And so it continues…. life getting faster and faster, with less and less time for reflection. I have seen lengthy discussion threads in online forums, that contain no words, just a continuous exchange of images. I suspect that some txt msg conversations are like that.
Actually I do think it’s partly a reality. It doesn’t mean there’s no reading of lengthy pieces going on, and no reflection. But there is a speeding up of communications.
Overall it does mean many people reflect less. On the other hand, it means people need to express themselves more succinctly in order to convey the same amount of ideas than done previously. That is a good thing.
It’s a recognised thing in academic circles, that peer reviewed articles are more often expected to be shorter on average than a few decades back, This is because of the increased volume of material to read.
It’s also pretty well recognised by film and media scholars that length of shots in movies have got shorter & shorter since the 70s. Films have basically speeded up in terms of the length of time before a change of scene, perspective or between bits of action. Ditto for TV news, etc.
It is also something that many scholars of media and politics discuss: i.e. that there has been an increasing shift to communication via images than in recent decades. This results in less reflection on politics and more opportunities to use images for political manipulation. See also Walter Benjamin on the aestheticisation of politics.
Hmm. Good point about the taxes, though I expect the majority pay some small amount of tax on legally under-declared hoardings & income, if only to be able to then claim their taxes shouldn’t be spent on the unworthy. So far, none have managed to avoid the death outcome.
Sort of ignoring that for a brief window of maybe 30 years in the 19th century literacy was at an all time high due to improvemnets in education and befor ethe existence of mass broadcast technology – hence the flourishing of the novel as a literary form – and also ignoring the fact that such addresses were performative (a la the roman rhetorical tradition) and intended to be heard, not read.
The development of the printing press is generally seen as a democratising technology. Although, the benefits have probably been exaggerated as much as the democratising potential of the Internet is today.
With each new technology, providing access to communication for the (almost) whole population, TPTB begin to develop ways to control/regulate it: it’s an ongoing struggle.
The 19th century novel had those like Dickens who used it to expose the nasty aspects of industrial capitalism in the UK. Other novels served to reinforce the logic of the UK class hierarchy and, to cheerleader British imperialism.
Pros and cons to each new technological development, but they do bring changes in practices and modes of thought and communication.
P1 – a chart of declining speech grade level doesn’t “ignore” anything. It just shows that presidential speeches have been aimed at less intelligent and less educated audiences over a real and long term trend.
Who were the Presidents talking to over time? Wasn’t voting quite restricted in some places until the civil rights movement? When did presidents realise they’d have to appeal to the voters who weren’t the educated middle-class types?
Does France, for example have the same ‘dumbing down’ of presidential speeches, with universal (male) suffrage being clearer earlier in the political history of the country? I understand New Zealand Prime Ministerial trends are similar to the U.S. ones, but is this just an English language issue? (I’m not going to call it a problem), or does it happen in other, non-English-speaking countries? Have we just decided to speak more clearly?
So many questions that a simple graphic doesn’t answer.
If you read some of the sample sentences, doesn’t the modern speech phrase the point more precisely? (and I don’t consider myself entirely thick, but there are some earlier sentences in earlier times that use a lot of words to say not much).
Work will set you free was not written for those who were to read it entering the camps, it was written to emphasis surely that by keeping Germans distracted in activity the Nazi could free themselves of the Jewish (and others) people. Going to far, either information overload, or the protestant work ethic, or even the greed is good (of our times), all taken to the extreme are distracting to the societal group think, and allow for those with power to extend and abuse.
When a worker works more than 40 hours, unpaid overtime, then we should all be very worried for our democracy.
Very interesting that people were thinking these things in the ‘olden days’.
Issues of perception are fascinating..And time comes into perception. eg How an Eskimo views the Arctic landscape vs how an oilman views the landscape – or how a polar bear views that landscape ….same land presumably but very different ‘landscapes’ and lives….and values …..
Another example….bike through NZ or ride a horse through NZ a hundred years ago …very different from motoring through NZ or flying over NZ…..
Yogis are concerned with perception and their pace of life is slowed right down.
It’s not just perception, but that they are related to technological change. I’m interested that the quotes in the post cover the late 19th century and early 20th century: a period of significant change in industrial society & its techonlogies in countries like the UK and the US.
