a little more seriously.
I don't for the moment think Burns is an anti-Semite, or trying to incite violence against the Jewish community. I just feel embarrassed that this idiot has is claiming support from the Catholic community (which I am a devout member of), that he has so vividly and publicly failed to live up to the responsibilities he has to that community, and that our alleged leadership's response has been so wishy-washy.
To coin a phrase: Not in my name, mate.
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The mosque vandals mentioned in the Granny article were card-carrying members of the NF.
Maybe Father Burns was trying to point out that Rabin was murdered by an Israeli ultra-nationalist, and that the point went over everyone's heads.
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The obvious confusion of the gesture has not escaped me. I'm only asking whether that gesture is really the thing most deserving of disgust.
I don't really expect anyone else to give a shit, but as a devout Catholic (and one who lives in a country remarkably free of sectarian violence) I'd like someone who is in a position of visible leadership in our community to act like it.
Seemed like a half-hearted gesture anyway - only one drop of blood. C'mon.
I don't think the blood was really the most pertinent point here. I actually like living in a pluralistic country where vandalism of Jewish and Muslim houses of worship and graves is rare enough to still be shocking and held in general contempt.
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3410,
I'd like to think that regardless of your politics or religious views, you don't desecrate houses of worship, graves or memorials to the dead.
Actually, I don't give much of a fuck about that, compared to the desecration of the living.
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Maybe Father Burns was trying to point out that Rabin was murdered by an Israeli ultra-nationalist, and that the point went over everyone's heads.
And maybe someone needs to audit the parish accounts for suspiciously large and frequent orders of communion wine. Buggered if I know, but I'm not really really comfortable about trying to excuse the inexcusable.
The mosque vandals mentioned in the Granny article were card-carrying members of the NF.
And at the risk of Godwining myself, the world is not -- never has and never will be -- short of devout thugs convinced that God speaks with their ugly, hateful voice.
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I actually like living in a pluralistic country where vandalism of Jewish and Muslim houses of worship and graves is rare enough to still be shocking and held in general contempt.
I agree, Craig, that it is wonderful we live in a land of such relative peace and respect (ignoring social inequalities for now) and I think Giovanni made the right decision not to join such a poorly thought out protest.
I also found myself mightily pissed off hearing the US rep to the UN pompously supporting a murderous invasion after an illegal blockade and decades of disrespect for UN rulings by Israel, accompanied this time by a suppression of reporting decreed illegal by their own courts (Fisk on the unintended consequences of that). And I want to make clear that I'm not impressed with Hamas's tactics and behaviour either.
I will reflect further on my respective responses to the invasion and the protest, but I can understand why some would question local media's choice of tone in both instances.
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I think Giovanni made the right decision not to join such a poorly thought out protest.
I'm not saying it was, nor that you can police all behaviour, although you should certainly strive to discipline some. I'd just like to know, from somebody who was there (I know better than to trust media accounts) what the content of the demonstration was, its general thrust, and whether it made a stand regarding that stunt or others.
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Sorry, didn't mean to put words in your mouth, Giovanni. That act couldn't be unplanned, so at least someone knew beforehand if not the overall organisers whoever they were.
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I will reflect further on my respective responses to the invasion
Meh... I'm short of sympathy. I used to know a Palestinian chap -- and his Israeli boyfriend -- quite well, and he said that from his perspective the whole fucking mess is a never-ending chess game with millions of pawns, every one of them expendable in a political game they have little (if any) control over.
I sure don't have any easy answers, but I'm pretty sure Burns contributed precisely nothing to it.
And Giovanni has a fair point too: I've been on a few demos in my time, and sure wouldn't want to be held personally responsible for policing everyone I happened to be at a protest with. I take absolute and unconditional responsibility for my conduct, and it's consequences and if I've anything to say in a public forum I speak for myself and myself alone. If you can't assume there's going to be self-discipline exercised, you might as well stay home with a paper bag over your head.
As I've said elsewhere, disagreeing with the actions of the state of Israel does not ipso facto make anyone an anti-Semite in my book. (But there are plenty of anti-Semites out there who will try and rationalise their bigotry as 'anti-Zionism', but that's a whole other pathology that needs to be dissected with great discrimination.)
And I'll defend the right of anyone -- especially those I vehemently disagree with -- to engage in peaceful protest that respects the freedoms and property of other.
