The pond is devastated, it will never embark on a reptile festival again.
Hits were down, festival goers bemused and befuddled. The pond blames it on too much Q and the Donald taking up blogging by reskinning a Wordpress format for a couple of zillion (haven't they heard of friendly Asian geeks in the United States? They would have knocked it up for a couple of thousand but the pond imagines there was compensation for the Donald by way of plenty of skimming off the top, the bottom, the sideways and every way coming and going).
And while indulging in the festival, the pond overlooked the arrival of a new Anglican archbishop and immediately realised there were people in a state of complete and utter anxiety about the future of complementary women in Sydney.
Relax. Back in July 2014 Kanishka Raffel, in Equal but different, here, reviewed a book of essays as well as a book by John Dickson, noting:
As self-professed complementarians, the authors of both books agree that the pastoral oversight of local fellowships of believers is a responsibility entrusted to men.
Well yes indoody, only manly men have a direct line to god and know what She's thinking, and only manly Anglican men can speak for Her.
And so we come to the important, most reassuring line by our very own Raffles himself:
..‘Guarding the good deposit‘ by the regular exposition, explanation and application of Scripture in the midst of the congregation of God’s people so that they hear, receive, love and obey it is a primary means of the congregational oversight to be exercised by an appropriately appointed man, and an essential aspect of the pastoral teaching ministry. I’m indebted to the authors of Women, Sermons and the Bible for expounding this biblical pattern of ministry.
Thank the long absent lord, "an appropriately appointed man"!
Yes, it's a manly conclusion to a manly review celebrating the role of men in explaining Her thoughts, so relax, you can have your complimentary women cake or two and mansplain away to your heart's content …
Curiously, it does sort of provide a lead-in to the Oreo this day, in exceptionally fine conspiratorial form ...
The reformed, recovering feminist knows how to look under every rock to discover a weaponised conspiracy designed to do down the entirety of western civilisation ... talk about moral panic ... talk about Amanda Stoker ...
Just to get things under way, a few samplings from Crikey here ... (paywall affected)
...Her traditionalist worldviews and policies are informed by her conservative Christian beliefs, which are illustrated by her ideas of family and sexuality, and her strong stance against abortion among other things. According to The Catholic Leader, she is Anglican. (Actually there's a strong streak of Pentecostal, but never mind).
She has centred the idea of family in her cases for policy. In her maiden speech, the 36-year-old mother of three daughters argued “government intervention diminishes the role and expectations of family”.
Despite calling for less government intervention, Stoker is ardently anti-abortion — or as she classifies it, pro-life — and has been filmed speaking at several anti-abortion rallies...
…She supports the repeal of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, saying on Sky News last year: “I think 18C has got to go. I think 18C is a drag on our society.”
The Liberal government’s previous attempt to amend the law was voted down in 2017.
Speaking to Bible Society Australia’s news site, Stoker said Christian values were under attack and that political opponents were prioritising the human rights of the LGBTIQ community over the “rights to freedom of conscience, religion and speech”.
“Never before have Christian values, and the right to express them freely, been under such attack. This is not political hyperbole.
“The Greens, Labor and many left-leaning independents have made it clear that they prioritise the human rights of some, such as the LGBTI+ community, over other human rights …”
...Stoker has blamed unions for the casualisation of workplaces, and has argued against raising minimum wages and penalty rates because they allegedly “reduce job opportunities for those most in need”.
She has also called for industrial reforms and the removal of “punitive unfair dismissal laws” to support employers and “increase productivity”.
Stoker has also pushed for nannies to be tax-deductible to increase the fertility rate in Australia. “It shouldn’t be that a woman has to choose between a great career and family,” she said.
Despite supporting policies that seem like they would hurt workers and the lower class more than anyone else, right wing commentator Janet Albrechtsen believes the senator is “fast becoming the voice for Morrison’s quiet Australians”.
Dame Slap approved! And so this is where reformed, recovering feminists end up ...
Every time the pond reads the Oreo, the pond can't help thinking of the Professor's line in The Bourne Identity. Here's a reformed, recovering feminist railing and ranting away, and all the pond can think of is "Look at this. Look at what they make you give."
Of course you get all sorts of bias when it comes to Oreos, and it produces all sorts of contortions ...
But none of these contortions can match our own reformed, recovering feminist Oreo ...
It goes without saying that the Oreo exudes conscious and unconscious bias, and extreme hysteria, and by the way, who says that heresy is an ancient crime? Heresy is alive and well. Just look at this story in the Irish Times back in February 2020 here ...
On April 30th last year a group of Catholic theologians wrote an open letter to the College of Bishops accusing Pope Francis of heresy and asking that they deal with the grave situation of a heretical pope.
He stood accused a “comprehensive rejection of Catholic teaching on marriage and sexual activity, on the moral law, and on grace and the forgiveness of sins” in among other things his 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
By the following morning an online petition had collected 1,500 signatures and the story had broken worldwide. Although popes have been accused of heresy before, nothing quite like this has occurred in modern times.
