Listen up, Australia. I am pretty sick of our recent political environment. We do not have to do extreme right, religious conservatism and introduce a sudden pro-gun agenda just because America does those things, okay?
Showing posts with label opinions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opinions. Show all posts
Dec 29, 2014
Serial is interesting for many reasons
So did you listen to Serial? Were you hooked? Did you find it compelling? Frustrating? Awful? Entertaining? A bit of all of those?
In case you don't know (unlikely) Serial was a weekly podcast - now finished but you can still listen to it - examining the murder of a high school girl in Baltimore in 1999, for which her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend was convicted and is still in jail. He has always said he was innocent, and the story is compelling because he seems like a nice guy and everyone who knew him is sure he couldn't have done it, so the reporter investigates the story, and feeds out the details and her evolving thoughts, each week.
To me, sitting in my podcast-listening chair on the other side of the world, with no journalism, legal or sleuthing experience whatsoever, it doesn't seem implausible to me that the convicted person committed this crime. I'm on board with what the podcast says about his conviction being wrongful given the slim evidence at the time, but whether that makes him innocent is a completely different question.
Serial has its detractors, who have criticised Sarah Koenig's naive-sounding spoken style, the lack of focus on the murder victim, packaging a murder as entertainment, and more. Fans love the compelling narrative, the sleuthing, the character studies, the details about the life of a group a high schoolers 15 years ago, and the phone interviews with the convicted subject of the podcast.
I found Serial really compelling and I found Sarah Koenig to be thoughtful, fair and a great narrator. But I found it a bit frustrating as well, for the same reasons I found it really, really interesting. In short, these are:
In case you don't know (unlikely) Serial was a weekly podcast - now finished but you can still listen to it - examining the murder of a high school girl in Baltimore in 1999, for which her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend was convicted and is still in jail. He has always said he was innocent, and the story is compelling because he seems like a nice guy and everyone who knew him is sure he couldn't have done it, so the reporter investigates the story, and feeds out the details and her evolving thoughts, each week.
To me, sitting in my podcast-listening chair on the other side of the world, with no journalism, legal or sleuthing experience whatsoever, it doesn't seem implausible to me that the convicted person committed this crime. I'm on board with what the podcast says about his conviction being wrongful given the slim evidence at the time, but whether that makes him innocent is a completely different question.
Serial has its detractors, who have criticised Sarah Koenig's naive-sounding spoken style, the lack of focus on the murder victim, packaging a murder as entertainment, and more. Fans love the compelling narrative, the sleuthing, the character studies, the details about the life of a group a high schoolers 15 years ago, and the phone interviews with the convicted subject of the podcast.
I found Serial really compelling and I found Sarah Koenig to be thoughtful, fair and a great narrator. But I found it a bit frustrating as well, for the same reasons I found it really, really interesting. In short, these are:
- Sorry, but WHY are you so convinced this guy is innocent? because he is likeable and well-spoken?
- Did everyone have pagers back in 1999?
- The girl killed comes across as just a lovely, wonderful person. So awful her life was just taken. It's horrendous and terrifying that this is even possible.
- The idea of the psycopath or sociopath is overused I think. People who think this guy is guilty posit that he is a charming psychopath. I don't think you have to be a psycopath to kill someone, and then steadily talk yourself out of having done it, for years after. I can imagine this happening to a fairly normal person. I'm not saying this is what happened, but just that the only possibilities are not innocent, crime of passion or psychopath.
- How much store can we set on people's memories of events 15 years ago? Studies have shown again and again how fallible - and changeable - memory is. Memories of events so long ago are next to useless, I would think.
- Our ideas of motive and wrong-doing might be shaped too much by crime shows like Law and Order, where everything makes sense. In real life, it seems people do things for stupid or hazy reasons, and have contradictory impulses.
- I would not make a good detective. I kept being underwhelmed by key pieces of Serial sleuthing like "the Neisha call" and whether or not there was a phone booth at Best Buy. Details, details, I kept thinking. Faulty memories, incidental lies, whatever? I'd be a terrible detective.
