Auckland/Conference, Overlander and Palmerston North

[tcpip]

Spent three days at Auckland for the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy and gave my paper on Lying in Politics Revisited (draft). Seemed well received with third parties telling me it had attracted some interest. Was particularly pleased with recommended further readings in the psychology of moral disengagement and for further elaboration on strategic action. Was also impressed with Paul Miller's (ANU) paper on "The Ambiguity of Freedom" which argued for freedom to be understood as a process and a relationship rather than the traditional model of sovereignty and, continuing on the theme, Matheson Russell's paper on Hannah Arendt's intersubjective concept of freedom and agency. Also managed to meet up and had a great yarn with James Flowers of Redbrick, current publishers of the Earthdawn and Blue Planet roleplaying systems. Managed to miss the entire third day of the conference following drinks with James, then drinks at the conference dinner, and then drinks at a club afterwards!

Took the Overlander down to Palmerston North, which is the first time I'd made that journey by train and was very pleased to do so. It was quite a feat of engineering to have a trainline, requiring flat and straight tracks, through a land famous for hills, valleys and bends. Staying in Palmerston North for a few days to visit mother and brothers was pleasant, very relaxing but quite unexciting. There is only so much small-town gossip I can handle before my eyes glaze over; lengthy stories of who married who, where they live, what their home is like, and what their relationship is with other members of the community. There is no discussion of great ideas, and little of great events (hat-tip to Elanor Roosevelt). Although well-meaning people, an ignorance of worldly affairs leaves me wondering how people derive meaning and satisfaction from vicarious trivialities.

Anyway, I'm now in Wellington at Geekmansion with beagl and kimeros. I can see how one could spend entire days in conversation and/or coding looking over Evans Bay to Mount Victoria. Beautiful.

Comments

[madame-mage.livejournal.com]

AWESOME paper you wrote, I must say tho, if Bush was tried for War Crimes and impeached while in office, the vice president Dick Chenney would have stepped up to fill the vacancy left by Bush, NO one in their right mind in this country ever wanted that to happen, he's an evil bastard. So this was a deal-with-the-lessor-of-the-two-evils situation.

Im amused that our gov't under Repug rule thought the American people wouldn't get a hint about what was going on, The horrible tragic event of 9/11 around the time Bush's approval ratings were slipping, boosted him well into the spotlight. By god by golly yippiee ki ay this heah cowboy was gonna git him some terrorists and score some oil in the process..

Facepalm*

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not that awesome yet I still have to patch it up into a publishable form..

Of course it does seem surprising that the Bush/Cheney government didn't realise how quickly people caught on to what was happening. Yes, they must have expected some negative press but the rate at which opinion changed certainly has much to do with the ability of online communications to provide information with multiple sources of verification (and hooray for quality institutions like google scholar and wikipedia).

On the other side of the coin, it does seem that to a large extent however the lessons of how effective industrial and direct action can be has largely been forgotten. Enraged citizenry serves no purpose except for an ulcer if that justifiable rage is not directed in an effective manner.

[madame-mage.livejournal.com]

Heh..*starts to laugh* indeed! Enraged Citizenry here up to their necks with the Bush years, showed their ire and their support for the Democrats by electing Obama. Even Republicans who'd decided they had enough chose the Democratic party and lent their time and support. Every majour newspaper in the country here endorsed Obama, it was incredible. to my mind this was a creative solution and not just energy fizzling out..Gone are the coffee shop politics and the shrugging of the shoulders of what-else-are-we-to-do?

[amazinggoatgirl.livejournal.com]

I think they did realize how quick people were catching on, it's just that for a couple of years there, they created an environment in which bringing it up was completely socially unacceptable. The only thing you could do until about 2003 was furtively preach to the choir or have rocks thrown at you (figuratively or literally) and worry about which watch lists you were on.

I recall on Sept. 12, 2001 at my high school, someone said something to the effect of, "Wait, we're going to start a war over this now? How could that possibly be productive?" and he got his nose broken. Sure, he was a Muslim, but still... I admit I avoided it at least until 2002.