Heresy is back. In a big way. You know this is the case when that old rhetorical question “is the Pope a Catholic?” doesn’t work anymore; especially when a vocal minority suspect he isn’t.
Well that's the Protestants and the Catholics done this day, and in no small part thanks to the Oreo, and so on to the Caterist ...
There are few people who understand the Caterist's enormous understanding of many issues ... from climate science denialism to the movement of flood waters in quarries to a canny way with cash in the paw, the Caterist is your man ...
Indeed, indeed, whereas the Caterist is indoctrinated with cash in the paw theory, and if only all students had the same opportunity as a Caterist, how much better the education system would be ...
Money doesn't grow on trees, they say, but it surely grows in Canberra for Caterists ... and it makes the righteous ranting and railing all the more poignant ...
But before going on, the pond would like to pause with Guy Rundle, back in April 2013 in Crikey here, talking a look at the Caterist's epic tome ... by sampling the opening and the closing ... (paywall affected) ...
By golly, that sets the scene for the final Caterist gobbet ...
If they're learning less, they might soon reach the enviable position of the Caterist, scribbling nonsensical books and imagining he can work out the position of flood waters in quarries ... oh there's a bright future for dim bulbs in the grip of a dubious education, provided they know how to catch cash in greasy palm ...
And now, having learned its reptile festival lesson well, that's it for the pond.
Oh there will be sobbing and sighing and yearning for Major Mitchell on a Monday, but at time of writing he was a no show, and anyway, two old pond favourites are more than enough to crank the noggin into gear for the week ahead.
All that remains to be done is to celebrate the dawning of humanity thanks to the immortal Rowe, with more Rowe here ...
Inspirational, and there's much more on the origins of the march of progress here ...
"The pond is devastated, it will never embark on a reptile festival again."
ReplyDeleteOh no, no, DP, don't say that - I don't know about you, but at least it filled in a 'mothers day' weekend for me. Just listen to the voices and go with the flow.
It would seem to me that Oreos are, by design, a combination of the most harmful ingredients available. Sugar, palm oil, corn syrup, cocoa and some shit to hold them together. Of course, Jennifer's counter argument would be that consumption of unhealthy snacks is a matter of personal choice and you should have known it would clog your arteries in the first place.
ReplyDeleteShe seems to be suggesting that millions of disadvantaged people, easily identified by ethnicity and income level, are suffering solely because of their own poor choices and lack of application. If only they could emulate the meritocracy at News Corp!
The remarkable thing about privilege is that the beneficiaries don't understand that they are privileged, for the most part they believe everything they have is down to their own hard work.
The recuperating feminist regales us with this: "According to the conspiratorial left, a woman with conservative beliefs and faith deserves mob abuse - she is asking for it." Oh indeed they do, and are, and the men too, if there are any men of genuine "conservative beliefs and faith". After all, it is persons of "conservative beliefs and faith" that have been responsible for all the evil amongst the human race since before God even decided that Adam didn't need an omphalos (and neither did Eve).
DeleteShe then goes on: "Progressive purists do not regard right leaning voters as equals or friends." So, and the Oreo is the one who wants to persuade us that there is no such thing as "unconscious bias" and that therefore all her libellous insults are wide awake and conscious. But no, sorry Oreo, nobody believes you have enough brain to be capable of conscious bias.
Bur anyway, Oreo is big on Amanda Stoker who is clearly a lot more than "a woman with conservative beliefs and faith", she is a religious nut. And we know all about them; they think they are "doing God's work" [tm SloMo] and therefore are righteously privileged and that we "progressive purists" need to be put in our little, dark places to live for eternity without God's forgiveness and grace.
But then, as David Olusoga has reminded us: "To those accustomed to privilege, equality can feel like oppression." [thanks Bef] And none are more privileged, at least in their own conscious conscience, than women with: "conservative beliefs and faith". Especially none who, like Amanda, are complementary women of the NSW Anglican kind.
“Unconscious Bias not scientifically proven.” Reptiles - “we need to take heed of the science.”
ReplyDelete“Global Warming scientifically proven.” Reptiles - “we need to ignore the science.”
The existence of the 'subconscious' has never been scientifically proven, Kez. It takes up no volume, it doesn't weigh anything and nobody has ever seen it.
DeleteBut the reptiles know that it's really the receptor for transmissions from God, and so nothing is ever 'subconscious', it's always just the will of Him/Her/It/Them/Whatever.
True GB. But doesn't that apply to thoughts as well? They also have no mass and are invisible. Just enquiring for a psychology student friend.
DeleteNo, I think you'll find Bez, that a brain full of thoughts weighs a microgram or two more than an empty one. They proved this by measuring the weight of people's head when they were asleep - and thus full of thoughts and things which we call dreams - and when they were awake when their brains were completely devoid of thoughts.
DeleteTell your psych. student friend that a Nobel awaits them if they can prove that.
