We have an emergency emergency
Posted: May 5, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: Climate Emergency, Crimp, disaster planning, emergency emergency, Newsroom, Post Truth Era, Shane Jones, Tom Kitchen, Work Safe, Worksafe Leave a commentThe climate may be changing but our response to disaster has remained the same – a hopeless lack of willingness to step up on emergency management
by Tom Kitchin
“We have not been learning, we have not been making the required changes,” Crimp says.
Read more: We have an emergency emergencyTo be ‘learning’ about disaster management is tantamount to admitting that such emergencies are now more frequent, or at least there are predictable expectations of increase indicated by the science of climate change. But we are desperate to deny; this is The Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream (global, not just here in NZ).
And there is one glaring example. The White Island investigation revealed many organizations came up short and were prosecuted. So many, in fact, that it appears that there was one more which came up the shortest of all – Worksafe. Worksafe was inherently unable to do their job in this case because the industry was ‘tourism’, an export industry. Any export industry in this country is sacrosanct, safe from proper regulation. Forestry, dairy. New Zealand has always been viewed primarily as a ‘resource source’ to the world, lesser as a steward of the ecosphere in which we live. Continuing this in the form it has been, and still is, into the longer future is not likely to end well.
You can see in the words of Shane Jones that there is recognition of this and there must be a full-scale attack on our ecosphere in order to desperately try to hold onto that dead past.
One aspect of disaster management planning and response is that occurrences are not frequent events. Even if the events are less rare (more frequent) today, it is easy to get complacent or fall out of preparedness. Keeping constant full preparedness can be very expensive unless the system is relevant.
Disaster research at the University of Delaware in the USA a while back suggested that the key was to identify key players and set up formal agreements between them. There is no need for a stand alone organization.
Letter to Editor – The Post
Posted: April 29, 2024 Filed under: Letters | Tags: Anne Salmond, cluster government, Dame Anne Salmond, Donna Miles, Luke Malpass, neo-liberal, Post Truth Era, Rob Campbell, Tracy Watkins Leave a commentHello The Post,
Copied below is a letter intended for publication. A bit long, but as Rob Campbell’s article on Friday illustrated, new relationships may be emerging which need to be looked at thoroughly. And importantly, in the international context. Your most important columnist has been Donna Miles as being an immigrant and refugee she is in the best position to help us understand our country in this Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream. To try to break through this toxic trance we are in (as evidenced by the new government, the angriest, most desperate, and looking like the most destructive government this country has ever had.)
BTW, I never read Luke Malpass as he never fails to sound pompous and self centered; how can he be helpful? Of course, I do realize you are a very manipulative editor and are trying to misrepresent who we are in favour of the neo-liberal desperation surrounding us.
Sincerely,
Richard Keller
Read more: Letter to Editor – The PostThe Editor, The Post, Wellington
29/04/ 2024
Dear Editor:
This new ‘cluster’ government is the angriest, most desperate, and will likely prove to be the most destructive government in the history of this country. Commentators like Dame Anne Salmond suggest that public trust in the new government will be lost. This is a reasonable expectation, but what is a ‘reasonable expectation’ in this Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream? The latest poll shows there may be a turn in these early days.
In his The Post article last Friday, Rob Campbell comes up with a different ‘reasonable expectation’. He sees that the voting public might be slow to react to the dangers, partly due to deep seated prejudices, so the Cluster may be able to get re-elected, or at least stay in front on the polls for a good long while. He also suggests that a bigger threat to their support might be if they don’t ‘deliver’ on their promises to their base, the rich and rich aspiring. The base is already upping the ante by saying they need more ‘certainty’ and ‘support’ to go along with ‘change’ and ‘freedom’. That makes it likely that the cluster will go all the harder with their destructive policies.
Very insightful. But what he could add is that in this Post Truth Era, when we all know that only fundamental change away from exploitation will give us a chance for a sustainable future, that the terror of this knowledge may provide a temporary acceptance of that accelerated destruction.
Sincerely,
Richard Keller
David Slack laments, and everyone in ‘More Than a Feilding’ laments with him.
Posted: March 22, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: climate change, collective subconscious, David Slack, denial, humility, ignorance, lament, More Than A Feilding, Post Truth Era Leave a commentI, as always, try to describe the big, historical, cultural, picture of our ‘worst time’ under the empty-headed desperadoes. Time to wake up. But maybe we’re not ready to wake up. That doesn’t mean that all is lost.
