Where to start?

 

Where do I start? Consider this as tipping my head out because it is one way to cope with increasing Covid infections and electioneering.

Two weeks of this election campaign to go and shall we survive? Yes, yes we shall. If you go to the source,  you generally get good information which is helpful and enlightening. If you  only pay attention to the campaign, then there is a lot to be concerned about. Smiling family photos somehow equal good government. Really? Have you looked at the facts and what has or has not been achieved? Too many  media people  are playing daft games and thinking they are stealing the limelight and the campaign narrative. The lack of thought and literacy in some of them is embarrassing and not worthy of us. Baffling why any public platform finds it acceptable . Candidate corflutes have been removed, damaged , defaced and remastered to the extend some independents have been recreated as Greens candidates. Is that because the people doing it think Greens are a liability.? I do wonder what goes on in some people's heads when they get up in the morning. And why would they actually print and distribute false signs? So much wrong with these false campaign corflutes and the vandalism. AEC is investigating it. Pity they have had to put up with some people thinking they are not. Whoever is behind this misrepresentation of candidates needs to be established and dealt with. It is awful. 

Our coronavirus infections are escalating and the deaths as well. We are not getting enough people vaccinated and boosted. We are not getting enough people tested. If you are sick with covid and vomiting or have an upset stomach, testing would be hard. Some are thinking , why bother and just carrying on. Masks are being abandoned and that is irrational because they stop the spread! Sanitising stops the spread. Social distancing stops the spread. It simply is not logical to think this is not a problem when our numbers are going up and up. We have no leadership in this matter other than some medical people who keep trying to put sensible messages out on social media.

Then we have our medical system. It is hard to get a doctor's appointment if you have suspected covid. Some doctors don't seem to want to know you or your child. So you ring the covid helpline and get told to go to emergency and emergency isn't the place. You need a proper consultation if you have a child with a fever, vomiting and not eating and drinking for more than a day. There are adults who can't get proper consultations. I accept clinics want to keep themselves safe. RATs can come up negative even though you have symptoms on the Covid  list. We need to know. This is not going away. We keep supplying hosts. Maybe we need a possibly covid clinic  so people with covid symptoms can get timely and effective help. No one wants to go to emergency but how can they get proper medical advice if there is no one to see? It is especially important for older people and young children. 

We have no leadership and we need it. Two more weeks of things being as they feel like being with these negative undercurrents means we shall grow weary. We need direction. 

Mainstream media miasma

Image : Janeh15

 What a crashingly unspectacular week it has been for our 2022 election campaign. Media have focused on trivia and tripe. Social media have allowed politicians to speak with us directly  , if they wish , and at least you get the information from the horse's mouth. Twitter has largely swirled the morning bait from the msm sources and pictures and thoughts have been repeated incessantly. If you want a break from that you have to go off on a foraging journey to try and find some good information. Many candidates are new. We need to know more about them. One, in particular, has been high profile this week and it has been too much unpleasant  information. The leader of the opposition didn't know a figure, which was then labelled a gaffe on msm , which was cleverly rebuffed by Green's leader : Google it! But it came back again as a gaffe. They are stuck in a groove and capable of redescribing reality, splicing videos to clean them up, insulting the public and , no, I won't go on. It is uninspiringly dull. Swill. Dirty dishwater. We used to have good election coverage and we used to be able to get a good understanding of candidates and issues. By now, we know LNP  government exceedingly well and we know what the issues are but we are not allowed to talk about them. We are not the only country where mainstream media is driving the general populace mad. Some just get information from social media. Some just tune out as I have said before. Meanwhile , our mainstream media is locked into an alternate reality which is doing it harm. Is it a play to get rid of it? Shall we all then be on Tik Tok, Twitter and Facebook and those sorts of sites? In many ways , throw Twitter a problem and by the end of the day there are many views and solutions. It is a good way to problem solve. Mainstream media and our federal government throw out the bait in the morning and it can often backfire spectacularly but sometimes it just depresses people. Not a good use of an aggregate of well informed, motivated people. Media shouldn't dull the senses and thoughts, especially at election time. Mindless repetition can drive people crazy. And the point is? 

Our media is narrowly owned. We have some good independent sources of news but they need more funding. They are worthwhile and keep us on the ball. AIM has published an article which is well researched and well argued so we can understand the benefits of a broad range of media. Right now we have bland and nothing everywhere. Same message and it is stifling the airways. We need to open up and let the fresh air in and the new ideas with it.