So let me get this right GB. Descartes should have said "I think, therefore I am asleep."
DeleteYes ! Well, either that or vice versa.
Delete:)³
DeleteI wondered how much of the Cater attempt at polemic this day was due to (according to the Wiki) both his parents being teachers. No doubt, by their age alone, of the ‘old school’.
ReplyDeleteNot that they made their version of teaching sufficiently attractive to the young Nick - who enrolled in sociology at Exeter, as his way of seeking the meaning of life, but, as far as we can trace, he has made no obvious use of whatever he should have retained from that time.
What he seems not to have learned/retained is the understanding that real education has little to do with a ‘pedagogue’ spouting to a class alleged facts, which the class must regurgitate, unamended, in examination at the end of each year, so that they might present themselves in the following year to the next lot of ‘pedagogues’
I went to my large, print, dictionaries to check the understanding of ‘pedagogue’ in English - and the words that come up commonly are ‘pedantic’, ‘dogmatic’, ‘formal’, and ‘dull’. Lest this be seen as too modern or progressive - even my 1913 ‘Blackie’s’ adds that the word, even then, was used with a sense of contempt.
According to my understanding, Chad, Chinese scholars all had to learn to read by phonics because Chinese doesn't have an alphabet. So c-a-t spells 'cat' just can't happen.
DeleteAnd thus, to acquire a decent command of written Chinese - say 20,000 - 30,000 'characters' required hours and hours and days and weeks and months of pedagogue enforced 'rote learning'. And there was no contempt for pedagogues there and then.
But that can't be true, can it ? The Chinese were much smarter than that, weren't they ? How did they make a dictionary ?
"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!"
Delete‘Bitzer,' said Thomas Gradgrind. ‘Your definition of a horse.'
‘Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.' Thus (and much more) Bitzer.
Mmm- site was a tad coy about accepting contributions the last couple of hours.
ReplyDeleteBut while I am here - GB and Kez - you just crack me up sometimes.
Put it all down to Kez, Chad; he's the inspiring spirit.
DeleteBy the way, often when the site won't accept inputs (ie it records itself as being in 'draft' mode), it is due to somebody opening up a comment/reply input via the Google option (as opposed to the URL option). That apparently puts the screen into 'draft' mode which doesn't allow any further input until that one has been finally 'published'.
DeleteBut it's only that screen - other pages will usually be open for input.
GB - I know that they have had practical mathematics absolutely skun for a couple of millennia, with the suanpan - the calculator. Perhaps more commonly known for the crossword clue that identifies the Japanese equivalent 'soroban'. In my researching days, when we had a matrix of data before us, I used to enjoy seeing older Japanese workers challenging the new (Japanese) breed, with their electronic calculators, to see who could render the date first. The old guys, flicking their hardwood counters always, but always, finished first.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of soroban, beautifully made - but readily admit I never approached their speed. As I understood it, at that time (70s-80s) a high schooler in Japan could take a soroban option, but it would require several hours a week for 3 years, to become proficient - and whip classmates who had Sharp calculators.
Although at one time we hosted Chinese exchange teachers who were supposed to be polishing their English in Australia, our conversation was dominated by their questions about Australian culture - we had few openings to ask about how they learned to 'write' their own language.
Interesting, because abaci (or abacuses) have been developed and used by lots of people - even Europeans, apparently. They even survived the introduction of the "arabic" (ie really Indian) number system which was a giant leap forward in arithmetic - it actually required a digit for zero ! And if you'll forgive me the pedantry, abaci are for arithmetic - calculations with numbers - and not mathematics which is about the logic and structure of the universe. Mathematics is really a Greek invention, especially since Euclid's Elements with his (their ?) axioms and postulates and formal theorems and proofs which essentially established the way mathematics has been done ever since.
DeleteHowever, a look at the web brought up something I'd never heard of: pinyin. Apparently, pinyin is "simply a Romanization of the Chinese characters based on their pronunciation" - remembering, of course, that Chinese is a tonal language such that one character represents many meanings (the one rendered as "ma" has 5 different meanings depending on the tone in which it is spoken). I found thus fascinating:
https://blog.lingobus.com/learn-chinese/what-is-chinese-pinyin-how-to-learn/
But learning - especially in Confucian times ?
"For nearly two thousand years, the Analects [collected writings of K'ung Fu-tzu] were the foundation of Chinese education. The rigorous imperial examinations, which thousands of young men took each year in the hopes of gaining employment as functionaries in the imperial government, required a thorough knowledge of the Analects and the teachings of Confucius."
http://confucius-1.com/analects/
A lot of rote learning back in the days of the Confucian mandarins.
The Chinese still didn't have a dictionary, though, and in the absence of an 'alphabetical order' couldn't even construct an index to put in the back of text books.
GB - to paraphrase Barry Goldwater (well, his speechwriter) - pedantry in the defense of liberty is no vice. Will just hope that Polonius does not read our comments to this blog!
ReplyDelete