People do tend to be resistant to change. Many of the 19th century changes in technology were beneficial to society in terms of increasing ease of travel and communicating across distances and amongst a greater number of people. It’s easier to get help in a crisis, etc. Democracy can be encouraged with the printing press and mass communications: ditto today with the Internet.
Technological changes, do bring changes in perception. Travelling at increasing speed across the countryside, means we get to become more aware of contrasts and changes in terrain. But it also requires less engagement with locals as we travel.
Each technological change has it’s up and downsides. And the changes in perception are part of that.
A news photo, or online video, can communicate the reality of a disaster, riot or war more quickly & graphically than a print article. (The US government learned that during the Viet Nam War, thus aiming to control such communications during the first Gulf War). But also a print article can explain more of the background to the image, and create a more in-depth argument.
It’s important to be aware of how changes in technology, and in communications influence perceptions (Walter Benjamin again).
Hmmm. Heidegger & Walter Benjamin were the same generation in Germany. So they were probably dealing with similar issues and debates. Heidegger associated with Nazi1izm (rightly or wrongly). Benjamin was Jewish and a lot of his work focused on the evils of fashism. Hence his concern about the “aestheticisation of politics” – the way image and propaganda can appeal to the emotions etc. Many see the 20th century as an increase in the aestheticisation of politics.
The way to counter it is the politicisation of aesthetics: ie political popular culture that makes people sit up and take notice, by drawing attention to propaganda and dictatorial practices.
Um no – that way lies kitsch, which the Naz1s were very good at, or mind-numbing propoganda a la the Soviets. Best not to let aesthetics and politics mix at all, I reckon.
Given that the media is the new soapbox, and for all it’s faults and conventions it isn’t going anywhere, I would still say it’s best not to let the two mix overmuch. Though seriously you are well OTT to be comparing the Naz1 nationalised cultus/mythos that Benjamin was on about with the media here. Especially as our media is too arrogant to think it needs to obey the whims of politicians when it smells blood.
Clue: critical theory is a useful tool, but it isn’t a solution, and like economics often has little relationship with reality.
Yes we are stuck with the media, though now it is complicated by digital media, providing more means to talk back tot the journalist, albeit often from a less powerful position.
And democracy needs more coverage of, and critical debate on issues that impact on the general population.
You assume that politicians, in total separation from the corporate world, are the new rulers of the world. The corporate media, driven by ratings and the profit motive, make a major contribution to the aestheticisation of politics: it is seen on their preference for drama and conflict, and simple stories divorced from background context.
It was seen in Gower’s grandstanding at the Labour Party Conference last year.
Goebbles would have been impressed by the manipulations of late 20th and early 21st century media.
So, instead, we should build a big wall against,what is generally presented as the greatest evil of human society, and never make comparisons between other ways ordinary people become part of such an evil?
The case for Goebbels leading the way to 21st century political propaganda is argued in many credible texts on the development of propaganda and persuasion methods over the course of the 20th century. He is especially referred to in relation to his approach to using the mass media. Goebbels said in his dairy:
the best form of newspaper propaganda was not ‘propaganda’ (i .e ., editorials and exhortation), but slanted news which appeared to be straight . (“Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda, ” in Schramm, Process and Effects of Mass Communication, p. 524)
Generally, the advertising and political PR strategists have gone on to develop more sophisticated ways of achieving manipulations of the masses, but, obviously, without the death camps and other brutal ways of enforcing the regimes dictatorship.
Same underlying methods, implemented in slightly different and more subtle and sophisticated ways.
I can’t accept the Marxist version of socialism reducing society to a patronising, ignorant blob of the “masses” – that smacks of a control fantasy. I see socialism as a way of supporting people who can’t help themselves for whatever reason or who have been temporarily placed in a difficult position. The assumption that the overwhelming majority of the population is too stupid to pick up on manipulation or to have calid reasons for their decisions, is offensive.
Bah, humbug. The ancient Greeks and Romans would complain about the hoons on horseback and the clowns on chariots. The world was going to the dogs then. Nothing has changed.
Mac1. What the hell are you on about. The ancient Greeks and Romans were spot on. Didn’t you notice that both civilisations fell and much of their knowledge lost or discarded.
