wendybr Posted August 13, 2020 Author Share Posted August 13, 2020 10 minutes ago, mack said: It's hardly a new problem. Thatcher the evil witch believed "there is no society" in order to justify the moral emptiness of her horrendously destructive ideology of privatisation, smashing workers rights & organised labour and redistribution of wealth to the very top while slashing services & support for the lowest of citizens. You could be right, but surely it must be a fairly new phenomenon for many to assert their individual rights above those of their community. It is anti survival, I would have thought. sonar and EmMac 2 Link to comment
MartinTyler Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 1 hour ago, mack said: It's hardly a new problem. Thatcher the evil witch believed "there is no society" in order to justify the moral emptiness of her horrendously destructive ideology of privatisation, smashing workers rights & organised labour and redistribution of wealth to the very top while slashing services & support for the lowest of citizens. Whilst I wouldn't say that Thatcher was the reason for us emigrating, living through the Thatcher era certainly made our decision easier !! wendybr, Carns, StringerBellend and 3 others 6 Link to comment
StringerBellend Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, MartinTyler said: Whilst I wouldn't say that Thatcher was the reason for us emigrating, living through the Thatcher era certainly made our decision easier !! My family emigrated due to the impacts of Thatcher, it wasn’t a political protest it was we have three boys and there are no jobs in Liverpool, the city is being left to rot https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/dec/30/thatcher-government-liverpool-riots-1981 The yanks didn’t invent this just as they didn’t invent punk sonar, EmMac, mack and 3 others 6 Link to comment
StringerBellend Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 1 hour ago, wendybr said: You could be right, but surely it must be a fairly new phenomenon for many to assert their individual rights above those of their community. It is anti survival, I would have thought. Nothing new it’s Thatcher again They see it as survival of the fittest mack and sonar 2 Link to comment
pseudonym Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 I'd say that individualistic streak has been there for a while Barry Goldwater, Ayn Rand, Reagan EmMac and wendybr 2 Link to comment
wendybr Posted August 13, 2020 Author Share Posted August 13, 2020 5 hours ago, StringerBellend said: Nothing new it’s Thatcher again They see it as survival of the fittest Yes....I know one side of politics asserts that sort of mentality. But, I'm talking about at the level of the ordinary person, with many citizens simply asserting that their individual rights outweigh the overall good of the community. Eg with protests against wearing masks, refusal to stay at home instead of socialising, during a pandemic etc. Surely, societies haven't ever celebrated individual entitlement above the greater good? EmMac 1 Link to comment
StringerBellend Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 6 hours ago, wendybr said: Yes....I know one side of politics asserts that sort of mentality. But, I'm talking about at the level of the ordinary person, with many citizens simply asserting that their individual rights outweigh the overall good of the community. Eg with protests against wearing masks, refusal to stay at home instead of socialising, during a pandemic etc. Surely, societies haven't ever celebrated individual entitlement above the greater good? I get what you are saying and yes it is different now in the Facebook, Insta era of narcissism. Also social media gives all the nutters a platform. Trump is the first Twitter President etc. So I agree that the level or at least the visibility of it is different, I guess the style is different but the substance is the same. But we have always had anti vaxxers for all example, people have voted down selfish what’s in it for me lines ever since I can remember. Your mate is just Miranda Devine with a MacBook Pro (sorry had to put that in) I don’t think it’s really new just presented differently as for ”Surely, societies haven't ever celebrated individual entitlement above the greater good?” Thatcher was individual entitlement over the greater good, and she got in for three terms Link to comment
marron Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 The bigger gap now I think is the point at which people seem to genuinely believe that some level of greater good is not going to help their individual situation. And of course the belief that in a dog eat dog world they will not get eaten themselves. wendybr 1 Link to comment
EmMac Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 On 13/08/2020 at 7:14 PM, pseudonym said: I'd say that individualistic streak has been there for a while Barry Goldwater, Ayn Rand, Reagan Yes more Ayn Rand libertarian, than Thatcherism in my mind. wendybr 1 Link to comment
Midfielder Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 On 08/08/2020 at 9:16 PM, wendybr said: Brilliant... https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/covid-19-end-of-american-era-wade-davis-1038206/ Words fail me .... one of the best things I have read recently... sadly I doubt it will be widely read... EmMac and wendybr 2 Link to comment
Carns Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 Tory ****s. sonar, Smoggy, wendybr and 1 other 4 Link to comment
StringerBellend Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 4 minutes ago, Carns said: Tory ****s. People vote the ***** though, I'll never understand working class Tory voters Carns, wendybr, Smoggy and 1 other 4 Link to comment
marron Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Without knowing anything about it, I wonder how different it is to the moderation that occurs here on HSC exams. I mean, the moderation is done without knowing what type of school a paper has come from, but, it still effectively does a similar thing; if a kid in a **** school does really well, they will be brought down by the rest of their cohort due to that moderation (and vice versa). Advantaged kids - kids with access to more resources etc in private schools, or kids in selective schools, therefore get a leg up in terms of their marks. Carns 1 Link to comment
