Gina Gina Gina !!!!!

Quote from Gina Reinhart.

"If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain; do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socialising, and more time working".

Has this woman totally lost grip on reality??? Did she ever have a grip???

Her comments on how to become wealthy initially made me pee my pants laughing, until I realised she was serious....

Easy for Gina to sprout her words of wisdom when she was born into enormous wealth, a priveldged education and inherited billions. I think most of us could make money given ALL these advantages in life.  It shows how truely out of touch she is with the REAL world and REAL working people who possibly may have a ciggie to calm their jangling nerves on how to make the next mortgage payment or rego the car, will they lose their job, perhaps a drink whilst socialising with friends and family, surely this is still the fabric of our society, this is what keeps us connected, Gina, something you clearly are not!

To suggest that giving up smoking, drinking and socialising is the simple solution to becoming wealthy is not that simple, not everyone has asperations of being rich and giving all to their work, time with family and community should be important also. Some people simply want to do their job, keep their job, pay their taxes (which I know would be far more than you would pay with your fancy accountants avoiding tax wherever possible) and live a good and decent life, what's wrong with that?. But for most of us there are no certainties in the job market anymore, jobs for life just dont exist as they did in previous generations.

So if you do not have the luxury of having family money to get you started on the property ladder, to have the backing to start your own business, if should you be made redundant or have limited prospects of finding another job due to an illness or age. 

It's bloody hard to get wealthy even giving up the 3 vices you single out.  I notice that your addiction to FOOD is not mentioned, Gluttony one of the Seven Deadly Sins!

What's the saying people in Glass houses shouldn't throw stones.....we all have our vices its just that your Daddy's billions allowed you to indulge in whatever your heart desires, not many on the planet are afforded this luxury.

Also for a "supposedly" educated and knowledgable business person you should be better informed on how tough it is to survive on the  minimum wage, yet another absurb comment about the minimum wage being too high, Pleeeeeeese! Have you tried it Gina?

I suspect you are no more clever or disciplined than the rest of average australians you just got lucky and should be thanking your lucky stars and feel privledged to be putting back into a country that your family has taken ALL its wealth from, you don't drive the trucks that dig the resources out of this land you sit on your eromous butt and tell people what to do and how much they should get paid or not as was the case recently.

You are a disgrace and should stop making comments on issues you clearly have no clue about, go and have another burger and chips and leave us poor hard working souls alone, and spare us your high and mighty ideas, as we all know that it takes money to make money, but clearly doesn't give you intelligence and compassion.

Are Class Sizes too Big?

Whilst I recognise that the size of a class would affect how much time a teacher can dedicate to each individual I do believe that SIZE IS NOT what counts!

A teacher's ability to engage and hold the interest of the class is paramount, and to be able to communicate the lesson clearly and effectively. 

It only takes one disruptive person in a class whether it be a class of 10 or 40 to ruin the learning experience for all, it is the teachers ability to control the disruptive influence that makes the difference.  Having said that there is only so much of ONE teacher to go around so yes of course SIZE does matter but is not the only factor.

Mission “Options” by Angry Guys

 

8 minutes and approx 40 sec of my life taken away by a wonderful free program GIMP to create this picture for people who are lazy/busy/not in a mood (optional) to read my comment. For the rest of you, I start to translate my Russian thoughts and put them onto “cyber-paper” below...

Once upon a time people had books, press, radio and TV. All of this was one and only Ministry of Truth for many-many years.  However the industrial revolution of the last decade as a brave knight with internet instead of a sharp and shiny sword burst to our life. The internet totally and forever (well, at least till the 21^st December 2012 according to some pessimistically inclined fortune-tellers) changed our consciousness, recognition, perception of quality and honesty of the information from the Ministry of Truth. The internet became an affordable tribune and effective weapon (or Magic Wand - optional) for Angry Guys as, say for instance, online activists in the black suits on my picture. They don’t have just loud words but they already have a couple loud facts of changes that they have made for society with a weapon named “INTERNET”. To start with, they demonstrated that people are not a sad and silent group of dumb puppets in the box. They demonstrated that people can see and show others the examples of unfairness, that people can  be Angry Guys if they struggle and suffer because of frequent abusive practice from the Ministry of Truth. Citizen journalists and online activist groups are not a department of this Ministry. This new breed of journalist is independent and influential “5th Estate”. They are a global team who creates new rules and effective methods against unfairness or the breach of justice by the people with power. I believe, that citizen journalism is a caring parent of our life with options. I will explain my point of view.

I love OPTIONS! It is so good to have them! How much do you appreciate that you have options? When you open a fridge you can choose what jam will go onto you morning toast- strawberry or peach. When you open a wardrobe you can choose what color of jumper you will put on – red or black, when you ... Millions people around the world have no options even with these little everyday things...Sometimes their options are even scary for the citizens of developed countries with prosperity. Believe me, I saw it...The sad reality shows that in the poor countries people cannot be heard by world’s justice and by others who can really help. All they can afford is just waiting for changes...

Usually, if we are not happy with something that is coming from the Ministry of Truth, we ask: “How long do we need to wait for bloody changes?” Well, if you gonna WAIT, dear reader, it will be long indeed. Besides different jams in your fridge and colourful jumpers in your wardrobe, you have heaps other useful options: blogs, sites, social network, at the end of the day you have a mobile phone with video/audio recording. Just remember about these options if one day you will decide to be a citizen journalist and to write the history of your country by yourself before somebody will write it the way you don’t want it. How cool is that - to have options, isn’t it?