For you to just shrug your shoulders and not recognise the relevance to ourselves is a bit funny.
It’s all in the way we choose to see the world, as I said. What partly informs my view is that of my historical training. We are all individual grains of sand in the great shifting dune of history.
Partly also that of my literature background.
“Latter Day Geography Lesson” – Allen Curnow, parodying Macauley.
“here boys, ere disaster
overtook her, in splendour there lay
a city held empires in sway
and filled all the earth with her praise :
this quoth the Eskimo master
was London in English days.”
And partly that of my musical background.
“It’s the same the whole world over,
It’s the poor wot gets the blame;
It’s the rich wot gets the pleasure,
Ain’t it all a blooming shame.”
But I’m sure that Horace and Juvenal said it better.
CV, you wrote “and much of their knowledge lost or discarded.”
I’m glad we lost all that Greek and Roman stuff about slavery, militarism, crazy sexually predatorial leaders, and conquering countries to feed the one’s own economy, “vae victis” and all that, eh…………
CV, you wrote “and much of their knowledge lost or discarded.”
I’m glad we lost all that Greek and Roman stuff about slavery, militarism, crazy sexually predatorial leaders, and conquering countries to feed the one’s own economy, “vae victis” and all that, eh…………
We’ve only just figured out some fundamentals about Roman building techniques using concrete. 1500 years after it was common knowledge but then lost for over a millenium.
As the old saying goes, we’re aware of the things we know, we’re aware of the things that we know that we don’t know, but we also have to be aware of the things that we don’t even know that we don’t know.
In Istanbul twenty years ago, in a city that has had continuous occupation for two millennia, they discovered a huge underground cistern that was built by Diocletian from memory and had been forgotten. It, too, used Roman concrete technology to build the cistern and to hold water for all that time. I was lucky enough to go there and see it a few years ago. If I’d travelled there as a young man, I’d have missed it, let alone appreciated what I was seeing in all its historical, engineering and aesthetic glory.
My understanding of a Marxist view of history, shows that some underlying structures remain the same: ruling classes and subject classes
But the make up of those classes and their systems and technologies of production, change as a result of the outcomes of the ongoing struggles between ruling and subject classes.
My understanding of technological change and social change, shows me that they are interwoven, and with these changes, come changes in the dominant culture and practices.
I think my question would lead to the same place. If some/all things are getting better, then why? If some/all things are getting worse, then why? Then what changes can we make for betterment?
Sound bites…stunts… …showmanship…attention grabbing ….forging identification with the masses of voters you wish to represent…..media savvy
Why cant Labour get a leader to do the same?…( Cunliffe would be better than Shearer )
Media savvy is a neutral tool ….but a very powerful gift in the age of televised debates.( I am sure that heroes/heroines of the people ..the Left as opposed to the Right…. used it in the past eg John A. Lee on his soap box and the suffragettes with their chains !)
These days it is sheer incompetence and negligence for a major party on the Left …Labour….not to have a leader who performs well in the media.!
( Of course any thinking person can see through the media….and a boring inept politician who is totally incompetent with the media may have great attributes never-the -less……but to make them leader in this era of the media, is suicide for their political party)
Well, I think the left needs more politicians like Cunliffe, who can communicate well via our currently inadequate media, while also having substance behind the rhetoric: ie he speaks in a way that highlights the realities.
But, for democracy to thrive for the long term future, we need an MSM that doesn’t do like it does now: ie in it’s methods and motives, serves ultimately to reinforce “neoliberal” values via distraction, celebrity culture etc.
And I agree, the left will never thrive with the likes of Shearer at the helm.
In 1890 it was predicted that at the then current growth rate of horse and cart the entire surface of the planet would be covered in six feet of horseshit.
That didn’t happen of course but we still ended up with everything covered in six feet of horseshit due to the unending growth of politicians..
ON the subject of the ‘aestheticisation of politics’ . This puzzles me….surely it does the word ‘aesthetics ‘ a disservice……I thought aesthetics was all about art and appreciation of beauty.
Also isnt the concept ‘aestheticisation of politics’ used as a pejorative term a tad old fashioned……
It is inceasingly being recognised that we think largely in metaphors , especially the more complex the thought becomes. This also applies to science.
