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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

White People Problems

There is a bit to think about globally, and locally these days.  Luckily for us we have an enormous capacity to ignore, which is probably an evolutionary necessity (since we have well and truly stuffed the planet it would be awful if we thought about it all the time).

I fall into the woeful category of the armchair advocate.   Better people try using a bigger band aid to ignore more effectively or actually do something about all the stuff there is to think about/ignore.  If anyone else has stumbled upon the blossoming thought project, you will know the feeling of having a smile whilst simultaneously checking over your shoulder in case a cult is waiting to haul you into the back of a van full of singing smiling people.  You may have had a similar experience if you have recently encountered the Free Hug people on a friday night in Brunswick St.   Anyway good luck to them, and as Judy Small said, one voice in the crowd.


 

The  Resonate Collective has a more serious take on the issues, falling into the admirable category of people taking action.  I spend a bit of time thinking about what they mean, with their dead fish and abandoned furniture photos pasted badly through the streets.  They have got under my skin, for sure.  Are they talking about a resonance?  Are they resonating our thoughts? Is it about collective thought or are they making a statement about how we have stuffed the planet (and how it sucks that we try so hard to ignore that we have stuffed the planet)?  Anyway, again, I am impressed by their action, albeit still drawn into my own tenacious inertia.  


I once thought I would change the world.  Alas, these days I am probably more inclined to watch South Park for its political rumblings than pull out a Socialist Left newsletter (do they still exist?).  So of course, it was the words of Lush that finally "resonated" with me:

Lush's words stuck because I recently had the opportunity to visit Wadeye, a remote aboriginal community south west of Darwin.  The Metal gangs of Wadeye are rather infamous, probably most widely exposed in the controversial documentary of Vice.  I am not sure I can yet fathom the depth to which white people suck, having spent just one day in Wadeye.  



That's it for my White People Problems today...Oh and also that I hate the new thin take away coffee lids that cave in when you drink through them.  So annoying!