By Their Deeds Ye Shall Know Them

Thoughts of Clancy in Modern Days.

With apologies to Banjo who, I am sure, would be as horrified as I.

 

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just “on spec”, addressed as follows, “Clancy, of The Overflow”.

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)
Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
“Clancy’s gone to Queensland droving, and we don’t know where he are.”

In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving “down the Cooper” where the Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover’s life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And I somehow rather fancy that I’d like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,
But the Overflow has now dried and the cattle all have died!
The country now is less than super, since townsfolk stole the bloody Cooper.

And in place of lowing cattle, he hears the bosses prattle.
‘No shearing now or droving.’ He breathes the feotid air
Of Centrelink and hears the Clerk. ‘It’s you’re fault you’re out of work!’
And the counter staff with no heart say, “Now welcome to New Start!’

Message for Mike Pezzullo

An un-named American Infantry Colonel spoke to a new intake of recruits in the 1950’s with a message about the unseen sacrifices they may be called on to make in their life.

So you want to be a career soldier? Good for you. But remember that the longer you stay in uniform, the less you will really understand about the country you protect. Democracy is the antithesis of the military life; it’s chaotic, dishonest, disorganized, and at the same time glorious, exhilarating and free — which you are not.

After a while, if you stay in, you’ll be tempted to say, “Look, you civilians, we’ve got a better way. We’re better organized. We’re patriotic, and we know what it is to sacrifice. Be like us.” And you’ll be dead wrong, son.

If you’re a career soldier, you may defend democracy, but you won’t understand it or be part of it. What’s more, you’ll always be a stranger to your own society. That’s the sacrifice you’ll be making.

It is necessary for someone to speak to new and old Public Servants here in Australia. Especially all those in the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection. From Mike Pezzullo all the way down to the floor sweeper.

From an un-named member of the Public speaking to the Public Servants of 2019.

So you want to be a career Public Servant? Good for you. But remember that the longer you stay in the bureaucracy, the less you will really understand about the country you work for. Democracy is the antithesis of Public Service; it’s chaotic, dishonest, disorganized, and at the same time glorious, exhilarating and free — which you are not.

After a while, if you stay in, you’ll be tempted to say, “Look, , we’ve got a better way. We’re better organized. We’re patriotic, and we know what it is to follow the rules. Be like us.” And you’ll be dead wrong, Mike.

If you’re a career public servant, you may defend Democracy, but you won’t understand it or be part of it. What’s more, you’ll always be a stranger to your own society. That’s the sacrifice you’ll be making.

Sid and Sod #880

Parliaments

With thanks to the magical Moira for finding it.

Stopping To Think About It.

I think most people honest-to-Gawd believe the Papist date “is” the “real” date because they never stop to think about it.

I suspect, also, that most people do and say most of the things they do and say for exactly the same reason: they never stop to think about it.

I know this sounds brutally cynical, but at least it explains the religious and political behaviors of our species, which otherwise seem totally beyond rational comprehension.

~ RAW

Sid and Sod #879

Bizarro

xkcd

Pearls Before Swine

Was He Worth the Vote?

Things Facebook Have Banned #1

Facebook is the world’s premier social media site. Yet it is applying so many rules about what constitutes ‘Community Standards’ that it is becoming exceedingly hazardous to post ANYTHING on this increasingly right-wing platform.

So, until WordPress falls under the thrall of political correctness and USAian ‘Community Standards’  this archive will record some of the stuff which offends the Alt-Right.

Beginning with Kitler!

Sid and Sod #878

Social Security or Welfare?

Here in Australia we had a taxpayer-funded Social Security System.  Government created and sold as a Labor and Union based idea, there were, perhaps other forces at work.

Having seen what happened to their ruling forebears in other nations when several very nasty events occurred, warning bells began ringing. It became obvious that there are limits on how far it is possible to drive a group of people into poverty, hunger and hopelessness before that group band together and fight back. Those nasty events included Robin Hood and the French, Russian and Chinese Revolutions.

Western Society and its Bosses, for the leaders never go away, developed a safety net against these Revolutions which were aimed at those rulers who became to rapacious and too greedy. Designed to remove the risk of a populace which was three missed meals away from a revolution. Perhaps, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett were being unduly pessimistic when they wrote in Good Omens that ‘It has been said that civilization is twenty-four hours and two meals away from barbarism.” Maybe it is after a week of absolute hunger, maybe after three years of being demonised and starved. Eventually the peasants revolt!

It was called Social Security. Originally designed to ensure that every one of the poor, oppressed peasants could eat, could clothe themselves and have a roof over their heads, it served the very rich well for a number of decades. It worked. The Revolutions stopped happening.

Then, in the inevitable effluxion of time, a glitch appeared in the system. Just as those who had never seen the effects of a forgotten disease began to rail against the vaccinations which removed those diseases, so the descendants of those rulers who set the Social Security net in place forgot about its hidden purpose.

Suddenly, ‘Social Security’ became ‘Welfare’. Suddenly ‘Welfare’ became a burden on Society. Suddenly our rulers, exploiters, self-appointed leaders forgot that they are human as well. And subject to mortal limitations just as are all their subjects, serfs and slaves.

Welfare was able to be cut, removed and denied. The exact opposite to what Social Security was supposed to be. Just as that extra couple of brandies has no apparent long-term effect, so cuts to ‘Welfare’ have no apparent long-term effect. It is only after the alcoholism becomes unmanageable, only after the revolutions begin again, that long-term effects become noticeable.

And incurable.

Because there is a hidden meaning behind ‘Social Security’. The hidden need for the rulers, the ultra rich, to protect themselves from the ruled, the ultra-poor. It is the rich families who need the security of knowing the servants won’t kill them in their beds. Of knowing that their factory workers will not put them up against a wall and shoot them.

It is THEY are whose Social Security is at stake and they are the ones who will suffer when Welfare is cut too many times and to too many people.

Sid and Sod #877