If we think largely via metaphors then it is crucial any leader is adept at positively using the media to get his/her campaign off the ground as a winner, because the media is all about evoking metaphorical thinking.
In Benjamin’s conception, he uses aesthetics to mean any art form or cultural construction – as translated from his original German. (It’s not about beauty as such, but the seductive powers of art and pop culture). In this term Benjamin is arguing that art/artiface/media is used to manipulate people, while masking the true intent to work in the interests of the ruling class.
He contrasts this with the revolutionary potential of the “politicisation of aesthetics”: here the idea is to use the media, popular culture etc (film and popular music in Benjamin’s day) to convey a revolutionary and democratic political message, challenging the dictatorship of the ruling classes.
But, I agree that, today, there’s not a clear separation between media manipulation by the elites, and media used to challenge the elites. Although, today, the elites tend to own and control the media.
The pop/rock scene is very adept using the media to powerfully challenge elites…eg John Lennon
…..Not that every political leader can or should be a rock star , although it may help ( eg Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil , Australian politician)
But at the very least we can hope for…. is for a political party to put forward a leader who is their best at handlling the media and gives their party a powerful media image, draw card….This the Labour Party have failed to do!
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The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
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And so it continues…. life getting faster and faster, with less and less time for reflection. I have seen lengthy discussion threads in online forums, that contain no words, just a continuous exchange of images. I suspect that some txt msg conversations are like that.
Or rather it’s all an illusion promulgated by old farts
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Good_old_days
Actually I do think it’s partly a reality. It doesn’t mean there’s no reading of lengthy pieces going on, and no reflection. But there is a speeding up of communications.
Overall it does mean many people reflect less. On the other hand, it means people need to express themselves more succinctly in order to convey the same amount of ideas than done previously. That is a good thing.
It’s a recognised thing in academic circles, that peer reviewed articles are more often expected to be shorter on average than a few decades back, This is because of the increased volume of material to read.
It’s also pretty well recognised by film and media scholars that length of shots in movies have got shorter & shorter since the 70s. Films have basically speeded up in terms of the length of time before a change of scene, perspective or between bits of action. Ditto for TV news, etc.
It is also something that many scholars of media and politics discuss: i.e. that there has been an increasing shift to communication via images than in recent decades. This results in less reflection on politics and more opportunities to use images for political manipulation. See also Walter Benjamin on the aestheticisation of politics.
Or rather it’s all an illusion promulgated by old farts
Which my father was, I will become, and you will one day be 🙂
Burn out or fade away 🙂
The only things that are certain are death and taxes 🙂
unless you are among the corporate elite, then taxes are avoided and maybe some even think they can cheat death?
Hmm. Good point about the taxes, though I expect the majority pay some small amount of tax on legally under-declared hoardings & income, if only to be able to then claim their taxes shouldn’t be spent on the unworthy. So far, none have managed to avoid the death outcome.
Faster and dumber…since the 1800’s: US Presidential address reading level
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/feb/12/state-of-the-union-reading-level
Sort of ignoring that for a brief window of maybe 30 years in the 19th century literacy was at an all time high due to improvemnets in education and befor ethe existence of mass broadcast technology – hence the flourishing of the novel as a literary form – and also ignoring the fact that such addresses were performative (a la the roman rhetorical tradition) and intended to be heard, not read.
The development of the printing press is generally seen as a democratising technology. Although, the benefits have probably been exaggerated as much as the democratising potential of the Internet is today.
With each new technology, providing access to communication for the (almost) whole population, TPTB begin to develop ways to control/regulate it: it’s an ongoing struggle.
The 19th century novel had those like Dickens who used it to expose the nasty aspects of industrial capitalism in the UK. Other novels served to reinforce the logic of the UK class hierarchy and, to cheerleader British imperialism.
Pros and cons to each new technological development, but they do bring changes in practices and modes of thought and communication.
P1 – a chart of declining speech grade level doesn’t “ignore” anything. It just shows that presidential speeches have been aimed at less intelligent and less educated audiences over a real and long term trend.
Who were the Presidents talking to over time? Wasn’t voting quite restricted in some places until the civil rights movement? When did presidents realise they’d have to appeal to the voters who weren’t the educated middle-class types?