Unlimited Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 On 16/08/2020 at 12:32 PM, marron said: Without knowing anything about it, I wonder how different it is to the moderation that occurs here on HSC exams. I mean, the moderation is done without knowing what type of school a paper has come from, but, it still effectively does a similar thing; if a kid in a **** school does really well, they will be brought down by the rest of their cohort due to that moderation (and vice versa). Advantaged kids - kids with access to more resources etc in private schools, or kids in selective schools, therefore get a leg up in terms of their marks. I actually think the moderation is quite fair in the HSC From what I remember it to be, it basically matched the bottom mark and the top mark of the actual HSC exam to the bottom placed and top ranked student in the class, and then depending on how everyone else went in relation to them, distributes marks within that range. I can’t speak for how they do it in Britain but that HSC system is pretty fair in my eyes (I could be convinced otherwise). It essentially standardises all marks to compare students in schools who give everyone ridiculously hard exams and other schools who asked 1+1 in the maths exam. I think the key problem with going to a “crap” school is that your peers won’t push you to really excel. If you can wipe the floor with everyone without even trying, it’s very hard to gauge how you’ll go if now you’re doing a standardised HSC exam up against people you haven’t even met. Link to comment
StringerBellend Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 3 hours ago, Unlimited said: I actually think the moderation is quite fair in the HSC From what I remember it to be, it basically matched the bottom mark and the top mark of the actual HSC exam to the bottom placed and top ranked student in the class, and then depending on how everyone else went in relation to them, distributes marks within that range. I can’t speak for how they do it in Britain but that HSC system is pretty fair in my eyes (I could be convinced otherwise). It essentially standardises all marks to compare students in schools who give everyone ridiculously hard exams and other schools who asked 1+1 in the maths exam. I think the key problem with going to a “crap” school is that your peers won’t push you to really excel. If you can wipe the floor with everyone without even trying, it’s very hard to gauge how you’ll go if now you’re doing a standardised HSC exam up against people you haven’t even met. I had a similar thought to @marron and I think the UK algorithm is similar in some ways to what we have here in that it favours the “better” schools (read private and selective). But the UK algorithm is based of past school performances as opposed to the current years standardised tests on the “crap” schools, being pushed might be one factor but It’s far from the only one or main one wendybr 1 Link to comment
Unlimited Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 31 minutes ago, StringerBellend said: I had a similar thought to @marron and I think the UK algorithm is similar in some ways to what we have here in that it favours the “better” schools (read private and selective). But the UK algorithm is based of past school performances as opposed to the current years standardised tests on the “crap” schools, being pushed might be one factor but It’s far from the only one or main one Oh that is super dodgy, I'd be furious if that got applied. The year above mine was full of, let's call them, "non-academically inclined" sorts And yeah there are other factors as well for "crap" schools, like resources, teachers, and also quality of other students (such as selective schools basically cherry picking the good ones). Course selection and availability is also important, for instance, I had to choose between a subject and joining my school's cricket team actually. I know other students moved schools to get certain subjects that their previous school didn't even offer. wendybr and EmMac 2 Link to comment
Smoggy Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) Pedantic I know but just a reminder kids in the UK leave school at 15/16. There were no schools around my area that offered a continuation to A Levels post what you would consider year 10 school certificate, I think there are a few now but not many. Still seems strange to me that you have kids up to 18 years of age walking around a school ground in uniform. School was over for me at 15 and was the same for all of my friends. To go on to an A Level at college in any given subject you had to get grade A - C in that subject at GCSE, or perhaps you could do a entrance exam, certainly not a given that all kids would get on an A Level. It was never something that I viewed as being possible, many from my 'area' didn't. Imagine only being allowed to advance to the HSC years 11 and 12 based on ability and being kicked out in year 10 if considered not up to it. A Levels are 2 years and you had to pass exams to advance to the second year also. As the GCSE's (year 10) results have not been released as yet I assume the fuss is over the A Levels. Edited August 17, 2020 by Smoggy wendybr and EmMac 2 Link to comment
Carns Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 EmMac, MartinTyler and marron 3 Link to comment
MartinTyler Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I had to laugh earlier this morning when I heard Trump announce that he didn't want the US to experience the 'surge' in Covid cases like New Zealand has had recently. Sithslayer1991, Neverbloom, Unlimited and 4 others 7 Link to comment
Neverbloom Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 On 18/08/2020 at 12:57 PM, MartinTyler said: I had to laugh earlier this morning when I heard Trump announce that he didn't want the US to experience the 'surge' in Covid cases like New Zealand has had recently. trump is a top class comedian, he is so dedicated to his craft and so dedicated to the parody persona he has created for himself wendybr and MartinTyler 1 1 Link to comment
Paul01 Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Add to add more infantile Trump tweets in capital letters Kamala Harris accepted her nomination and Barack Obama attacked Donald Trump on day 3 of the Democratic National Convention http://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-20/kamala-harris-barack-obama-speak-at-dnc-day-3/12577286 sonar 1 Link to comment
Davo Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Looks like the Trump campaign strategy of attacking Biden’s mental state may have backfired. If you believe them then Biden is a dribbling idiot who can’t string a sentence together, but all that did was lower the bar so far that now anything more substantial than “person woman man camera tv” makes him look like a genius. wendybr and EmMac 1 1 Link to comment
wendybr Posted August 21, 2020 Author Share Posted August 21, 2020 It was a great speech! Must have damn good speech writers, obviously, and he can clearly still read. sonar 1 Link to comment
wendybr Posted August 21, 2020 Author Share Posted August 21, 2020 Analysis: Australia has a strategic blind spot — and it could come back to bite us http://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-22/china-russia-relationship-australia-strategic-blind-spot/12582356 Link to comment
wendybr Posted August 26, 2020 Author Share Posted August 26, 2020 ^^^What can you say to that? Neverbloom 1 Link to comment
Neverbloom Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 you cant have poor being dying with dignity, who gave them a right to dignity ever? seriously though i am still not sure how to argue with that, dont know where to start Link to comment
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