Bored

The Labor party looks set to hang onto Western Australia.

I do not know why I care about this, I can't justify making a special trip to the computer to be updated. All I know is that the Liberal candidate wants to funnel water from the Kimberlys, presumably to fill up the water cannons he wants to use against youth.

While I'm here I might run off some things of a positive nature, to balance things out a little.

More simple pleasures:

-I've never found a bad word to say against whiskey, nor will I hear a word against it. It is magical stuff.

-I like the sound of pnuematic drills echoing off garage walls. It denotes that the operator of the drill is doing something useful and industrious, and is therefore contributing to our great society.
-I've just found a new book store I like, if only for the wood panelled old timey atmosphere. Imprints on Hindley Street. It is partly owned by the pillow biting Greg Mackie who once ran for mayor of Adelaide and had his promotional material in the window of Resistance. Needless to say I'm pleased he got a whuppin' in the mayor's race, but I do commend him for running a capital book store.

That will do for now.

Pictures of this could sell SUVs

A camping trip provides a rich source of fodder for advertising copy.

Many photographs of beautiful, wild nature; many flowery descriptions of same.

I contemplated this as I sat in my own filth, trying to prevent bees from flying into my beer.

"Lexus RX330, now standard with parasitic stinging insects"

Pictures of glorious sunlight bouncing off the sandy beach and playfully consorting with the caps of little rockpool ripples are highly appealing. Pictures of the peeling skin on my back are less so.

I took a morning trip to the beach on a day when the ocean was angry. The bottle of Jack Daniel's in my hand was admirably fulfilling the sole purpose for which it had been bought. I wanted to drink whiskey on a rock while facing the waves and braving the wind and I did so. This was exactly how I imagined, with no disappointment whatsoever.

Camping is a supremely enjoyable activity, and is well worth the the irritation and discomfort.

I wish Osama bin Laden was materialistic

Osama bin Laden was a very, very wealthy man. A very wealthy criminal man. These are not uncommon; many people get rich from illegal activity, then they spend their cash chilling out. Osama is different. The bin Laden family amassed their fortune through relatively legitimate construction contracts with the Saudi Government. Doubtless the odd sum changed hands to guarantee winning tenders from the royal family, but nothing to worry too much about. After inheriting this cash, Osama then went to work financing acts of murder.

Wouldn't it have been better if he had done what Colombian drug lords did? Find a nice little island in the Carribean, buy it from a banana republic and turn it into a paradise of cocaine, cock-fighting and hookers.

Just imagine, little bearded man- a one stop shop for drug abuse, gambling and fornication. That's better than living in a cave with a bunch of pungent, illiterate goat herders now isn't it?

The reason why Mr bin Laden elected not to take this path is ideology. His particular brand being a rather repellant variety of religious fundamentalism. This leads me to the belief that ideology in general may be flawed.

Ideology

n 1: an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation [syn: political orientation, political theory] 2: imaginary or visionary theorization

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

This definition taken to its full conclusion implies a belief system that visualises a perfect society.
Lets hold self evident the fact that visions of perfection differ from one person to the next, from one country to the next and so on, thus creating massive and frequently realised potential for blood letting.

Consider instead the affect this has on the way people form opinions and conduct themselves. All people have points of view that are naturally skewed, as a result of education, upbringing, etc. What ideology does is take this naturally skewed point of view and supplements it with a deliberate and artificial dogma. The more idealistic a person is, the more their opinion is skewed, the less they are able to see things as they are.

I was recently discussing abortion with a feminist who believed that the arguments against abortion are driven by misogyny. She believed that the entire "No" position was supported by men who did not want to surrender their control of a woman's body, e.g "I put it there, you're going to keep it there, bitch"

I said that- while I was sure those opinions did exist, I believed that the "No" position was about the preservation of life at any cost. While I disagreed with this position, I did not believe it to have a sinister motivation.

She was about as receptive as a block of concrete.

The worst cases of ideology occur when a young person starts to build inflexible political or religious beliefs. Either philosphical direction comes with a pre packaged set of morals. Neither set is based on personal experience.

"You're a member of the Labor party now. You must be anti war, a member of a union and pro gay marriage!... What did you say? Foreign poilcy has nothing to do with industrial relations, which in turn has nothing to do with sexuality? You are not a true believer! Get out!"

When a person has such an inflexible outlook; to which they are passionately committed, they will try to butcher, bash and bend everything they see for the rest of their lives to fit this narrow pattern.

Poverty in Tanzania? Global capitalism.

Tsunami in the Indian Ocean? Must be climate change, cause by CO2 emisssions spurred along by global capitalism.

Beer warm and flat? That fucking capitalist publican is trying to stiff the proletariat!

There is probably a reason that most (Not all) annoying activists tend to be young. Over the years they will see conflict. Bus drivers will go on strike and this will hurt the poor working man who uses public transport to get to work. They will see that the middle eastern country the US is most friendly with has an untouched tradition of conservative Islam. They will realise that the world is made up of countless opposing forces and cannot be explained by an army of philisophers.

At this point they will abandon their Grand Plan (Whatever that may be), come off their high horse and begin to function as human beings.