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 |  is paved with good intentions... |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hi, I'm Elle. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm the mother of two young adults, the wife of an entrepreneurial gamer and the Queen of Unfinished Projects. This blog will contain poems, short stories, possibly photos and book reviews if you're lucky, and my thoughts on a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it. |
Respond to a current news story with your opinion. ~ "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  I had this article in mind to write about, but I just realised it was written in June 2018. I only came across it earlier this month though. It was an article by Fintan O'Toole in the Irish Times titled Trial runs for fascism are in full flow . Interestingly, when I tried to find the link for the article, I found a whole raft of Fintan O'Toole articles that piqued my interest. I generally don't like to discuss politics in my blog. I'm not a very political person. I'll do enough research to make an informed vote, and other than that, I'm not overly interested. In New Zealand, our two major political parties really sit just to the right and just to the left of center. There are not huge differences in their policies or approaches. Minor differences, yes, but not enough to upset me if the other party gets in. And because of the way our parliament is designed, minor parties can have a seat and therefore a say, so a vote for a minor party is not 'wasted'. I guess what I'm trying to say is that politics in New Zealand is not the life-changing drama that it can be in some other countries. It is, of course, still something that many people are passionate about, so I try to avoid political conversations whenever possible. But these days, it seems like some of the big issues aren't really specific to a party. Like when we legalised gay marriage, that wasn't because one party or another was in power at the time, it was because the people of New Zealand made it clear what they wanted. Now we need to ensure that other big issues are also dealt with appropriately. I've never been particularly interested in the whole climate change debate. I wouldn't have called myself a dissenter or disbeliever, but I was probably leaning more than way than the other. For a long time. I didn't recycle. I didn't do anything and didn't much care that I didn't. I was really intrigued when the students held their climate change protests. When I first heard about them, I was in the 'They're just doing this to have a day off school' school of thought, but I work on the street where they held the protest in Auckland, and after listening to them from inside my office, then watching them out the window, I went down to the street and watched them. They were genuinely passionate and genuinely upset. And after some introspection on my part, I thought that regardless of what is causing the climate changes (are they cyclical or caused by man, for example), it's irrelevant. The fact is, we're treating this planet like shit. We're taking and taking, and only giving back rubbish. And then we watched a David Attenborough about how the world is changing and how interlinked different habitats and creatures are, and it made me think even more. It made me want to do my part to preserve the earth and nature. Hmm, I've got way off track. I was supposed to be talking about politics and an article. So yeah, I guess while I'm still not interested in politics, I think there are causes that people should be passionate about and should stand up and demand action for. And while I'm in no way educated about the things happening in America, they are frightening and I think more people should be standing up and saying 'That's not good enough!' And when standing up and saying it isn't enough, they need to be doing something about it. Just like the students did with climate change. Inspire change. When we were growing up, we'd hear about these atrocities committed by horrific people who had the support of their countries, and we'd wonder how they could possibly have been elected, how people could have stood by and let those things happen, how people could cheer them on... It was just mind-boggling. How could they be so ignorant? And now we're watching it happen and I still can't understand how it's happening. We can't claim a lack of education. It's truly terrifying that people can have all the knowledge in the world at their fingertips and still be bigoted and discriminatory enough to not only watch but cheer on someone who is mistreating others based on the fact that they're different. How is this happening in the 21st century? It's crazy. Insane. Unbelievable. Do you know, I read an article after 9/11 that talked about the fall of empires. Once, the Roman Empire was the greatest in the world. Once, the British Empire was the greatest in the world. Once, America was the greatest in the world. But every empire falls. And we're witnessing that fall now. The interesting question is, who will rise to become the greatest? Or will there even be a greatest? |
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