Read more: David Slack laments, and everyone in ‘More Than a Feilding’ laments with him.We need to confront the deep cause of our particular ‘worst’ time. We all know what it is; it’s been coming on for decades, but is probably unique in history. It has become in our time (The Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream) more consciously understood, after decades of mostly festering in the collective sub-conscious. The consequence of more consciously knowing the nature and depth of changes required has produced a reaction of terror. This terror is a first reaction in a sense and is shallow as well as intense. Coming out of that, if we don’t destroy our civilisation first, will be possible but unpredictable. While unpredictable, we will have to be alert and ready for anything. As Wes Jackson of The Land Institute in Kansas, USA has said, we must appreciate that our ignorance of the world will always be greater than our knowledge. If we do, then a fundamental humility can keep us alert for the new. “The revolution will not be televised”.
Gordon Campbell on Scoop – National’s ‘story’
Posted: February 26, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: desperation, gordon campbell, Post Truth Era, Roads of National Significance, Scoop Wellington Leave a commentGreat to get a chance to comment on Gordon Campbell’s column and the following comments. Unusual to see this reprinted on the Wellington page. As usual, I try to characterize the discussion in a large historical / cultural context.
Read more: Gordon Campbell on Scoop – National’s ‘story’Given the well-known need to seriously cut down the use of fossil fuels, National’s Roads of National Significance can be seen as a deliberate denial of reality. It’s not a ‘bad policy’ or a ‘policy difference’, though in the past there were times when that would have been a description to consider. Rather today, in this Post Truth Era, it is a cry of desperation that they know the world has passed them by. Nothing new here in the new government, just that with Luxon, his cliche-driven approach doesn’t even try to be clever at hiding the desperation.
Soft power is NZ’s greatest power – Dan O’Brien on Newsroom
Posted: February 24, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: climate change, colonialist narrative, Dan O'Brien, exploitation, exploitation mentality, Houthis, New Zealand, Newsroom, Post Truth Era, Soft Power, United Nations, Yemen Leave a commentDan O’Brien discusses the recent foreign policy decisions such as the support for unilateral military responses.
Opinion: Hard power solutions are neither New Zealand’s forté nor in our soft power tradition. They often lead to escalation rather than de-escalation.
Yet the Government’s support for military strikes against Houthis in Yemen without United Nations authorisation is an example of the increasing priority placed by our officials on security relationships with powerful security partners – and their hard power solutions to the world’s problems.
Read more: Soft power is NZ’s greatest power – Dan O’Brien on NewsroomMy response:
This a new time in history, The Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream. As such, any discussion such as this must take that into account. Soft Power is a great term, but the context is that we know our history is fundamentally in the exploitation of our ecospheres. And in our history within an exploitative colonial empire.
Exploitation is not so nice a term. But the new government’s electoral popularity was shown to be in the desire to avoid change, a terror of the knowledge that only fundamental change will give us a chance to deal properly with climate challenges. As such, reasonable attitudes and policy will appear to challenge this resistance to change. The new government has quickly shown they are going to firmly reestablish our place in the exploitation mentality. Their desperation is so strong that they will not bother trying to justify their resistance to reconciliation and ‘soft power’ as foundational.
Rob Campbell’s deeply insightful article (Newsroom) on the usual mantra of ‘the economy’.
Posted: February 21, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: ACT Party, Christopher Luxon, David Slack, Marc Daalder, Newsroom, Post Truth Era, Rob Campbell, Rodney Hyde, Shane Jones Leave a commentI very much recommend Campbell’s article. Here I try to offer some insight on the voting public’s cowering acceptance of the usual mantra.
Read more: Rob Campbell’s deeply insightful article (Newsroom) on the usual mantra of ‘the economy’.Rob, thanks for ‘translating’ the cliches of Luxon and the desperate arrogance of Jones. David Slack on his blog ‘More Than a Feilding’ has been doing a lot of that recently.