- People are strange and at times ridiculous. Was Adnan a nice guy or a killer? Was Jay a good guy, a thug, an innocent over his head, or a career criminal? Why would people get involved to the extent they did, or lie, or help bury bodies, or kill people without motive (depending on who is telling the truth)?
- Everyone does it - we all do it all the time - but trying to analyse what sort of person someone is, whether or not they "could do it" and whether or not they are lying, is pretty impossible. The times I felt most uncomfortable listening to Serial were listening to people theorise on these things, when really no one can actually know by analysing
- Is this a particularly weird and messy case, or are many murders, when looked at in detail, like this? (Interestingly though, there is one episode where a detective asked precisely this question said no, this case is particularly weird/messy. Which makes sense, as this is the one that ended up as a podcast). It's fascinating how absolutely none of the theories and timelines put forward quite add up - no matter who you think committed the crime, none of the possible versions (that we know about) quite makes sense.
- It's interesting how some players remember so much, and others so little, 15 years later. (I find memory really, really fascinating).
- This was quite a brave project. Sarah Koenig really laid herself bare throughout this, and it's easy to make fun or criticise, but her honesty on her thought processes and opinions is really likeable, even when you don't agree with her.
Did you listen to Serial? What did you think?
Jul 8, 2014
Trickle-Down Economics
The trickle-down theory, also known as supply-side theory, is the idea - largely hated but still beloved by policy makers - that wealth 'trickles down' from the top to other levels of society.
The theory goes that if you provide tax cuts and investment incentives to business and the wealthy, business and investment increase and thereby provide economic benefit to everyone else.
There has always been opposition to this theory, and it has always been up for parody. Since the GFC, dissent has grown with the Occupy Wall Street movement and its powerful theme: "We are the 99%" . Current bestseller 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century' posits that instead of trickling down, wealth tends to accumulate at the top and stay there, forcing an ever-growing gap between rich and poor that threatens political and social stability.
Policy makers have a hard job these days. The world is more difficult to run because we all know now how complex it is. The digital world (24-hour news, social media, democratised commentary) doesn't give politicians a break. The Great Recession continues and shows no real sign of ending. And following the ambiguous results of stimulus programs since 2008, stimulus is out and economic tough love is back in.
We know we can't go back to high levels of taxation and over-regulated economies. Having lived in a stagnant, isolated economy (New Zealand pre-deregulation) I remember it doesn't work. But I also lived in an economy going through the throes of deregulation (New Zealand under 'Rogernomics') and it was painful to see the impacts: people suffering the blows of sudden, wrenching change and the government seemingly heartless in response.
So the market can't be left to run unfettered. Some level of 'tax-and-spend' is necessary to regulate, ensure a modicum of fairness, and pay for necessary infrastructure and services.
The trickle-down effect may work a little, but it's not very effective and it's not a solution in itself for managing an economy.
Here's my view of the trickle-down effect:
The theory goes that if you provide tax cuts and investment incentives to business and the wealthy, business and investment increase and thereby provide economic benefit to everyone else.
There has always been opposition to this theory, and it has always been up for parody. Since the GFC, dissent has grown with the Occupy Wall Street movement and its powerful theme: "We are the 99%" . Current bestseller 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century' posits that instead of trickling down, wealth tends to accumulate at the top and stay there, forcing an ever-growing gap between rich and poor that threatens political and social stability.
Policy makers have a hard job these days. The world is more difficult to run because we all know now how complex it is. The digital world (24-hour news, social media, democratised commentary) doesn't give politicians a break. The Great Recession continues and shows no real sign of ending. And following the ambiguous results of stimulus programs since 2008, stimulus is out and economic tough love is back in.
We know we can't go back to high levels of taxation and over-regulated economies. Having lived in a stagnant, isolated economy (New Zealand pre-deregulation) I remember it doesn't work. But I also lived in an economy going through the throes of deregulation (New Zealand under 'Rogernomics') and it was painful to see the impacts: people suffering the blows of sudden, wrenching change and the government seemingly heartless in response.
So the market can't be left to run unfettered. Some level of 'tax-and-spend' is necessary to regulate, ensure a modicum of fairness, and pay for necessary infrastructure and services.
