Alas, it has been many a week since this blog has been graced with presence of its writer (excluding new years, of course). I would love to blame being busy with university as the excuse - but I fear this would be inaccurate, for it has never stopped me before. No dear Readers, it is something a little more serious that has been blocking my writing.
And it is, coincidently, a direct result of university. But not because of workload, but rather the way it has been changing how I think.
I won't lie - and many (if not all ;) )of you will already know this - I have something of an ego. I am not afraid to admit that I used to think that some of my entries were slightly unique, exploring things that were not really looked at much. I made that wonderful inexperienced teenage thing of thinking that I knew something about everything.
University has shown me that I know nothing about everything. It has shown me that there are people who spend their entire lives researching things that I have only ever started to allude to in previous entries. There are bodies of work relating to nearly everything I have ever talked about. An entire academic world out there with much more life and academic experience behind it than I could ever have. The incredible naivety of my self was thrown unceremoniously into my direct line of sight. And I am glad it was.
But it has left me in a rather problematic state. I know nothing about everything, thus how can I possibly write with any form of authority, sway, or power? I cannot write about that which I do not know. My words cannot have any power to affect the readers of this humble cyberspace. What is the point of writing about something, if I can never know everything about it. Who am I to engage people on topics that many people are much better qualified to discuss?
And I came to a realisation. And it is this realisation and resolution that mean I am not afraid to talk frankly about way I used to think. This realisation involved re-examining the the entire purpose of this insignificant little corner of cyberspace. The tagline to my blog reads "..Hell-bent on discovering the world." Through this blog I sought to learn about the world, myself, and the people around me through writing about that which I saw, and that which I wanted to see.
I guess I always knew that, of course, the world could never fully be discovered. But it is only now that I realise the implication of the tagline is that, in a subconscious manner, I may have thought that there was an endpoint to this blog, that it is indeed possible to discover the world. Yet the world can never fully be uncovered, and so this blog does not have an endpoint and never will. Which left me realising that this blog is, and always was, a reflection of a very personal world. A world which is unique to myself. My world.
The world is a bigger place than I had ever previously imagined, and not one which can be explored objectively, separate from my own experience. My own experience is intricately linked to my perceptions of the world.
I may not know anything about everything. But I know something about somethings.
These writings - the past writings, the future writings, and the writings of the Present Tense - are about me and the way I see my world.
And so I seek to show you all, dear Readers, my world. And through that, perhaps, I seek to offer you an insight into your world.
With love and the fresh side of a new leaf, Christopher.
If one is estranged from oneself, then one is estranged from others too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.
As has been my New Years tradition for many years, this is my wrap up of my 2009. What I have seen in 2009, what I have learnt, what I wish to learn.
More succinctly, however, it is my time for a bit of nostalgia.
New years eve, two-thousand and nine, is a pretty big deal - I think. What we have here is the end of a decade. This decade, the naughties, is the decade that I have really grown up in. I remember 10 years ago I was getting ready for the biggest change of dates that was seen in 1000 years - the turn of a new millennia. It was pretty exciting for me. The year 2000 sounded so futuristic. The turn of the century was the first new year that I really remember. It was the first time I tried champagne, and the first time that I stayed up 'til 1.30 in the morning.
The following years huge changes occurred. 10 years has seen me complete my schooling and move into higher education. It has seen me begin many new things, and even been enough time to end the new things. The 10 years are riddled with personal achievements - the highlights and...lowlights.
But these 10 years has also seen huge changes to the global landscape of the world. The internet has taken off, and grown at an astounding rate. Facebook, Youtube, Myspace, Bebo, MSN, Blogger, Google - all of these are household names, terms. My fantastic new phone, purchased at the turn of this decade, now has access to all these sites, and many more. The social landscape has changed entirely.
The naughties also saw September 11 in 2001. When my parents told me of this I never realised the true implications of the event. Yet still we feel the effects of this event - eight years later.
Environmentally, global warming has gone from the realm of hardcore environmentalists to front page populist news.
But that's the big picture decade - viewable in the essay section of any major newspaper. This blog is really about myself and my year.
War followed and has been a part of our headlines for eight years now.
***
Passion has never really been a concept that I have put too much thought into. Whenever I heard the word passion I tended to think of a passionate relationship - a person to person relationship - and looked upon it cynically as just some overblown Hollywood concept.