Does France, for example have the same ‘dumbing down’ of presidential speeches, with universal (male) suffrage being clearer earlier in the political history of the country? I understand New Zealand Prime Ministerial trends are similar to the U.S. ones, but is this just an English language issue? (I’m not going to call it a problem), or does it happen in other, non-English-speaking countries? Have we just decided to speak more clearly?
So many questions that a simple graphic doesn’t answer.
If you read some of the sample sentences, doesn’t the modern speech phrase the point more precisely? (and I don’t consider myself entirely thick, but there are some earlier sentences in earlier times that use a lot of words to say not much).
Indeed – simplistic graphics are not helpful without full context
You try telling the young people of today that.
…and they won’t believe you…
Aye 😉
There will only ever be one ‘Jokerman’; God rest his soul.
ever.
Work will set you free was not written for those who were to read it entering the camps, it was written to emphasis surely that by keeping Germans distracted in activity the Nazi could free themselves of the Jewish (and others) people. Going to far, either information overload, or the protestant work ethic, or even the greed is good (of our times), all taken to the extreme are distracting to the societal group think, and allow for those with power to extend and abuse.
When a worker works more than 40 hours, unpaid overtime, then we should all be very worried for our democracy.
This is looking like this thread overlaps with the “Slogan politics” post thread.
Very interesting that people were thinking these things in the ‘olden days’.
Issues of perception are fascinating..And time comes into perception. eg How an Eskimo views the Arctic landscape vs how an oilman views the landscape – or how a polar bear views that landscape ….same land presumably but very different ‘landscapes’ and lives….and values …..
Another example….bike through NZ or ride a horse through NZ a hundred years ago …very different from motoring through NZ or flying over NZ…..
Yogis are concerned with perception and their pace of life is slowed right down.
It’s not just perception, but that they are related to technological change. I’m interested that the quotes in the post cover the late 19th century and early 20th century: a period of significant change in industrial society & its techonlogies in countries like the UK and the US.
People do tend to be resistant to change. Many of the 19th century changes in technology were beneficial to society in terms of increasing ease of travel and communicating across distances and amongst a greater number of people. It’s easier to get help in a crisis, etc. Democracy can be encouraged with the printing press and mass communications: ditto today with the Internet.
Technological changes, do bring changes in perception. Travelling at increasing speed across the countryside, means we get to become more aware of contrasts and changes in terrain. But it also requires less engagement with locals as we travel.
Each technological change has it’s up and downsides. And the changes in perception are part of that.
A news photo, or online video, can communicate the reality of a disaster, riot or war more quickly & graphically than a print article. (The US government learned that during the Viet Nam War, thus aiming to control such communications during the first Gulf War). But also a print article can explain more of the background to the image, and create a more in-depth argument.
It’s important to be aware of how changes in technology, and in communications influence perceptions (Walter Benjamin again).
Yep.
Heidegger was very interested in these issues ie how technology affects perception and values and quality of life….He wasnt optimistic.
Hmmm. Heidegger & Walter Benjamin were the same generation in Germany. So they were probably dealing with similar issues and debates. Heidegger associated with Nazi1izm (rightly or wrongly). Benjamin was Jewish and a lot of his work focused on the evils of fashism. Hence his concern about the “aestheticisation of politics” – the way image and propaganda can appeal to the emotions etc. Many see the 20th century as an increase in the aestheticisation of politics.
The way to counter it is the politicisation of aesthetics: ie political popular culture that makes people sit up and take notice, by drawing attention to propaganda and dictatorial practices.
oooh, wonder how we might do that… 😉
Be like Public Enemy?
Fashism is a good name for the evils of fashion.
take care, gotta go and cook a wintry meal for a gay friend.
Um no – that way lies kitsch, which the Naz1s were very good at, or mind-numbing propoganda a la the Soviets. Best not to let aesthetics and politics mix at all, I reckon.
So, you reckon politicians should just explain themselves by standing on a soap box on a street corner?
Clue: Once the media is involved, there is some aestheticisation.