The trickle-down effect may work a little, but it's not very effective and it's not a solution in itself for managing an economy.
Here's my view of the trickle-down effect:
Jun 12, 2012
Eleven
I've been tagged by Kath from Blurb From the Burbs with some fantastical questions.
This meme comes from River at Drifting Through Life, who created 11 questions and tagged 11 bloggers, with the intent that they answer the questions then set 11 new ones and tag 11 people, and so it goes on.
Here are Kath's 11, with my answers:
Now for my 11 bloggers:
@homedad
Meggsie at AMFYOYO
Melissa at From Boardroom to Babies
Single Married Mum
Joe H at Cranky Old Man
Torkona at Tork's Blog
Dr Bron at The Modern Family
Nikki at Stressy Mummy
Anne-Marie at Child-Led Chaos
Michelle at 4 Kids, A Dog and a Blog
Nat at Drivelology
And here are my 11 questions:
1. If you could choose any job/career without having to put in the time and money for training, and assuming your life would magically work around it, what would you pick?
2. What pet(s) do you have, and how did you choose it/them?
3. What's your "comfort reading" book - the book you re-read to feel better?
4. What's the oldest thing in your possession?
5. How did you choose the name for your blog? Do you still like it, or do you think about changing it?
6. "An untidy desk means an unorganized mind." Discuss.
7. If you had three days all to yourself, what would you do?
8. Are you Apple or Android?
9. When travelling, do you prefer to plan and book, or keep things open?
10. Is there anything you dislike about blogging? (being tagged for memes perhaps...)
11. Clare in Modern Family says "You can't have two fun parents, because that's a carnival". Are you the Fun Parent or the Responsible Parent? Or if you're not a parent, of your own parents who was who? Do you/Did they do a Good Cop Bad Cop routine, or are you/were they in synch?
This meme comes from River at Drifting Through Life, who created 11 questions and tagged 11 bloggers, with the intent that they answer the questions then set 11 new ones and tag 11 people, and so it goes on.
Here are Kath's 11, with my answers:
1. When and why did you start blogging?
I started blogging in January 2010 and my first awful posts that month show that I truly did not know what I was doing. I was just feeling my way, but I knew I wanted to write and explore and shout my opinions on things, and I knew this would be a way to do it. I had started reading a few blogs and was really intrigued with all the possibilities on blogging platforms for doing whatever it is you want to do.
2. What is your middle name and why did your parents select it?
I don't have a middle name. My mum and her sister both decided not to give their kids middle names because they're not necessary, so neither I, my sister nor three of our cousins have middle names. I do indeed find you don't need a middle name, except that every time you are asked you have to say "I don't have a middle name" which takes longer.
3. Toilet paper folder or scruncher? Provide your reasons
Folder. Reasons... not sure how graphic you want this, but folding provides more cover and thickness to mop up everything, no?
4. What do you do at home when everyone else is out?
Treadmill (sometimes). Internet (often). Laundry and tidying (always).
5. You've been given five hundred bucks (two hundred and fifty quid, say) to spend on nothing useful and just your self. What do you do with the cash?
I'd buy a gorgeous bag from Fossil or some jewellery.
6. It's finally come true. One of your 'five celebrities you're allowed to sleep with' has walked into your kitchen and is up for it. Who is it?
Why, it's Josh Brolin in my kitchen, telling me to leave the washing as he will do it for me later.
I started blogging in January 2010 and my first awful posts that month show that I truly did not know what I was doing. I was just feeling my way, but I knew I wanted to write and explore and shout my opinions on things, and I knew this would be a way to do it. I had started reading a few blogs and was really intrigued with all the possibilities on blogging platforms for doing whatever it is you want to do.
2. What is your middle name and why did your parents select it?
I don't have a middle name. My mum and her sister both decided not to give their kids middle names because they're not necessary, so neither I, my sister nor three of our cousins have middle names. I do indeed find you don't need a middle name, except that every time you are asked you have to say "I don't have a middle name" which takes longer.
3. Toilet paper folder or scruncher? Provide your reasons
Folder. Reasons... not sure how graphic you want this, but folding provides more cover and thickness to mop up everything, no?