The way you see many things changes as you go through life. All of you already know that, no doubt. This year - 2009 - has seen me change the way that I see many things and perhaps passion is perhaps one of the most pronounced of these. It shares the stage with other concepts, but for the purposes of this blog - passion is in the spotlight.
When I think about 2009 I think about one thing in particular - my first year at university. Now I have constructed for myself a pretty idealistic view of uni. I really like it. It's a great place to get my learn on, it's stimulating and it's full of interesting (though pretty damn pretentious) people (I fit it rather well). But what I like most about uni is the passion.
I am being taught by people who have devoted years of their lives to studying, exploring and teaching different, narrow and highly detailed sections of human knowledge. I think it takes a great deal of something to be able to do that. And I think that something has to be passion.
Now...I guess I always knew that people had their passions...but I never knew just how powerful a concept passion really was. We have here something that drives people to examine the most intricate and almost irrelevant knowledge to a subject that many would be surprised even existed. There are entire bodies of work devoted to riverbank erosion on the Bangladesh delta, the social construction of nationalism, the way we structure identity online. Each area has hundreds of texts, several books, and endless discussions between a number of academics.
Suddenly I could see and explore the results of incredibly passionate people and I understood just what a powerful force passion can be.
Though it took academic passion to make me realise what passion can be, I now acknowledge that it is not the only form of passion, and all forms are just as likely to result in wonderful things - be it on a personal relationship level, or on a global knowledge level. This year I have met people this year who are incredibly passionate about the natural environment - taking great strides to change the perceptions of the greater population. I have made friends with people who are passionate about music and the power it has to bring people together. I have been taught by someone who knows more about Vietnamese culture than the probable majority of the Vietnamese.
These are people are individuals who can change the way other people relate to each other. They have the power to inspire change within one's self, one's community, or between people. Passion empowers the individual.
The naughties have given me a solid foundation upon which to construct my future.
And the last year of this decade has shown me the way to move forward into the next decade.
And so I set myself not a new year's resolution, but rather a new decade's resolution.
I will find my passion.
And I will empower myself with the ability to effect change.
And I promise that I will also learn to write these yearly recounts in a way that won't sound so ridiculous. =)
To my friends, family, and valued readers I send my love and best wishes as you welcome in the new decade (to those that don’t fit those categories I also offer my best wishes. But you’ll have to work for the love.=) )
More and more often I am hearing the terms "real life" and "real world" in conversation. It might not be that there is an real increased use of these terms, but learning this year has been starting to train me in doing a double take on terms like this - so I guess I'm just learning to notice it more.
Whenever I hear "real life" or "real world" I almost have to stop and question what the person is actually referring to when they say this. Why indeed do we feel the need to have "real life" as a term? And indeed, what is this "real life" everyone is going on about?
I have decided of late that I do not like the term "real life" or "real world".
Now I'm going to place some boundaries on the particular usage of "real life" and/or "real world" that I will be covering in this entry. I am going to be discussing this term in relation to the divide between interactions within "cyberspace" and interactions located within geographical space, or tangible physically existent space.
The usage of the terms generally implies a kind of divide between virtual worlds and the physical world. The term can be used to devalue interaction in web based mediums, used with disdain for people who interact with people on the net who have never met in "real life". But it doesn't necessarily have to be used with malice, it can be used just in passing. It is a common part of our everyday speech. But it is a loaded part of our speech - it comes with a series of assumptions that we make about the internet that I fear we do not stop to question.
I guess we have to ask ourselves what we deem to be real. I think we can all agree that the monitor you are reading this through is real. You can see it, you can touch it, you can relocate it, you can physically interact with it. Same as your mouse, keyboard, phone, bed, etc etc. I would suspect that many of your friends you would view as real. They exist, you can touch them, speak with them, see them with your eyes, you can interact with them as if they are objects located physically around you.
So anything that you can touch, see, smell, hear, taste is real, yeah?
Now I'm going to move into the slightly more abstract. Are your emotions real? Is love, jealousy, happiness, sadness and anger, real? Even though you cannot feel them through your senses, they are something that is there, something that is real.
Again, I would suspect yes, though feel free to disagree.
Having accounted for that...I have a proposition for you, my dear readers. I propose that cyberspace, although not physically tangible is a valid means to experience a certain kind of life. This type of life, I would argue, is no less real to those experiencing it than those who are of the opinion that real life is mostly or only present in the physical world.
Alas, I cannot touch the person on the other end of my MSN conversation, nor can I smell or taste them. But these days I can see and hear them. They are real people, my conversations actually happen, and the consequences of these interactions spill over into my face to face interactions. Same with Facebook - the interactions has on that website affect people in a very real way. Some would argue that social networking has led to suicide - one of the most real consequences of cyberspace.