Given that the media is the new soapbox, and for all it’s faults and conventions it isn’t going anywhere, I would still say it’s best not to let the two mix overmuch. Though seriously you are well OTT to be comparing the Naz1 nationalised cultus/mythos that Benjamin was on about with the media here. Especially as our media is too arrogant to think it needs to obey the whims of politicians when it smells blood.
Clue: critical theory is a useful tool, but it isn’t a solution, and like economics often has little relationship with reality.
Yes we are stuck with the media, though now it is complicated by digital media, providing more means to talk back tot the journalist, albeit often from a less powerful position.
And democracy needs more coverage of, and critical debate on issues that impact on the general population.
You assume that politicians, in total separation from the corporate world, are the new rulers of the world. The corporate media, driven by ratings and the profit motive, make a major contribution to the aestheticisation of politics: it is seen on their preference for drama and conflict, and simple stories divorced from background context.
It was seen in Gower’s grandstanding at the Labour Party Conference last year.
Goebbles would have been impressed by the manipulations of late 20th and early 21st century media.
I assume nothing, and Goebbels might have invented the technique but to make the comparison is a big fat Godwin
It’s nothing of the sort, fool.
We are actually allowed to “mention the war” you know.
What are you even on about? No, nevermind. Shhhh, grownups talking.
Its the fucking pretend grownups which have led us to this mess.
So, instead, we should build a big wall against,what is generally presented as the greatest evil of human society, and never make comparisons between other ways ordinary people become part of such an evil?
The case for Goebbels leading the way to 21st century political propaganda is argued in many credible texts on the development of propaganda and persuasion methods over the course of the 20th century. He is especially referred to in relation to his approach to using the mass media. Goebbels said in his dairy:
Generally, the advertising and political PR strategists have gone on to develop more sophisticated ways of achieving manipulations of the masses, but, obviously, without the death camps and other brutal ways of enforcing the regimes dictatorship.
Same underlying methods, implemented in slightly different and more subtle and sophisticated ways.
I can’t accept the Marxist version of socialism reducing society to a patronising, ignorant blob of the “masses” – that smacks of a control fantasy. I see socialism as a way of supporting people who can’t help themselves for whatever reason or who have been temporarily placed in a difficult position. The assumption that the overwhelming majority of the population is too stupid to pick up on manipulation or to have calid reasons for their decisions, is offensive.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Yes, that’s what John Key counts on – Minister of the sound bite.
Bah, humbug. The ancient Greeks and Romans would complain about the hoons on horseback and the clowns on chariots. The world was going to the dogs then. Nothing has changed.
If that’s the way you want to see the world.
Indeed – one need only read Juvenal and Horace.
Mac1. What the hell are you on about. The ancient Greeks and Romans were spot on. Didn’t you notice that both civilisations fell and much of their knowledge lost or discarded.
For you to just shrug your shoulders and not recognise the relevance to ourselves is a bit funny.
It’s all in the way we choose to see the world, as I said. What partly informs my view is that of my historical training. We are all individual grains of sand in the great shifting dune of history.
Partly also that of my literature background.
“Latter Day Geography Lesson” – Allen Curnow, parodying Macauley.
“here boys, ere disaster
overtook her, in splendour there lay
a city held empires in sway
and filled all the earth with her praise :
this quoth the Eskimo master
was London in English days.”
And partly that of my musical background.
“It’s the same the whole world over,
It’s the poor wot gets the blame;
It’s the rich wot gets the pleasure,
Ain’t it all a blooming shame.”
But I’m sure that Horace and Juvenal said it better.
CV, you wrote “and much of their knowledge lost or discarded.”
I’m glad we lost all that Greek and Roman stuff about slavery, militarism, crazy sexually predatorial leaders, and conquering countries to feed the one’s own economy, “vae victis” and all that, eh…………
We’ve only just figured out some fundamentals about Roman building techniques using concrete. 1500 years after it was common knowledge but then lost for over a millenium.
As the old saying goes, we’re aware of the things we know, we’re aware of the things that we know that we don’t know, but we also have to be aware of the things that we don’t even know that we don’t know.
In Istanbul twenty years ago, in a city that has had continuous occupation for two millennia, they discovered a huge underground cistern that was built by Diocletian from memory and had been forgotten. It, too, used Roman concrete technology to build the cistern and to hold water for all that time. I was lucky enough to go there and see it a few years ago. If I’d travelled there as a young man, I’d have missed it, let alone appreciated what I was seeing in all its historical, engineering and aesthetic glory.
