Impolite Conversation: Religion and Politics

[tcpip]

Last two services at the Melbourne Unitarian Church were former Senator Janet Powell speaking for International Women's Day and Stephen Stuart, President of the Humanist Society of Victoria, on the separation of religion and state. Powell's speech was not to my liking; too much obsessing over the proportion of women in parliament. Stuart's presentation was dry, formal, with impeccable dress, and cautiously explained how the State has become a defacto funder of religious organisations. Tomorrow night I'll be attending the Sea of Faith to hear David Miller talk on the resurrection-denying ancient Christian Church of Marcion

Global politics has become very interesting; Foreign media has been expelled as the troops seal off Tibet. The Dalai Lama is criticised for adopting a non-violent path. China is concerned with ensuring that its policies are supported at home (after all, if the Tibets can overthrow the dictators so can the Chinese). A popular petition on the matter (130K signatures so far) is available. Dr. John Powers of ANU argues the Tibetan cause - and notes how this would benefit China.

In virtual politics, apparently there is going to be a Livejournal Strike! Local times are available



What's this about?

* It's about free and ad-free LiveJournal accounts being abolished for new members, ignoring the advice from the newly-formed Advisory Board.
* It's about LJ staff trying to sneak this decision in under the radar, and when people found out, telling the users it was done 'to make the signup process less confusing'.
* It's about LJ staff failing to apologize for trying to hide the facts from view and for lying about the actual reasons for their actions.
* And finally, it's about the latest decision to hide certain user interests from the list of Most Popular Interests, some of them being fanfiction, bisexuality, sex and depression. This decision was not announced or explained in any way. Users found out for themselves.

Comments

[missmilky.livejournal.com]

:) I'm not sure if it would be affective for me seeing as I hardly ever post!

[greylock.livejournal.com]

And finally, it's about the latest decision to hide certain user interests from the list of Most Popular Interests, some of them being fanfiction, bisexuality, sex and depression. This decision was not announced or explained in any way. Users found out for themselves.

Which has since been undone.

[zey.livejournal.com]

* It's about free and ad-free LiveJournal accounts being abolished for new members, ignoring the advice from the newly-formed Advisory Board.

I can't say I notice them. NoScript blocks them.

* It's about LJ staff trying to sneak this decision in under the radar, and when people found out, telling the users it was done 'to make the signup process less confusing'.

Choices are actually very confusing among the computer barely-literate, and I'd imagine those are the new users the new LJ owners are going to have to chase if they're ever going to make any money out of this site.

* And finally, it's about the latest decision to hide certain user interests from the list of Most Popular Interests, some of them being fanfiction, bisexuality, sex and depression.

I'm guessing that's all about heading off the "Why won't somebody think of the children!?" crowd before it turns into a court case, but, it seems like a pretty clumsy, ham-fisted way of doing things. Needs a re-think.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

I wrote a compliant and will also be striking.

The sleazy interests list tweak bothers me more than the suitish accounts levels behaviour, truly.

(I saw it coming, once Brad sold LJ).

Not *only* a lack of respect for the marks, but also a desire to *express bigotry* dishonestly, eh.

Its now about more than just these reasons you stated

[(Anonymous)]

Have a look here at this entry.
Very interesting.

http://darkrosetiger.livejournal.com/373663.html

[phasmaphobic.livejournal.com]

I think this strike will be as effective as a lot of people refusing the buy gas on a certain day.

That, and everyone agrees to LJ's "Terms of Service" when they sign up, which I do believe states that they can change the rules at any time without notice. Frankly, I'm not seeing what the problem is. There still is a free account (in that it is unpaid for by the user), the Ads can be hidden with Adblock and Noscript extensions in Firefox, and the community continues to grow.

[mia76.livejournal.com]

thanks for letting us know about the strike...

[khrysha.livejournal.com]

Live Journal's days are numbered. It's censorship net is widening and it's not pleasant. More and more I'm heading elsewhere for my networking. It's such a pity.

Someone said the Russki's own it now... surprising they're so conservative considering they love sex and drugs and mafiosi!

[evil-genius.livejournal.com]

Totally off topic here:
What do you like for an Enterprise Win2k3 FTP server these days?

[darknova666.livejournal.com]

very sneaky of lj.

i like em less and less