"What about more anonymous interactions?" Many would now seek to argue. "What about World of Warcraft, that's not a real world, that's make believe."
Alas, I would also argue that online gaming is very much a real world. What is not real about interacting with other humans in an imagined world. Children do it all the time, in fact they are encouraged to (On a side note, if you are interested in childrens' interactions with cyberspace this blog entry is good). They play in imagined worlds, pretending to be something/someone else. This is much of what online gaming is - playing in an imagined world. You can feel anger at interactions, you can make friends who are not physically tangible, but are very real in the sense of how they make you feel.
Furthermore I would argue that by continuing to employ a discourse that implies a segregation between cyberspace and the physical world we continue to adopt a blind eye to the social problems that go had in hand with the reality of web based experiences.
I think recognition of cyberspace as an environment that is very real in both its interactions and its consequences is vital toward encouraging open and frank discussions about how to deal with social problems like cyberbullying. This, combined with an education of parents, teachers and academics of how social interactions occur in cyberspace, should provide us with the foundation to understand how cyberspace has changed the dimensions of social life forever, and what this means for society.
I shall leave you with a theory from William Isaac Thomas, famous American sociologist:
"If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"
I know that many of my readers will be having a hectic time with study at the moment so I figured that I would upload a bit of a fun story. It's one that I wrote about this time last year. I'm very fond of it, but it isn't one that has seen much exposure to an audience.
So please, take a little bit of time out of your academic musings and enjoy an easy read =)
Christopher.
***
The cow perched precariously on the edge of the cliff, entirely unsure as to how she came to be in this curious predicament. She gazed down cautiously, her jaw slowly chewing the gourmet cud she had just regurgitated. Blinking slowly, she decided to take a small step into the emptiness before her, just to see whether she wanted to continue walking. The cliff crumbled slightly, a dozen or so pebbles violently made their way down the exposed face of the cliff. The cow decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea, and took a few steps backwards into a wall of rock rising behind her. She kept chewing. The cow glanced to her left, eyeing a juicy clump of grass growing out of the rocky platform she had found herself balanced on. She turned herself to face it and, deciding that it was best to take a bite, swallowed her cud.
A harsh wind swept up the cliff. The cow took the delicious-looking clump to her mouth, and tugged gently. It didn’t budge. The cow tugged a little harder. It didn’t budge. She made sure her feet were planted solidly into the rocky platform, and took the clump into her mouth once more. Taking a deep breath she heaved her neck and body, her solidly planted legs giving her leverage. The grass didn’t budge. She let go, letting out a slightly defeated, yet still defiant, moo. The cow plonked herself onto the hard ground, staring intently at the stubborn tuft and imagining its juicy green goodness in her mouth. She hacked up her cud once more. Chewing cautiously, she tilted her head sideways in a thoughtful gaze, and a few moments later she rose again seemingly energised by a new idea.
The cow took a few steps over to the tuft, swallowed her cud, shook herself slightly, and began to furiously kick the hard rock that stood between her and her lunch. Her hard hooves sent chips of rocks flying down the cliff, going the same way as their previous brethren and tantalisingly exposing more of the delicious greenness. A few moments later the cow stopped, panting from her efforts. She bent her head, closely examining her hoof-work. The cow opened her mouth, enveloping the tuft in her moist cheeks. She braced herself once more, and heaved. The grass didn’t budge. Furiously she belted a series of aggressive moos at the stubborn plant while kicking angrily at the sheet of rock behind her. Throwing herself to the ground, she loudly hacked up her cud, and began to chew angrily, resuming her brainstorming.
The cow looked around the rocky platform she perched upon, searching for something that could possibly help her. Her wandering gaze focussed, suddenly, upon a patch of sand wedged amongst a couple of larger rocks. Poking its head out from this patch was the tip of a worn looking piece of rope. She glanced at the shelf of rock rising behind her, noting a rocky protrusion. The cow once again rose, the anger that previously flowed through her replaced by excitement. She grabbed the rope and pulled it from its sandy bed and, in some unlikely and just plain astounding movements of her mouth, managed to tie it tightly onto the stalk of the grassy tuft. Abandoning the tied end of the rope, she gathered the other end into her cheeks, and shuffled over to the face of rock behind her. She looped the rope around the previously noted protrusion, creating a simple pulley system. The cow, for the third time, dug her hooves into the ground, braced herself, and heaved on the rope with all the weight she could muster. The tuft flew out of the rocky enclosure it called home. The cow swallowed her cud in surprise and stumbled backwards into nothingness.