4. What do you do at home when everyone else is out?
Treadmill (sometimes). Internet (often). Laundry and tidying (always).
5. You've been given five hundred bucks (two hundred and fifty quid, say) to spend on nothing useful and just your self. What do you do with the cash?
I'd buy a gorgeous bag from Fossil or some jewellery.
6. It's finally come true. One of your 'five celebrities you're allowed to sleep with' has walked into your kitchen and is up for it. Who is it?
Why, it's Josh Brolin in my kitchen, telling me to leave the washing as he will do it for me later.
7. Name one famous person (so that all our readers know who it is) that you think 'has their shit together'. Explain why.
I don't know why, I might be wrong, but I think Jennifer Garner has her shit together. She appears to dress herself and her children in normal clothes, goes out without make-up, takes awhile to lose baby weight, and takes her kids to parks and playgrounds.
8. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
The desire to greet the day gifted by the universe, to experience the daily miracles of life, and to make the most of every precious moment I have on this earth.
I don't know why, I might be wrong, but I think Jennifer Garner has her shit together. She appears to dress herself and her children in normal clothes, goes out without make-up, takes awhile to lose baby weight, and takes her kids to parks and playgrounds.
8. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
The desire to greet the day gifted by the universe, to experience the daily miracles of life, and to make the most of every precious moment I have on this earth.
Nah, really it's the thought of all the stuff I have to do today, plus the opportunity to relish my favourite part of the day, my "quiet time" with treadmill and then news and coffee, before everyone else gets up.
9. Who would you like to smack in the face, publicly disprove all of their stupid opinions and freeze their bank accounts?
Well the obvious of course - Andrew Bolt and Miranda Devine. And about half the time, Catherine Deveny. But the other half the time I would shake her hand, apologise and give her back her bank accounts, so there'd be a lot of back and forth.
10. Low slung jeans on boys - how do we eradicate this disease?
It's obvious. We get their fathers and everyone over 30 to wear their pants the same way, and they will soon stop.
11. Tell us about an invention for the home that we desperately need.
Well the obvious of course - Andrew Bolt and Miranda Devine. And about half the time, Catherine Deveny. But the other half the time I would shake her hand, apologise and give her back her bank accounts, so there'd be a lot of back and forth.
10. Low slung jeans on boys - how do we eradicate this disease?
It's obvious. We get their fathers and everyone over 30 to wear their pants the same way, and they will soon stop.
11. Tell us about an invention for the home that we desperately need.
Surfaces that repel dust and grime so they never get dirty.
That internet fridge that is supposed to take inventory and order replacements when stocks run low, but it should also calculate need based on frequency of usage and my facial expression when I gaze at the contents - so that it doesn't go ahead and order more Thousand Island salad dressing when I finally one day use the bottle I have.
Now for my 11 bloggers:
@homedad
Meggsie at AMFYOYO
Melissa at From Boardroom to Babies
Single Married Mum
Joe H at Cranky Old Man
Torkona at Tork's Blog
Dr Bron at The Modern Family
Nikki at Stressy Mummy
Anne-Marie at Child-Led Chaos
Michelle at 4 Kids, A Dog and a Blog
Nat at Drivelology
And here are my 11 questions:
1. If you could choose any job/career without having to put in the time and money for training, and assuming your life would magically work around it, what would you pick?
2. What pet(s) do you have, and how did you choose it/them?
3. What's your "comfort reading" book - the book you re-read to feel better?
4. What's the oldest thing in your possession?
5. How did you choose the name for your blog? Do you still like it, or do you think about changing it?
6. "An untidy desk means an unorganized mind." Discuss.
7. If you had three days all to yourself, what would you do?
8. Are you Apple or Android?
9. When travelling, do you prefer to plan and book, or keep things open?
10. Is there anything you dislike about blogging? (being tagged for memes perhaps...)
11. Clare in Modern Family says "You can't have two fun parents, because that's a carnival". Are you the Fun Parent or the Responsible Parent? Or if you're not a parent, of your own parents who was who? Do you/Did they do a Good Cop Bad Cop routine, or are you/were they in synch?
And if I haven't tagged you but you would like to join in, please do feel free!
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