Good night, and good luck

24 comments on “Good night, and good luck ”

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1. mac1 1

   1 February 2017 at 10:35 am

   The title of this post recalls the Irish song of parting, especially in the last line.

   How much a better place this world would be if the lyrics below were a model for nation’s behaviour- spending our money ‘in good company’ and the only harm being done is not to others.

   The third couplet about want of it and loss of memory however is far too prevalent amongst out politicians, or so they say.

   But mostly, how good it would be to wish everyone joy with all the effort and action required to bring joy to all.

   “The Parting Glass

   Of all the money that e’er I had
   I spent it in good company
   And all the harm I’ve ever done
   Alas it was to none but me
   And all I’ve done for want of wit
   To mem’ry now I can’t recall
   So fill to me the parting glass
   Good night and joy be to you all”

   In this struggle that we have now with the new iteration of evil and harm in this world, we must not forget the power of song, both to give ourselves support and strength, but also to excoriate the evil-doers, to expose and criticise and shame.

   “Which side are you on?”
   • Anne 1.1

     1 February 2017 at 10:51 am

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g

     As stirring as ever…
     • reason 1.1.1

       1 February 2017 at 9:48 pm

       More stirring lesson from the past

       Martin Luther King ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U
2. Anne 2

   1 February 2017 at 10:47 am

   It’s a long and dishonourable record of House committees that shame, jail, and socially eradicate people:

   The HUAC was not just confined to America. It was not uncommon for individuals in countries closely associated with America to also find themselves targeted – and that included NZ. As we now know, the CIA was very active in Australia, NZ, Canada, Britain and other western nations. It was common for individuals who [perhaps] were outspoken or critical of American activities at that time to be harassed, intimidated and in some cases outlawed without ever having any recourse to justice. My father experienced it in the 1970s.

   It may not be fascism yet Ad but it has the potential to become so – especially if leaders choose to be submissive and weak as happened prior to WW2. We have seen it thus far with Theresa May and our newly minted leader, Bill English.
3. Macro 3

   1 February 2017 at 11:16 am

   We are not far removed from another Kristallnacht.
   Yes the witch hunts of the American yesteryear are predictive of the appalling behaviour we are about to witness yet again in the US. There will a long hard fight back against this tyranny. Of that we can be sure.
   • Anne 3.1

     1 February 2017 at 11:43 am

     Almost immediately upon assuming the Chancellorship of Germany, Hitler began promulgating legal actions against Germany’s Jews. In 1933, he proclaimed a one-day boycott against Jewish shops, a law was passed against kosher butchering and Jewish children began experiencing restrictions in public schools…

     http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/background-and-overview-of-kristallnacht
     • esoteric pineapples 3.1.1

       1 February 2017 at 11:47 am

       Still sad to be reminded of all that. Sometimes it’s the little things that are the most heartbreaking of all.
   • Morrissey 3.2

     1 February 2017 at 11:52 am

     In the Occupied West Bank, it’s an ongoing Kristallnacht….

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K697GTM1qY

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq1LK2qMwLA
     • Macro 3.2.1

       1 February 2017 at 12:24 pm

       if you look at the link:
       https://thinkprogress.org/islamic-center-of-victoria-fire-8a683f632a7a#.udx3kicnd

       Hours after Trump signs Muslim ban, Texas mosque goes up in flames
4. simbit 4

   1 February 2017 at 12:20 pm

   I have friends and contacts who experienced fear and oppression under Obama. And Bush (1 & 2). And Clinton. Et cetera et cetera. They are African-Americans and Indigenous. This is what America does. Stop being so surprised…
   • Macro 4.1

     1 February 2017 at 12:31 pm

     I’m far from surprised as at this escalation of violence and irrational behaviour in the US. Anyone with half a brain knew that this would be the result of placing a spoilt brat in the White House.
5. Anne 5

   1 February 2017 at 12:26 pm

   Oh look:

   Pres. Trump is already making waves at the office. Wants to be “the President who will be remembered as a King.” His words, not ours.