The cow was falling but letting out an ecstatic moo for the world to hear. The tuft - still attached to the rope, still attached to her mouth, fell with her. As she fell she began to pull the rope with her mouth, bringing the tuft closer toward her toward her. When the knot that attached the rope and tuft reached her, she freed the juicy green goodness with a few deft movements of the tongue and let the rope fall away. She closed her eyes, letting the juices of the stubborn tuft flow over tongue, enjoying the fruit of her labour. She reached the end of her drop, hitting her head on the rock of a platform that caught her. She swallowed the grass at the suddenness of it, and decided to lose consciousness.
The cow perched precariously on the edge of the cliff, entirely unsure as to how she came to be in this curious predicament. She gazed down cautiously, her jaw slowly chewing the gourmet cud she had just regurgitated. Blinking slowly she decided to take a small step into the emptiness before her, just to see whether she wanted to continue walking. The cliff crumbled slightly, a dozen or so pebbles violently made their way down the exposed face of the cliff. The cow decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea, and took a few steps backwards into a wall of rock rising behind her. She kept chewing. The cow glanced to her left, eyeing a juicy clump of grass growing out of the rocky platform she had found herself balanced on. She turned herself to face it and, deciding that it was best she took a bite, swallowed her cud.
A harsh wind swept up the cliff. The cow took the delicious-looking clump to her mouth, and tugged gently.
Previous posts, and comments relating to them, have led me to reinforce the following point.
The following character is NOT me. The following character is fictitious, and though unavoidably based within my experiences, education and thoughts, should be read without the author at the forefront of your minds.
With love and apologies to any fellow social science students reading this. Writing happens to be an excellent way to cement new ideas. =)
Christopher.
***
You can always see those images of urban life on the TV. You know the type. The panning image of a metropolis skyline. The montage of busy streets, people dodging other people, rushing to and from. The jamming of city streets, impatient drivers leaning on horns. It's an organised mess of noise and interaction. A vast nest of networks, ever more complex as we march further and further into the information age.
These images that are designed to depersonalise city life, destroy individuality, and comment on the society that so many of us are a part of. Society that has conditioned us to believe that we are individuals anyway. That we can do what we like, when we like, how we like, and who we like. And I suppose that's true. We like to think we have choice - that we can go where we like. But there are so many forces outside of the individual, forces that constantly mould and shape our so called individuality. We can't go to the shops on December 25. We have to wear clothes, or run the risk of losing our freedom. Our unique sense of style is dictated by the whims of designers, the limits of technology, and whether we are really able to afford it. Those who strive to be different, try to separate themselves from the crowd, always end up doing it in the same way as every other person who thinks like that.
But so what?
The individual might just be a myth, in fact, I'm fairly certain that it is.
Maybe humanity is only valid as a collective.
And if it is, I think that it is something that even if we wanted to change it, we couldn't.
Love is an emotion that many would say is a fundamental of the human condition. But is it just a socially constructed state of mind? An unavoidable social fact, instilled into us from our birth to our death? The basis of all those Disney movies you grew up with, the institution of marriage, the world's greatest literature.
What about attraction? Is it as romantic as we would like it to be? Or merely a primal instinct, an evolutionary trait in order to ensure perhaps the only common goal of all life - reproduction.
But are these thoughts even relevant? Does it matter whether all our thoughts and emotions are moulded in ways that we don't even realise by society's subtle tendrils?
Time, I think, would perhaps be better spent not dwelling, moping, and wondering about the state we are in, the society that we could be. Time would be better spent embracing that society has allowed ourselves to believe that we are individuals, and no matter how thinly veiled this is, it doesn't change the way we have be bought up to feel.
And thus, this story is the experience of an individual - it is not a series of words dreamed up by the collective. And though I draw my words from thoughts already well pondered, from emotions almost unanimously experienced, the lens through which they are expressed is that of an individual. And though the lens is almost entirely moulded by outside forces, it is this moulding that has allowed the lens to belong to an individual.
And so I seek to personalise that urban montage. I want to zoom in on an entirely personal interaction between two people.
The interaction is unspoken. It is so subtle, fleeting and so personal that the event goes entirely unnoticed by the milling crowds. It is not part of the collective. But an experience shared by two individuals.
