Island Bay uproar is still about cars, not a cycleway
Posted: May 23, 2017 Filed under: Letters | Tags: bicycles, car cult, cycleways, Donald Trump, fear, Island Bay, John Key, motor cars, New Zealand, Tea Party, USA Leave a commentThe Editor, The Cook Strait News, Wellington
06 May, 2017
Dear Editor:
An Island Bay resident was this week quoted in the daily paper about the growing number of cars parked on the streets throughout the village. He says most families have two cars and some even more (as many as five). What has been happening in Island Bay? Read the rest of this entry »
Nostalgia is for pre climate change world
Posted: May 22, 2017 Filed under: Letters | Tags: climate change, climate denialism, desperation, Donald Trump, fear, New Zealand, nostalgia, nuclear weapons, USA Leave a commentThe Editor, The Wellingtonian, Wellington
15 May, 2017
Dear Editor:
Gordon Campbell (11 May) wonders what sort of myth of ‘real New Zealand’ will be popular with voters in September or even whether these attempts at image by the political parties will be successful at all. The images he sees in train are old ones, what he calls ‘social nostalgia’.
All good, but the nostalgia for the past also must be seen in a longer, deeper context in order to understand the NZ politics of 2017, or 2008, or even 1984. This has been a time of fundamental change, and has been recognized as such globally in one way or another since the 60’s and has been a factor in politics since the 70’s.
Adding to the threat of nuclear weapons, the assault on the earth, which in recent years has become understood through climate change science, had revealed the need for fundamental change the scope of which is terrifying to a majority, not just the professed deniers. The nostalgia which is having the most political impact is the desperate insistence in NZ that we ‘go slow on climate change’ and in the USA to take the lead in putting it out of mind altogether.
Sincerely,
Richard Keller
Continuing response to Brian Easton
Posted: May 12, 2017 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: "This Changes Everything", Brexit, Brian Easton, climate change, climate denialism, climate disruption, Donald Trump, fear, psychology, sociocultural anthropologist, sociology Leave a commentBrian,
Yes psychology is involved, but your reference to a response being ‘unlocked’ is a good observation which should be a catalyst to look more broadly than psychology. To understand the Trump, Brexit, etc phenomina requires a sociological look. Individuals need to be understood in a sociological sense as well as a psychological sense. This type of effect should be expected to be more prominant in times of fundamental change and fast change which we are in today.
I recently saw an academic role I’ve never heard of which may be useful for looking at this sociological, or cultural, angle: sociocutural anthropologist
What do you think?
“honouring our fight for freedom” – too much cliche
Posted: May 11, 2017 Filed under: Letters | Tags: Anzac Day, British Empire, Dominion Post, fear, freedom, independence, mythology, New Zealand, Reform Party, South Pacific, sustainability, William Massey, WW1 Leave a commentThe Editor, The Dominion Post, Wellington
29 April, 2017
Dear editor,
The Dom Post headline, “honouring our fight for freedom”, contains too much cliché to be helpful. WWI was not about freedom or independence; it was about empire. Read the rest of this entry »
Response to Scoop article on new Wellington bus contracts
Posted: May 7, 2017 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: electoral politics, fear, neo-liberal economics, NZ Bus, sustainability, TranzitNZ, trolley buses Leave a commentAnother element of this picture is the national (global) neo-liberal takeover of politics. The philosophy of this was (is) that the money will be spent (given) on projects which filter profits up to the elite. Read the rest of this entry »