My understanding of a Marxist view of history, shows that some underlying structures remain the same: ruling classes and subject classes
But the make up of those classes and their systems and technologies of production, change as a result of the outcomes of the ongoing struggles between ruling and subject classes.
My understanding of technological change and social change, shows me that they are interwoven, and with these changes, come changes in the dominant culture and practices.
karol, Juvenal couldn’t have said it better. 😉
Are we changing for the better?
However I don’t think the goal is to have a hierarchy-less society, because I don’t think that human systems can ever work in that way.
Having a social system where accident of birth/class does not determine your future is crucial however.
Are we changing for the better?
I think that’s probably the wrong question.
We should be asking, how have these changes impacted on culture, society & the economy? How has this influenced political processes?
I think my question would lead to the same place. If some/all things are getting better, then why? If some/all things are getting worse, then why? Then what changes can we make for betterment?
Sound bites…stunts… …showmanship…attention grabbing ….forging identification with the masses of voters you wish to represent…..media savvy
Why cant Labour get a leader to do the same?…( Cunliffe would be better than Shearer )
Media savvy is a neutral tool ….but a very powerful gift in the age of televised debates.( I am sure that heroes/heroines of the people ..the Left as opposed to the Right…. used it in the past eg John A. Lee on his soap box and the suffragettes with their chains !)
These days it is sheer incompetence and negligence for a major party on the Left …Labour….not to have a leader who performs well in the media.!
( Of course any thinking person can see through the media….and a boring inept politician who is totally incompetent with the media may have great attributes never-the -less……but to make them leader in this era of the media, is suicide for their political party)
Well, I think the left needs more politicians like Cunliffe, who can communicate well via our currently inadequate media, while also having substance behind the rhetoric: ie he speaks in a way that highlights the realities.
But, for democracy to thrive for the long term future, we need an MSM that doesn’t do like it does now: ie in it’s methods and motives, serves ultimately to reinforce “neoliberal” values via distraction, celebrity culture etc.
And I agree, the left will never thrive with the likes of Shearer at the helm.
In 1890 it was predicted that at the then current growth rate of horse and cart the entire surface of the planet would be covered in six feet of horseshit.
That didn’t happen of course but we still ended up with everything covered in six feet of horseshit due to the unending growth of politicians..
Ha ha…about the horse shit!
ON the subject of the ‘aestheticisation of politics’ . This puzzles me….surely it does the word ‘aesthetics ‘ a disservice……I thought aesthetics was all about art and appreciation of beauty.
Also isnt the concept ‘aestheticisation of politics’ used as a pejorative term a tad old fashioned……
It is inceasingly being recognised that we think largely in metaphors , especially the more complex the thought becomes. This also applies to science.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lakoff)
If we think largely via metaphors then it is crucial any leader is adept at positively using the media to get his/her campaign off the ground as a winner, because the media is all about evoking metaphorical thinking.
In Benjamin’s conception, he uses aesthetics to mean any art form or cultural construction – as translated from his original German. (It’s not about beauty as such, but the seductive powers of art and pop culture). In this term Benjamin is arguing that art/artiface/media is used to manipulate people, while masking the true intent to work in the interests of the ruling class.
He contrasts this with the revolutionary potential of the “politicisation of aesthetics”: here the idea is to use the media, popular culture etc (film and popular music in Benjamin’s day) to convey a revolutionary and democratic political message, challenging the dictatorship of the ruling classes.
But, I agree that, today, there’s not a clear separation between media manipulation by the elites, and media used to challenge the elites. Although, today, the elites tend to own and control the media.
You have really got to get past this block of not seeing the internet as mainstream – these days it’s probably more mainstream than broadcast.
The pop/rock scene is very adept using the media to powerfully challenge elites…eg John Lennon
…..Not that every political leader can or should be a rock star , although it may help ( eg Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil , Australian politician)
But at the very least we can hope for…. is for a political party to put forward a leader who is their best at handlling the media and gives their party a powerful media image, draw card….This the Labour Party have failed to do!