It was always a surprise when she appeared. A shock. She was sitting on bench, conveniently located to take a rest from the bustling city centre, surrounded by what he assumed were her friends. He hadn't seen them before. They looked happy. But was that a glimmer of sadness on her face between laughs? He doubted it. He was trying to see what he wished he could see. A glimmer that maybe he was still part of her. But it was only laughter and the glint of teeth that reached his searching gaze.
She looked up at that moment. Him, caught in a ponderous moment. Her, taken by surprise. Her smile slid from her cheeks. Adrenaline surged. Fight or flight - heartbeat jumping the gun. He broke eye contact, and walked away – short of breath -wondering why he couldn’t stand to face her.
She returned her gaze to her friends. They’d not noticed her distraction. The grin returned to her face. Though noticeably more forced. She glanced toward his retreating back, but he had already been engulfed, back into the milling crowds.
Well - having just previously blogged on something that was a breaking news story, I have some closure related to the previous entry.
Firstly, happily, Kyle Sandilands has lost his job at Channel Ten judging Australian Idol after the aforementioned radio controversy.
Secondly, as I mentioned on the end of the previous entry - the PM did condemn the incident.
Thirdly, there has been a reaction to the incident from advertisers - with many reviewing their choice to advertise with the station, including large companies like Optus.
Fourthly, Kyle and Jackie-O's morning show has been taken off the air, pending a review.
So there you go - I think the reaction is much more suitable now.
***
In other news...
It occurs to me that many of my readers use the email subscription service this page operates. The advantage to this is that you get sent new entry as they are published.
The the disadvantage, and this has just occurred to me, is rather embarrassing. For you see, my editing process is highly unprofessional. I do a quick edit first, followed by a soft publish, assuming that no one will read it until I have been able to make sure that all the grammar, spelling and formatting is correct. I find it much easier to do my editing seeing the entry on the page, rather than in the box that Blogger provides me.
I imagine that this means that you get sent an unedited version of all my entries. For which I apologise profusely for. I do not ever intend to subject anyone to grammar and spelling that atrocious.
I also apologise if you get sent the entry multiple times, as I edit the entry multiple times before I advertise it as "published". Please let me know if this is the case.
I will review my editing process from now on, in the hope that all my readers get a slightly more professional final product.
Being fourteen wasn't particularly fun. In year eight I was fourteen. I stand by year eight being the single worst year in high school. Behaviour was atrocious all round, severe bullying was at its peak, and many people were seeking to cement the highest place possible in the unforgiving high school social ladder.
And no doubt there is also some crazy stuff going on with hormones (as scientists so often tell us in order to make excuses for teenage rattyness).
Now what does being fourteen have to do with anything? Well - anyone who has been connected to media sources in the last 24 hours will have noticed a bit of an uproar over a Kyle (urgh. big surprise) and Jackie-O radio segment aired on Wednesday.
I'm going to give you some "facts" (or at least, as fact as possible - having been reported by both ABC, and seemingly confirmed by listening to the radio segment in question) about this case, and then I am going to ask you to watch the YouTube "video" (it's actually just audio) below.
We have the Kyle and Jackie morning show. For those who are unaware I disdain Kyle Sandilands - just so you know where my personal bias lies.
We have a child aged fourteen come onto an "entertainment" show to be questioned about her sexual activity and drug use.
We have aforementioned child hooked up to a lie detector.
We have a mother who has granted permission to have her child on the show, granted permission to have the child hooked up to a lie detector, and has bought to the show a series of questions that she wishes to ask her daughter.
We what we are left with is a fourteen year old girl who has been raped, and pushed into publicly admitting it on air. Now lets make the assumption that this was not fabricated by the mother and daughter as a publicity stunt (and if it turns out later on that it is, I'm going to be even angrier than I am now).
Now - I'll let this out nice and early in the piece. I think that this entire segment in nearly every way is absolutely, and undeniably, disgusting.
Listen to the introduction to the segment, after having listened to the entire interview. Ms Jackie O - our seemingly mature and caring presenter, introduced the segment laughing while saying "she's [the girl in question] not happy".
And then all the girl can answer when asked "How are you?":
"I'm scared." And apparently the lie detector confirmed this.
"It wouldn't be fair on any child," is Jackie's response.
No. It wouldn't. Shame you didn't stop it right there.