   Now we know why he’s so keen to stay with Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain. He thinks he’s royalty… King Dunny Donald of America.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11792405
   • Macro 5.1

     1 February 2017 at 12:36 pm

     Gezz! And to think thousands of early Americans died to remove themselves from the vicissitudes of a Despotic King!
     • Anne 5.1.1

       1 February 2017 at 3:09 pm

       To be fair to the Queen I doubt she is looking forward to hosting King Donald. In fact I expect she is filled with horror at the prospect. But she has to do what her prime minister tells her to do.
6. adam 6

   1 February 2017 at 1:19 pm

   I agree Ad nothing new from the land of the free. The free to be fearful. Or to quote Erich Fromm “The fear of Freedom”

   http://realsociology.edublogs.org/files/2013/09/erich-fromm-the-fear-of-freedom-escape-from-freedom-29wevxr.pdf

   If you’d like to read his fine book.

   Hard to guess if this will be worse, I see anonymous are saying it could be in there latest video.

   https://plus.google.com/+Anonymous

   The common thread thought out this wave after wave of reactionary, is the increased power of the centralized state. I think we can call the ‘tea party’ Muppet’s on this about now.
   • Richard McGrath 6.1

     2 February 2017 at 12:57 am

     The Tea Partyers were never supporters of greater central government – just the opposite, they supported decentralised power from federal to state governments and from government to the individual.
     • adam 6.1.1

       2 February 2017 at 2:27 am

       And yet they support trump…

       And if they had half a brain between them, they would have understood all his rhetoric has one common theme, all power to him – thus a centralized state.
   • Ad 6.2

     2 February 2017 at 6:00 am

     Fromm was fine. For then.

     Try Canetti’s ‘Crowds and Power’.
     He got the dynamics cold that still apply now.
     • adam 6.2.1

       2 February 2017 at 10:41 pm

       I was racking my brain on that book. I think I’ve read it, by the synopsis that I’ve looked at. But I’m sorely tempted to hunt it out, and read again.

       Wonderful quotes from it

       ““It is only in a crowd that man can become free of this fear of being touched. That is the only situation in which the fear changes into its opposite. The crowd he needs is the dense crowd, in which body is pressed to body; a crowd, too, whose psychical constitution is also dense, or compact, so that he no longer notices who it is that presses against him. As soon as a man has surrendered himself to the crowd, he ceases to fear its touch. Ideally, all are equal there; no distinctions count. Not even that of sex. The man pressed against him is the same as himself He feels him as he feels himself. Suddenly it is as though everything were happening in one and the same body.”
       ― Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power
7. rhinocrates 7

   1 February 2017 at 1:51 pm

   How to Build an Autocracy
   The preconditions are present in the U.S. today. Here’s the playbook Donald Trump could use to set the country down a path toward illiberalism.

   Text version:

   https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/

   Audio version:

   https://soundcloud.com/user-154380542/how-to-build-an-autocracy-david-frum-the-atlantic-march-2017

   Video (short):

   https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/515082/can-it-happen-here/
8. Stunned Mullet 8

   1 February 2017 at 2:03 pm

   While not disagreeing with the post or Trump’s bigly douchebaginess, it’s interesting how quick ‘we’ all are to chastise ‘merica when they display behaviour that’s pretty much de rigeur for many other major powers.

   Do we hold the US to a higher standard than we have any reason or right to ?
   • rhinocrates 8.1

     1 February 2017 at 2:13 pm

     Do we hold the US to a higher standard than we have any reason or right to?

     America holds itself to a higher standard through its frequent claims of exceptionalism, leading back to the framing of the constitution itself.
   • Johan 8.2

     1 February 2017 at 2:38 pm

     To: Stunned Mullet
     Obviously you need a lesson or two in American history. Their behaviour in the last the 240 years has been nothing short of economic bullying and gun-ship diplomacy.
   • Henry Filth 8.3

     2 February 2017 at 2:07 am

     Yes. Yes we do.

     And so we should.

     If you claim (long and loud) to be a Saint, expect to be told when you ain’t.

     It’s a shame really. They actually do have the potential to be “the good guys” that they claim to be.

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