P.S. Who are the green creatures on the picture depends on the circumstances, your point of view, wishes and fantasy. It is optional, of course...

Media Manipulation and the Importance of Public Control

Media Manipulation and the Importance of Public Control

Controlling the Masses

This situation of the multimillion dollar corporate conglomerate using its power and wealth to take an immoral and horrific situation like mass-murder and make a profit from it by tugging on the strings of our curiosity, speaks to the very heart of our society and moral value system.  The media is an essential structure that helps make up the network of our society, as it is the tool with which we connect with the outside world. So our need for this medium to be an unbiased and honest system of communication is absolutely vital for the well-being of our society.

I think that the quote ‘Mass Media' exists to create a profitable business from the things that interest its public. Don't confuse that with the public interest’ sums up the intentions, actions and purpose of the media network, because remember that it is a network of privately owned businesses created for the sole purpose of selling the public information. When these companies inevitably fall into the hands of those who wish to alter what the public knows, what information we have access to and ultimately the way we think, well that’s just a whole other kettle of fish!

It is so very important what we consider news worthy, and it is up to us as to what we decide to pay attention, and allocate air time to. Imagine if our media coverage networks were run by the people for the people! Which is probably already in circulation out there somewhere in the great and wonderful wide world of the web! News could be useful and informative rather than being aimed at sensationalising the controversial or inducing gossip. If anyone is aware of a medium like this and could let us all know, that would be really great! 

Acceptable Viloence?

                                    Acceptable Violence?

Greco-Roman Wrestling was contested in the first Olympic Games in 1896, and has remained in every summer Olympics held since 1908

We’re drawn to violence like a crowd around a brawl in the schoolyard, like the million dollar age old entertainment industries of boxing, wrestling, martial arts and more, the excitement or blood lust for the sport of war is not determined by age or gender. We get a rush of adrenalin which feels quite exhilarating and can be thought of as living vicariously through the thrill of the actions of others, our own well being is not threatened as we sit back at a safe distance and observe the carnage as a spectator.

This is a part of our animalistic human nature and has been for a long time, with centuries of developing fighting styles and tournaments to put them to the test there have always been those who partake and those who come for miles to crowd around the bodies to get a good peek. People would record and sell this information of the details and outcomes of the fighting match as entertainment, as another means of revenue for profit once the game was over. Today we call it the sports report on the daily News.

A bit like telling the triumphs of a sporting hero, but this man was no hero! He did not follow any conventions or accepted forms of violence in our society and while we deem it acceptable in many ways such as football and slaughter houses for our McDonald’s burgers when it comes to this man’s actions most people would be horrified.

Therein lays the line of distinction that the media should have made, this was not a situation of consenting adults who chose to be in this situation, this man just let rip on an unsuspecting public. It devastated many and should have been regarded with tact and sensitivity not a blatant sensationalised, hyped-up, dramatic and often irrelevant gruesome telling and re-telling of the facts and depiction of the person at the center of the catastrophe as having some quality worth tuning in to the news to hear all about.

Check out this link I think it’s an interesting extenuation of this topic;
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/19/violence.attraction.behavior/index.html

Rules are rules for a reason

Sure Damien wearing the Aboriginal flag did not hurt anyone but it was a unnecessary act of defiance. I can why he would do something like this to pay respect to his heritage and represent his people but it was still the wrong thing to do.

 He is representing Australia so he should be wearing Australian colours like everybody else. Im sure there was a competitor from the USA that was African American or of Native American decent and did they make a big deal out of it? or where they happy to be representing their country on the world stage.

If he wants to be an individual show it in the ring not on the way there.

Sex Anyone?

Sex Anyone?

I will start out by warning that some of the following content may alarm or shock some viewers!
If you consider yourself of sensitive nature then stop reading here!

OK now that I have your attention… and you’re wondering what dirty little secret I might have up my sleeve or what story I might tell, you may ask yourself what feelings it triggers inside you… with the heightened sensation of knowing something about someone else or what happened at that party on Saturday night, it gives us a feeling of being ‘in the loop’ of information. If we aren’t then we do not know what is happening and as we are social creatures and our survival depends on our ability to communicate. That is the basic principle behind how and why the news functions like it does, we want to know because we think it will be important to our survival but we also just want to know, that’s thing about us humans, we are curious creatures that want to know … What? Where? When? Who? Why?
 

Although we may be fed negative thoughts but at the end of the day it’s up to us to decide to watch or listen and how we behave accordingly.
We are the news it feeds off us, both positive and negative outcomes are due to our own interest in the matter, we accept and play into the negative aspects of the news along with many other negative aspects and behavioral types constructed within our society and it is up to each and every individual to fight the battle of striving to be the best sides of our selves we can be.

I saw some beautiful graffiti once in the cemetery that stated ‘We are all animals, really’ it has stuck with me over the years as the most pure of truths that someone could graffiti in a cemetery, a place where the true nature of life and death cannot be argued. We are all scared, excited, curious and drawn to a scene of violence but also moved by the mourners of the victims involved.

This is the paradoxical nature of being human and animal at the same time, as we wrestle with our own existence, we are struck by the thrill of revenge, war and bloodshed and yet we possess notions of what is ethically correct and morally virtuous.