The Daily Blog Open Mic – Thursday – 30 December 2021

1. Someone with real experiences in NZ, talking about it. The reviewer describes the attitude that I think is common here and which is the direct reason we don’t have a country of citizens that care enough to ensure that housing is available, work is available, that living wages are…..

   https://www.rnz.co.nz/collections/readings/all-who-live-on-islands-by-rose-lu
   “In these poignant and insightful essays, [Lu] reveals the struggles of immigrants, the daily abuse they encounter and the wall of ignorance and indifference we erect between Kiwis and newcomers” — Steve Walker, Your Weekend

2. Boss Hogg’s lil gal said Immigration New Zealand assessed him as having “unique experience and technical or specialist skills that are not readily obtainable in New Zealand” and undertaking a time-critical role in work which brings significant wider benefit to the national or regional economy.
   Megan ’empathised’ with that assessment but said there are various learnings going forward in that space, and committed to a review of processes and procedures in the spirit of continuous improvement, and with a view to ensuring there will not be a repeat. (until next time)

   • uh? I missed out on my original comment that NZs can feel the same about each other so immigrants shouldn’t feel left out.

     Off that to…I like this bit from a review of Slavoj Zizek’s new book.
     As we emerge (though perhaps only temporarily) from the pandemic, other crises move center stage: outrageous inequality, climate disaster, desperate refugees, mounting tensions of a new cold war. The abiding motif of our time is relentless chaos.
     Acknowledging the possibilities for new beginnings at such moments, Mao Zedong famously proclaimed “There is great disorder under heaven; the situation is excellent.” The contemporary relevance of Mao’s observation depends … https://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Disorder-Slavoj-%C5%BDi%C5%BEek/dp/1682192814 Read rest of review here.
     Heaven in Disorder Paperback – December 14, 2021
     by Slavoj Žižek Social Philosophy

     Or from chaos this sounds interesting. The Courage of Hopelessness by Slavoj Zizek
     Description:
     In these troubled times, even the most pessimistic diagnosis of our future ends with an uplifting hint that things might not be as bad as all that, that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
     Yet, argues Slavoj Zizek, it is only when we have admitted to ourselves that our situation is completely hopeless – that the light at the end of the tunnel is in fact the headlight of a train approaching us from the opposite direction – that fundamental change can be brought about.

     Surveying the various challenges in the world today, from mass migration and geopolitical tensions to terrorism, the explosion of rightist populism and the emergence of new radical politics – all of which, in their own way, express the impasses of global capitalism – Zizek explores whether there still remains the possibility for genuine change. Today, he proposes, the only true question is, or should be, this- do we endorse the predominant acceptance of capitalism as a fact of human nature, or does today’s capitalism contain strong enough antagonisms to prevent its infinite reproduction? Can we, he asks, move beyond the failure of socialism, and beyond the current wave of populist rage, and initiate radical change before the train hits? Well, can we?

   • Woohoo that was the very wording of my own New Year Resolution.
     …there are various learnings going forward in that space, and committed to a review of processes and procedures in the spirit of continuous improvement,

3. Fucken Weetabix are so little now. Bullshit!

4. Train-wreck – ran over it probably. Slice and dice.

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