One of the challenges in our political economy is that people generally do have more than a sense of ‘something’. This is The Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream. The threats to our consumer-ist world are becoming more consciously palpable and that is terrifying to our consumer-ist ‘who we are’. Hence, the election of the empty-headed desperado government we have today. Following is a paragraph which I put on a ‘comment’ on the Newsroom article by Marc Daalder which implies that we should take a close look at the public reaction to Jones’ comments:
“PM Luxon has been trying to say his government no longer calls climate change a hoax, unlike the old days when National did (and Rodney Hyde for ACT). But Jones’ comments are tantamount to denial. And after all, we are living in The Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream. Much of the silent (unexplained) electoral support for this new government reflected that denial. Given the government’s “rip, sh*t and bust” (as described by usually reserved Rod Oram on Newsroom) approach to our ecosystems it will be interesting what excuses Luxon has for Jones’ comments here. They contradict National’s rhetoric, but do support National’s actions toward climate change.”
Shane Jones criticised over attack on Supreme Court ruling – Marc Daalder on Newsroom
Posted: February 19, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: Christopher Luxon, climate change, Marc Daalder, National Party, Newsroom, Post Truth Era, Rod Oram, Rodney Hyde, Shane Jones Leave a commentI put context in here and hope (expect?) that others will also see the challenge to Luxon’s climate change rhetoric posed by Jones’ comments.
Read more: Shane Jones criticised over attack on Supreme Court ruling – Marc Daalder on NewsroomPM Luxon has been trying to say his government no longer calls climate change a hoax, unlike the old days when National did (and Rodney Hyde for ACT). But Jones’ comments are tantamount to denial. And after all, we are living in The Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream. Much of the silent (unexplained) electoral support for this new government reflected that denial. Given the government’s “rip, sh*t and bust” (as described by usually reserved Rod Oram) approach to our ecosystems it will be interesting what excuses Luxon has for Jones’ comments here. They contradict National’s rhetoric, but do support National’s actions toward climate change.
Climate hearing to explore ‘catastrophic Treaty breaches’ – Newsroom article by David Williams
Posted: February 15, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: auckland, David Williams, National government, Newsroom, Post Truth Era, Simeon Brown, Waitangi Tribunal, Wayne Brown Leave a commentRealities will be increasingly annoying to the new government. Though they are making progress in their fantasies in Wellington with the emergence of the expensive fantasy of water metering in Wellington City.
Read more: Climate hearing to explore ‘catastrophic Treaty breaches’ – Newsroom article by David WilliamsThe Tribunal in sounding both reasonable and determined will attract the attention of the new government which has taken the election result as acceptance of their desperation. And as many New Zealanders now realize, the fantasies of the new government are really about the only thing left of the old ways. The future is ‘less’ and that is terrifying to many. We are in The Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream.
It’s not just the tribunal whom the new government will be finding annoying. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown may yet prove to be ‘useful’ in cracking the desperation in National’s fantasies (embodied in the person of Simeon Brown).
PM chose to ‘get out of the noise’ at Waitangi – Jo Moir on Newsroom
Posted: February 6, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: climate change, Jo Moir, Maori, National Party, Newsroom, Post Truth Era, Treaty of Waitangi Leave a commentAt Waitangi we have seen how the National coalition is tracking its own denial world. I query how the that will play out politically in terms of climate change.
Read more: PM chose to ‘get out of the noise’ at Waitangi – Jo Moir on NewsroomNational will play to their own ‘who we are’ no matter what the reality is. The Post Truth Era where denial has become main stream. How much of that denial is really shared by the electorate? It must be kept in mind that much of the progress that has been made in respecting Māori culture (and it is a different culture, requiring a ‘partnership’) has been majority accepted in order to take our attention off the massive requirements of dealing with climate change. What happens if the treaty is disrespected? Will it reveal in all its rawness the lack of attention to climate change and nuclear weapons?
James Shaw talks about being in government – Newsroom
Posted: February 3, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: climate change, exploitation, Green Party, James Shaw, Newsroom, Post Truth Era, Russell Norman Leave a commentThe comments on Newsroom these days are lacking the usual hard hitting analysis. I weigh in on the choice for new co-leader.
Read more: James Shaw talks about being in government – NewsroomIf the Greens could bring back Dr Russell Norman as co-leader we might hear more realistic, stronger talk about the global and New Zealand situation in regards to climate change. With James Shaw’s priority to be in government the Greens were always constrained in what they would allow themselves to say to us.
John, what a bizarre thing to say about a ‘lurch to the left’. Any commitment to strong climate change action and discussion will of course mean ‘left’, that is anti-exploitation. Exploitation, centuries of exploitation, has led humanity to this Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream. Honesty is what New Zealand needs, not codling to our desperation. The choice is existential and there is no way to know what our culture will choose, but honesty now is the only hope for a liveable future.
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