This is a live radio segment, broadcast on a morning show - the prime time of radio - entirely devoted to questioning a minor about illegal activities she may have been a part of. Let's not forget that fourteen is under the age of sexual consent (I'm not 100% sure on the legalities surrounding this issue, so I may be wrong in assuming that the activity is against the law) and that she has already - apparently - admitted to smoking an illicit substance.
Thus, I think I can safely say that the idea of the segment to start with was in questionable, if not appalling taste. I believe that the broadcaster (2day FM) should be ashamed that this even got past an approval stage.
I also believe that the two presenters have a lot to answer for. Jackie-O redeemed herself slightly by being the "mature" voice after the revelation that this child had been raped (no doubt the producers would have been going nuts in the studio signaling them both to cut it...so we can't assume that she did this of her own accord). But I think Kyle's fantastic response was pure radio gold (oh please, please note the sarcasm):
Child: "Uh um, okay, I got raped when I was 12 years old!" *silence* Kyle (in his defense, somewhat uncertainly): "Right...and is that the uh...only experience you've had?"
That, my dear readers, is why I dislike Kyle Sandilands: "sweet, you got raped, that's kinda interesting, but really, we don't care about that, we just want to know, you know, if you've had sex?"
An apology is not good enough here. There needs to be accountability within the commercial radio business. There needs to be some responsibility taken
Many of you will remember the recent sketch aired on television show: the Chaser's War on Everything. Best summed up by the following news extract:
The 'Make a 'realistic' Wish Foundation' skit purported to be from a foundation which "helps thousands of kids to lower their extravagance and selfishness".
The skit signed off with the line: "Why go to any trouble when they're only going to die anyway?"
This skit was slammed in the media, and the following day Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the Chaser team, the following day, to "hang [their] heads in shame". The show was taken off air for two weeks, and as I understand it a member of the approval team was demoted for letting the skit go to air (apologies - I cannot recall the source).
Now this is a sketch that asked a very difficult and serious question, masked with very black comedy. We make donations to the Make-a-Wish foundation without second though - I entirely support the work they do, and gladly donate. What the Chaser team did - earning them a huge slap in the face from the Australian public - was ask the question "why do we donate to sick kids who have grown up in a very wealthy country, with a generally high standard of living?"
I think it's a very valid social observation, highly unnecessary and pretty distasteful, but definitely valid.
So why did I bring this up?
Well - it has some to my attention that there is a hideous inequality with the reaction to these two incidents.
We have here a radio station who has aired a segment that from the very word go, disregarded societal values, morals, and ethics, all in pursuit of listeners and, ultimately, more money from advertisers. In the process a young girl - not an actor (I hope...) - has had to reveal to the nation that she has experienced sexual assault at the devastating age of twelve.
2day FM should review its approval processes. Editors and producers who did approve the segment should be reprimanded severely, and I wouldn't say no to firing Kyle and Jackie O (but then, I would have liked that regardless of this incident, and sadly, I don't believe that this is enough for them to lose their jobs over).
I would love to see the broadcaster donate any profit raised from advertising during the show to go to organisations supporting rape victims. I would also like to see the two presenters donate their wages earned from the show to the same organisations. And I would love to see the same condemnation that our dear Prime Minister directed toward the Chaser boys to also be directed to Kyle, Jackie-O and 2day FM, because this story, in my humble teenage opinion, is far more disgusting and insulting than the Chasers team have ever been.
On perhaps a lighter note - it is fantastic that the girl in question is receivingcounselling, and that 2day FM has offered to foot the bill. Hopefully it will shine a spot light onto the issue of rape - indeed rape involving people as young as twelve - and spark a national discussion. But at the expensive of a public confession, with possible untold psychological damage? That's a tough call to make.
There are so many more dimensions to this issue that I have barely touched upon, and I am aware of this. Please, feel free to comment any criticism, alternative views, additional information, or just an addition to the above commentary.
EDIT@ 7:15pm 31 July 2009 A reader has just bought the following article to my attention: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25860085-5012974,00.html
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd last night joined a chorus of community leaders speaking out against the "humiliation" and "abuse" of a 14-year-old girl during a controversial stunt on The Kyle And Jackie O Show.
I apologise for missing this originally. I did perform a search of the ABC news website (a source which I trust a little more highly than the Herald Sun :P) and did not find any mention of Rudd in regards to this issue.
I may not know anything about everything. But I know something about somethings.
These writings - the past writings, the future writings, and the writings of the Present Tense - are about me and the way I see my world.
And so I seek to show you all, dear Readers, my world. And through that, perhaps, I seek to offer you an insight into your world.
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