But I'm seriously hacked off at Burns, the piss-weak response of the Catholic hierarchy to his behaviour, and how he's being presented as somehow typical of Catholic opinion. (Which is as diverse as that of Jews, Muslims and even atheists.)
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Hi there, getting back to the holidays location slightly, I have spent xmas and New Years in Hong Kong, visiting with my wifes family. A xmas to remember for my two boys and I. As everyone knows HK moves at light speed compared to NZ, so Xmas and NY came and went super quick this year! Have avoided the theme parks this time, Spent quite a bit of time touring outlying Islands etc. Mong Ko and Lan qwai Fong I have been to a couple of times.
Made it to Macau for a day visit. Beautiful place - Astonishing to see an AJ Hackett Bungy operation at the Macau Tower - Go AJ - he deserves an order of NZ title if he hasnt received one already - and huge ups literally to Beca Carter Auckland for helping design and build the thing.
Thank god for Al jazeera TV - I have been following the Gaza War exclusively on.
I am back on Sunday, wife and kids follow the next weekend - so I shall be free Friday ...see you at the boiler room! -
Made it to Macau for a day visit. Beautiful place
sounds like you avoided the airport, a shocker....
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Not sure whether I want to be embroiled in the latest direction this conversation has taken (it it mean't to be reporting on holiday plans and I should report that we are about to set forth for Tahanui Beach). But I do recommend an article in this morning's Press, by David Aaronovitch "Hamas or Hannas, not black or white". Aaronovitch discusses the banality/obscenity of equating Israel's actions in Gaza with the Nazis. .Sorry, don't have time to find the link as the warm sea beckons.
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But I do recommend an article in this morning's Press, by David
My feelings towards Aaronovitch are somewhat tainted by this piece from a couple of weeks back bathed in half truths and revisionism in an attempt to justify what is still unjustifiable.
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Getting back to the holiday theme. I was so happy that my little "I'm off to Kai Iwi lakes with friends" message was played on NR on the 30th!
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Yep ferry from HK..Public Transport dream around here compared to the Public Transport Nightmare back home..sorry for the kiwi bashing!
I promise I will holiday at Pautau North like normal next year...
Altho....back to Macau tower - I did a sky jump off the Auckland one for my birthday in 2006, but theres no frickin way you would get me doing the bungy/skyjump in Macau - that tower is 333M TALL! Even being at the top made me feel sick! -
Randomly picking a thread to derail, we have a new Doctor.
Oh, poo, I wanted Paterson Joseph.
But I'll get over it, just like I got over it when Monk lost Sharona.
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Oh, poo, I wanted Paterson Joseph.
I really thought he was out of the running for that when the BBC announced a second series of Survivors -- which I'm pretty meh-some about, but was apparently a solid and consistent ratings performer for BBC One.
And can I note the irony of certain British media outlets bewailing that the new Doctor is another whitefella when, not so long ago, the same outlets -- often the same damn people -- were bitching the casting of Freema Agyeman (who is technically the second black companion, depending on whether you count Mickey 'The Idiot' Smith) as political correctness gone mad blah blah blah....
And I still think Catherine Tate is owed several million public apologies. Didn't get the series four box set for Christmas, but we hit the Boxing Day sale at Whitcoulls -- with discount on all DVDs, and a wee fistful of Christmas vouchers in tow we cut the price to just over twenty bucks and went to ground. She's bloody great.
Now, Who fans can start obsession about that other essential casting call -- the new companion(s). And with all due respect to Ms. Agyeman and Billie Piper, if the next companion develops a crush on the Doctor I'm going on a road trip to Cardiff to slap some sense into Steven Moffat.
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And here's a typical piece of seasonal dialogue in a household consisting of two geeks, the Doctor Who series four box set, and the Battlestar Galactica season 4.0 box.
"What's the time?"
"Two-thirty."
"In the morning?"
"I guess."
"Just one more?"
"Do we have to do anything today?"
"Not really."
"Cool."
"Another cup of tea?"
"Sure."
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She's bloody great.
Actually, no. While not the complete disaster predicted, she was still bloody annoying with moments of "not bad" tossed in occasionally. Her finest moment IMHO was her last episode, when she -- oops, you may not have watched that one yet. (I've been a weekly watcher since the Hartnell days and I'd like to nominate Tennant as the best Doctor of all. My previous best was Troughton, and I hated Tom Taker, so there you go)
The new boy has big shoes to fill.
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